The fact that the business world is changing is well known. Continuous business innovation is requested – everywhere. No doubt. There are all kind of efforts going on such as continuous training offers for business people, be it for employees, be it for employers: trainings around administration, marketing and computer skills, the call for innovation,…
Category: entrepreneurs
Bihar: a travel through a remote time and courageous business women
When we pass the regional border to Bihar in East India it seems we have done a travel to the past. The NGO driver, a project manager and myself are on the way to Buxar to visit a sanitation project, steered by Healing Fields. This is one of the Indian parts I have not visited…
Social entrepreneurs, where are You going to? One man or woman shows are not enough!
The trend is obvious: social entrepreneurship is ‘hip’. The number of social business conferences, socent challenges, courses offered at universities and numbers of articles published in all kind of magazines is growing obviously. Not just in USA, U.K. and a few more countries, but all over the world. In tapped and untapped markets, countries…
Social Entrepreneurship has many faces
This week I participated in the Ashoka Social Entrepreneurship conference in Berlin. Besides the official workshops and speeches given in the big glass building of the Allianzforum I had the possibility to speak to many social entrepreneurs cooperating with investors, traditional NGOs and Corporate enterprises. It is fascinating to see how all are looking…
To end poverty micro-loans are never enough
Micro-loans – the bestseller among development tools is under fire “Microfinance, not a quick escape from poverty, studies show” – When I came across this article published recently in various media talking about the limited effect of micro-loans, I got angry – and at the same time I was more than surprised that we really need…
Simple business models – Simple sales women and men in India
Today, I reviewed some photos taken in India during the last months. I came across some photos showing Indian people selling different items – in a very simple way – sitting on the ground, behind a table fixed on a bicycle, at a simple booth. An essential, but from marketing perspective neglected business A business…
7weeks in India- Mandawa: Hawelis, kites and clever sales
Before leaving for Mumbai I spend one day in Mandawa, a small town in Rajasthan, ca 260 km away from Delhi and completely different from the South of India. The landscape is rigid, a lot of dust and sand. People look different here, other plants, other customs. There are a lot of children playing with…
7weeks in India – Tribal doctors and the mobile clinic
For tribal people, here in Tamil Nadu, all doctor checks at the primary health care center and hospital stays are free. But not all people can go there, some are too ill, some live in remote villages and the travel to a primary Healthcare center is far away, the roads are sometimes bad… Some tribal people…
7weeks in India – Meeting the inventor lady
Today it is rainy, one of the last Monsun days. We, that’s an village representative (volunteer) and me, walk through tea fields and wet woods to meet and to find out more on her: Lilama, an old woman with a bright smile in her face and some really special skills. When she was young she…
Save it or kill it: business needs a new heart to survive
Business vs social – an artificial separation that does not work any more The popular 1970s slogan “The business of business is business” is symptomatic of an artificial separation of social and economic concerns that affected education, process thinking and the CSR units of corporations. The demand for increased corporate social responsibility is growing louder….
Go India, go future! 