BIID happy hour

We're good to go at Amsterdam Restaurant Wednesday evening after class, starting around 6pm. Address: 1207 Amsterdam Ave. Head to the downstairs bar. CBS will cover a drink (or two, depending on how many of us show up) for everyone, including tips, but beyond that you're on your own.

Indian Village Bans Cellphones for Unmarried Women

We learned that "women" and "cellphones" are the keywords for successful business models in developing countries. However, this village sees cellphones as tools that arrange forbidden marriages.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572404575634140904060312.html

Emergence of "social business"

A conversation with serial social entrepreneur Shaffi Mather

Free for students: BOP Innovation to Address Social Needs and Corruption: A conversation with Shaffi Mather, Serial Social Entrepreneur This event is part of the Nand and Jeet Khemka Distinguished Speaker Forum and is sponsored by the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business. In 2005 Shaffi Mather launched Dial 1298 for Ambulance — a program that attempted to fill the need for universally accessible, high-quality emergency medical services in India. By 2009, with additional support from the Acumen Fund, 1298 operated more than 90 ambulances in Mumbai and several other locations in India. See the Columbia CaseWorks abstract on Dial 1298 for Ambulance. Mather is a lawyer, public policy analyst, and prolific social entrepreneur, creating other enterprises that address social needs, including Education Access for All, a network of schools in villages across India with cross-subsidy access to economically underprivileged students. Mather also works with MokshaYugAccess (MYA), a rural supply chains solutions company. Monday, November 22, 2010 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Location: Columbia Club 15 West 43rd Street New York, NY Please click here to register. $20 per alum; $30 per guest; $10 nonprofit professionals A limited number of comp spaces are available. Please contact jt2121@columbia.edu. About Shaffi Mather Shaffi Mather is a Lawyer, Entrepreneur and a Public Policy Analyst. He is the founder of Ambulance Access for All (Dial 1298 for Ambulance — an Emergency Response Ambulance Service), Education Access for All (Newton Schools in Small Town India and E-tutor Digital Teaching/Learning Support) and www.bribebusters.com (an organization battling individual instances of demands for bribes). He is the Vice Chairman of MATHER and Founder Chairman of ZIQITZA. He is also co-promoter of Moksha Yug Access (an integrated Rural Supply Chain Organization based on Microfinance and Self Help Groups). Shaffi is an active member of Indian National Congress Party. Shaffi is one of the founders of Ambulance Access for All/Dial 1298 for Ambulance. It is an initiative started by a group of young professionals with a high degree of social and public commitment with the primary objective of rolling out a nationwide network of Life Support Ambulance Service accessible to anyone, anytime and anywhere through an easy to remember four digit telephone number. Today, Dial 1298 for Ambulance is India's largest private sector Ambulance service with operations in Mumbai, Kerala and Bihar. Shaffi co-founded Education Access for All which is setting up a network of schools in small towns/villages across India with cross-subsidy access to economically underprivileged students and developing a technology based low cost study material access for students across India. He also co-founded Mather Projects, which designs its villas and apartments with the belief that the quality of a home must improve the quality of the homeowner's life. Previously, Shaffi served as Senior Vice President & Head, Retail Rollout for Reliance Industries Ltd. where he was responsible for drawing up the roll out strategy and setting up 1000+ Reliance Webworld & Reliance Webworld Express stores across 500+ districts throughout India. He served as Chief Officer & Vice President of E City Indian Limited for the Essel/Zee TV Group and Assistant Vice President of Westex International Inc. About the Lecture The Nand and Jeet Khemka Distinguished Speaker Forum, established in May 2008 by Board of Overseers member Nand L. Khemka '56 and his wife, Jeet, brings leaders in industry, commerce, finance, and government from India and around the globe to New York to share their perspective on India's growing economy and business policies. These visits will create powerful opportunities for the School to engage alumni, faculty, students, and representatives of the business community in an active dialogue on this evolving region.

Midterm grades and final paper outlines

Hi all:
We will distribute your graded midterms with comments on Wednesday. We have also extended the deadline for submitting the final paper outlines to this Friday. I realize that some of you were hoping to use the midterm feedback to inform the final paper outline--if you are able to incorporate any necessary changes based on the midterm feedback by Friday that's great. However, I will not expect you to do so and will not grade them accordingly. Instead I am looking to see how well you have incorporated the class learnings (through last week, not this week) into the proposals. Mostly I am just interested in seeing these outlines as a way to ensure that I can provide you with timely input into thinking about how to structure the final project and suggestions for sources (of information and interviews) I can connect you to for the final. I will discuss those with you in person during the sessions we are scheduling with all teams in the next few weeks.

--Prof. Bugg-Levine

Partnering with non-profits to extend basic service delivery

'A Deadly Misdiagnosis' - TB in India

Check out this compelling New Yorker piece (from the Nov. 15 edition) on a private-sector innovation that some believe could halt the spread of TB in India.

Prof Bugg-Levine's presentation on innovations in financing development solutions

As promised:

Columbia capital markets presentation oct 2010

View more presentations from Joellen Perry.

Upcoming Columbia Club talk on "Entrepreneurship Making a Positive Impact"

FREE FOR COLUMBIA STUDENTS!:

Nand and Jeet Khemka
Distinguished Speaker Forum

Entrepreneurship Making a Positive Impact

Featuring
••
Shaffi Mather
Entrepreneur, Lawyer and Public Policy Analyst
Founder Chairman, Dial 1298 for Ambulance
••
and
••
Gita Johar
Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business &
Vice Dean for Research, Columbia Business School

Monday, November 22, 2010
6:00pm to 8:00pm

Columbia Club
15 West 43rd Street
New York, N.Y.

$20 per alum ($30 per guest)
$10 not-for-profit

For more information or to register, please visit
www.gsb.columbia.edu/chazen/events/khemkaspeakers

Current controversy in Indian microfinance

For those of you who still can't get enough of microfinance controversies, the last few weeks have been very interesting with the fall-out from the SKS IPO in India and a subsequent major crack-down by government on microfinance in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian consulting and advisory firm, Intellecap, has published a white paper that provides an interesting perspective on the situation in Andhra Pradesh with important insights for the broader issue of the interplay between for-profit businesses, their poor customers and government agencies trying to provide public-sector solutions. Vineet Rai, the Chairman of Intellecap, has picked up this conversation with an interesting post and discussion thread on the Harvard Business Review blog.
--Prof. Bugg-Levine

Change o plans for session 9

First: Blue Orchard's not coming this semester due to timing conflicts, but Brad Swanson, one of the founders of Developing World Markets (and author of last week's reading on microfinance and capital markets) will speak during the second half of this week's class. He's also offered to stay after class for students interested in hearing more about his work.

Second: Prof Bugg-Levine won't be distributing the additional readings before class. Instead, he'll bring a few of the most interesting pitch documents to class for us to discuss during the first half.

Thanks and see you Wed. (yes, i know the font is wacky on this post, but i can't get it to work. apols.)

Innovations in private equity and venture capital to promote development

Midterm paper topics

here's who we've heard from regarding midterm paper topics. if you see an organization that looks interesting to you and/or you're looking for a team, you may get some direction here:

Stephen Puschel – Bamboo Bike Project

Matthew Magenheim – Small-Scale Piped Water Supply System

YuJung Kim – Casas Bahia

Sekhar Suryanarayanan – Financing and distribution for off-grid lighting

Erin Halfnight – community health mobile platform

Xander Kaplan – Barefoot Power

Jesse De Salvo – Microfinance for cocoa farmers (Mars Inc.)

Shelley Rescober – Pesinet

Mendel Pinson – Natura’s Ekos

Mae Podesta – 1298 for Ambulance

Kumiko Uchikawa – Grameen-Uniglo

Eric Puleio – VillageReach (reaching the last mile with medical supplies and services)

Clotilde Rossi di Schio – Waste Concern

Graham Reed – The Chanfeng computer for Chinese farmers

Pedro Ferraz – CrediAMIGO

Jeff Lamour – Fonkoze

Kristin Stepaniak – Aspen Pharmacare

Jordan Drosdick – Denmor Garment Manufacturers

Jean Saint-Geours – Agro-processing warehouses for maize and the Warehouse Receipt System in Uganda

Shaun Callaghan – “Good wood” timber certification in Guatemala

Mike Brown – Community Water Solutions

Jason Chatterjee – Micro Drip

Simon Heckscher - VisionSpring

Sebastian Peters – Social Impact Bond

Lei (Leo) Chen – Chinese Red

Pepe Morales – Light Years IP

Gordon McLaughlin – Agora Partnerships

Nunzio Digiacomo – Rural electrification in Mali

Gerwin Baek – Africa Health Placements – Locum Business

Shayan Mozaffar – Gyan Shala

Emma Furniss – Aakash Ganga (River from the Sky) – harvesting rainwater

C. Bryan Lassiter – franchising in the pharmaceutical/medical supplies distribution business

Rahmesh Behymer – E+Co

Giulia Christianson – DMT Mobile Toilets

Xiaoxu “Cathy” Sun – CreditEase

Kate Szostak - Embrace Infant Warmer

Nii Koney - Healthcare - Carego Livewell

Adrian Aw - Shokay

Bruno Orsini - TiendaTek

Eliza Schnitzer - One Acre Fund

Joaquin Alemany - Tecnosol

Nandini Nayar - Fabindia

Joellen Perry - Indian School Finance Company

Xinqiong Yu - Dialogue in the Dark

Temilola Agbede - Pot-in-Pot cooling system

Yassir Zouaoui - Argan Oil Cooperatives

Article on Aravind Founder

Take a look at this Fast Company profile of Aravind founder Govindappa Venkataswamy if you get a chance before this week's class. We'll talk about Aravind this week.