I could not but admire that rural shop keeper : He was handling so many skus : branded , unbranded , loose and packed in a small dingy shop with no visibility of inventory ( But.. He had all data in his super computer brain ) , and mutiple trading and customer accounts with varying payment period and methods ( barter / cash ) , installments .
It is a interesting management lesson that ownership makes business simple : he explained to me how a child learn complex things like walking , talking etc.. . It takes time initially but if the child wants to do it over a period of time he performs all the function without realising he is doing it .
It struck me like a bullet : Yes we read so many management theory , but this one was " Straight from the GUT" .
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
e choupal news : Sept 2008
Technology is making it's impact in rural India . but will it benefit is a debate .. some insights I gathered in last few visits
With improved technology intervention ... villager convergence points , occassions and group size is reducing
Now Evening ( leisure time ) no longer means village getting together and discussing problems and probable solns : It now means watching TV ( options of new village convergence points ??)
Mobile has created distance with fellow members but brought in new social circles not restricted to village
But due to infrastructure constraints each village has unique probs . This reduction of convergence over a period of time might reduce ability even of external agency to get village to improve themselves through group ownership and strength of .business models like micro finance etc ..
Your comments and experiences are welcome
With improved technology intervention ... villager convergence points , occassions and group size is reducing
Now Evening ( leisure time ) no longer means village getting together and discussing problems and probable solns : It now means watching TV ( options of new village convergence points ??)
Mobile has created distance with fellow members but brought in new social circles not restricted to village
But due to infrastructure constraints each village has unique probs . This reduction of convergence over a period of time might reduce ability even of external agency to get village to improve themselves through group ownership and strength of .business models like micro finance etc ..
Your comments and experiences are welcome
Sunday, August 17, 2008
e choupal News : August 2008
e choupal as a platform for people to create and develop their market and products .
Can e choupal for rural development be as useful as internet , macintosh was for techies and networkers ..
Can like minded Indian and global firms spearhead a revolution by helping rural india grow by having many brilliant minds working together , pooling resources for their own growth along with helping Rural india expand their income and improve their lifestyles
Interesting thought but we aren't sure how many people think like us ... Well still we would like to try hard .. to get Rural Indians their share of growth and happiness ...
We are in process of exploring this R ( resource) infinity route . to create new revolution ... Wanna join ... drop me a comment ...
Can e choupal for rural development be as useful as internet , macintosh was for techies and networkers ..
Can like minded Indian and global firms spearhead a revolution by helping rural india grow by having many brilliant minds working together , pooling resources for their own growth along with helping Rural india expand their income and improve their lifestyles
Interesting thought but we aren't sure how many people think like us ... Well still we would like to try hard .. to get Rural Indians their share of growth and happiness ...
We are in process of exploring this R ( resource) infinity route . to create new revolution ... Wanna join ... drop me a comment ...
Sunday, July 20, 2008
e choupal News : July 2008
Choupal - a meeting place achieves a real meaning when information to discuss is more than village gossips .
To create a new revolution in rural India choupal has to move from information dissemination to discussion of these information more actively by villagers and incorporating it more actively in improving their lifestyles
This has been choupal challenge for last 4 years .
New product launches - over 100 partner companies sharing information and demonstrating product benefits has created a difference , but we have miles to go ...
We are planning some interesting things to make a difference , lets hope we do succeed in a big way .
To create a new revolution in rural India choupal has to move from information dissemination to discussion of these information more actively by villagers and incorporating it more actively in improving their lifestyles
This has been choupal challenge for last 4 years .
New product launches - over 100 partner companies sharing information and demonstrating product benefits has created a difference , but we have miles to go ...
We are planning some interesting things to make a difference , lets hope we do succeed in a big way .
Friday, May 09, 2008
Regulating transformational branchless banking
This report is a good summary of learning across various countries
Among the countries studied, a surprising consensus surrounds the short list of most critical topics policy makers and regulators should address to formulate proportionate regulatory policy for transformational branchless banking.
The report classify two topics as “necessary but not sufficient” preconditions:
• Authorization to use retail agents equipped with ICTs as the “cash-in/cash-out” point and principal customer interface
• Development of risk-based anti-money laundering (AML) rules and rules for combating financing of terrorism (CFT), adapted to the realities of remote transactions conducted through agents.
But the report does not highlight several operation risk ( like fake money ) and viability risk for the entreprenuer and bank .
Report classify four topics as “next generation” policy and regulatory topics. Though they may not prevent branchless banking from getting a start in a given country, they will figure in its success and sustainability as a means of getting financial services to the unbanked poor:
• Appropriate regulatory space for the issuance of emoney and other stored-value instruments
(particularly when issued by parties other than fully prudentially licensed and supervised banks)
• Effective consumer protection (on a variety of fronts)
• Inclusive payment system regulation and effective payment system oversight as branchless banking reaches scale
• Policies governing competition among providers (which balance incentives for pioneers to get into the branchless banking business against the risk establishing or reinforcing customer-unfriendly monopolies and which promote interoperability) So what are our recommendations? Despite the difficulty of making strong normative statements in such a dynamic environment, our research leads us to make both process-related recommendations (see pages 17–19) and content-related recommendations (see pages 19–20). The core content-related ecommendations can be summarized as follows:
• Permit nonbank retail outlets to serve as agents— and consider carefully any restrictions on the range of permissible agents and types of relationships permitted (page 19).
• Evolve a risk-based AML/CFT approach adapted to the realities of small, remote transactions conducted through agents (page 19).
• Clarify the legal boundaries between retail payments, e-money, and other stored-value
instruments and bank deposits (page 20).
• Create a regulatory category for electronically stored value that allows nonbank participation on defined terms (page 20).
• Create robust but simple mechanisms for consumer protection, covering problems with retail agents, redress of grievances, price transparency, and consumer data privacy (page 20).
• Consider the likely longer range competitive landscape today and how to reach the goal of
interoperability (page 20).
The real situation in India the pilots have not been scaled up and lot of talk has been a big hype to please regulators and funding agencies alike ...
for Details on this report pl refer...http://www.ruralfinance.org/id/56259
Among the countries studied, a surprising consensus surrounds the short list of most critical topics policy makers and regulators should address to formulate proportionate regulatory policy for transformational branchless banking.
The report classify two topics as “necessary but not sufficient” preconditions:
• Authorization to use retail agents equipped with ICTs as the “cash-in/cash-out” point and principal customer interface
• Development of risk-based anti-money laundering (AML) rules and rules for combating financing of terrorism (CFT), adapted to the realities of remote transactions conducted through agents.
But the report does not highlight several operation risk ( like fake money ) and viability risk for the entreprenuer and bank .
Report classify four topics as “next generation” policy and regulatory topics. Though they may not prevent branchless banking from getting a start in a given country, they will figure in its success and sustainability as a means of getting financial services to the unbanked poor:
• Appropriate regulatory space for the issuance of emoney and other stored-value instruments
(particularly when issued by parties other than fully prudentially licensed and supervised banks)
• Effective consumer protection (on a variety of fronts)
• Inclusive payment system regulation and effective payment system oversight as branchless banking reaches scale
• Policies governing competition among providers (which balance incentives for pioneers to get into the branchless banking business against the risk establishing or reinforcing customer-unfriendly monopolies and which promote interoperability) So what are our recommendations? Despite the difficulty of making strong normative statements in such a dynamic environment, our research leads us to make both process-related recommendations (see pages 17–19) and content-related recommendations (see pages 19–20). The core content-related ecommendations can be summarized as follows:
• Permit nonbank retail outlets to serve as agents— and consider carefully any restrictions on the range of permissible agents and types of relationships permitted (page 19).
• Evolve a risk-based AML/CFT approach adapted to the realities of small, remote transactions conducted through agents (page 19).
• Clarify the legal boundaries between retail payments, e-money, and other stored-value
instruments and bank deposits (page 20).
• Create a regulatory category for electronically stored value that allows nonbank participation on defined terms (page 20).
• Create robust but simple mechanisms for consumer protection, covering problems with retail agents, redress of grievances, price transparency, and consumer data privacy (page 20).
• Consider the likely longer range competitive landscape today and how to reach the goal of
interoperability (page 20).
The real situation in India the pilots have not been scaled up and lot of talk has been a big hype to please regulators and funding agencies alike ...
for Details on this report pl refer...http://www.ruralfinance.org/id/56259
Monday, March 10, 2008
Microfranchising : Improving Rural Inclusion
The overall objective of MicroFranchising is to promote economic development by developing sound business models that can be replicated by entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid; therefore, the start-up costs of MicroFranchises will be minimal. The key principle is replication, replicating success to 
scale.It is well known that there is a lack of employment opportunities in developing countries leaving nearly one half of the world’s population (3 billion people) living in acute poverty (living on less than two dollars a day). Therefore, many people have no choice but to start microenterprises in order to survive. The International Labor Organization’s 2002 report indicates that 72 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population operates within the informal sector, eking out a hand-to-mouth survival. In Latin America 51 percent operate within the informal economy, and 65 percent in Asia. Furthermore, many of the small businesses operated by people in developing countries fail or exist on subsistence levels, leaving hundreds of millions in poverty. MicroFranchising is a new tool designed specifically to assist these entrepreneurs to become more successful and reach economic self-reliance, through the provision of successful business models with the necessary initial and on-going training needed to succeed.
E Choupal : A excellent example of Microfranchising
scale.It is well known that there is a lack of employment opportunities in developing countries leaving nearly one half of the world’s population (3 billion people) living in acute poverty (living on less than two dollars a day). Therefore, many people have no choice but to start microenterprises in order to survive. The International Labor Organization’s 2002 report indicates that 72 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population operates within the informal sector, eking out a hand-to-mouth survival. In Latin America 51 percent operate within the informal economy, and 65 percent in Asia. Furthermore, many of the small businesses operated by people in developing countries fail or exist on subsistence levels, leaving hundreds of millions in poverty. MicroFranchising is a new tool designed specifically to assist these entrepreneurs to become more successful and reach economic self-reliance, through the provision of successful business models with the necessary initial and on-going training needed to succeed.E Choupal : A excellent example of Microfranchising
Monday, January 14, 2008
CFS News 15th Jan : Weather Insurance
Weather Impacts Crop Production and Weather Insurance as a tool has been successfully tried out by ITC e choupal Financial Service Managers
They have serviced sold over 150000 contracts in last 2 years and have been successful in getting repeat purchase . All this has been Retail sales without bundling ( forced ) upon through loans .Interesting isn't it ??
How do they do it ??
Designing Relevant Products
Farmers , Village Lead men , district officers and agri consultant all work together with Insurance specialist to design right product .( ITC echoupal way ) . No gyan pur action is their Motto.
Create Awareness
Farmer meeting in very village : Use of audio visual tools to create weather Insurance awareness . Each crop season they conduct over 2000 odd farmers meetings . The idea is to spread the knowledge across 30000 villages
Leverage Distribution
Considering a very short sales window of 20 - 30 days , having an existing distribution system that can sell Insurance helps . Thats where ITC choupal scores ... 100 Insurance officers + 6000 Sanchalak + 15000 Up sanchalak can create wonders . I personally feel this network is still underleveraged
They have serviced sold over 150000 contracts in last 2 years and have been successful in getting repeat purchase . All this has been Retail sales without bundling ( forced ) upon through loans .Interesting isn't it ??
How do they do it ??
Designing Relevant Products
Farmers , Village Lead men , district officers and agri consultant all work together with Insurance specialist to design right product .( ITC echoupal way ) . No gyan pur action is their Motto.
Create Awareness
Farmer meeting in very village : Use of audio visual tools to create weather Insurance awareness . Each crop season they conduct over 2000 odd farmers meetings . The idea is to spread the knowledge across 30000 villages
Leverage Distribution
Considering a very short sales window of 20 - 30 days , having an existing distribution system that can sell Insurance helps . Thats where ITC choupal scores ... 100 Insurance officers + 6000 Sanchalak + 15000 Up sanchalak can create wonders . I personally feel this network is still underleveraged
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