NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Asia Pacific

Sun Looks to Emerging Markets with New Division

Joseph Bornstein — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:04:23 -0500

Sun has launched an new division to drive sales in emerging markets such as South and Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and Greater China.

The vendor has also embarked on a series of management changes to realign the business with its latest plan for growth.

The new Emerging Markets division will be headed up by Denis Heraud, Sun's senior vice president of Asia Pacific. Peter Ryan has been appointed as executive vice president of Sun's Global Sales and Services organisation, reporting to Jonathan Schwartz - president and chief executive.

Schwartz said: "Rapidly developing and emerging economies have been some of the most assertive in embracing Sun's approach to sustainable network computing, via open source software and open document formats, along with power sensitive datacentre infrastructure.

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Sun Looks to Emerging Markets with New Division

Joseph Bornstein — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:04:22 -0500

Philippines Shows Successful Models For Helping The Poor

Joseph Bornstein — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:09:56 -0500

SARI-SARI stores, sachets, electronic loads and unlimited texting. These are just some of the models that the Philippines will be sharing with the rest of Asia on how entrepreneurs can better serve and reach the $3.5-billion “base of the pyramid” (BoP) market in the region.

The Ateneo School of Government, with funding support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, is now embarking on a three-year study to document the best practices employed by local entrepreneurs, as well as innovations by the research and development sector, on how they have successfully served the needs of society’s poor population that are living on a daily income of under $2.

Dr. Antonio la Viña, dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said similar studies will also be done in other parts of the region, and this wealth of experiences will be exchanged by Asian countries.

The IDRC, la Viña said, has already committed to give up to $25,000 in grants for each study to be undertaken. For Southeast Asia, the focus is on how science and technology innovations can effectively address the developmental needs of the economically marginalized sector in the region.

Citibank offers $10m Credit Facility to Microfinancier ASA

Derek Newberry — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:28:46 -0500

Citibank, NA Bangladesh and ASA yesterday signed a credit facility agreement for microfinance portfolio expansion in rural Bangladesh, says a press release.

As per the agreement, Citibank will provide US$ 10 million in equivalent local currency to ASA, one of the world's leading Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs).

Md Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, founder and president of ASA, and Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citi country officer, Bangladesh, signed the agreement on behalf of their organizations. The financing will allow ASA to diversify its funding sources and also disburse more funds to a larger number of micro entrepreneurs, reinforcing ASA's determination in helping the development of the micro-credit sector.

This transaction will mark yet another milestone in the development of micro-finance industry. ASA has also recently received the Financial Times Award for Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid. According to Financial Times, ASA has a highly efficient delivery model, which they started in Bangladesh and refined and are now migrating it to Africa. "Given Citi's leadership in supporting MFIs globally and expertise in providing exemplary banking solution, we are pleased to tie up with Citibank," said Md Shafiqual Haque Choudhury.

... As Reliance Communications Decides to Give it a Try

Manuel Bueno — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:23:42 -0500

India's Reliance Communications has made a fresh approach to acquire MTN, reviving its earlier interest in joining up with the South African mobile carrier to create an emerging markets telecommunications giant.

News of the move follows the sudden collapse at the weekend of talks between MTN and Bharti Airtel, India's biggest cellular operator by subscriber numbers and Reliance's arch-rival. The talks with Bharti broke down amid differences over how to structure a proposed merger of the two companies.

Reliance declined to comment yesterday. But, like Bharti's proposed deal for MTN, an offer by Reliance - India's second-largest mobile carrier and owned by Anil Ambani - was likely to be structured as a merger with the South African operator paid for with cash and shares, people familiar with the matter said.

Bharti's Takeover of MTN Fails ...

Manuel Bueno — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:21:53 -0500

For India's Reliance Communications, the breakdown of talks between its arch-rival Bharti Airtel and MTN must be a relief.

A combination of Bharti, India's number one mobile operator by subscribers, and South Africa's MTN would have created a formidable competitor with 130m subscribers across 22 fast-growing markets in south Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Now, as Reliance pursues its own deal with the South African operator, Bharti's experiences may hold some lessons for India's second- largest mobile operator - and for any other foreign group eyeing MTN.

Interview with Chery's CEO, Fourth Bigest Chinese Car Manufacturer

Manuel Bueno — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:04:18 -0500

Few people took Chery Automobile seriously when it was established, a little more than a decade ago, in the city of Wuhu, in Anhui Province, China. Chery was a newcomer in a small area that had little tradition of manufacturing and was far from the country’s traditional centers of auto production, in Beijing, Changchun, Shanghai, and Wuhan. When the start-up failed to find buyers for a motor engine it had developed, there was little choice but to manufacture a car of its own so that the engine could find a home. After this first car had been built, bureaucratic obstacles prevented the company from selling it. As chairman and chief executive officer Yin Tongyao puts it, “Chery kept hitting the wall over the past decade. Every time we hit a wall, we just reoriented and moved on.”

Major Boom Expected in Mobile Subscriptions in Indonesia

Manuel Bueno — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:13:45 -0500

A blizzard of advertisements for Indonesia's 11 mobile operators has covered the country, competing for the lowest prices, best call quality and cheapest deals.

So begins what is expected to be a major boom in mobile subscriptions and telecom revenue.

The national regulator slashed internet work connection charges by up to 40 per cent last month and these savings have largely been passed on to users.

The authorities are pushing operators to share towers, which will reduce costs and enable greater network expansion.

China's First Socially Responsible Investment Fund Close to Launch

Francisco Noguera — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:30:53 -0500

The first Chinese mutual fund to invest in "socially responsible" companies in the country is expected to launch by the end of the month.

Industrial Fund Management last week received government approval for the fund, but was forced to scale back its expected size and delayed its launch to the end of the month because investors were wary of committing their money into an equity fund while stock prices are falling, the Shanghai-based company said.

The fund will invest between 65 to 95 per cent of its money in equity, and up to 30 per cent in bonds. After a spectacular bull run, China's domestic A-share market peaked last October. Since then, the Shanghai composite index has fallen more than 30 per cent.

"There has been a lot of interest [in the fund] and a lot of our clients are calling us to ask about it, but they are just too concerned about the market's recent fall," the company said. It said the fund's target size would be at least Rmb100m (£6.9m, $14m, €9m).

Industrial Fund Management said it decided to set up the fund last year after noticing that many Chinese companies were, for the first time, issuing corporate social responsibility reports in addition to their
annual financial results.

It said the fund would not be restricted to a specific area of social responsibility as it was the first such fund in China.

Entrepreneurship in China and India (Interview with Tarun Kanna)

Abigail Keene-Babcock — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:34:03 -0500

By Martha Legace

Entrepreneurship in the world's 2 most populous nations, China and India, has through modern times been somewhat asleep. But now, says HBS professor Tarun Khanna in a new book, both societies "have woken up," and the results could reshape business, politics, and society worldwide.

"In some sense people in these societies are running faster than their rules and laws can keep up. So they are creating the rules as they go along. And entrepreneurship is, after all, doing things in new ways, ahead of social norms and customs, and establishing the rules and laws. In both countries, these processes are unfolding not just in the mainstream business sector but in society writ large and even in politics and civil society," says Khanna.

Khanna's book Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours will be published by Harvard Business School Press on February 1. Each chapter compares China and India on a broad range of factors in entrepreneurship, including access to capital, freedom and reliability of information, governmental involvement, and infrastructure. Khanna examines the landscape of big, medium, and small entrepreneurship, including rural health-care initiatives and even Bollywood.

As Khanna explained to HBS Working Knowledge, "One can see China clearly when juxtaposed against India, a neighbor that, like China, is a large, populous, and ancient country that chose a different path. The difference is stark. The same is true when we look at India with China as a backdrop. That's why I wrote a comparative book."

In our interview Khanna outlines the business landscape in both countries. He also describes how indigenous and foreign entrepreneurs could get a foothold, how China and India relate to their own diasporas, and how entrepreneurial activity is reshaping both countries for the better.