Feb 23 2017

Digitization and exponential technologies like the Internet of things, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, machine learning, and robotics not only disrupt the ways we design, produce, manage and maintain products and services at a fast pace, but also the way we will work in the future. IBM’s Watson technology is already complementing human decision-making in fields such as cancer diagnostics through artificial intelligence. So will Watson and Co replace human labor in 2050? Global thought leaders like Stephen Hawking are warning already that the very technology that has been an enabler for mankind in the past, has the potential to destroy the world, as increasing automation is going to decimate middle class jobs, worsening inequality and risking significant political upheaval.

While emerging technologies bring higher productivity and efficiencies, estimates already suggest that up to 45% of tasks people are paid to do every day could be automated in the future—with big impacts on emerging markets. China is acquiring 160.000 robots this year and a recent report by Citi and the Oxford Martin School shows that the Chinese market has already replaced the US as the largest market for industrial automation. In India, textile giant Raymond is planning to cut about 10,000 jobs in its manufacturing centers in the next three years, replacing them with robots. IT-Giant Infosys has already announced reducing jobs through automation. The future will see business without people, like the fast-food chain Eatsa that requires zero human interaction.

The ‘future of work’ is not only shaped by automation, but also by changing aspirations: Enabled by technology and driven by increasing entrepreneurialism, the idea of ‘employment’ is already changing: The current generation of millennials is increasingly looking for purpose and personal development. The rise of the ‘on demand’ economy gives more power to the individual: Estimates suggest that by 2020, 1 in 2 people in the US and UK will work in a freelance capacity. While routine tasks are expected to be increasingly completed by intelligent machines and technology, creativity, analytical skills and problem solving will be requirements of the job of the future.

Is the picture so gloom? Human history has shown that technology has not only improved working conditions and living standards, increased value creation and raised incomes, it also created life-changing innovations such as the steam engine, the conveyer belt, airplanes or the internet – and yet we fail to predict its implications. “The global demand for cars will not exceed 1 million, one reason being the shortage of drivers,” estimated Gottlieb Daimler in 1901. In the same year, Wilbur Wright, a pioneer in aviation, estimated: “It will not be possible for humankind in the next fifty years to take-off in a metal plane.” The rest is history. We are certain that the future of work is changing, but the effects will not only be negative. These shifts will play out differently in India – and we need to join forces to prepare and make it inclusive.

Feb 16 2017

It’s well known that the African continent has made rapid strides in economic growth and continues to demonstrate promising avenues for investors. The continent was ranked as the world’s second-most attractive investment destination in 2013, garnering a number of traditional, angel and impact investors. East Africa has consistently been named the fastest-growing region. This growth, however, has not transformed into inclusive development and the region still sees high economic inequality in terms of income and opportunities. For instance, the average Human Development Index score of Sub-Saharan Africa is less than 0.5, signifying that the region fares poorly in terms of quality of life and specifically health, education and purchasing power.

Factors such as shifting demographics toward economic development and government initiatives to improve infrastructure are on the rise, while strong foreign investment has helped establish the region as an entrepreneurial hub. Nevertheless, geographical, infrastructural and socio-economic barriers in the region render many traditional business models unviable. Consequently, most mainstream enterprises avoid targeting low-income customers and focus on markets that are easy to reach and have the capacity to pay. Result: a large proportion of the region’s low-income population remains underserved.

The existence of both underserved markets and an enabling environment for entrepreneurship has led to a rapid growth of impact enterprises in the region. Many of these enterprises have designed game-changing innovations across sectors, enabling them to serve low-income and underserved markets while ensuring sustainable returns to investors. The impact enterprise landscape in the region is currently blooming and more than 155 impact investors operate here. More than US $9.3 billion has been disbursed by development finance institutions (DFIs) and other impact investors in the region. Moreover, the base of the pyramid-focused innovations from the region continue to draw considerable interest from development practitioners across the global south.

In 2016, Intellecap undertook a study to better understand how East African impact entrepreneurs manage to design viable business models despite the various market challenges. The insights from the study can inform inclusive development in the region and across the global south. The study classified impact enterprises across three levers based on their interaction with the BoP: access, ability and knowledge.

Feb 10 2017

By 2050, India’s population is expected to reach 1.7 billion people, creating the most populated country in the world. Growth of the Indian population and transition of its demography will need for leapfrogging in healthcare delivery including transformation of public healthcare system. Major shifts await healthcare industry in India.
What lies ahead?

India’s demographic and epidemiology profile will witness a change by 2050 which will demand healthcare sector needs to evolve. India’s population is projected to be 1.7 billion in 2050 with maximum number of people in the working age group of 15 to 64 years and average life expectancy at 80+ years. The old age population is expected to grow to 14% (from 4% at present) with geriatric health care specialized services such as dementia, nutritional services and home care services expected to have a larger role. The shift in demographic patterns and lifestyle trends will necessitate preventive healthcare to reduce cost of healthcare spend. Moreover nearly 51% of India’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050 (up from 30% in 2015). Increased urbanization may offer some advantages to the health care practitioners such as a larger set of population will be accessible for availing healthcare services at relative lower costs.

Trends shaping future health

India is leapfrogging the use of technology innovations such as mobile health devices, technology integration with healthcare data and telemedicine strategies which could reduce the burden from health system while still trying to boost healthier lives, reducing disabilities and increasing life expectancy. This trend will continue to evolve as there will be a shift in population profiles, disease burden and care protocols by 2050 and a future will emerge where chronic diseases are things of the past, patient dependency on public healthcare systems is minimal and more preventive care is sought for, life threatening diseases such as TB, Cancer or AIDS are cured and people lead healthy lives post treatment.

Jan 26 2017

Impact investment firm Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group said on Wednesday it has raised $25 million (about Rs 170 crore) in an equity funding round led by Triodos Investment Management and Shell Foundation.

The investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank invested $15 million and the Shell Group’s charity arm put the remaining amount, Aavishkaar said in a statement. It added that it will use the capital to consolidate and expand its bouquet of ecosystem building businesses.

Aavishkaar founder Vineet Rai said that the firm is helping entrepreneurs address challenges around job creation, health, energy and financial inclusion and that entrepreneurs and businesses can make a substantial contribution in addressing poverty and hunger.

Founded in 2002, Aavishkaar enables entrepreneurs through equity funds, venture debt, microfinance lending, investment banking intermediation, consulting, research and access to global networks. The group has assets under management of about $400 million and has almost 2,500 team members on three continents.

Impact investment-focussed Aavishkaar-Intellecap group on Tuesday announced an equity fund raise of $25 million led by Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank and Shell Foundation, an independent charity established by the oil giant, Shell Group.

The investment – $15 million from Triodos and $10 million from Shell – will be infused in the parent company, enabling Aavishkaar-Intellecap to expand its ecosystem, building services and businesses across the globe. “The funds will allow us to expand our investment in India and also geographically expand to Africa and Southeast Asia, our target markets,” explained the group’s founder Vineet Rai.

Aaavishkaar-Intellecap currently has $400 million in assets under management and a team of 2,500 members spread across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Founded in 2002, the group helps entrepreneurs who work to solve challenging global problems like poverty alleviation, health care, education, energy issues and the like, scale their businesses by providing equity, debt and advisory services. “Over the next 8-10 years, we want to scale from roughly half a billion dollars under assets that we manage to a billion dollars,” said Rai, pointing out that India, in particular, offered scale and impact in the right quantum. “We have no dearth of quality entrepreneurs, so with the right capital, we can create scalable businesses in challenging areas which people believe are the government’s domain.” Rai is also looking to deploy the fresh funds to hire “significant senior leadership” who will be able to manage the expanded scale of operations.

“At Triodos, we believe it is essential to drive changes in society which will help us achieve sustainable development goals. We were very happy with the fact that in Aavishkaar-Intellecap we found a partner that has a very nicely aligned vision and strategy to building an ecosystem and achieving those goals,” said Dirk Elsen, director emerging markets at Triodos Investment Management, adding that this was an extension of a partnership that started out two years ago when Triodos got involved with Aavishkaar-Intellecap’s debt business.

Jan 25 2017

NEW DELHI: The Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group has raised $25 million (about Rs 166.3 crore) from two new investors, as the impact investing-to-financial advisory services group looks to expand its bouquet of services along with its presence outside Asia.

The Group has raised $15 million in equity financing from Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank, and an additional $10 million from the Shell Foundation, the independent charity established by the Shell Group.

Both investors have taken a minority stake in the company. Proceeds from the transaction, raised at the holding-company level, will be used by the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group to significantly scale its operations, provide support and scale to its debt businesses and to ensure Intellecap’s advisory business is replicated, particularly, in Africa, a growing geographical focus for the company.

“We will be focusing on Asia and Africa over the next 8-10 years. We intend to scale ourselves up by almost 10 times over this same period, and intend to take $3.5 billion of assets, which will be essentially used to support entrepreneurs in these geographies,” Vineet Rai, founder, Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, told ET.

Jan 25 2017

Mumbai: Impact investing-focused Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group has raised $25 million (approximately Rs170 crore) in equity funding led by Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank, and Shell Foundation, an independent charity established by the Shell Group.

Triodos has invested $15 million in the group and Shell has contributed $10 million.

Founded in 2002, the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group offers range of financial products to entrepreneurs working to solve problems at the bottom of the pyramid, including equity funds, a venture debt vehicle, microfinance lending, investment banking services, consulting, research and access to global networks.

The group operates its equity funds business through Aavishkaar Venture Management Services; investment banking, consulting and research through Intellecap; extending working capital and business loans to small and medium enterprises through Intellecash, venture debt through Intellecap and microfinance lending through Arohan.

Across its various equity funds and debt businesses, the group has over $400 million in assets under management, with 2,500 team members across Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Jan 25 2017

The Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, an impact investor, on Tuesday announced raising $25 million, led by Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank, and Shell Foundation, an independent charity established by the Shell Group.

Triodos has invested $15 million while Shell has contributed $10 million in this equity round. The investment will be infused in the parent company and will enable the group to consolidate and expand its bouquet of ecosystem building initiatives/businesses across the globe, the impact investor said in a press …

Jan 25 2017

The Aavishkaar-Intellecap Gro-up, an impact investing firm, has raised an equity round of $25 million led by Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank and Shell Foundation, an independent charity established by the Shell Group.

Triodos has invested $15 million while Shell has contributed $10 million of the total capital raised. The investment will be infused in the parent company to enable the group to consolidate and expand its bouquet of ecosystem building initiatives/businesses across the globe.

Founded in 2002, the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group has Assets under Management of over $400 million with over 2,500 team members spread across three continents – Asia, Africa and Americas. It has three lines of business under the group – equity investments under Aavishkaar, advisory Services under Intellecap and debt funding vehicles under Arohan – IntelleGrow and IntelleCash.

On the capital raising, Vineet Rai, founder, Aavishkaar–Intellecap Group said, “As the world chases ambitious Social Development Goals, Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group’s contribution as entrepreneurial ecosystem builders would be seminal in unleashing the entrepreneurial energy toward some of the core challenges around Employment, Health, and Energy & Financial Inclusion that the world desires to address.”

Jan 19 2017

Food wars triggered by scarcity and price of food are likely by 2050 unless we change how food is produced, processed, and supplied

Most major wars fought in the last two centuries have been focused on control of precious resources like minerals, oil, and land. This picture has started to shift in the past few years, with armed conflict increasingly focused on control over depleting water resources and by association food. Climate change-linked droughts in Northern Africa and Sahel, and the resulting shortage of food is one of the triggers behind the European refugee crisis. As these populations relocate to other areas, competition for scarce resources intensifies and results in conflict against the “others” – as we have seen in Western Europe. This is by no means an isolated trend, but the beginning of a pattern we can expect to see in India as well. By 2050, the India’s population will reach 1.7 billion people, creating the most populated country in the world. Food demand will increase by 70%, and is already lagging domestic food production.

Growing prosperity coupled with changes in food patterns will mean that much of this demand will be for water intensive food commodities such as meat. Output of animal products has already overtaken cereals, and accounts for one-third of all agricultural output. Eventually we will reach a tipping point when the demand for meat can no longer be met without shifting agricultural land towards cultivation for cattle, or importing meat. Unfortunately, growing prosperity will walk hand-in-hand with growing inequity – leaving those who live on less than $5 a day unable to afford high-protein diets with requisite micronutrients. If agriculture and food production continues its “business as usual trajectory”, low income and vulnerable communities will likely only be able to access carbohydrates as staple foods. We are already seeing the impact of carbohydrate-rich foods on these communities in terms of higher prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. As diets worsen the prevalence of these diseases will continue to increase, resulting in a vicious cycle which wipes out economic prosperity gains because of increased healthcare expenditure, and in-turn curtails spend on healthier food options. Solutions of the past decade such as high quality inputs and farm mechanization will start to prove insufficient in our quest to feed more and more people healthy diets at affordable prices.

Disruption is imminent in the next decade across value chains and commodities; the future is likely to be one of abundance rather than scarcity

So does this mean the future is bleak? We think not. Human history is a story of triumphs of ingenuity in how food is grown, processed, and distributed. From shifting cultivation, to fixed and specialized farming, to the industrial revolution, and finally the green revolution in India – every few generations we see a leap in technologies that pivot eras of scarcity into eras of abundance. The next pivot is coming, and it is unlike anything we have ever seen before. As exponential technologies such as IoT, machine learning, and robotics commercialize and converge; we will see fundamental shifts in terms of where food is grown, what food is grown, who grows it, and what we expect from it.