Mar 8 2018

This week, the East Africa Venture Capital Association (EAVCA) with Intellecap Advisory Services released the Fintrek – which explores fintech opportunities in East Africa, new frontiers in fintech (defined as firms using technology to deliver financial products/services or capabilities to customers or others firms) and fintech investments in East Africa.

Asia Pacific and Africa have been harbingers of mobile payments and that is transitioning into fintech now. The Fintrek report notes three underlying factors driving fintech uptake as:

• (i) the use of alternative data to generate credit takings of the unbanked (and deliver services to them cheaply e.g no need for bank branches),
• (ii) peer to peer networks (decentralized collaboration, payments across borders, unregulated) and
• (iii) the emergence of nontraditional players (telcos, wallets like Google Pay & Apple Pay, e-retailers like Amazon)

Regionally, Kenya is seen as a leader in the region owing to its levels of deposit penetration, deep financial sector penetration, and smartphone ownership (at 44% compared to less than 10% for Tanzania Uganda Rwanda and Ethiopia). Kenya is where most fintechs are setting up, and Kenya-based fintechs have raised $204 million between 2000 and 2017 which is 98% of the funding to the region.

Mar 8 2018

As a consultant at Deloitte’s San Francisco office, looking into the strategy and operations of technology, media and telecommunications companies, Nisha Dutt was as far removed from the world of social impact as could be. “I didn’t even know that ‘multilaterals’ referred to institutions like the World Bank,” she says candidly.

Yet, within five years of joining impact investment advisory services firm Intellecap as a senior manager—”I had to return to India for personal reasons. Intellecap pursued me, and I felt the work they were doing was interesting,” she offers—Dutt rose to become CEO. Today she is credited for growing the Hyderabad-based entity into a globally recognised advisory firm that offers investment banking, consulting and research services focussed on the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP).

When she joined in 2009, Intellecap—part of the Vineet Rai-run Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group—primarily advised microfinance institutions and multilaterals. But given her earlier avatar, Dutt couldn’t understand why corporates were being left out of Intellecap’s ambit. “Intellecap truly believed in private sector-led development, so I couldn’t understand why they were leaving out such a huge part of the private sector,” she says.

Moreover, it was a time when the mid-market segment was getting increasingly saturated and corporates were looking to target BoP consumers. Leveraging Intellecap’s deep understanding of this base, Dutt went about advising companies such as Unilever on product innovations, go-to-market strategies and distribution, opening up a new revenue stream for Intellecap—”which became much larger than anything else they were doing,” says Dutt, declining to share revenue figures. The company, however, points out that CAGR stands at 21 percent between 2011 and 2018.

Almost a decade on, Dutt continues to be entrepreneurial within the organisation, developing solutions to fill “white spaces” in the market. She spearheaded Startup Wave, a virtual incubation lab to help entrepreneurs in remote parts of the country access the knowledge and mentorship they need; and Creditree to help women entrepreneurs get loans from banks and NBFCs.

Last year she set up Innovation Labs, a platform that scours the best innovations globally, and adapts them to serve the Indian market. For instance, given the proliferation of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes among India’s low-income population, Dutt sourced Israeli and US-based technologies to help with early detection and then keep patients within the medication-and-care loop. In a pilot that was run in Bengaluru, detection rates went up by three times and a large percentage continue to be kept within care. “I always say you should be patriotic about the problem, but democratic about the solution,” she smiles, adding that Innovation Labs turned profitable within a year of operations, a difficult feat to pull off in this space.

Anil Sinha, an ex-International Finance Corporation and World Bank veteran who has worked closely with Dutt, says, “Her on-ground knowledge as well as her courage and conviction to build the ecosystem make her a visionary.”

March 6, 2018

As a consultant at Deloitte’s San Francisco office, looking into the strategy and operations of technology, media and telecommunications companies, Nisha Dutt was as far removed from the world of social impact as could be. “I didn’t even know that ‘multilaterals’ referred to institutions like the World Bank,” she says candidly.

Yet, within five years of joining impact investment advisory services firm Intellecap as a senior manager—“I had to return to India for personal reasons. Intellecap pursued me, and I felt the work they were doing was interesting,” she offers—Dutt rose to become CEO. Today she is credited for growing the Hyderabad-based entity into a globally recognised advisory firm that offers investment banking, consulting and research services focussed on the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP).

When she joined in 2009, Intellecap—part of the Vineet Rai-run Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group—primarily advised microfinance institutions and multilaterals. But given her earlier avatar, Dutt couldn’t understand why corporates were being left out of Intellecap’s ambit. “Intellecap truly believed in private sector-led development, so I couldn’t understand why they were leaving out such a huge part of the private sector,” she says.

Moreover, it was a time when the mid-market segment was getting increasingly saturated and corporates were looking to target BoP consumers. Leveraging Intellecap’s deep understanding of this base, Dutt went about advising companies such as Unilever on product innovations, go-to-market strategies and distribution, opening up a new revenue stream for Intellecap—“which became much larger than anything else they were doing,” says Dutt, declining to share revenue figures. The company, however, points out that CAGR stands at 21 percent between 2011 and 2018.

Jan 18, 2018

With just 13 years left for achieving the sustainable development goals, there still exist significant gaps in investment, finance and political will, which will require partnerships and collaborations between all stakeholders. In an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld, Nisha Dutt, CEO, Intellecap, discusses the way forward in establishing social defaults, ensuring an equitable future for all, and the need for collective action.

What according to you is the way forward in establishing social defaults and ensuring an equitable future for all?

We live in transformative times. Today, in an interconnected and extremely dynamic world – we possess a diverse range of technology and resources with which we can solve challenges to create an equitable future for all. But to ensure this future, we must understand the importance of working together to exchange knowledge and networks; distribute gains impartially, and work on providing all stakeholders with improved quality of life, that ensures mental and physical well-being. Establishing new social defaults require a multi-stakeholder approach; we need entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, corporates, academics, policymakers, and other thought-leaders from around the world to come together, deliberate and discuss their roles, and create a roadmap for shared prosperity; only then can we ensure an equitable future for all.

How can innovative finance be used to finance the establishment of social defaults?

The UN SDGs are extremely important in establishing new social defaults, but based on a recent UN estimate, there is a USD$ 2.5 trillion investment gap across developing countries to achieve the 17 SDGs. If we have to use innovative finance to establish our social defaults, we have to close this investment gap by exploring new routes to access capital like citizen-driven crowdfunding, or the use of cryptocurrency for development. We will need to reconfigure the channels of capital flows, and modes through which investments are made – using more innovative structures such as blended finance models. The challenge actually lies in enabling these innovative structures, we need to critically think of elements that will form an enabling ecosystem and the kind of actions we will have to take to make innovative finance work in favor of our new social defaults.

What does the future for work and employment entail in an equitable world?

Innovations in automation, AI systems, and robotics are leading us into a world with an “augmented workforce.” With growing automation, the future of work and employment seems to be one that is fair to all, the rise of an augmented workforce, for instance, would mean reduced drudgery and increased productivity – making leisure a possibility for all. But these ideas are nascent, to ensure there is a future of work and employment, and to ensure it exists in an equitable world – we will need to work towards securing livelihoods for those with no access to employment, appropriately skilling the workforce so people remain relevant, and ensuring that the automated, augmented workforce is not one that will take over; but assist in creating an equitable, comfortable, and secure world for everyone.

Jan 16, 2018

If you come and tell us you are trying to change the world, chances are we will not give you money,” says Aavishkaar’s Vineet Rai, deadpan. His venture equity funds, initially set up in 2001, and now worth almost $300 million have been steadily making investments across India’s low-income states, building enterprises, creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty. He continues, “Rather than you saying it, does your business show it? Then we will give you money.”

That’s not all. Rai dislikes being called an ‘impact investor’, that is, someone who invests with the intention of generating a positive social impact along with financial returns. “They [impact investors] carry a cross on their shoulders about changing the world. That’s not what we want. Our work is to make investments in distressed or difficult areas. If in the process the world changes, that’s great,” the 46-year-old tells Forbes India.

Rai’s story isn’t just about being contrarian. Instead, his is a story of extraordinary risk-taking and tightly-managed expansion. Consider Aavishkaar’s investment in Milk Mantra in 2011. The Odisha-based dairy company existed as a mere plan on paper at the time. And tilling of land or animal husbandry wasn’t commonplace in the rural regions of the state. At the front end, too, the organised procurement of milk in eastern India stood at 10 percent, compared to the national average of 23 percent, says Srikumar Misra, the Milk Mantra founder.

“Capital would generally never go there to create a dairy,” reasons Rai. But he sniffed an opportunity. Given the fairly large number of cities in Odisha, Rai knew that the demand for packaged milk was prevalent. If a local supply chain could be built, it would create employment for thousands in the state’s remote regions.

Jan 13 2018

NCR Corporation, a global leader in omni-channel solutions has announced completion of its sale of a significant portion of its assets and related customer contracts in respect of its outsourced ATM business in Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand and Lakshadweep to Electronic Payment and Services Pvt. Ltd. (EPS), a leading payment system company headquartered in Mumbai.

With this agreement, EPS will be reaching a new milestone by January 2018 to be managing more than 11,000 ATMs in India on behalf of leading banks.

“This deal is strategic to our growth strategy, as it reiterates EPS’s continued commitment to offer reliable, robust payments services to its customers and reinforcing the relationship with its business partners and stakeholders,” said chairman EPS, Mani Mamallan.

“Not only is EPS the fastest growing, professionally managed Payments System Company, but also now in the league of the most valuable company,” added Mamallan.

“The decision to sell a significant portion of our MoF business aligns with our vision to focus on software driven hardware enabled growth supported by end-to-end managed services,” said managing director NCR India, Navroze Dastur.

“NCR is more focused than ever to innovate and enable the next generation of consumer experiences and productivity gains,” added Dastur.

Jan 13 2018

Mumbai: In a sign of consolidation in the brown-label ATM business, NCR India — an arm of the world’s largest ATM manufacturer — has sold close to 4,000 machines in its portfolio to Electronic Payment & Services (EPS).

Brown-label ATMs are those machines that display the bank’s signage but are owned and operated by managed service providers who recover fees from banks.

Following this deal, EPS will end up with a network of 11,000 ATMs, which it will manage on behalf of banks. According to EPS executive director Sanjay Kapoor, the industry is witnessing consolidation and EPS is well placed to play the role of a consolidator. “While we are a big player in the ATM infrastructure space, we are also in payment processing and solutions as well,” said Kapoor.

“The decision aligns with our vision to focus on software-driven, hardware-enabled growth supported by end-to-end managed services,” said Navroze Dastur, MD, NCR India. “NCR is more focused than ever to innovate and enable the next generation of consumer experiences and productivity gains,” he added. The country has around 2,30,000 ATMs and EPS has around 5% of the ATMs in India deployed for various banks under its portfolio. After demonetisation, ATM deployment has slowed as the shift in currency composition to higher denomination notes has hit transactions. Several lenders are rationalising their ATM networks.

Jan 11 2018

NCR Corporation has sold a part of its India ATM operations, while Education Catalyst Fund has committed $2.4 million to 3 education startups. Also, 37.37 North Capital has invested an undisclosed amount into SalesPro.

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Jan 9 2018

Sunil Munjal wants to improve the lives of artisans and connect them with markets in India and overseas
Image: Amit Verma

When it comes to impact investing, Sunil Munjal, chairman of Hero Enterprise, is the newsmaker of 2017. In April, Munjal wrote a cheque of ₹100 crore to Aavishkaar, an early-stage, social venture capital firm. The investment, dubbed the biggest such by an Indian HNI, was part of Aavishkaar’s ₹2,000-crore Aavishkaar Bharat Fund to bankroll startups as well as other companies that operate in sectors such as agriculture, financial services, renewable energy and health care.

The 57-year-old entrepreneur, who moved out of his family’s flagship company Hero MotoCorp in 2016, is also a votary of India’s traditional arts and crafts. “If it can be branded and positioned appropriately, it will truly build India’s soft power,” Munjal tells Forbes India in an interview. Excerpts:

Jul 26 2017

We are staring at an apocalypse. This can only be averted if efficient practices are integrated into industries and services

The future of water will be a gamble — resting entirely on the way we decide to play the game here on. Either we continue to use water irresponsibly, threatening the very existence of this planet, or we adopt sustainable and smart water management practices to build a water secure future.

Scenario 1: Status quo

By 2050, India’s total water demand will increase 32 per cent from now. Industrial and domestic sectors will account for 85 per cent of the additional demand. Over-exploitation of groundwater, failure to recharge aquifers and reduction in catchment capacities due to uncontrolled urbanisation are all causes for the precarious tilt in the water balance.

If the present rate of groundwater depletion persists, India will only have 22 per cent of the present daily per capita water available in 2050, possibly forcing the country to import its water.