Sankalp Southeast Asia Summit 2015, sebuah wadah kolaboratif untuk UKM (Usaha Kecil Menengah) tahap pemula, wirausaha dan inovator sosial di Asia Tenggara akan diadakan pertama kalinya di Indonesia. Gunanya, meningkatkan peluang investasi dan kolaborasi kewirausahaan di kawasan Asia Tenggara.

“Para investor dan venture capitalist dari Vietnam, Afrika, dan India saat ini melihat potensi wirausaha sosial di Asia Tenggara, terutama di Indonesia yang mana UKM mendominasi 90% ekosistem usaha,” ujar Nisha Dutt, CEO Intellecap.

Intellecap sebagai tuan rumah, berkomitmen untuk membangun ekosistem kewirausahaan di Indonesia. “Kami ingin memperluas pembangunan jaringan dan penanaman modal kepada UKM tahap pemula dengan cara mengidentifikasi dan mengenali usaha sosial yang inovatif dan memiliki potensi untuk berkembang,” imbuhnya.

Selain menemukan calon investor dan venture capitalist, para wirausahawan juga akan memahami cara membangun dan mengembangkan usaha lintas koridor India-Asia Tenggara-Afrika, mengembangkan usaha perempuan yang memiliki dampak sosial, serta inovasi dan teknologi usaha untuk segmen kecil dan menengah.

Investing in social entrepreneurs with a focus on women and gender equality can help tackle poverty in many communities.

“I was six years into a banking career. Unfortunately, I unknowingly handled a fraudulent transaction; the developments thereafter brought forth a slew of experiences and learnings about the ‘other world,’” recalls Teresa Njoroge, Founder, SMiMS Africa, an organization that entrepreneurship programmes for Reformed Prisoners & Ex-Prisoners.

After two years of braving a legal battle, Teresa was sentenced to jail, with her daughter, for a year. In prison, Teresa heard the stories of women from very poor backgrounds, illiterate, with scarce means to ensure a decent livelihood. The year in prison opened Teresa’s eyes to the startling poverty and injustice faced by women around the world.

There are lots of enthusiastic young social entrepreneurs in Africa, but there is little support to help them realise their dreams, according to a report launched during the first day of the Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. Stephanie Bauer, senior manager at global enterprise consultancy firm Intellecap which published the report, explains why the ‘enterprise pyramid’ needs to be inverted.

With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 – and predictions that this figure will double by 2045 – Africa is the youngest continent in the world.

Due to the lack of opportunities for traditional, waged employment in the continent’s labour market, Africa’s vast numbers of young adults are exploring entrepreneurship at scale.

While many are starting businesses because of a lack of other options, there is also a growing trend of young people choosing entrepreneurship over secure white-collar jobs, not only to make profits, but also to address social issues.

Access to funding, lack of information and failure by entrepreneurs to provide business history, have been cited as some of the challenges facing startups in Africa. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Access to funding, lack of information and failure by entrepreneurs to provide business history, have been cited as some of the challenges facing startups in Africa.

Investors, funding organisations, entrepreneurs and other interested parties from the continent, yesterday converged at Strathmore business School for a two-day forum seeking to bridge the gap between businesses and access to funding.

Speaking at the event, country manager of an investment organisation Business Partners Sally Gitonga, noted that it is important for businesses to have a clear focus when presenting business ideas to funders.

Venture capital debt providers lend to start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the range of Rs.5-25 crore per transaction at an interest rate of 15-17%. Photo: Mint

Mumbai: Indian start-ups, which typically raise equity from venture capital funds, are increasingly attracting non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), angel investors and even companies that provide working capital loans.

Take the case of Silicon Valley Bank India Finance Pvt. Ltd (SVB India Finance), a NBFC, which has lent money to 75 Indian start-ups since its inception in 2009. Its clients include e-commerce platform Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd, Loylty Rewardz Management Pvt. Ltd and Freecharge.com.

SVB India Finance, which has a loan book of around $100 million, was acquired last week by the Singapore government’s investment arm Temasek Holdings Pvt. Ltd that focuses on lending to start-ups.

SVB India Finance is “seeing the best pipeline to date as we have already funded three companies in January and are talking to 14-15 companies for investments,” said Vinod Murali, its managing director.

There are interesting developments underway in Africa. The vast continent repeatedly made news in 2014 for being home to seven of the world’s fastest growing economies, and drew interest for having a large part of its growth driven by the Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) sector. This latter tidbit is crucial. It signals a move away from ‘natural resources-led’ growth in GDP to something more sustainable, and in a manner that can help reap demographic dividend of a continent where 60% of the population is less than 25 years of age.

A significant number of these SMEs are social innovators, taking head-on critical, persistent challenges faced by income-poor populations in the region. They are creating indigenous products / services, building local supply chains, hiring local people and tapping into local markets at the base of the economic pyramid. A bulk of these social innovators also imbibes a crucial tenet of modern leadership – a business philosophy of sustainability.

For example, among the bright young SMEs we have met in the past year is Sun Culture, an enterprise that sells solar-powered irrigation systems. It defines performance in more-than-revenue terms, to the tune of “USD 400,000 in economic impact, delivered in terms of labor savings, input savings and enhanced crop yields.” Sun Culture makes irrigation systems but thinks of itself as a vehicle for improving farmer income and agriculture output. Africa has emerged as a hotbed of exciting social innovations, which in turn, are playing a crucial role in enabling inclusive growth opportunities and development.

“We are in a Catch-22 situation,” says Revathi Roy, a shareholder in Viira Cabs, a taxi service in Mumbai that employs only women drivers. “We can’t scale up because we don’t attract investors, and investors are not interested in us because we don’t have scale.”

‘Women’s taxi companies’ such as Viira and Priyadarshini Taxi Service in Mumbai, Sakha Consulting Wings in Delhi and related initiatives in other cities have basked in the glow of good publicity. While one has seen actor Aamir Khan become its pro bono brand ambassador, others have ‘walked the talk’ with journalist Shekhar Gupta or been featured on BBC World, America 24 and other channels. Much continues to be written about their smart, sassy, well-trained drivers from low-income families.

Yet, some of these companies are struggling to make ends meet. Take the case of Viira: its chief executive, and Roy’s fellow shareholder, Preeti Sharma Menon, says the business, started in 2011 with an investment of Rs 1.7 crore (British businessman Lord Ghulam Noon is an angel investor), is running at a debilitating loss.

Management attitude is key: The management’s approach and perspective are key towards shaping the organisational culture. The tone at the top is essential when it comes to mitigating fraud in businesses and dealing with issues related to compliance.

Induce a collective conscience: The ethical fabric of an organisation is critical for the creation of sustainable business practices. It is therefore important to develop a code of ethics encompassing the organisation’s core values, which will drive a sense of responsibility into every business association. This will help deter the eventuality of misconduct at an innate level.

Training across levels: The formulation of an ethical framework would be incomplete unless employees don’t understand it. Hence, it is necessary that every employee should be given the right training, as it plays a key role in emphasising the company’s commitment towards curbing fraudulent practices. Ultimately, these sessions ensure that employees are attentive about dos and don’ts and conduct business responsibly.