Few days back, I just had a short chat with one of the co-founders of an IIM-A‘s Iaccelerator startup and our conversation diverted to an article that was published in Outlook Business. The article tells about how a simple SMS is helping the Indian farmers plan their farming better and in turn helping them generate more profits.

Just came across a very insightful presentation which talks about why rural India is so important & how one can tap the rural market. The most interesting point from the presentation is the statistics about Rediffmail -

Out of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60% are from small towns. 50% transactions from these towns on Rediff shopping site.

Have you ever tried conversing with a small bakery owner about his expenses & his approximate savings at the end of the day ? If you haven’t than better try it out The conversation would teach how a single rupee becomes thousand rupees at the end of the day. Though small bakeries sell cold drinks, juice, other eatables; chai[aka tea] is what yields them the maximum returns[Rs . 2 profit on a single cup of Rs. 3] which shows that it is all a QUANTITY GAME !!! The current issue of Dare contains an interesting list [shown below] of things which retail for Re. 1 or less

After going through the list, I easily could co-relate to the conversation that I have with the chaiwala in my locality … Definitely lot’s of things can help us build a bulk business with Re. 1 !!!

In continuation to the previous article by Scott Fox , author of the best selling book Internet Riches[who is the Guest Writer on this blog]; let us now look at the remaining two factors that would help to create more online opportunities for Entrepreneurs in India.

Note:

“I” in the article refers to Scott Fox.

4. India’s English Triple Advantage: 

With their greater literacy in English, Indian entrepreneurs can continue to capture a greater share of English-speaking customer dollars than entrepreneurs from other countries like China.

This linguistic advantage is important because it allows Indian startups to:

• Compete on a global basis by more easily marketing their e-commerce products and services outside of India into affluent English-speaking markets worldwide.
• Take advantage of proven e-commerce platforms from the U.S. for use in India. Services like Google’s Adsense, Paypal, eBay, Elance, and many others are all available to English-speaking Indian entrepreneurs today, at least for imitation and research if not outright deployment in Indian markets.
• Access the huge amount of technical and strategy information available in English online. Many of the most important lessons learned by American entrepreneurs are well documented online and often available for free. This expertise includes technical documents, the U.S. Patent Office libraries, community forums of all sorts, and even thousands of free email newsletters and e-courses [like those I offer at ScottFox.com] that teach many of the e-business revolution’s tactical innovations for free.

5. Anyone Can Play Online: 

Perhaps most exciting about the E-Business Revolution is the liberation of the creativity of non-traditional entrepreneurs. With little capital required, low risk, and worldwide reach, the World Wide Web offers economic opportunity to a wider class of people, including the disenfranchised, the physically disabled or house-bound, and lower socio-economic classes, than ever before in history. Particular opportunities are emerging to serve youth markets [with more than half of the Indian population under the age of 25], and women [only 23% of Internet users in India are female], for example.

As previous online innovations like eBay, YouTube, Facebook, and CraigsList have demonstrated in the U.S. , it’s difficult to predict how new platforms for commerce and communication can empower people. Today e-commerce’s egalitarian approach to allowing participation and making money is increasingly available to inspire bursts of creativity from Indian entrepreneurs. Additionally, it’s easy to foresee dramatic advances, including the establishment of new billion-dollar companies dedicated to serving the unique needs of previously underserved sectors of Indian society.

Increasingly, the only entry requirements into the race for internet riches are a broadband connection, creativity, and some hard work. As discussed in my book, Internet Riches, and with free updates by email from my blogs at ScottFox.com , I look forward to helping nurture this coming tidal wave of achievement too. I am excited to see the innovative, profitable, and inspiring ways that Indian entrepreneurs of all kinds will find to respond to the opportunities offered by the e-business revolution.

With this closing remark from Scott, I would like to thank Scott for being a guest author on ThoughtsPrevail and hope to see him back in the near future !!!

With Internet growing leaps and bounds in India, the number of online opportunities for entrepreneurs have also grown as well.The growth of internet penetration in India has opened up new doors for Part-preneurs [My terminology for a person who is yet to completely take the entrepreneurial plunge but works on his venture part-time so that one day he can pursue his dreams full-time].

To tell us more about these opportunities, there would have been no better person than Scott Fox, more about him below.

About Scott Fox:

Scott Fox is the Author of Internet Riches, the worldwide best-selling guide to how anyone can use the Internet to start their own business, even without much money or technology. He blogs and offers free email newsletters about e-business success, entrepreneurship, and online marketing advice on his website.
This article is divided into two parts so, without much wait, let us see what Scott has to say about India and opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs online.

Note:
“I” in the article refers to Scott Fox.Before we start, my heartful thanks to Scott for being a guest writer on ThoughtsPrevail.

Internet riches for Indian Entrepreneurs – I
Today the Internet offers to Indian entrepreneurs even more potential for e-commerce success than was available in the U.S. in the 1990′s.

The waves of broadband penetration and low cost e-commerce tools that led to mass adoption of the Internet in the United States are now reaching Indian shores. Although millions of Indians have been online for years, millions more are just beginning to gain access to the global digital marketplace. Most are still connecting at dial-up modem speeds but broadband penetration in India doubled again in 2007. And while the early adopters of e-business in India mirror those of the U.S., these waves have also broadened their reach during the time and distance they have traveled from the U.S. to India to include more people, more kinds of people, and new platforms like mobile phones.

Its huge population alone suggests that India should be an economic superpower. Usually this massive population is viewed as a potentially profitable consumer market to be exploited. I would prefer to see India’s people as a massive natural resource that smart entrepreneurs can leverage to achieve huge financial success. Current challenges in providing basic services like electricity and water will be overcome, and India’s astounding continued economic growth rate offers major opportunities to a new wave of Indian e-commerce start-ups today.

At least 5 factors[with two mentioned in the next article] will combine in India to create exciting new markets and unprecedented millionaire-making opportunities for a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs.

1. Capitalism without Capital:
The low cost of entry for starting a business online is unprecedented. The costs of a PC, broadband connection, and especially the education to put them to work remain significant obstacles. But these foundations of e-commerce success are still so much less expensive than erecting a bricks-and-mortar business that small business ownership is increasingly within the reach of millions who have not fully participated in the economy previously.

2. Low Risk:
Because the e-business revolution so reduces the need for start-up capital, it is much less risky. By starting small online, millions of new Indian entrepreneurs will find that they can build their own businesses without leaving their current jobs, mortgaging their personal assets, or otherwise unduly risking their futures. This ease of market entry introduces increased potential competition but also allows rapid product development iteration, customer feedback, and online market testing to accelerate the success of winning ventures.

3. New Local Market Innovations:
Internet-delivered local services and advertising are sure to spread in India even faster than they emerged in the U.S. Years of U.S. and EU innovation in web site and mobile phone-based services will benefit localization business efforts by Indian entrepreneurs, helping them speedily deploy new tools [whether invented in India or imported] to profitably serve their vast domestic market.

I hope that you found insights from Scott useful as well as interesting.You would find the continuing part in the next article.

Reader Contribution:
Get updated Motivation Quotes by Scott Fox using this Google Gadget by Manish Panchmatia

Some of the readers would be wondering if this blog is turning into an event calendar Of course not, but whenever I write about some unconference or a conference or some other event, we can see “The changing face of a rising India”

While watching CNBC, came across an interesting contest called TheSimplicity Challenge which is open ONLY to students from the age 18-30.

What is the Simplicity Challenge?
You can check the details here

Interesting highlight was the definition of BIG IDEA:

An idea is a business opportunity to improve people’s lives and create value for individuals and communities. If it does that, it automatically makes marketing sense. And the simpler the idea, the more sustainable it is likely to be.

So, there is a Social Entrepreneurial angle to the contest [since, your idea would help in making lives simple & better, which is also the mantra of Philips - Sense and Simplicity].

Terms and Conditions :
You could read them here

Prizes to be won :
From the Simplicity Challenge Website:

If your idea is voted by the viewers as amongst the first 4, you can look forward to prizes like the Philips Ambilight LCD televisions, in addition to all the publicity. And if your idea is judged the Number One, you will receive a cash prize of Rs 15 Lakhs. And, an introduction to a Venture Capitalist, who can turn your idea into a commercial success, and you into the hottest entrepreneur of the year.

More details here , here and here

Few months back , there was an article which mentioned about StartupNation – the radio show in US, which is solely focussed on Entrepreneurship. Guess what , India is also catching up in the rat-race with the launch of a new magazine(on Entrepreneurship)-DARE (Because Entrepreneurs Do) by Cybermedia.The logo of the magazine is very interesting with red R signifying the fire in the blood of the Entrepreneurs .

Few days back, I picked up the first issue of DARE and the content is pretty informative as well as organized. Some of the notable/ interesting sub-sections in the magazine are as given below:

Icon : How to be the next Narayana Murthy [very interesting article]
Funding/Equity : How to get into Private Equity
Opportunity/Idea : This features “Entrepreneur of the Month” – VSS Mani of JustDial
Policy : Insights into Legal Policies for Startups & 15 minutes guide to Trade Marks
Brands : Insight into Brand Management
Campus : Article on Campus Incubation
Strategy/IT : Web 2.0 & Digital signatures

[Note : Website of DARE is coming soon !!!]

All in all, an interesting magazine, which gives an insight into the Entrepreneurial scene in India and a guide to watch out for in future . I guess, time is not far when we would soon have a StartupNation in India as well.

There is already lot of fuss about job losses in US with more and more immigrants going to the US.The outsourcing bug is not only bringing jobs to India but also NRI entrepreneurs,who are now heading back to India.

The Economic Times Network has an interesting article titled “America’s loss may be India’s gain” , on home-coming of the heroes(ie NRI Entrepreneurs ).Some interesting excerpts below:

Read the complete article here (A must read !!! )

Startup Nation is one of the best books that I have read in the recent times.Every page in it is worth keeping in your mind.Let’s ask some general question-What does a person do when he/she travels to the office?Well,you have multiple options a. Chat with your colleagues b. Read some books c. Do day dreaming d. Listen to radio or e. Any other thing…

One of the radio shows that is really popular in Bangalore is Radio City,91.1 FM.Finally,you get a place where you find your favourite songs, RJ’s and also some information on what is happening in your city.Now let’s imagine something…..You have a problem in your career or you are looking out for some tips for your business or anything related to business.In this case,the solution left out is discuss with the people whom you know or discuss with experts Imagine having a radio show for the same, what could have been a better medium than discussing your business/startup issues with experts on a “Radio Show” Should we call it as a “STARTUP SHOW“? This can be related to a show called as “Startup Nation” in the US , which has hosts as the Sloan Brothers – authors of the book “Startup Nation”.Not only is the concept of a Radio Show for Entrepreneurs very interesting but the story of that concept is even more interesting (and worth reading):

Back in the year 2000, most of the companies could not withstand the bad weather and had to be shut down/reduce the staff strength.Also,investors hesitated to fund companies and the market was left really dry.The Sloan Brothers who were already successful entrepreneurs with their creation “Battery Buddy” were finding hard to stay in the market.Their business model was solely dependent on Angel Investors and hence,they were left in a very tough spot

In order to survive the storm, they had to change their business model !!! After speaking to one of their mentors Sam Valenti,they understood that though business has dried up,there is still a huge demand for assistance in starting & running a small business.Companies weren’t hiring -they were only firing.Due to this reason, many people were forced to turn to Entrepreneurship as their solution(to provide them living).Every teacher needs a student and most of the entrepreneurs need mentors(to guide them).This is where they thought of an online radio show called “Startup Nation”,where they would use their Entrepreneurial experience to help other entrepreneurs.

Within few months,StartupNation Radio turned into a big community of like minded entrepreneurs seeking new heights in business and life.On their radio show,they had interviewed the country’s most successful entrepreneurs – people who lead companies called “Super Startups”

This story is really very interesting as well as inspiring.The radio show started by Sloan Brothers was a result of an “Entrepreneurial” ecosystem that was built around it.Basically,it was the need of that particular hour that gave birth to the show.Now coming back to Radio City 91.1 FM,the question is India ready for an “(Indian) StartupNation”show? Do we have an ecosystem which gives birth to more Entrepreneurs? The following article points out that poverty , lack of consumer base and culture are some of the reasons for not having this ecosystem.

What do you say? Is India ready for an online radio show for Entrepreneurs? Caste your vote and have your say.

Many books and newspapers have spoken about “India V/S China” but what about India+China = ChIndia.Imagine the superpower

There is a good article in Times Of India(26th April 2007) ,which focuses on a JV between India and China(ie what if they work collaboratively).IMHO,the best part of this article is: