Moved to Rural Track

Dear Readers,

This blog has been moved to a new domain www.ruraltrack.com
All the old posts are available and also with some new and thought provoking articles.

Do leave your comments on the new website www.ruraltrack.com

Nischala

Book Review: Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

In the Indian entrepreneurial scenario, IIMs always play a strong role in connecting various groups in the entrepreneurial ecosytem. It sometimes builds a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their b-plans and sometimes organizes events for like minded people to meet, grow and establish as entrepreneurs.

Where is all this going to....it is leading to a book called "Stay Hungry Stay Foolish" written by Rashmi Bansal, an IIM-A alumni. She has taken time off and scripted this book with a lot of valuable inputs from different entrepreneurs (commanality is all the entrepreneurs belong to IIM-A alumni). It is a compendium of certainly 25 inspiring stories of entrepreneurs. It is not just their entrepreneurial journey but also what are their learnings out of it and what do they have to give as a lesson of the day for their fellow entrepreneurs. The layout is interesting and leaves a message behind for the reader.

Uh! this must be one of the articles on my blog which has the word "entrepreneur" repeated the maximum number of times. That is because the book is all about ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

I strongly recommend this book for people of all ages but, the most important thing they should have to read this book is "entrepreneurial spirit".

Book Review: A Better India A Better World

Good foundation, value-based system, good management and entrepreneurship are the elements dealt in this book. This is a must read for all entrepreneurs (be it a well-established entrepreneur or not). I am not saying this because it is written by a successful entrepreneur, Mr.Narayana Murthy but, because it contains the right ingredients for an entrepreneur to build his/her business. The book has chapters arranged in a perfect order and gives content feeling at the end of the book. Following is the order:

Address to Students
Values
Important National Issues
Education
Leadership Challenges
Corporate and Public Governance
Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy
Entrepreneurship
Globalization
Infosys


My favourite topics are: the sub - chapter Compassionate Capitalism, all chapters of Education and Values.

Typically entrepreneurs brag about their company and the road they have taken, it is more about their own story. This book is not about Infosys, it is about building a value based enterprise. Infact you will see only two chapters speaking about Infosys towards the end.

This is a compendium of the speeches delivered by Mr.Narayana Murthy and to me they are more than just facts. The speeches and filled with words of wisdom.

In short the book moves us to the next level of revelation....as an entrepreneur.

Gaming Industry moving to retail mechanism

Gaming industry is a matured sector in the developed economies but, what India have say about it.

Sector Overview:

The retail gaming industry is segregated into mom and pop outlets and large format outlets. Gaming, is a crucial sector in the entertainment industry sizing upto and $48 billion globally. Of this the console and PC gaming contribute to 50% of its size and this gives us an estimate of how big the retail gaming market will grow into.

What do the players say about it?

Tha major and prominent players in this sector in India are Zapak, 7seas, Games2win, et al.
Zapak, Reliance's big entertainment online gaming arm has a positive feel about the growth of the sector. It has seen outstanding sales numbers in retail gaming through its gaming CDs. The number was about 200,000 units in 6 months. They are moving ahead by launcing 25 more titles.
7seas have also experienced a positive outcome out of the retail gaming sales. They agree with the idea that this industr provides quick returns in 6 to 12 months of time.

The related allies to this industry in India like the distributors of CDs and other publishers believe that this industry has a great growth potential in the coming years. Milestone Interactive which is one such distributor has an offering over 200 console games and about 60 titles in its portfolio. This industry has estimates of 20,000 console owners joining the community every month which would ripple down to lower price bands and more consumers.

Limitations:

With all the optimism this industry has a threat of piracy. Moreover, few players like Games2win have a sense that this is not all that lucrative as it looks as it needs huge capital (~$20 million) to sustain and pull up in this market.

Observation:

Retail gaming industry is going through a phase resembling the DVD rental market in India, though it has some more alarming factors to watch out for in the India economy like lack of computer education, low internet penetration and having crazy consumers as it is case for movies (DVD Rental).

First online microfinance platform

I stumbled over an interesting student start up called KIVA.
This is a person-to-person micro lending online platform.
It has created great transperancy for the lenders to choose whom they wish to lend money. The website provides list of entrepreneurs all over the world, description of their business and loan amount they need.
Once the loan is made the lender can track the progress of the entrepreneur. He will receive his money back over time and can re-lend to the entrepreneurs on the website.

This starts from a small amount of $25 (~Rs.1000). Each $25 goes to a larger loan which helps the entrepreneurs in the developing economies to grow and establish their businesses. All the money crunch a developing economy experiences will be wiped out with this concept. It is very exciting for the entrepreneurs as well as the lenders.