With almost every investor out there claiming deep commitment to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) cause, one issue on which there is surprisingly little debate is that of cryptocurrencies.
Investor enthusiasm for these two new buzzwords in the investing world is high, but few people are ready to admit that they are mutually exclusive: you cannot claim to focus on ESG and own Bitcoin at the same time.
Continue readingAs more politicians become aware of the need to do something about climate change before we’re all swallowed by the oceans we came from, discussions are focusing on how to measure what countries are doing about it and what steps to take to contain it.
An accounting trick that could save the planet should perhaps be given more attention: adjusting each country’s gross domestic product data by the effect that particular country has on climate change.
Continue readingEven those who still do not believe that climate change is a serious threat to our way of living will need to pay attention: it could turn out to be the next Black Swan for financial markets.
Continue readingBy Sourajit Aiyer
This article was originally published in InBusiness Dubai.
Start-ups interest me; I have been involved with one that my friend started. I helped him with his investor pitch documents and was part of a group of friends who provided him with bridge funding. When he had to raise working capital, I helped set up meetings for him with some venture funds and intermediaries.
Not just my friend, but I, too, have had invaluable learning. Discussions with my friend, his colleagues, investors and intermediaries helped me develop my own perspective on managing and, more importantly, measuring start-ups.
In case you are thinking of investing in a start-up, then you might want to check if the company you want to invest in is looking at these points:
By Sourajit Aiyer
Following up on my article on the 10 faces of South Asia’s rural consumer, let’s take a look at the best strategies to reach these clients and unlock the potential they represent for your business.
By Sourajit Aiyer
The rural consumption opportunity (including the non-metro towns) has been a common topic of discussion in several investor conferences in India recently. However, one is largely dependent on literature written from the financial centres, with limited primary visits into the hinterland.
This limits the content’s practicality, given the heterogeneous rural landscape. Moreover, the standard demographic approach to segment rural consumers may be misleading, since their behaviour is impacted by several realities, not just demographics.
Why they buy as they do, and how they behave when it comes to buying, are questions that on-the-ground observations can help understand better. Using my own experiences from visits made into the interiors of Bangladesh and India (Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Kerala, etc), I have my own understanding of local people in these places, and I feel the 10 segments below may be useful to categorize the rural consumers across heterogeneous regions.
By Sourajit Aiyer
This article was originally published by Huffington Post India.
Gartner, the IT consulting major, said at a recent conference that a digital disruption to business occurs approximately every three years, while talk at the World Economic Forum on the 4th Industrial Revolution also focused on similar lines.
This is why it’s time to take a look at how these factors may change the way we look at, and measure, our businesses, whether as an owner or as an employee.
By Mirela Roman
Central bankers have been striving to bring inflation down for a long time. But ironically, they took a U-turn after the financial crisis and are now trying to heal the wounds via negative or near zero lower-bound rates, “unorthodox” stimulus such as quantitative easing or various forward guidance and communication techniques.
As words almost became monetary policy tools, prices continue to stay stubbornly low or on a downward path. But there is one thing that bucks the trend, and its swings are even more sensitive to the way central banks talk than those of inflation.
A small caps super-cycle whose strength will take many in the markets by surprise is about to begin, according to fund manager Gervais Williams.
A change of direction so subtle that it is going unnoticed for now has begun in the economy – and investors will soon have to acknowledge it and learn to take advantage of it.