"How do you manage business objectives and social objectives?"

HEC Social Business Conference: Our Decision Today, Our Impact Tomorrow
Keynote speaker: Emmanuel Faber, Co-Chief Operating Officer, DANONE.

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The Zero Carbon Car

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A 'green' entrepreneur's success story

It has been 25 years of entrepreneurship for Pramod Chaudhari. A successful entrepreneur, he describes his experience as an exciting journey full of ups and downs. Read the complete story here.

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Engineering with a Cause – Chewang Norphel, Ladakh

Meet Chaweng Norphel – better known as the Glacier Man of India, who has developed a simple technique to harvest water into an “Artificial Glacier” using simplest of locally found materials and pipes. Norphel has made seven such glaciers. One artificial glacier costs just $7,000, compared to $34,000 for a cement water reservoir! Read on..

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Action or Omission: Triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit

You really cannot judge events in life till quite some time has flown by, and you realize what has been achieved compared to how much could-have been. In a recent reading of the "LESSONS FROM THE POOR: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit", (edited by Alvaro Vargas Llosa and foreword by James D. Gwartney), I could see the mind boggling story of how extreme poverty can be mutated into abundance by the entrepreneurial efforts of the people of Nigeria. To quote the book,

Half the people in the world live on two dollars or less per day and roughly 600 million live on no more than one dollar per day. With thousands of international relief organizations, strategic government programs, and billions of dollars in foreign aid, why do so many underdeveloped countries remain unable to grow their economies beyond mere survival?

Many a times, you may have heard the phrase, 'change is unavoidable'. But, I feel, progress is something that is in our hands. Change and progress differ in the direction they lead us. And in this context, it is important to remember the mantra, that 'entrepreneurial spirit is the best catalyst for progress (not just change)'.

Folks, mostly women, have used their entrepreneurial efforts in creating wealth, without no governmental wealth. Why I titled this post as 'Action or Omission..' is primarily because of the attitude of the government towards these workers and they have proved that in either case, an entrepreneur can succeed. In stead of helping, the policies of the government have at times been road-blocks to their progress, but it seems these measures have failed to deter anyone in the long run.

Indigo dyeing has been an old industry and more of a culture amongst the residents than a source of earning.

How many cultural aspects can you think which can become commercial venture, able enough to wipe-out poverty and create wealth as an alternative to redistributing wealth? Have a read.. 'Lessons from the Poor'.

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India's smallest satellite - TOI

Brief from TOI: BANGALORE: These engineering students are in no hurry to have fun after classes. They linger in the labs instead of accepting campus placements. They are on a mission possible: they are busy building the smallest satellite for their country at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore. Full Story

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Nothing But Zero: Nissan Electric Car

Text from Nissan's official site:

Zero emissions isn't a future endeavor. It isn't hype. It's happening.
Right now Nissan is doing everything it takes to make electric driving a daily reality. Starting with a pure electric car. Not a hybrid, not even a plug-in hybrid. But a zero-emission electric vehicle made for the real world of highways, morning commutes and everyday living.

USA Today's Review: Click Here

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The Next Energy Innovators - BW

BusinessWeek and GreenBiz.com have assembled a list of 25 intriguing energy startups, including young companies that tap geothermal heat, turn waste into biodiesel, and more By Pete Engardio and Adam Aston (Full Story)

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'Closer-to-life' Tech

One of my articles published on the NSRCEL Blog

With the buzz about cleantech going around, it seems to be very interesting to find companies investing more and more technologies that are closer to the survival issues of living beings. What started as a revolution in the auto industry with the introduction of diesel and gasoline as the driving fuels for automobiles, has now turned into a simmering source of pollutants that very well threaten the climate around us. It is like all the oil in the oil wells of the globe has been spread out horizontally over the earth through numerous vehicles and has been put on fire.

What exactly does the word clean mean in the term cleantech? Is is clean with respect to the harmful substances spewed by any process or is it the re-cyclability factor of any substance that makes it 'clean'? Apart from the auto industry, there are thousands of other processes which need to employ cleaner technologies and we have seem some improvements due to cleaner methods being used. If you look at the textlie industry, or at the pharma industry, there are numerous holes to be plugged. We are sitting in a room that is fast getting filled up with water and while we are busy plugging the bigger holes, the smaller holes are getting bigger.

When you look at startups and cleantech together, it seems to be a major fad that people are going with. With numerous b-plans that bank upon emerging technologies and industries, based on principles of biology, resource efficiency, and second-generation production concepts in basic industries. To begin with, there is an estimation of the human-caused results of industrialization - examples include: ozone hole, acid rain, desertification, and global warming.
In the 2007 report compiled by Dow Jones VentureSource, numbers show a strengthening trend in clean technology investments worldwide. A record sum of over $3 billion was poured into 221 clean clean technology deals globally in 2007, representing a 43% increase compared to $2.1 billion in 2006.
Looking on the innovations side, people are going to the very limits of their imagination - we have a working model of a battery that sustains itself on 'air'! (Have a look here.) The new design has the potential to improve the performance of portable electronic products and give a major boost to the renewable energy industry. The batteries will enable a constant electrical output from sources such as wind or solar, which stop generating when the weather changes or night falls.
We are moving closer to sustainability - we got to maintain balance - for, like all of us, our planet too is vulnerable beyond an extent! Any thoughts?!

The World Without Us

A good pic to think on! Thanks to ArchiDose.org.

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