Ajaita Shah
Bio
Ajaita Shah is the Founder of Frontier Markets. She has 5 years of microfinance experience in India with organizations like SKS Microfinance, and Ujjivan Financial Services. Ajaita has worked on numerous development projects in 7 states in India. She has consulted with the World Bank about microfinance in South Asia and Latin America. She served on the Committee of the Social Performance Task Force. Ajaita Shah holds her B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.
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Ajaita Shah says:
A natural expansion of the Shokti Doi initiative begun along side Muhammed Yunus in Bangladesh, the Danone Group has announced its plans to expand to scale in India with the brand Fundooz. Yunus has written about this new approach to business as the future of the industry, albeit with a different ownership and community...In Reference To:
'India is to be a beachhead market for us': Danone - Economic Times
Ajaita Shah says:
This article focuses on the ReadySet- a one-stop solar charging device with lantern- that was designed for use in Uganda, but has found demand in the US as well. It is a case study in "trickle-up innovation," and a "slick product designed for the bottom of the pyramid for first world consumption." The fact that this...In Reference To:
The Solar Charging Kit for Africa You Want for Your Own Home | Design on GOOD
Ajaita Shah says:
This article brings up several considerations regarding novel challenges in marketing to the BoP--that is to say, a marketing approach that breaks from traditional models. In a sense, this sort of marketing is unprecedented in that the BoP customer has until recently been an afterthought, and therefore is yet to be well...In Reference To:
Frugal innovation: the key to penetrating emerging markets - Ivey Business Journal
Ajaita Shah says:
As the article contends, social business is no longer a niche enterprise. Especially after microfinance and mobile banking, these models are no longer to be seen as just doing good, but indeed offer substantial capital generating opportunities. The reality is even low-cost products have immense potential in the...In Reference To:
Social innovation must be in core curriculum - FT.com
Ajaita Shah says:
It is an exciting time in our history when large investments are directed toward metrics of impact rather than solely return. The question is, how to define impact in these cases, and measure it quantitatively. For that matter, the idea of impact investing opens a whole new can of worms--Who is to decide these metrics?...In Reference To:
Interview - Daniel Izzo | .
Ajaita Shah says:
Brilliant engineering is certainly the major selling point to the ReadySet, as well as relevance to both BoP and mainstream markets' daily needs. However, Fenix International's true success in this case relies on it's strategic partnership with a telecom company as the most effective way to market to the rural BoP. It...In Reference To:
Mobile Energy at the Base of the Pyramid « Presidio Graduate School Blog
Ajaita Shah says:
While we are at the beginning of understanding and utilizing social enterprise for community development in the US, the phenomenon has noetheless attracted smart, strategic, on-the-ground groups like the investing network in this article. With entrepreneurial energy and the right sort of capital, this country may start...In Reference To:
Geri Stengel: How Impact Investing Can Revitalize Distressed Communities
Ajaita Shah says:
Jugaad is a quintessentially Indian management paradigm, which has contributed in no little part to India's baffling rise in recent years. In a way, it could be chalked up as finding order in chaos, but the recent blackouts were proof that such an ad hoc approach can reach its limits. The challenge remains separating...In Reference To:
All hail Jugaad? Understanding the latest management fad from India
Ajaita Shah says:
Clearly, the way the world views the social potential of business has shifted. But nonetheless, social businesses still depend on the first bottom-line --namely, sales--if the other two are to be reached. It is imperative to separate these two within a social enterprise's mission, without assuming need in the BoP...In Reference To:
Why so much “BoP” marketing fails in the developing world « Africa's Emerging Consumer Markets
Ajaita Shah says:
The case for market-driven solutions to poverty has never been more salient. We are at a crucial turning point where private business may begin to see the BOP as a viable market for business, and by doing so facilitate distribution and access to eliminate the poverty penalty.In Reference To: