PROJECT: Green Mango, India
Create a mobile phone-based virtual marketplace for low-income entrepreneurs and their customers in developing countries.

www.greenmangoindia.com

Nandini Pandhi: "I'm delighted to be working as part of a project that prioritizes women's entrepreneurial achievement"

The dotcom revolution of the late 1990s proved the viability of electronic sales tools. But if you live in a country where the Internet isn't readily accessible, how can you take advantage of new communications technologies to grow your business? Nandini Pandhi, a Computer Sciences graduate, has a plan that might provide the answer. Nandini began her career as a computer programmer in California's Silicon Valley during the peak of the dotcom boom. "There was incredible excitement and entrepreneurial energy", she remembers, "a lot of which remains with me even now. But I wanted to try to deploy my business interests in more socially beneficial context, so I enrolled for a Master's in Local Economic Development at the London School of Economics [LSE]."

Market access for entrepreneurs

"I began to form a clearer vision of how I wanted to channel my entrepreneurial ambitions, a vision which involved combating the three principal challenges that the low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries face: lack of access to credit, lack of business information and poor access to markets."
In 2004 Nandini took up a position at Women's World Banking (WWB), a microfinance organization in New York. "This was where I met Yasmina McCarty, now my business partner, with whom I shared ideals, goals and a common background: she too had worked in Silicon Valley in the late nineties."
Nandini and Yasmina began to consider the two other challenges [beyond credit scarcity] faced by the working poor: information paucity and market inaccessibility. Their thoughts led to GreenMango
"We're convinced that there is a way for hard-working micro-entrepreneurs to build businesses that earn more than the current average of 2$ per day. Today, they are forced to compete with their large competitors solely on price because they do not have the marketing power or visibility to compete with them on quality. GreenMango was designed to provide tailors, electricians, carpenters, domestic help and all other working poor labour in urban India with a platform to demonstrate the quality of their work and earn a fair price for their services."

Word-of-mouth, amplified

GreenMango will attempt to change the way business is done in the informal economy by creating a virtual marketplace where low-income entrepreneurs and their consumers can find each other. GreenMango is a search platform where shoppers can browse through virtual, personalized storefronts of local vendors. Unlike any existing local search engine or directory service, GreenMango goes a step further by providing each shopper with vendor reviews from people they know and trust. It brings the collective knowledge of your social network into your shopping experience online. "Our ambition is to level the playing field for low-income entrepreneurs to compete with larger companies in acquiring new customers and growing their businesses," says Nandini.

"I'm delighted to be participating in a competition that prioritizes women's entrepreneurial achievement," says Nandini. "I'm also very excited that through the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards we'll soon be discussing our idea with experts from McKinsey, Cartier and INSEAD. We're keen to garner as much knowledge as we can about how to operationalized our idea. Winning would enable us to start testing the concept on the ground."

PROJECT: Umbrella Vending Machine, China
Quality, advertisement-bearing umbrellas on sale in vending machines at Shanghai's 120 underground transport stations.

Lerui Hou: "You'll never know unless you try"

According to the lyrics of a recent hit record, "There are nine million bicycles in Beijing". If Asian Cartier Women's Initiative Awards finalist Lerui Hou's business plan is correct, there's also a market for some 25 million umbrellas in Shanghai a market which she thinks she knows how to tap. Lerui, also known as "Iota", to remind her of the value of humility, studied for a Bachelor's degree in Economics at Fudan University, Shanghai, before moving to Bristol, UK in 2002 where she took two Master's degrees, in Economics, Finance & Management and then in Legal Studies. She currently works as a paralegal for a Chinese law firm.

Independence through entrepreneurship

Iota's interest in business stems from a desire for long-term independence. "Ultimately, I'd like to have my own charitable fund,' she says, 'but I need to establish a sound financial position for myself first. Managing my own business would enable me to achieve first my professional and then my familial and social responsibilities. I'm currently doing legal work in order to learn about the internal mechanics of the commercial world."
Iota's entrepreneurial experience dates back to her student days at Fudan, where she and some friends set up a canteen in their flat. "Unfortunately, we overestimated the wealth of students in the late 1990s!" she concedes. "Our experiment folded, but it proved a useful learning exercise. And it felt good to have tried." Iota became even more interested in new business opportunities when working for a venture capitalist investment firm in Shanghai after her first degree, an experience which ultimately prompted her to pursue higher education in the UK.

A bright idea for a cloudy day

ota's next move in entrepreneurship came this year, when she learned about the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards. "I was immediately excited by the whole concept. I'm generally quite sensitive to business opportunities, and this was just the chance I needed to focus my entrepreneurial energy. At the time, I wasn't sure what kind of venture to develop but I already had a couple of ideas at the back of my mind. After some careful thought, I narrowed it down to a single proposal"
"Both my friends and I know what it's like to emerge from the metro to find yourself exposed to Shanghai's unpredictable weather [there are over a hundred "wet" days per year, mixed with days of strong sunshine, when temperatures reach 35°C]. My plan is simple: install umbrella vending machines in each of Shanghai's 120 metro stations by 2012. If commuters have left the house unprepared, they'll still be able to keep dry [or out of the sun] by picking up an umbrella on the go," she says.
"The concept is strengthened by the fact that many umbrellas currently on sale are of poor quality, and don't capitalize on their potential as mobile advertisements. I'm aiming to fill both of these niches," she says.

Iota knows she now has a major opportunity before her. "I'm looking forward to receiving input from the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards coaches. I'll be able to learn from top entrepreneurs. I'm also excited that I'll be attending the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, a great chance to meet like-minded individuals."

PROJECT: PEPY Tours, Cambodia
"Sustainable tourism" - project at the intersection of tourism and volunteering where donors have the possibility of seeing where their money goes.

Daniela Papi: "Maximising local benefits gained from global tourism"

An economics graduate from New York State, Daniela Papi is convinced of education's power to affect national development. She has already established a non-governmental organization (NGO) to improve Cambodians access to schooling. Now she sees the "voluntourism" business as the next step to grow her development enterprise.

Daniela herself has long been an enthusiastic traveller, right from the time she took a "semester at sea" programme with other American students in 1998. Stopping off in several developing countries during the 100-day voyage, she began to appreciate the educational opportunities she enjoyed. She also started to consider how she might bring similar chances to less wealthy people in poorer countries.

In 2002, Daniela started to fulfil her educational improvement goals when she established PEPY (Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself), a non-profit organization that began by building schools in rural areas. "Transforming education in rural areas leaves students with better skill-sets, greater opportunity for personal development, and encourages a greater respect for the environment," she says.

An NGO with a business behind it

Now, in 2007, Daniela has seen an opportunity to start a complementary business that combines development initiatives with her other passion, travel. "Many of those who donated to PEPY were keen to see where their money was going. So we organized a tour to take them round our project sites. At the same time, visitors wanted to see the major natural and historical attractions of Cambodia. Combining these activities gave us the idea of PEPY Tours, my proposal for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards competition."
"As part of our plan, we've identified distinct, but overlapping markets to which PEPY Tours is tailored," says Daniela. "There has been a 15% annual increase in tourism in Cambodia in the last five years. Simultaneously, there are increasing numbers of individuals professing a wish to give something back [as volunteers] as they travel."
PEPY Tours will seek to win business from each of these markets by offering tourists both the chance to enjoy exciting adventure activities and to get involved in community development projects. All profits made by PEPY Tours will be invested into the PEPY NGO and other local development initiatives.

Beyond Cambodia

The possibilities don't end there. "If we're successful, we'll launch the business elsewhere in South-East Asia with partner NGOs in other countries. At all times, our priority will be to assist our constituent communities whilst simultaneously offering an important life experience to our clients," says Daniela.

The Cartier Women's Initiative Awards represent the opportunity to traverse a major stage in PEPY Tours evolution. "The concept is clear, but we need expertise to market it appropriately, and capital to launch it successfully. I can't wait to see how the plan evolves as I draw on the knowledge of Cartier Women's Initiative Award business coaches," says Daniela.