There are 36 million entrepreneurs in India. Most of them never succeed.
Simmi Sareen, an analyst at Morgan Stanley for twenty years, knew that the world of big finance was closed to most Indians. It helps to be in the same network as people with money: 78% of Indian entrepreneurs who raise follow-on funding are graduates of a few exclusive universities.
As one anonymous entrepreneur said: “There are really two Indias. I call one India – where the rich people are. I call the other Bharat – the original Sanskrit name for India. Most of the investor money is going to India. It doesn’t extend to Bharat.”
Simmi knew that the system was biased against lots of high-quality entrepreneurs. She left the world of big banking to start her own lending company with partner Balawant Joshi, Loans4SME.
Their innovation is simple but profound. When an entrepreneur applies for funding, they look at fundamentals like cash flow, rather than things like whether the business has collateral – a metric that favors entrepreneurs who come from family money.
This has made Loans4SME one of the go-to financial partners for India’s renewable energy and cleantech startups. To date Loans4SME has developed partnerships with 25 lenders, representing more than $100 million of committed capital.
Simmi and Balawant graduated Village Capital’s 2016 Fintech India investment-readiness program, where she met one-on-one with investors from Accion Venture Lab, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners, as well as PayPal senior leaders that offered their years of experience in product development and operations.
She said that as a first-time entrepreneur, the program helped her take a step back. “You get too involved in the day-to-day of just running your business. The workshop helped us step back and think of strategy.”
Simmi says that entrepreneurs have the answers to solving the world’s biggest problems. “If the existing solutions work, they would have already worked. New thoughts have to come in a new way.”
Our newsletters share the latest about our programs, trends, ecosystem leaders, and innovative entrepreneurs in the impact world. Get the latest insights, right in your inbox by subscribing:
Village Capital needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, please review our Privacy Policy.
Last week we announced the twelve startups selected for our Food and Agriculture US 2018 program.
Read more
With all the work that goes into establishing a startup, developing a marketing strategy may not be at the top of a founder’s to-do list. Understandably, it can be daunting to equally prioritize all the different aspects required to launch a successful business. This is why it's important to have the right team, and community of like-minded entrepreneurs to develop the right expertise for your business.
At Village Capital, we’re constantly looking for ways to support startups engaged in our programs by providing a platform where they can continuously share their challenges and learning from each other. In line with this, we recently hosted a Sales and Marketing learning session for our future of work alumni in India, during which Siddhesh Joglekar the Vice President of India's largest ed tech Company, BYJU's, shared some key lessons he’s learnt along the way that could help fellow entrepreneurs stand out in this space.
Read more
The global fashion industry is responsible for nearly 10% of the world’s carbon emissions, making it one of the most polluting sectors globally. At the same time, only 12–15% of discarded clothing is recycled, with the rest ending up in landfills, contributing to massive waste accumulation. The fashion industry's environmental footprint is profound in the Middle East, where over 70% of clothing is imported.
Read more