Month: November 2020

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MSME

MSMEs to Get a Boost As D&B India and NSIC Ink Pact to Create Ecosystem for Promoting and Fostering Growth of Micro, Small & Medium Businesses

A worker at an MSME firm
A worker at an MSME firm. | Representative image.

New Delhi, November 5: In a bid to foster the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises, Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India has signed an agreement with the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). The pact aims to create an ecosystem for promoting, aiding and fostering the growth of MSMEs. A statement said, the partnership between the two will help MSMEs in India to increase their visibility, expand access to global markets, find potential customers, uncover new suppliers and channel partners, manage risk and identify growth opportunities.

With the new pact, MSMEs will also be able to leverage platforms like D&B Credit to make credit decisions, monitor the financial health of customers, assess credit risk and identify portfolio trends. The partnership will provide Indian MSMEs with access to Dun & Bradstreet’s suite of data and analytics solutions via NSIC’s countrywide network of offices and technical centres.

Julian Prower, chairman of the board and MD, Dun & Bradstreet India said, “By working with the NSIC, we expect to play a pivotal role in enabling the eco-system required to accelerate MSME growth and help achieve the government GDP contribution target of 50 percent of GDP by FY 2025.” Dun & Bradstreet India will also partner with NSIC to provide customized training and certification programs to help MSMEs better navigate the ever-changing global business environment, the release stated.

Categories
Startup

What is the Difference Between a Startup And Small Business Venture? Here Are 3 Key Differences

Startup Vs Small Business Venture
Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Bangalore, November 5: Startup is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model. A startup is often confused with a small business, however, there are key differences which one needs to understand in how they function.

Amid the tough market conditions, it is difficult to run a small business and more difficult is to see a startup grow.

Growth Plans

Startups are different from small ventures mainly because they are designed to grow fast on limited resources internally. Startups have an essential need for rapid growth.

Small businesses also seek growth, but more conservative growth which includes creating reliable, long-term income streams.

Funding:

Apart from having different growth strategies, startups seek financial investment differently than most small businesses. Startups rely on capital that comes by means of angel investors or venture capital firms. On the other hand, small business ventures may tend to rely on loans and grants from financial institutions.

A startup requires constant investment at every stage of their growth, which will help them to reach the next level. This is the reason, why user number metrics are so important to startups as they indicate what percentage of their target market has been achieved.

Risk-Taking Capability

Compared to small business ventures, startups have an aggressive risk-taking capability. A startup undertakes several risks like- product risk, market risk and financial risk. For a startup, it is also very important to know their customer and why, how and where they buy related products is arguably the most important risk factor to assess before launching the product. For startups, the risk is mainly tougher because the product is new and it will be a different experience for the public.

Small businesses also take risks, but they are usually of a different nature. The time to prove their success in the market is usually more.

Categories
Technology

Facebook Rolls Out ‘SMB Guide’ to Help 9 Million Indian SMBs in Building Digital Presence and Reaching Potential Customers Online

Facebook (Photo Credits: Pexels)

New Delhi, November 4: With an aim to help the micro and small businesses in India to limp back to normalcy, social media giant Facebook on Wednesday rolled out a dedicated offline to online ‘SMB Guide’. In order to help these businesses recover from the pandemic-induced crisis, Facebook has come up with new resources to help make this journey frictionless for them. Reports inform that this offline to online SMB Guide for India is free and publicly available. However, the social networking giant is also proactively reaching out to nine million small businesses across the country to ensure it reaches the businesses who need it the most.

The SMB Guide is available in Hindi as well as in English in order to support a large number of businesses across distinct geographies. Archana Vohra, Director Small and Medium Businesses, Facebook India, said in a statement said that the new resources are geared to helping the smallest of businesses across geographies to move from offline to online with minimum effort. “”While the offline to online SMB Guide is publicly available, we are proactively reaching out to 9 million small businesses across India to ensure timely support”, she said.

The SMB Guide:

According to a report by IANS, the SMB Guide has been designed to provide a step-by-step direction on how the smallest of businesses can build a digital presence quickly, and reach potential customers online. The guide covers Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and key themes such as building an online presence, mobile storytelling, social media advertising, and creative and performance strategies.

The social networking giant said it is also rolling out the next leg of ‘Boost with Facebook’, a skilling and learning programme for scaling young businesses. The programme went virtual earlier this year, and is now going vernacular, and will be delivered primarily in Hindi through Facebook Live sessions. One of the key themes discussed during Boost with Facebook will be how small businesses can build for Diwali and the festive season beyond it, the company said.

Categories
MSME

Good News! MSME Business Activity Returning to Near-Normal Levels, Tier 2 & 3 Witness Faster Recovery Than Tier 1 Cities

Startup Growth
Startup Growth (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, November 4: It comes as a ray of hope amid the pandemic that the business activity of the micro, small and medium enterprises is returning to near-normal levels. According to a report published on PTI, the SMEs are rapidly developing a digital business tool to increase efficiency and growth.

The positive sign is that out of 36, 16 states and Union territories have witnessed business activity levels higher than pre-covid times. The data gathered by startup OkCredit further pointed out that business activity in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi are trending at 90-95 per cent of their pre-COVID levels.

A similar positive trend is being witnessed in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana, Assam, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh.

The report further mentions that businesses activity in tier 2 and tier 3 cities are witnessing faster recovery than tier 1 cities. This has been attributed to the rise in micro-retail players increasingly taking up digital bookkeeping solutions.

 

Categories
Startup

Startups in India: 6 Women-Led Startups Win COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge Organised by MyGov in Collaboration With UN Women

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

In a major boost to women-led startups in India, six startups by female entrepreneurs have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge organized by MyGov in collaboration with UN Women. MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, launched the COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge in April 2020 to encourage and involve women led startups to come up with innovative solutions that can help in the fight against COVID19 or solve problems that impact a large number of women.

After thorough screening, 25 startups were shortlisted for presentations to the Jury which included Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM, Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer (CTO) Microsoft India, Dr R Ramanan, MD Atal Innovation Mission, Nishtha Satyam, Dy Country representative, UN Women India and Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov. In addition to the earlier announced reward of Rs 5 lakhs for the top 3 winners, UN Women was generous enough to agree to reward Rs 2 lakhs each to the 3 startups chosen for their promising solutions.

Top 3 Female Entrepreneurs Who Won Are:

  1. Dr P Gayatri Hela is the founder of Bengaluru-based Resada Lifesciences Private Limited that designs and develops home and agricultural-based products using plant extracts instead of synthetic chemicals. As per Gayatri, germs and other bacteria/viruses become resistant to chemicals over time, whereas nature always has a way of fighting back against these organisms. For Shri Shakti Challenge, Gayatri submittedherinnovative product which is a non-alcoholic hand sanitizer that is  relevant not only for COVID- 19 but also for other infections. The idea had come to her in 2017, when she was battling the SARS pandemic with her with her one-year old daughter.
  2. Romita Ghosh,a cancer survivor, is the founder of Shimla-based iHeal HealthTech Private Limited which is a healthcare start-up that has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID and has been providing PPE kits to hospitals. Romita has also built a Made in India UV sterilization box for safe reuse of PPEs and masks that can help reduce costs for hospitals and other service providers.
  3. Dr Anjana Ramkumar and Dr Anushka Ashokan are the product manager and co-founder of Kerala based Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited have come up with the innovative solution of an anti-microbial solution that could be sprayed into handkerchiefs or dupattas for making them safe to be used as Face Masks. This also made it easier to protect kids. Their innovation is simple and scalable and can help convert any piece of cloth to anti-viral mask within minutes by a simple process of spraying and drying with their unique formulation.

Top 3 Startups identified as‘Promising Solutions’are:

  1. Vasanthi Palanivel, is the CEO & Co-Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen BioTherapeutics Private Limited.As a scientist and researcher, she studied the symptoms and impacts of the virus and realized that the lungs were one of the worst infected organs in COVID and she has developed a plasma solution to treat respiratory distress due to COVID-19.
  2. Shivi Kapil is the cofounder of Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labsthat focuses on healthcare, and took the pandemic as an opportunity to design solutions for pregnant women who could not go to the hospital due to risk of infection. Shehas designed Kriya, a wearable device for daily monitoring of pregnancy. The IoT-embedded product provides alerts and suggestions to expecting parents for timely action.
  3. Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar – a mother daughter duo are the founder and co-founder of STREAM Minds, and ed-tech company that works on promoting Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Arts, and Mathematics education among school children across India. They have designed ‘Dobot’, a fully automated robot which acts as an in-house delivery assistant to make hospitals and healthcare clinics safe from the risks of COVID19.

MyGov congratulated the winners of Shri Shakti Challenge and hope that the solutions developed by them mature into full-blown products, and can scale up into robust solutions that help in our fight against COVID19; and of course also help address challenges facing women. All the winners and the participants of Shri Shakti Challenge are true testimony to the talent pool that exists in India and this challenge will go a long way in promoting women entrepreneurship in India.

All 25 selected startups presented their solutions to the Jury which evaluated the solutions proposed by the startups on the parameters that included innovation, usability, relevance and impact of their idea on the society. After thorough review, 11 finalists were chosen for the next stage. All the 11 selected startups were provided a prize money of Rs 75,000 each to further develop their ideas.

After giving time to the 11 Startups to develop the solutions, the final presentations were again made to the Jury on October 27, 2020. The quality of the solutions presented was excellent and the Jury had a tough time evaluating them. After intense discussions and deliberations, the Jury selected top 3 entries as winners, and in view of the high quality of solutions presented decided to recognize 3 additional entries as ‘Promising Solutions’.

This was a unique challenge hosted on the Innovate platform of MyGov that called for applications from women led startups as well as startups who have solutions that address issues faced by a larger number of women. The Challenge was implemented in two stages: Ideation stage and Proof of Concept (PoC) Stage. The challenge received an overwhelming response with a total of 1265 entries, from across the nation.

Mentorship sessions were organized to enable graduation of the ideas into Proof of Concepts that can be scaled up. These sessions were topics that included Business Modelling, Financial Modelling, Legal Certifications, Digital Marketing, Product Design, Art of making Pitch and were conducted with the support of NASSCOM, Industry Experts, and the Atal Incubation Centre  at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

Categories
Business motivation

Franchise Business: The New Favourite Business Trend Of Independent Entrepreneurs

Business Expansion Ideas

Ever thought to yourself what exactly does franchise mean? A franchise is nothing but an extension of an already established business. It is a process where owners of an MNC or an extremely successful business sell the right to use their business logo, name, model to an individual or group of individuals. This is done to further the presence of a brand as much as possible.

What All Should be Taken Care Of?

  • It takes a franchisee to firstly pay a respective amount to the franchisor to buy the right to operate the same business, with the same logo, same name, and same business model.
  • Franchisors also may prude the particular territory to the franchisee to operate the business.
  • Franchisees then need to settle on a time period with the franchisors within which they can operate the business, which normally varies somewhere from 5-10 years. 
  • It is also important to decide on the royalty payment that is usually paid on an annual basis. A royalty payment is defined as the payment made by one party to the other for owning a particular asset

Why Should You Choose Franchise Business?

A franchise is amazing when it comes to offering independence of business ownership supported by the benefits of an already established and thriving enterprise. To successfully run a franchisee you don’t need some fancy degree or experience in the business territory. 

You will be given proper training and guidance by the franchisors to operate the model. If you are hesitant to start your own business, running a franchise would be perfect because the success rate is way higher. Last but not least, because you will have a well-established name attached to you, generating funds would be much easier.

But There Are A Few Catches. . .

Be very aware of the fact that you will be formally into an agreement with the franchisor. We are counting this as a catch as franchisees will have little to no room to showcase their creativity at any point in time.

You will have to endure interference in regards to the place you want to operate at, the products you want to sell, and the supplier you want to work with.

Just like one bad apple spoils the entire lot, other franchisees might also have to take a hit when one of the franchisees perform badly.

No matter what the situation is, you will be sharing your profits with your franchisor.

Low-Cost Franchise Business Opportunities

If you have your heart set on buying a franchise, you sure should go forward with it. One fact that is going to help your ambitions is that there are many websites in India itself that could help you with starting a franchise business. You will be offered categories and price ranges to choose from to invest your money in. Some of the websites would also provide the options to choose from the brands available for starting the franchise business. Following are a list of few websites:

  • Franchiseindia.com
  • Startingfranchise.in
  • Fai.co.in
  • Smallb.sidbi.in
  • Franchisemart.in
  • Franchiseasia.com

All in all, franchise business sounds like an amazing option. However, don’t let the perks overshadow the fact that it takes equal amounts of hard work, sincerely, and dedication to making this business viable and successful. If you promise to put your best foot forward, the journey will be worth your while.

 

Categories
Business motivation

MUDRA Loan: Eligibility Criteria And Documents Required

MUDRA loan was introduced by the government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) to help smaller enterprises, non-corporate and non-forming, meet their financial needs both to cover up the capital as well as the operational costs to set and run a business. In this article, we will stress on the eligibility to apply for a MUDRA loan.

These loans have surely been designed to help the small and micro enterprises, however, there still are some eligibility criteria that a business or an individual needs to fulfill to qualify for getting a loan under this scheme.

Mentioned below are the entities that can apply for this loan.

  • Those with a minimum age of 18 years and a maximum of 65 can consider applying for this loan.
  • These loans can be provided to the non-farming non-corporate income-generating businesses in trading, manufacturing, and services.
  • The requirement of credit must be ₹ 10 Lakh or lower.
  • Businesses must be engaged in agriculture services from 1st April 2016.

What Are The Financial Bodies That Are Allowed To Give Out Mudra Loans?

  • Each and every bank, be it a public bank, a privately owned bank, or a regional rural bank, is eligible to provide these loans to small businesses, however, for banks to give out these loans, there are some criteria to fulfill.
  • For a bank to be providing MUDRA loans, it should  have to profitable for 2 consecutive years
  • The net performing assets for the public sector banks, private sector banks, and regional banks should not be more than 15%,10%, and 6%.
  • The net worth of the bank in question should be Rs 250 cr for the private and public sector, while regionals banks need to have a net worth of Rs. 50 cr

Who All Can Avail MUDRA Loan?

You might be wondering what are the kind of businesses that can actually move forward and benefit from these loans. Worry not, we have summed it up for you.

  • Individuals that identify themselves as Shopkeepers and vendors, can apply for a loan ranging up to ₹ 10 Lakh for different business activities such as covering the operational costs.
  • This loan scheme is super useful and beneficial for small businesses that are trying to make a mark for themselves in the textile industry. For example that deal in khadi work, knitting, weaving, etc.
  • Mudra funding can also provide benefits to the businesses that are into food services such as storage of food, tiffin services, and food stalls.
  • Loan under this scheme can be availed by the businesses that are into agricultural activities such as dairy farming, poultry, fishing, etc.
  • Businesses that are into social entrepreneurship and those serving other communities to provide services such as beauty parlors and salons, gymnasiums, dry cleaning shops, medical shops, tailoring shops, etc.
Documents for Vehicle Loan
  • application form of Mudra Yojana
  • Vehicle loan application form
  • 2 passport size photos
  • Identity proof such as Aadhaar Card, Passport
  • Address proof such as Aadhaar Card, telephone or electricity bill
  • Income proof
  • Bank statement for last 6 months
Documents for Business Installment Loan
  • application form of Mudra Yojana
  • Loan application form
  • 2 passport size photos
  • Identity & age proof such as Aadhaar Card, Passport
  • Address proof such as Aadhaar Card, telephone or electricity bill
  • Proof of ownership of the enterprise/residence
  • Proof of qualification, establishment, and business continuity
  • Trade references
  • 2 years ITR & CA certified financials
  • Bank statement for last 6 months
Documents for Business Loan
  • application form of Mudra Yojana
  • Loan application form
  • Identity & age proof such as Aadhaar Card, Passport
  • Address proof such as Aadhaar Card, telephone or electricity bill
  • Proof of ownership of the enterprise or residence
  • Proof of qualification, establishment, and business continuity
  • Proof of business continuity
  • last 12 months Bank statement 
  • Last two ITRs

We hope with this detailed account and prerequisites of MUDRA loan, it would be helpful for you to uncomplicate the entire process because post the documentation and application are the funds you have been trying so hard to get to establish your dream business. Give it a good thought and go for it.

Categories
Business motivation

Franchising Guide: Popular Industries To Consider While Trying To Invest In A Franchise Business

The franchise business has rightfully earned its popularity because of the perks that it offers such as the name and recognition that comes from an already established brand, the training and support, guidance all along, and a chance to work with the seasoned professionals. What more could you ask for?

However, according to a very popular opinion, franchise business is almost restricted to the food industry only which is a complete fact that we are about to bust in this article. The chairman of Franchise India takes pride in presenting the fact that The franchise industry in India is today estimated to be at USD 47-48 billion. With the help of this article, we are bringing up a few industries which, if explored well, can become a lucrative business and help this number go even higher.

Spa and Salon Industry

In today’s day and age, everybody wants to look and feel great and this is where the spa centers and salons come into play. This industry is experiencing a surge as people, be it any gender or age, are not shying away from spending a good amount of money in exchange for getting taken care of their rejuvenation and beauty in the best way possible.

However, opening a successful spa and salon isn’t that easy and it may take you years to turn into a profitable affair. This is where salon and spa franchises help you. Let’s take the example of TONI&GUY. This is an international name in the hairstyling industry and many people in our country wanted to enjoy their service. Only with the help of the franchise did we all get access to their services and nobody is complaining. In the same way, you too can look for an opportunity that is best suited to your needs.

Education Industry

Believe it or not, this industry generated a business of 91.7 billion and is expected to do a business of around 101.1 billion in the coming years! These numbers are huge and you can become active participants by contributing to the growth of this sector. There are a plethora of opportunities available to explore. If this holds your interest, you start researching opportunities in different kinds of training centers, schools, grooming centers, pre-schools, aviation centers, etc.

Apparel Industry

Now that we have access to global media and fashion trends around the brand, we are more interested than ever to try different kinds of styles and supreme quality clothes. Apart from the food industry, this is one industry that has become a raging success in India when it comes to the franchise business. Apparel retail has been working really well and is supposed to do a great business of $1576 billion by the year 2026. Consider this your chance to make the most of it by encashing this wonderful franchise opportunity. 

Final Thought

If you are one of those who want to be an entrepreneur but do not want to create and build a business idea from scratch, franchise business is the best for you. A well-thought-out Investment in a franchise is a great way to enjoy the benefits of entrepreneurship while enjoying the expertise and name of the established brands.

Categories
MSME

Amazon, Flipkart & Other E-commerce Sites Attract SMEs to Help Them Accelerate Their Business in the Festive Season

Online Business
Online Business

Mumbai, November 3: Online e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Amazon and others are seeing increased participation from several Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) ahead of Diwali 2020. The online platforms are also trying to woo the SMEs to help them accelerate their business amid the pandemic.

Some of the other e-commerce platforms like Nykaa, Myntra, ShopClues, Snapdeal, TradeIndia, and others are also giving the local business community a platform to onboard and sell products, hand-holding them through the processes.

Customers were given the opportunity to shop for unique products from thousands of Amazon sellers under various programs such as local shops, Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Saheli, and Amazon Karigar.

According to an Economic Times report, this surely comes as a positive sign as a survey by Neilsen had predicted that more than 85 percent of SME sellers on Amazon had expected to reach out to new customers and see an increase in sales. These businesses came up with interesting offers to attract the attention of the customers.

This pandemic has taught small companies to adapt to technology to accelerate growth, open up a market that had in the past viewed technology companies as competitors.

Categories
Business motivation

MSME Credit Health Index: New Indicator Launched to Help Govt, Policymakers, Lenders & Others to Measure the Health of MSME Sector, Check Details

Ministry of MSME
Ministry of MSME (Photo Credit: PIB)

Mumbai, November 2: In order to boost the MSME sector in the country, TransUnion CIBIL in partnership with the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has launched the MSME Credit Health Index.

This becomes very important as the MSME Credit Health Index will provide government, policymakers, lenders and MSME market participants, a unique and reliable numeric indicator to measure the health of the sector.

Here are details about the MSME Credit Health Index:

The MSME Credit Health Index is built using credit data submitted by lending institutions to TransUnion CIBIL. The index measures the credit health of India’s MSME industry on two parameters: Growth and Strength.

Growth will be measured by plotting increase in exposure value (outstanding balances) over time and strength is measured by a decrease/ increase in credit risk in terms of non-performing assets (NPA).

The first version of the MSME Credit Health Index is based on data from March 2018 to June 2020. Rajesh Kumar, MD and CEO, TransUnion CIBIL, in a statement mentioned.

According to reports, the MSME sector has seen an increased level of NPAs in the last two years due to a slower rate of economic growth. The cash flows of MSMEs have been impacted over a period of time thereby limiting their ability to service debts. This has resulted in the Strength Index reflecting a decreasing trend.

 

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