Some of the most fascinating topics covered this week are: Business (Know your competition; World's toughest business school), Productivity (Interview with Marc Andreessen), Philanthropy (Surviving disaster gave this founder a new lease on life), Sports (Rahul Tewatia and the romance of the struggle) and Science (What research in Antarctica tells us about isolation)
Image: Shutterstock
At Ambit, we spend a lot of time reading articles that cover a wide gamut of topics, ranging from zeitgeist to futuristic, and encapsulate them in our weekly ‘Ten Interesting Things’ product. Some of the most fascinating topics covered this week are: Business (Know your competition; World’s toughest business school), Productivity (Interview with Marc Andreessen), Philanthropy (Surviving disaster gave this founder a new lease on life), Sports (Rahul Tewatia and the romance of the struggle) and Science (What research in Antarctica tells us about isolation). Here are the ten most interesting pieces that we read this week, ended October 02, 2020- 1) Know Your Competition [Source: The Irrelevant Investor]2) The world’s toughest business school [Source: The Economist]
Karasira Mboniga’s life changed for ever when he started his own business in 2008, selling food and performing money transfers. That business came under threat when the pandemic hit earlier this year. But Mr. Mboniga was one of many refugees to be helped by the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), a charity which started to disburse grants from a special covid-19 relief fund in June. AEC, which started in Rwanda in 2012, has had a focus on job creation from the start. Eventually it realised that helping refugees would serve that aim, as jobs would also be created in the host community. Until the pandemic, it focused on making loans, rather than grants, to small businesses. Its new covid-19 fund was established with help from the MasterCard Foundation, the payment processor’s charitable arm. It has already helped almost 4,000 entrepreneurs; 91% of the businesses that were closed have since reopened.
Sara Leedom of the AEC says the charity has put few restrictions on how the refugees can spend the money. Some have used it to settle debts; some to pay their employees; some to restock the business; some on covid-related issues, such as sanitation; and some have invested in new technology. Many operate small shops, kiosks or cafés; several work in agriculture; and a few in tourism and hospitality. “We were blown away with what was possible,” she says.
The challenges of operating a business in the middle of a refugee camp are enormous, to put it mildly. Almost everyone there relies on aid. Access to traditional sources of finance, like banks, is extremely limited and expensive. Many goods need to be brought in from outside but the Kiziba camp has only a dangerous road linking it with the nearest town. Creating a business gives refugee entrepreneurs two things: a degree of control over their own lives and hope for the future. For those who have languished in such places for years or decades both are invaluable. AEC’s entrepreneurial wards may never become the next Apple or Facebook. But turnover is not the only measure of business achievement. Small can be beautiful.
3) Small firms catch the deadly IOU virus [Source: Livemint]
The outbreak of coronavirus has affected the smaller firms the most. Dhruvam Thaker, founder of car rental company The Smart Taxi, aggressively pursued two customers that delayed payments. They ran up combined invoices of ₹2 lakh. Nonetheless, there was no word on clearing the dues even after four months. After following it up with the respective companies’ CEOs, the bill was cleared. Mr. Thaker is both bold and lucky. Not every entrepreneur can stand up to larger buyers; few small companies have been able to recover stranded payments in a post-covid world. In many ways, they are living their worst nightmare. Bigger customers are holding onto their cash reserves and delays in payments go much beyond the gentleman’s agreement of clearing dues in 45 days.
The list of entities delaying payments include private corporates, ranging from large textile firms and retailers to truck makers and telecom companies. Then, there are public sector units, central and state government departments as well as municipal bodies. About 13,565 cases are currently under consideration at the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council (MSEFC), sometimes referred to as the ‘MSME Court’ since it settles disputes over delayed payments. So, how can this problem be resolved? Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has requested its members to adhere to payment timelines, too. “We said that the small and the medium companies should be immediately paid. We have a very strong follow-up mechanism. Every national council meeting we have had so far, this has been a topic of discussion," Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of CII, said.
Nitin Gadkari, the minister of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises provided an update on the dues payable to MSMEs by the union government and central public sector undertakings (CPSE). Between May and August 2020, the dues totalled ₹12,555 crore; about ₹9,545 crore has thus far been released to clear the pending dues, the minister informed Parliament on 17 September. Apart from requesting private sector corporates to pay up, what can the government do? A top chartered accountant said on condition of anonymity that there is some brainstorming in government circles about a technology platform similar to the National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL). “In all company accounts, any amount outstanding has to be reported. Delays attract an interest. This information today is in disarray and no authority looks at it," the CA said. “A platform similar to NeSL can capture all the information on payments outstanding. The authorities can then move against companies delaying payments," he added.
4) Marc Andreessen on productivity, scheduling, reading habits, work, and more [Source: a16z.com]
In this interview, Marc Andreesen, an American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer, talks about how he plans and manages his day, reading habits, and much more. Talking on his guide to productivity, Marc Andreesen says that he has become a more structured person now. The typical day for him right now is quite literally following the calendar very closely. He is trying to have as “programmed” a day as he possibly can. He also talks about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s open calendar and the upside of having unstructured time in your day and the flexibility you get with that.
On how does he manages to read so much, Mr. Andreesen says, “I’ve really read all the time since I was a little kid, it’s been a lifelong thing. It’s basically trying to try to fill in all the puzzle pieces for the big discrepancies. A great term is “sense-making”. Essentially, what the hell is happening and why? The world’s an incredibly complex and erratic place and trying to figure that out is kind of a lifetime occupation. The thing I’ve tried to do the last few years is really “barbell” the inputs. I basically read things that are either up to this minute or things that are timeless”. He also says how he struggles with finishing every book that he picks up. “I have a whole bunch of books that I haven’t finished which I really should just toss,” he says.
On how and what he does on improving himself, he says, “What you’re always struggling with is to understand what’s actually happening. Like, what’s actually happening on the ground. An obvious example is if you ask an entrepreneur how the company is, they’re always going to say “great”. And that’s probably not right. You’re probably dealing with a hurricane because that’s generally the job. So, what’s actually happening inside a company? What are customers actually buying? What’s actually being adopted? What’s actually happening with the technology? What’s happening with the competition?”
9) The Future of the Entertainment Industry Beyond 2020 [Source: entrepreneur.com]
This year has been a very impactful year for businesses in every industry, and the entertainment industry is no exception. The good news, however, is that just as other industries are finding ways to return to a semblance of normality or innovating new approaches to continue operations, the entertainment industry also has prospects for the future. Here are some of the most important ways the entertainment industry could change going forward. 1) Streaming: “Over-the-top” video content is becoming the most important way that people watch movies nowadays. OTT video revenue for media and entertainment (think: HBO Go, Hulu, Netflix) in the U.S. reached $20.1 billion in 2017, up 15.2 percent over the preceding year. PwC predicts that growth rates will begin to slow as the market matures, but revenue in this area is expected to reach $30.6 billion in 2022.
2) Production and creativity: Across various industries, there has been a commitment by participants to democratize access and promote inclusivity to enable any interested person to access the tools necessary to achieve success. The entertainment industry is far ahead on that curve, as seen in digital platforms like YouTube that allow actors, singers, and other entertainers to showcase their talents while bypassing the traditional gatekeepers. In addition, many services have been established to give performers the opportunity to hire staff such as producers, songwriters, and voiceover artists on the cheap, or to even buy products like ghost-produced songs that they can use without any restrictions.
3) Digital takeover: The shift toward digital has been happening for a while but the events of this year have only served to accelerate it. In 2018, the number of TV viewers fell significantly to less than 300 million. At the same time, the number of OTT viewers grew to 198 million. Likewise, the amount of media ad expenditure that was going to TV fell 2 percent, largely due to a shift in focus by advertisers to digital video channels. The shift to digital consumption is likely to be fuelled to an even faster acceleration by the deployment of 5G networks across the world. The increased reliance on smartphones is also another factor that is likely to have the same effect.