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Prof.C.K.Prahalad premise that business models can mobilise socio-economic change by engaging the poor in the marketplace profitably is the inspiration behind the ‘Prof.C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India’. The centre seeks to promote entrepreneurial ideas produced by and more importantly for the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BOP). The centre will endeavour to encourage and equip entrepreneurs engaging in BOP market development.

INTRODUCTION

India is a country of extremes – on the one hand it has a rapidly increasing number of billionaires, while on the other over 40% of its population at the base of economic pyramid at $1.25 a day. Almost all products and services created and delivered, both with in the country and outside, cater to the affluent or middle class. Prof. C.K. Prahalad’s much acclaimed book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profit (2004), inspired a new thinking wherein he explained the market potential that remains untapped at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). His book created waves across global corporations that considered this population an unenviable market.

Prof. C.K.Prahalad’s premise that business models can mobilize socio-economic change by engaging the poor in the marketplace profitably, is the inspiration behind the ‘Prof. C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India’. Prof. C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India was set up to stimulate entrepreneurship, research and innovation that engages, involves and benefits bottom of economic pyramid. The centre’s focus for this academic year shall be Entrepreneurship Education and Research in making business contribute to socio-economic benefits for BoP, financial inclusion, CSR, triple bottom lines, impact enterprises, inclusive innovations, sharing of prosperity and business sustainability in 21st Century.

Mission

  • To foster thought-leadership by bringing together research and academic contributions
  • To provide a resource base for other institutions, corporations and individuals who are working with the Base of the Pyramid
  • To foster entrepreneurship by knowledge and resource transfer

OBJECTIVES

  • To undertake research in the areas of strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship, appropriate to the Base of the Pyramid
  • To create a global knowledge base of ideas, practices and experiences for sustainable development
  • To promote entrepreneurship, especially among women and the marginalised, to further social change
  • To connect social entrepreneurs with thought-leaders and key players in business, government and non-governmental organisations to enhance social impact

ACTIVITIES

  • Identify through research, various innovative marketing opportunities, strategies, practices that are sustainable for the Base of the Pyramid.
  • Incubate entrepreneurial ideas focusing on the BOP.
  • Research and publish best case practices, articles and books relating to BOP market development, innovative models identified across the globe on inclusive growth.
  • Conduct seminars and conferences relevant to the aim and objectives of the centre.
  • Liaison with international bodies to enrich the centre’s knowledge base.
  • Recognise and celebrate the success of small and medium scale entrepreneurs through the presentation of awards annually.
  • Promote Social Venture Capital.

ADVISORY BOARD

  • Gopal Srinivasan CMD, TVS Capital Funds Ltd. Convener
  • P. Christie, S.J. Director, LIBA
  • Deepa Prahalad CEO, Anuvva, LLC
  • Arun Maira Former Member Planning Commission of India
  • Arjun Kothari Managing Director, H.C. Kothari Group of Companies
  • R. Gopalan, IAS(Retd) Member, Debts Recovery Tribunal, Government of India
  • Jaithirth Rao Chairman, Value & Budget Housing Corporation, Mumbai
  • Lakshmi Narayanan Vice Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions
  • R. Ramaraj Senior Advisor, Sequoia Capital India
  • Shikha Sharma MD & CEO, Axis Bank
  • A. Xavier Raj Chairperson, Prof. C.K. Prahalad Centre for Emerging India

NETWORKING

The centre has collaborated with national and international organizations to promote research, consultancy and capacity building

NATIONAL

  • Villgro Foundation, Chennai
  • Bharatiya Yuva Shakthi Trust (BYST), Chennai
  • Sonata Software, Bangalore
  • Wadhawani Foundation, Chennai
  • Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIT Madras, Chennai
  • The Sustainability Platform, Chennai

INTERNATIONAL

  • Santa Clara University, USA
  • Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development, Bangladesh

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG BOTTOM OF ECONOMIC PYRAMID

The Centre seeks to promote entrepreneurial ideas produced by and more importantly for the BoP. The centre will endeavour to encourage and equip entrepreneurs to engage in BoP market development. To place India on its socio-economic growth track, out-of-the-box methods have to be adopted to spread the benefits of innovation to millions of Indians below the poverty line. Research is necessary to create products and services that will make life better for the BoP. Research output from the centre should create a support system that will provide innovators access to funding, expertise and resources, and help them transform their ideas into action.

RESEARCH AND CONSULTANCY

Prof. C.K. Prahalad Centre for Emerging India focuses on consultancy, research and training in the areas of strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship enhancing engagement, involvement, and benefits for bottom of the socio-economic pyramid (BoP) Segment. The Centre primarily works towards addressing the current gaps between idea-generation and scaling-up so as to promote viable business opportunities. Listed below are thematic research areas of interest at the Centre. Centre invites expression of interest to design and implement action and policy oriented research from corporates, corporate bodies, international organisations, governments and individuals.

 

Micro-insurance:
The work in this area relates to insurance issues that affect the poor and low-income families. The intern will assist in all aspects of work including research, qualitative and quantitative analysis, data collection and management. The main objective is to develop an understanding of various insurance policies of states, insurance products of companies that affect the poor.
Housing Policy:
The work in this area would need interns to work with state departments, local builders and other accreditation agencies to improve the effectiveness of low-income housing programmes. The housing intern will need to perform in-depth analyses of research reports and analyse data on relevant policy issues.
Rural Marketing:
The work in this area relates to understanding issues of rural marketing. The work would involve travel within India as per project requirements.
Social Entrepreneurship:
The intern will help in in-depth analyses of research reports and programme data on relevant policy issues of micro and social entrepreneurship. One of the important objective is to build a relevant database of various activities involving micro and social entrepreneurs in the country.

INTERNS FOR THE CENTRE

The centre admits interns, international and national from industry, universities, management institutions, governments and R&D Centres. The Intern’s assignments include individual work and special projects. Applicants should have an interest in research, fact-gathering, writing, analytic, and computer skills and a willingness to learn. Students may be required to travel within India as per project requirements.

EVENTS AND CONFERENCES

The Prof.C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India is in collaboration with Villgro Foundation, ALTIS, University of Milan and GSBI, Santa Clara University for the Social Entrepreneur and Enterprise Development (SEED) program. The program works on identifying budding entrepreneurs, those whose initiative addresses social issues and provides them with not only capital investments but also mentors them through the entire scaling- up process. The first of the training session was held between 30thOctoberand3rdNovember, 2012 at MGM Beach House with the selected cohort of entrepreneurs. Student interns from LIBA and ALTIS took part in the program. The next part of the program: January 16th – 19th, 2013: 4 days in-residence session and 28th February – 2nd March, 2013: 3 days in-residence session.

INAUGURATION OF CENTER

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The center was formally inaugurated today by M.K Narayanan, West Bengal Governor and K.V Kamath, Chairman, Infosys Limited at a function organized by LIBA. Mrs. Gayathri Prahald, wife of late C.K Prahalad   Mrs.Gayathri Prahalds speech   and other prominent business leaders who attended and spoke at the event are Mr. Venketrama Raja, MD & CEO, Ramco Systems Limited; Fr. P. Christie, Director, LIBA; Fr. Casimir Raj, Director, Prof. C.K. Prahalad Centre for Emerging India, Prof. Bala Balachandran, Professor Accounting Information & Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Dr. M. S. Krishnan, Professor & Chair of Business Information Technology, Michigan Ross School of Business Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Capital Funds Limited, Prof. Jay Amaran, Vice President, Global Determinants, Inc. USA, Dr. Sridhar Mitta, MD, Next Wealth Entrepreneurs Pvt. Ltd, Mr. R. Gopalan, Secretary, Economic Affairs, Govt of India, Fr Sebasti L. Raj, SJ, Governing Body Chairman, LIBA , Mr D. Shivakumar, MD & VP Sales, Nokia India and Mr. Bhadrashyam.H. Kothari, Chairman H.C. Kothari Group of Companies, President, Loyola Alumni Association.

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Speaking at the inaugural event Fr. Christie, Director, LIBA said, “The C.K Prahalad Center is among the institute’s efforts to play a role beyond academic education and to play a larger role in creating the global knowledge base and helping develop the long-term strategy and platform for growth in certain important areas such as the BOP market. Besides creating a wealth of knowledge on ideas, practices and experiences for sustainable development through research papers, articles, conferences and books, the center will also incubate entrepreneurial ideas focused on the base of the pyramid and promote social venture capital. We are indeed proud to be acknowledging the efforts of one or our most eminent alumni of Loyola College, the late C.K Prahalad and I am happy we will be continuing with his efforts to recognize the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.”

Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai, established in 1979, is a premier Jesuit institution consistently ranked among the best business schools in the country.  The institute lays stress on holistic learning with particular emphasis on excellence and ethics.  It seeks to achieve the same by forming men and women imbued with a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. Considered as a rick resource centre for research and innovation, LIBA has several international collaborations and many centres of excellence to ensure that cutting-edge business ideas and practices are introduced and infused in its students.  One more noble efforts to achieve the vision is the launch of the Prof. C.K.Prahalad Centre for Emerging India.

Faculty

Professor M.A. Kalam

Dean – Administration and Regulatory Affairs, Krea University, Sri City, A.P. is an Adjunct Faculty, Professor of Applied Social Sciences at C.K. Prahalad Centre. He is an accomplished academician, researcher, and administrator. He has held positions in University of Madras (Professor and Head, Department of Anthropology; Chairperson [Dean], School of Social Sciences; and Adjunct Professor, Centre for Ocean and Coastal Studies), and as Professor of Eminence at Tezpur Central University, Assam. He has been a Rockefeller Resident Fellow at Duke University, Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University, Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow at the London School of Economics. He has taught / visited institutions in Europe, US, Middle East, and East Asian countries. He has published over 50 articles and 5 books. He also wrote a column during the mid-1990s in Catalyst for the Hindu Business Line on consumer consumption and behaviour.

Professor Kalam has conducted anthropological fieldwork among the South Asian diaspora in England, France, and the US.

His administrative experience includes nominations as member in NAAC Peer Team, Academic councils / advisory committees at various universities, Tribal Research Centre (GoTN) and as Governing Council Member of the ICSSR. He was also a Member of the High-Power Committee set up by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, GoI, to develop a Diversity Index in the wake of the Sachar Committee Report.

His specializations are Diaspora, Ethnicity, Bio-diversity/Resource Management, Migration, Urbanisation, Governance, Development Management, and Inclusive social, economic, and political processes.

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 Dr. J. Sadakkadulla

Adjunct Faculty at C.K.Prahalad Centre, have had a career as Central Banker with 35 years of distinguished service in the Reserve Bank of India. Involved in a number of working groups for improving / streamlining banking services in India appointed by Governmentsada

and published over 20 papers. Participated in international symposiums and conferences – Federal Reserve Bank NY, Harvard University, UN-ESCAP etc. and was awarded the RBI’s Golden Jubilee Full Scholarship for Overseas Study to pursue a masters programme in Finance at the Arthur D. Little School of Management/ Boston College, where he graduated as Dean’s Fellow.

Had been an active academic for over a decade teaching Economics, Banking and Finance. He was Principal of RBI Staff College and implemented a plan to strengthen research focus.

Specialisation include financial inclusion, development banking, micro-finance, interest free finance, and institutional credit for rural poor, besides Risk measurement and Management in banks and Financial Institutions, and central banking.

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Dr. SiluvairajaMR.SILUVAI

Dr. A. Siluvairaja is presently the Deputy Chairperson, Admissions, LIBA and former Chairperson of the Informatics Centre, a CSR Initiative of LIBA. A certified “Entrepreneurship Educator” by Stanford, IIMB and NEN, he has over eight years of experience in the industry and has been with the institute for the last sixteen years. He has designed and conducted several EDPs, seminars, and workshops. He has published papers, articles and books. He has developed Career Planning modules for the students. His areas of interest include Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Career Planning and General Management. He teaches Marketing and Entrepreneurship courses at the institute. Besides several paper presentations he has published a book on “Educational Entrepreneurship’. He has conducted several EDP’s for aspiring entrepreneurs. Apart from identifying, organising, executing various real-time projects he has also co-ordinated the RITES (Rail India Technical & Economic Services) sponsored National Study “To identify the Passengers Preferences inside the Rail Coach”. He has also assisted in US Aid sponsored action Research project of WLSME LIBA-CISSD project.

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Mr.A.Xavier RajDr. A. Xavier Raj

Dr. A. Xavier Raj, Professor of Entrepreneurship Management and Chairperson of C.K.Prahalad Centre, LIBA and Adjunct Faculty (Honorary Position) in National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc. Campus (Bengaluru) has worked with global market research and consulting firms: 15 years with Blackstone MarketFacts, Synovate, and Ipsos. Established two specialist divisions during this tenure. Core expertise include setting up profit generating business divisions, Project Management (multi country), Strategic Consulting, Humanitarian Assistance, Development Communication, Design Thinking, Incubating Startups, Inclusive Innovation, Social Transformation, Capacity Building, Ethnography, Research and Analytics. As an Entrepreneur founded TSP Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd., Serendip Boutique, TechLoyola Organics and YX Infra. Currently mentoring 10+ startups at Loyola Inclusive Innovation Impact Centre (L3iC). Taught in University of Madras – Social, Cultural, Applied, Ecological and Developmental Anthropology / Sociology, Culture and Management, and Business Sustainability (IMBA Programme in Stella Maris College).

Chairperson

A. Xavier Raj, Ph.D.

Phone : +91 44 2817 8200 / 28177100 Ext. : 196
Fax : +91 44 28173183
Mobile Phone : +91 9840073926
Email : xavier.raj@liba.edu

Articles 

  1. Xavier Raj. 2014. “Saving lives through rural ambulance services: Experiences from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, India” in UN ESCAP transport and communications bulletin for Asia and the Pacific, No. 84. 2014. http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Bulletin%2084-Full%20text.pdf
  2. Siluvairaja. 2015. “Educational Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu – A Profile”, Journal of Entrepreneurship & Management, Volume 4 Issue 1. http://www.publishingindia.com/jem/50/educational-entrepreneurs-in-tamil-nadu-a-profile/370/2664/
  3. Siluvairaja. 2016. “Self-supporting Higher Educational Institutions in Tamil Nadu – A Profile”, Excellence in Education – A Peer Reviewed Journal, Volume V, Number 1, Jan-Dec 2016
  4. A. Kalam. 2017. “Spatial Segregation, Discrimination, and Allied Dynamics in Internal and International Migrations” in Kerala Sociologist, 45 (1) June 2017, Pp.10-18
  5. A. Kalam and A. Xavier Raj. 2017. “Entrepreneurship in India: Is There a Level Playing Field?” in Arena, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, 21 September 2017. http://www.thehinducentre.com/the-arena/current-issues/article9865753.ece
  6. A Paper titled, “Indian Diaspora Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley and IT Hubs and Startups in South India,” presented by M.A. Kalam at Global Conference on Indian Diaspora Studies and Policies, 05-07 October 2017 at International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands, has been accepted for publication. http://gcids2017.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Mohammed-A.-Kalam-Full-Paper.pdf
  7. A. Kalam and Hira Singh. 2017. “India’s Race Problem: Ignorance and Denial” in The Social Scientist, 13 October 2017
  8. A. Kalam. 2017. “Towards Genuine Pluralism” in The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, 13 November 2017. http://www.thehinducentre.com/the-arena/current-issues/article9955057.ece
  9. A. Kalam. 2017. “A Winter of Anguish – On Ayodhya from Bradford” in The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, 09 December 2017. http://www.thehinducentre.com/the-arena/current-issues/article9980947.ece
  10. Siluvairaja. 2017. “Marketing mix and Policy Implications – Suggestions to Stakeholders”, International Journal of Business Management and Scientific Research, Vol- 28 (1) April Issue 2017. http://eminencejournal.com/images/pdf/AL7.pdf
  11. Xavier Raj and Kern Luke Agrawal. 2018. “Startup Trends in 2018 – Working in Startups or Starting Their Own Venture” in CKP Centre webpage.
  12. Francis David Kullu and A. Xavier Raj. 2018. “Artificial Intelligence Optimism Vs Pessimism: A Conceptual Insight” submitted to LIBA Journal of Management.

BYST Mentor Chapters:

A formal group of Business Mentors formed under the aegis of Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust in to Chapters. The objectives are:

  1. To facilitate networking among members
  2. To take stock of activity levels and plan for future activity
  3. To facilitate a process of learning collectively
  4. To interact periodically with entrepreneurs

CKP Centre for Emerging India, LIBA, provide technical assistance and venue support for the monthly mentors meeting (from North chapter).

Tiny/SSI Sector Core Group Meeting:

Tiny/SSI sector growth in Indian economy is a reflection of fostering development of small and medium enterprises. While contributing to GDP, it’s income generation gets distributed among aspiring citizens to share economic growth dividends. Set against this backdrop, core group plans to study and analyse deeper malaise and opportunities getting lost in making the existing units survive and grow and encourage a lot of new enterprises and bring the study results to the attention of authorities in policy formulation and execution. Another objective is to facilitate creating a private, non-banking finance facility on easy terms to further growth in Tiny/SSI sector. CKP Centre for Emerging India, LIBA, provide technical assistance and venue support for the Core Group meeting.

Symposium on “RAMRAJYA: Welfare State” and Base of the Pyramid:

CKP Centre in association with Loyola Inclusive Innovation Impact Centre (L3iC) organised a Symposium on “RAMRAJYA: Welfare State” and Base of the Pyramid on 28 February 2018 @ R.No.303, LIBA. Dr. Jagmohan Singh Raju, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary/Chairman and Managing Director, TEDA was the Lead Speaker. Other Panelists included: Prof. Shashanka Bhide, Director, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), Mr. S.R. Nageswaran, Director, ITCOT Consultancy and Services Limited, Prof. M.A. Kalam, Adjunct Faculty, CKP Centre and Dr. J. Sadakkadulla,  Adjunct Faculty, CKP Centre.

 Knight Hennessy Scholars Program:

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is a new graduate-level scholarship aimed at preparing the next generation of global leaders to address the increasingly complex challenges facing the world. Starting in fall 2018, Knight-Hennessy Scholars will annually select up to 100 high-achieving students with demonstrated leadership and civic commitment, who will receive full funding to pursue a graduate education at Stanford. CKP Centre in association with Loyola Inclusive Innovation Impact Centre (L3iC) supported Mr. Jeff Wachtel, Executive Director, Knight-Hennessy Scholars program, in facilitating the participation of students from LIBA, Loyola College and LICET, provided technical assistance and venue support. The program took place at LIBA Auditorium on 26th February 2018.

 Business Idea Contest 2018:

Business Idea Contest (BIC) was organized as a culmination of BYST 25th Anniversary Celebration Valedictory, based on the theme “Empowering young Grampreneurs™ to create jobs”. Grampreneurs™ – Microentrepreneurs with their value chains spread across small towns and villages. The event was organized in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Micro Small Medium Enterprises – Development Institute (MSME – DI). CKP Centre in association with Loyola Inclusive Innovation Impact Centre (L3iC) supported the BYST team. CKP Centre coordinated the interface. The deadline for the contest was 24th February 2018.

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