Ahhhhh…blurb blrb. This is the sound of my brain trying to fight through jet lag to come up with some semblance of a proper sentence with the greater goal of making an interesting post which is seeming somewhat unattainable right now. Nonetheless I shall power through and hopefully won’t scare away my followers.
It is 3 am when I walk out of the airport into the balmy air. I thank god that it is early and that I still have time to get used to the humidity before the high temperatures at noon. I look at the expectant faces of people holding up signs for various visitors. My driver nods as I point to his sign and goes off to find his car. Two young men “help” me wait for him, but really want to get paid for touching my bags. I get whisked away by my driver through the mostly empty streets. There is the de rigueur honking that is accompanied by a flashing of the high beams.
My hotel room is fabulous. The Crescent Park Hotel in Nugambakkam (not to be confused with the Hotel Crescent Park) is wonderful. I have to find out how much my work is paying for this room. I get high speed internet and hot showers! Not to mention the A/C and TV. Luuuuxxxooorryy!
My big escapade for the day was a trip to Spencer’s Plaza. It is a bustling shopping mall with shop after shop of salwar kamis, kurtas and saris (Shelley – they had some salwars that they sold separately, however they had designs on them that I wasn’t too crazy about and they came with a duppatta – I am going to go to the major market tomorrow and hope I will have better luck there). There are also electronic stores and eateries (I had forgotten about the cookie place there). I just bought about 60 movies on 3 DVDs for about $12 (which I am sure was way over priced).
Okay, I feel I have done my “first day” duty and have managed to put a few words together. Hope all is well where ever this posting may find you!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
India in a Week!
First off, I’d like to share a little bit about what takes me to India. I have been hired as a research assistant through Ideas42, a research institution out of Harvard. Ideas42 works with a research organization in India called IFMR, which I interned with during the summer of 2007. I interned with IFMR’s Center for Microfinance, but I will now be working for the Small Enterprise Finance Center (SEFC). The SEFC conducts research related to small and medium enterprise (SME) development. A lot of times this research takes on the form of an impact study of a particular financial product or service. SEFC helps financial institutions design the financial product to be tested and then does a formal impact analysis with a randomized treatment and control population.
Other than this, I really do not know what exactly I will be working on when I get to India. I don't even know where I will be living! I will start out in Chennai, which used to be called Madras, which lies in the South East in a state called Tamil Nadu.
My background is in microfinance, but I have a keen interested in SME development as well (this is originally what I thought I would specialize in when I started my master’s degree in 2006). What is interesting to me is the perceived gap in financing between microenterprises and large companies that is currently not being adequately addressed by the financial sector. Microenterprises are finding sources of capital thanks to the work of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Large companies have access to the traditional capital markets (though things aren’t looking so good these days). SMEs have a little more trouble as they need more money then MFIs can provide, but many times do not have the assets required by traditional lenders in order to guarantee a loan . With 24 million people employed in the SME sector in 2002 (sorry my stats are out of date) and $17 billion in output that year, India has an interest in seeing the success of this sector. But how can they facilitate growth while managing risk and not creating stifling bureaucracy? This is what my next year will be devoted to learning.
Other than this, I really do not know what exactly I will be working on when I get to India. I don't even know where I will be living! I will start out in Chennai, which used to be called Madras, which lies in the South East in a state called Tamil Nadu.
My background is in microfinance, but I have a keen interested in SME development as well (this is originally what I thought I would specialize in when I started my master’s degree in 2006). What is interesting to me is the perceived gap in financing between microenterprises and large companies that is currently not being adequately addressed by the financial sector. Microenterprises are finding sources of capital thanks to the work of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Large companies have access to the traditional capital markets (though things aren’t looking so good these days). SMEs have a little more trouble as they need more money then MFIs can provide, but many times do not have the assets required by traditional lenders in order to guarantee a loan . With 24 million people employed in the SME sector in 2002 (sorry my stats are out of date) and $17 billion in output that year, India has an interest in seeing the success of this sector. But how can they facilitate growth while managing risk and not creating stifling bureaucracy? This is what my next year will be devoted to learning.
Side Project – love those textiles!
I also have a bit of a side project that I am already excitedly preparing for. I am working with Shelley Muzzy to have a few clothing pieces created in India. Our hope is that we can set up a system to have things made and shipped to her lovely store, Bijoux, in Bellingham (http://www.bijouxtradingcompany.com/). My visions of grandeur have Shelley creating her amazing designs and me flying around the world to find ways to have them made from traditional fabrics and cooperatives (can we say Indonesia, Laos, Thailand as well?). I’d love to throw in some microfinance into the mix as well…if I am going to dream, I am going to dream big!! I am already mapping out the important markets and shops I will be mining for interesting fabrics in Chennai. Here is my map if anyone is interested in checking it out (there are loads of other goodies like restaurants in there).
Hopes and Expectations
My hopes for this trip are that I can bring something valuable to Ideas42/IFMR/SEFC (you’ll find that I may use these interchangeably) and that in turn this year is a year of pleasant growth for me with the excitement of exploring more of the country I was so fascinated with during my 2007 trip. I also anticipate the development of new colleagues and hopefully some life-long friends. Lastly, I hope to gain a new understanding of business in India both as an outsider and an insider (go textiles!).
Wow, that sounds so nice and neat. Okay, here are my actual expectations: That there will be frustrations with work, but I will try to deal with them with patience and understanding. That I will have a lot of alone time where I will be forced to discover new ways to entertain myself (without the aid of hulu :-) That I will get sick of the hustle and bustle of the city, but will escape to quieter and more calm sanctuaries like my apartment, an ashram, and the trail as I trek about with friends and (hopefully) family. That the heat will “get to me”, but that I will stake out all of the best A/C places in town. That I will discover that a year of curry is a lot of curry, but also find that my mad passion for curry knows no bounds. That I will get sick, but hopefully not too sick. That there will be times where I will wish to be anywhere but where I am and that hopefully a screening of Pride and Prejudice will successfully take me there. That the time will fly, but hopefully I will be able to appreciate it as it goes by.
Wow, that sounds so nice and neat. Okay, here are my actual expectations: That there will be frustrations with work, but I will try to deal with them with patience and understanding. That I will have a lot of alone time where I will be forced to discover new ways to entertain myself (without the aid of hulu :-) That I will get sick of the hustle and bustle of the city, but will escape to quieter and more calm sanctuaries like my apartment, an ashram, and the trail as I trek about with friends and (hopefully) family. That the heat will “get to me”, but that I will stake out all of the best A/C places in town. That I will discover that a year of curry is a lot of curry, but also find that my mad passion for curry knows no bounds. That I will get sick, but hopefully not too sick. That there will be times where I will wish to be anywhere but where I am and that hopefully a screening of Pride and Prejudice will successfully take me there. That the time will fly, but hopefully I will be able to appreciate it as it goes by.
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