entrepreneur

Shell’s Gamechanger programme

Posted on January 10th, 2015 by John Bessant

Gamechanger case

Richard Philpott interview

Posted on December 14th, 2014 by John Bessant

This is an interview with Richard Philpott, founder of TheInnovationExchange and MyGreatIdea as two platforms to enable open innovation.  He talks about the underlying ideas and some of the challenges facing a start-up entrepreneur. A transcript of the interview is below:   Richard Philpott I: We’re very lucky today to have with us Richard Philpott

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Lifeline Energy

Posted on December 7th, 2014 by John Bessant

This case describes the emergence of a social enterprise.  The origin of the organization was in providing low cost radios to improve education and communication amongst disadvantaged populations and this was reflected in the earlier name, Freeplay.  Currently the organization provides a wide variety of support in the field – see their website for more

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David Hall interview transcript

Posted on December 5th, 2014 by John Bessant

David Hall transcript

Arunachalam Muruganantham – user innovation

Posted on November 30th, 2014 by John Bessant

This TED Talk video offers a good example of user needs driving innovation in low income contexts.  When he realized his wife had to choose between buying family meals and buying her monthly “supplies,” Arunachalam Muruganantham vowed to help her solve the problem of the sanitary pad.

Anil Gupta and the Honey Bee network

Posted on November 30th, 2014 by John Bessant

Anil Gupta is the founder of a network supporting entrepreneurs in India and encouraging them to develop ideas for solving some of the major social challenges facing the country.  In this TED talk he explains his approach.

Victor Cui – OneFC transcript

Posted on November 30th, 2014 by John Bessant

Victor Cui – One FC transcript  This is a transcript of the video interview with Victor Cui.

Opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid, C.K. Prahalad

Posted on November 23rd, 2014 by John Bessant

This is a video of a talk given at Maastricht School of Management in 2008 in which he sets out some of the strategic opportunities opened up in the bottom of the pyramid space.  

Nandan Nilekani, Infosys

Posted on November 23rd, 2014 by John Bessant

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is often credited with making India a leader in IT services. In this talk from TED2009, he outlines what has helped India develop quickly in recent years — for example, a willingness to see people as a resource rather than a burden — and what needs to happen for economic growth

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Grameen Bank

Posted on November 23rd, 2014 by John Bessant

Muhammad Yunis won the Nobel Prize for his work in developing the concept of ‘microfinance’.  This video clip explains the basic idea behind the Grameen bank, the venture he established to implement the idea.