Building businesses, technology, and the middle class
Policy Post #248
Dear reader,
The Policy Post this week brings to you
Rwanda’s use of drones to bypass mountains and roads for blood delivery
The structural crisis facing the Indian middle class
Building businesses: how to build and how to verify growth
As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.
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Reading time: 3 minutes. Let’s get into it!
⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?
💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week
The middle class is the fastest-growing major segment of the Indian population in both percentage and absolute terms, rising at 6.3% per year. It now represents 31% of the population and is expected to be 60% in 2047.
This video discusses the structural crisis the Indian middle class faces. It examines collapsing job prospects, falling real wages, and the shift from corporate careers towards entrepreneurial thinking in India today.
👀What caught our eye
Rwanda tripled its blood donation rates between 2000 and 2018 using drones.
One of the country’s major challenges in providing blood to those in need, especially in rural and remote areas, is the country’s terrain - including impassable mountains and damaged roads.
Rwanda uses a drone technology called ‘Zipline’ which cuts blood delivery times down from four hours to just 15 minutes in some cases. It avoided the cost of stable road networks and electrical grids by leapfrogging to drone deliveries.
⚡The Catalyst Corner
In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst
How do we know a business is thriving?
Increased turnover, reduced costs, improved supply chains, and secure livelihoods for the workers.
What are some ways an organisation can help a business thrive?
By providing
Marketing assistance: Onboarding support to small and large businesses on major B2B and B2C e-commerce platforms to amplify profits.
Financing Services: Easy access to unsecured term loans for small and large businesses.
Digital services: Providing automation software to help increase productivity and reduce the cost of doing business.
These are a few strategies used by the Business Catalyst program to assist 500+ factories, 5000+ women-owned businesses, and 50,000+ MSMEs.
💼Careers Corner: 100s of opportunities across the policy and impact space every week!
A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.
📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!
⁉️Policy or Parody?
🌷PPI Referral Program: Help us grow our community
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See you next week!