An interview with Gadhadar Reddy, Chief Executive Officer of NoPo Nanotechnologies Private Limited
John Hoffmire: Tell me about your company, NoPo Nanotechnologies. Gadhadar Reddy: I founded NoPo Nanotechnologies in 2011 along with Dr. Robert Kelley Bradley. Our objective was to produce high quality carbon nanotubes and thereby enable applications that would transform life. In particular, we are developing technologies for the space industry that will also help solve some of the biggest problems on earth. [...]
The Hackathon COVID Couldn’t Stop: Season 9 of the Yarl Geek Challenge
A staple event of the Sri Lankan tech calendar, Season 9 Finale of the Yarl Geek Challenge (YGC) has come to an end. A competition organized annually by the Yarl IT Hub, the YGC is known to attract the best in entrepreneurship and technology from the Northern part of the country. Over the years, many of the ideas at the Yarl Geek [...]
An interview with Karon Shaiva, Chief Impact Officer – IDOBRO & Managing Trustee – RISE Infinity Foundation
John Hoffmire: You are the founder of the RISE Infinity Foundation. Tell me more about this social enterprise. Karon: I started the RISE Infinity Foundation in 2014 as an organization committed to serve those in India who are vulnerable, poor, and sick. Our vision is to create a more responsible, inclusive, sustainable, and eco-friendly society that will meet the immediate needs of those [...]
An interview with Jayant Sitaram Karve, Director and Chief Executive Officer of RCupe Lifesciences Private Limited
John Hoffmire: Tell me about your company, RCupe Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd. Jayant: RCupe Lifesciences is a biomedical device start-up focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative solutions for unmet clinical needs in emerging and other markets. Currently we are focused on a much needed ‘Ozyn-D™’, an indigenously developed, novel intraosseous (IO) device for pre-hospital and in-hospital critical care management. John: Tell me more about [...]
An interview With Dr. Mugdha Potnis-Lele Senior Manager – Social Innovations, Venture Center
John Hoffmire: What is the Venture Center? Mugdha: Venture Center is India’s award-winning, leading technology business incubator for science and technology startups. We offer entrepreneurs and startups the widest suite of incubation programs, services, resources, and facilities. With over 75 resident startups at any given time, we are one of India’s largest science business incubators. We support startups developing intellectual property intensive technologies, products, and services in [...]
Efficiently Measuring Progress Toward Poverty Alleviation
John Hoffmire: What did you have in mind that made you want to start Outline India? Prerna Mukharya - Good data leads to robust policy making. Before starting my journey with Outline India, I was a researcher working on grants with think tanks and universities. I realized that as a country we were receiving so much donor money, (philanthropic contributions and aid money), [...]
From humble beginnings to Jaffna’s favourite Palmyrah Boutique – Olai
Agriculture has always played a pivotal role in the development and economy of the little island of Sri Lanka. Its geographic location provides immense benefits in terms of the local climate and rich fertile soil. While crop species that provide the world with tea, rubber and spices have stolen the economic spotlight, the potential of many of Sri Lankan’s other native flora [...]
Putting the Sri Lankan Startup Ecosystem on the Map with ICTA and Startup Genome
Over the past decade, the Sri Lankan startup ecosystem has come a long way. In the past, founders may have struggled to find funding, support, and guidance for their startups. Today, there’s a host of investors, accelerators, and other programmes eager to help young startups grow. Further, these efforts aren’t limited to Colombo, as seen by the likes of the Yarl IT [...]
Five social entrepreneurs to watch in India
When a problem surfaces, most people do nothing more than discuss it – sitting comfortably in the background, even if the issue affects them directly. Almost everyone has an opinion but only a few look for solutions. Even fewer decide to take on the challenge of building whole businesses and careers around not just the search for but the effective implementation of [...]
Yarl Geek Challenge developing products, developing services, developing people
2020 is the ninth year of the Yarl Geek Challenge. In every previous year YGC’s competition started with a 3 day hackathon held in Jaffna. In 2020, the year of COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions, things have changed. The Hackathon will be entirely online via ZOOM, the internet video-conferencing service. With the new ZOOM format, the 3 day hackathon has evolved into [...]
Social Stock Exchange: Financing NGOs
The Government of India took the lead in proactively announcing the creation of a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) a year ago in July, 2019. This is expected to produce a major shift in how social sector projects get funded and can prove to be a gamechanger for the sector, especially considering the post-Covid scenario. While the current crisis has reaffirmed the need [...]
MAS Covid-19 Masks (based in Columbo, Sri Lanka)
One of the organizations that has sent us the biggest number of CRISP scholars is MAS (based in Columbo, Sri Lanka). MAS has presented CRISP Social Ventures with an opportunity to help your entities, protect the health of your fellow citizens, and involve yourselves in a project which could bring a number of you back in contact with one another. Above, you [...]
