Building Business − A Regular Anthology of Professional and Business Development Articles

A collection of article summaries from various sources (with links to actual articles) focused on Professional and Business Development.  We’ve collected them in one spot, so you can easily scan, review and apply to your career and business.

A Better Family Business Succession (SmartBrief) – Whether you plan to leave your family business to one child or sell it to a third party, open communication with your children and family is key, writes Louis Pashman, who breaks down three possible succession scenarios.

Protect your personal assets when seeking business loans (SmartBrief) – Many small-business loans require a personal guarantee that can put your family’s assets, including your home, at risk. If you must agree to such a guarantee, lawyer Richard Reinis offers some advice: Tell your spouse, limit your exposure, narrow the conditions for enforcement of the guarantee and take out insurance in case of a worst-case scenario.

Good innovators know how to figure things out (SmartBrief) – At its core, innovation is simply the art of figuring things out, writes Dennis Stauffer. That means that the basic skills of good innovators are transferable to almost any situation or problem. “The more skilled we become at figuring out, the more likely we are to find success in any endeavor,” Stauffer writes.

Advice for getting started, from an old hand (SmartBrief) – Launching a venture can be “exhausting, ego shattering and (at times) infuriating,” writes serial entrepreneur Farid Naib, but it’s also “one of the greatest thrills in my life.” To anyone thinking of taking the plunge, he says to go for it, be ready to fail and be prepared for growing pains. And don’t be shy about asking for help, he advises.

Is it time for your business’ checkup? (SmartBrief) – As 2011 nears the halfway mark, it’s a good time to take a step back to evaluate your finances, operations and what you could be doing better, say experts. “Give yourself time to make some adjustments,” said Christina Cardenas. Other experts advise examining personnel needs and inventory as well as accounting and financial processes.

Where to find government money for your business (SmartBrief) The federal government awards cash grants to small businesses every year, but unless you operate in a handful of industries such as biotech, health care or clean energy, you’re better off pursuing state and local awards, writes Louise Lee, who offers tips for getting your share of government grants.

5 Tips For Deal-Making Under India’s New M&A Regime (Law360) – Even after an extensive last-minute rewrite of the regulations, India’s brand new merger control regime — which went into effect this month — will force dealmakers to live with some amount of uncertainty, experts say, at least until regulators tackle a few test cases. Until then, experts say companies should keep these five things in mind when negotiating tie-ups that could have an impact in India.

Richik Sarkar is a partner at Ulmer & Berne LLP, a Cleveland based law firm with a national practice.   In addition to practicing law, Richik is trying to reactivate the Cleveland Chapter of Net-IP.  For more information about Richik vist his LinkedIn Profile.

Building Business − A Regular Anthology of Professional and Business Development Articles

A collection of article summaries from various sources (with links to actual articles) focused on Professional and Business Development.  We’ve collected them in one spot, so you can easily scan, review and apply to your career and business.

Buying a Company for Its People (From Dealbook) − Sometimes you buy a company for its product, and sometimes for its people. Tech companies in Silicon Valley are snapping up start-ups to get their founders and engineers, then jettisoning what they actually make, The New York Times reports.

How to find spare minutes in your busy schedule (From SmartBrief) – Do you go to the bank during lunch breaks? Schedule meetings without a definite end time? Power through busy days without breaks? Changing just a few habits can add precious minutes to your day, Dawn Foster writes.

Why good leaders use guidelines, not rule books (From SmartBrief) - West Point’s disciplinary code listed hundreds of infractions until officials realized it was more effective to outline broad criteria for distinguishing “minor” and “major” offenses, and let leaders use common sense in implementing the guidelines. Most organizations could benefit from a similar willingness to issue flexible guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules, writes Mike Figliuolo. “You hire people because they’re smart. Try giving them a little latitude to demonstrate their smarts and judgment.”

The reason you shouldn’t turn down a committee assignment (From SmartBrief) – Participating in a professional organization is important to developing valuable relationships that can help your career, Lyan Fernandez writes. Being on a committee “puts your appetite for involvement, initiative and leadership in the spotlight among potential prospects and employers,” Fernandez writes.

Richik Sarkar is a partner at Ulmer & Berne LLP, a Cleveland based law firm with a national practice.  In addition to practicing law, Richik is trying to reactivate the Cleveland Chapter of Net-IP.  For more information about Richik, visit his LinkedIn Profile.

LAST CHANCE – Few Hours Left to Help Grameen Foundation Fight Poverty

Vote Now  – www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/vote

Grameen Foundation is in the final countdown. It’s still in a tight race with a very strong competitor where EVERY vote counts. After battling for the last 12 weeks for a $200,000 grant from American Express, the Foundation is hoping to put this money to good use helping the world’s poorest.

NetIP, our support is crucial. With an outreach to over 40,000 South Asian Americans and the drive to succeed, we have the voters Grameen Foundation needs to get this grant and help empower the poor in South Asia – and throughout the world – by providing access to microfinance and technology.

Let’s create a world without poverty!

If you’ve already voted, thank you.  If not, please take the time now – it will only take a couple of clicks and minutes of your time. You can vote once from each e-mail address you have.

And no matter what, please encourage everyone you know to vote for Grameen Foundation before 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, August 22nd. This is the last weekend!

A vote for Grameen Foundation is a vote to make poverty history!

Thanks,
All of us at Grameen Foundation

P.S. After you vote, please spread the word to your friends!

Tweet this:

Join me and #netipna in fighting global #poverty w/ #microfinance & VOTE 4 @GrameenFdn to win $200K! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF #Vote4GF

Tell your friends on Facebook. Copy and paste this text as your status:

LAST CHANCE! Vote before 11:59 p.m. PDT to help Grameen Foundation create a world without poverty by providing microfinance and technology products and services to the world’s poorest, especially women. Make a difference! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF plz RT

URGENT ACTION REQUEST – Your Vote Could Help Grameen Foundation Win $200,000 to Fight Poverty!

Vote Now  – www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/vote

As you may know, NetIP has chosen to raise funds and awareness for Grameen Foundation’s work in South Asia.  NetIP believes in Grameen Foundation’s mission to enable the poor – especially the poorest – to create a world without poverty. We do this by providing cutting-edge products and services in microfinance and technology, enabling those in need to change their lives forever.

With a small action – just a couple of clicks  – you can help make that world without poverty a reality.

Grameen Foundation is battling for first place – and $200,000 in funding – with just one other organization in the Community Development category in American Express’s Take Part Challenge.

We need every NetIP member to vote TODAY (before Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PDT) – and next week too!  Voting ends next Sunday, August 22^nd.  You can vote once per week from each e-mail address you have.

Please help – it’s an easy and effective way to make a difference in our fight against global poverty.

Thanks,

All of us at Grameen Foundation

P.S.  After you vote, please spread the word to your friends!

Tweet this:

Join me and #netipna in fighting global #poverty w/ #microfinance & VOTE 4 @GrameenFdn to win $200K! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF #Vote4GF 

Tell your friends on Facebook. Please copy and paste this text as your status:

Vote before 11:59 p.m. PDT to help Grameen Foundation create a world without poverty by providing microfinance and technology products and services to the world’s poorest, especially women. Vote now and again on Monday! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF

From Bottom Billion to Next Billion

Republished with permission from The Grameen Foundation

Luckshmi Sivalingam is a Program Officer for Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest program.

Before joining GF, I interviewed fifty clients of a Nepal savings and credit cooperative as part of an impact assessment. I saw that particularly for those living in extreme poverty, the solution to changing their situations can’t be limited to providing access to microfinance’s traditional product: an enterprise loan.

THP client on her new farm in West Bengal

Nearly all the clients I spoke with said that if they’d undergone appropriate skills development or received training on value addition for the goods and services they were selling, then their microenterprises could have generated the additional income required for them to progress out of poverty.

The Solutions for the Poorest team at GF is joining a small but growing group of microfinance practitioners that are looking at how the industry can better meet the needs of the very poor.  One approach we are testing couples livelihoods support with microfinance in a financially sustainable manner, contributing to what has been termed the “double bottom line.”

Solutions for the Poorest has partnered with BASIX/The Livelihood School India, a pioneering livelihood promotion institute, to design an integrated and sustainable methodology to provide financial and non-financial services to the extreme poor—individuals that BASIX wouldn’t typically serve through its everyday microfinance activities.  Also, my colleague, Malini, and I recently travelled to Calcutta to visit Bandhan’s Targeting the Hard Core Poor (THP) program.  THP targets female-headed households, like Shahida Bibi’s, with no or very erratic opportunities to make income. The program provides these women with the skills and assets required to jumpstart a microenterprise.  Supplemented with confidence-building measures, this support cultivates a seemingly limitless entrepreneurial spirit.

Shahida, her seven children, and her disabled husband survived on just $2 a week. Shahida was a housemaid, but without any productive skills and regular income, she wasn’t considered creditworthy by other MFIs.  THP provided her with four goats to help generate a more consistent income stream. This income has allowed Shahida to provide for her family while also nurturing the habit of saving.  In eighteen months, she sold one goat for $43 and diversified her income stream by buying chickens, selling eggs, and later selling coconuts and vegetables to her neighbors.   Shahida has now grown into a real business woman, generating a weekly income of Rs. 2,000 (about $42 dollars).  She’s already planning for additional ventures.

Shahida and her children share their story

Addressing the issue of global poverty in a holistic and practical way has made the past month’s immersions in Solutions for the Poorest initiatives an intellectually stimulating and inspiring experience for me.  I look forward to continuing our work to propel the bottom billion into the next billion.

Vote for Grameen Foundation & help us win a $200,000 grant to fight global poverty! Learn more about how you can help!

To make a donation to the Grameen Foundation, NetIP North America’s 2010 Philanthropy Partner, click here.

Cancer is Color Blind

What is “CiC” and Why NetIP for $100,000?

Our first blog launching the Cancer is Colorblind (“CiC”) campaign simultaneously responds to two questions we’ve heard throughout the course of the last six months while developing and planning our fundraising campaign benefiting pediatric and adult cancer patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital and the Sinai Health System:  What is CiC? and Why NetIP?

Everyone wants to help the kids (i.e. our pediatric cancer patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital) and adults fighting cancer (i.e. our partnership with the Sinai Health System).  But why NetIP?  Is cancer NOT colorblind?  What does cancer have to do with a group of 5,000+ South Asian professionals?  Does cancer uniquely affect South Asians?  Are various types of cancer more prevalent in the South Asian community?

It’s true that researchers compile information about cancer diagnoses and track cases using a number of variables including ethnicity and gender to understand the factors affecting cancer risk and how cancer impacts society.  It’s also true that rates of certain cancers, such as liver and stomach cancer, are relatively higher among Asians than certain other segments of the general population.  (See, e.g., USC Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2006 Cancer Report).  But it’s equally true and voluminous statistical data support the proposition that cancer affects all races, genders, and ages.  (See American Cancer Society, Illinois Cancer Facts & Figures 2008-2009)  Since no subset of the population is immune, the theme and direction of our campaign focuses on the “colorblind” nature of cancer.  It’s also our namesake.

But many potential supporters may still wonder why a group called the Network of Indian Professionals of Chicago (“NetIP Chicago”) would invest significant resources, time, and money launching a six-month campaign dedicated to raising funds for cancer-related programming and research and honoring cancer survivors and fighters. After all, there are numerous “South Asian-specific” charities and causes ranging from Apna Ghar (domestic violence shelter catering to immigrant populations) to Akshaya Patra (meal program for hungry school kids in India) to the Association for India’s Development (movement promoting sustainable and equitable development in India).  And these are just a few South Asian focused community groups starting with the alphabet “A”!

While NetIP Chicago partners with and/or supports each of these noted organizations, we designed the Cancer is Colorblind Campaign, which includes our signature year-end gala, to highlight the new and improved NetIP Chicago.  Our mission entails fostering the development of all segments of the Chicago professional community, who have an interest in South Asian culture.

Cancer is Colorblind provides a unique opportunity to achieve our mission by mobilizing and leveraging the success of the entire Chicago community, while recognizing and supporting the cancer struggle shared by all.  Individual participants are presented with an avenue to make an impact, help save lives, and work with like-minded professionals throughout the course of the CiC Campaign.

Getting involved is easy. Participate and start making an impact today.