Blogs from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia - page 8

Late this week we set out for Ongole (450 km southeast of Hyderabad) to talk to local entrepreneurs in the granite industry about cluster development within an area SEZ dedicated to stone fabrication and building products. Ongole, located on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, is one of the major centers for tobacco trading in the state; however, during the late 1990’s, Ongole started to focus on leveraging its abundant natural resources. The availability of the unique stone Black Galaxy granite has resulted in the proliferation of granite mining, stone cutting and polishing companies. The granite is uniformly black in appearance and flecked with bright golden reflectors (Bronzite). Black Galaxy is used worldwide but is primarily quarried from Andhra Pradesh. There are three types of Black Galaxy granite: large speckled, medium speckled and small speckled (unsuprisingly dependant ... read more

YadaGiri Gutta A holy place , which can be reached in about 2 hrs from hyderabad by road, "was" famous for lakshmi narasimha swamy temple. An avatar of lord vishnu, out of 7 avatars taken by him to protect the universe. I've intentionally used the word "was" famous, as this place is more famous for "surendrapuri", where all the majoir temples models have been reconstructed and placed under one roof. These models are not small models, infact some of them are as big as the real ones. We get to see around 380 such very famous temple models here at the surendrapuri kala dhamam at yadagiri gutta. Any one who visits yadagiri gutta, has to visit this place too. well coming to my journey, it is about 5th or 6th visit of mine to yadagiri ... read more

OLD COUPLES KASHI YATRA VIA KHAJURAHO (3) 25th September, 2007 - Tuesday. --- CHITRAKOOT. At 8 am we started our onward journey from Khajuraho. After vacating the room and taking breakfast in the restaurant maintained by Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department, we continued our onward journey towards Chitrakoot. Travelling via Panna, Satna and Kothi we reached Chitrakoot by 2 pm. The distance between Khajuraho and Chitrakoot is 216 km. Chitrakoot means the Hill of many wonders. . We took rooms in the guest house maintained by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department and after taking lunch and brief rest, proceeded to visit the places of interest in Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot is partly in Madhya Pradesh and partly in U.P. All sight seeing places are on the side of Madhya Pradesh State. Chitrakoot is the deep forest place where Rama, ... read more

The Ashoka-Lemelson Tech 4 Society event was this past week in Chennai. The event brought together several Ashoka and Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows to discuss opportunities and challenges as it relates to technology adoption in rural areas. The makeup of the individuals ranged from 25+ years of efforts in the social sector to new entrepreneurs - all of whom share common themes in their work including the development of new economic models for disseminating technologies to India’s poor, inventors of new technologies serving the bottom of pyramid markets as well as those using new technologies to teach or grow new inventors, and those who employ innovative approaches to inspiring youth to study or pursue careers in science and technology. A large majority of the Fellows in attendance were also involved in numerous lines of business and technologies responsible ... read more

Today was the first day of the two day TiE ISB Connect annual networking event for entrepreneurs and investors. Organized by the TiE, Hyderabad Chapter and the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, ISB, TiE-ISB Connect facilitates the interaction of aspiring entrepreneurs, early-stage ventures, and growth-stage ventures with potential investors, successful entrepreneurs and mentors. TiE stands for “The Indus Entrepreneurs” and is a global, not-for-profit network of entrepreneurs and professionals dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship. A board member for TiE who was a part of the inaugural addresses focused his speech on the current “missing link” for Indian entrepreneurs, lack of early stage funding. The Executive Director of Corporation Bank followed up by reinforcing Corporation’s dedication to SMEs as well as listing some new product innovations available to... read more