Slumdog Millionaire

Last night, we saw Slumdog Millionaire, the acclaimed Danny Boyle film. It’s a superbly told tale of a slum kid, Jamal, as he plays the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show, and wins because the questions he is asked are each tied to his life in strange ways, and he knows their answers. The

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Forbes Column 2009: Silencing India

I am on my way back from India, writing from the Singapore airport lounge. I think we missed to highlight my last Forbes column, Silencing India, which discusses the serious problem of noise pollution in India. Have a look. Someone in the comments suggests banning cars altogether. Perhaps unrealistic, but reducing the number of cars

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Deal Radar 2008: WiZiQ

I spoke at length this morning at my INSEAD Global Entrepreneurship Forum talk about entrepreneurial opportunities in the educational technology space. Today’s Deal Radar post focuses on WiZiQ, an online tutoring technology startup that offers a learning center and an online collaboration tool for teachers and students for a wide range of subjects and grades. The

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Mumbai Attacks

India seems to have now become a target for Islamic terrorist attacks and if the “success” of the current crisis is any indication, this could completely destabilize the economic development process for the country. India has the third-largest Muslim population in the world, with 154 million Muslims. If a Hindu-Muslim conflict blows up, we’re in

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Vision India 2020: Care

I have written a series of columns on healthcare over the last several weeks. Most of them were focused on healthcare for the rural and under-served population. This column addresses a business opportunity for the growing affluent class in India in the healthcare sector.

Vision India 2020: Doctor For Sure

One of the most contentious topics in the 2008 US presidential elections has been healthcare policy, with Barack Obama pushing aggressively for universal healthcare. As I delved into the topic from the perspective of India and tried to outline a business plan for a sustainable, for-profit venture–not a non-profit, nor a government agency–Doctor For Sure

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Obama’s Economic Policy

Here are some comments from Forbes readers on my last column. My response is below. Please feel free to chime in.

How Rafat Ali Found a Job (Part 1)

Rafat Ali is a journalist, pioneering blogger, and entrepreneur. Editor & Publisher has called Rafat “journalism’s poster boy for career independence from news companies”. I am very pleased to share his story of persistence and success. SM: Where are you from? Where did you grow up? RA: I was born in the UK, but my

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