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Profit or Mission? The Dilemma of Social Enterprises

SOCIAL enterprises are growing in number. The factors that contribute to this trend include the increasing complexity of societal problems, which governments are inadequate to address, nonprofits are unable to sustainably address, and for-profits are disinclined to address.
A social enterprise is considered a hybrid organization because it has a dual mission -— to earn profits and to address a social issue. As such, it fills the gap that governments, nonprofits, and for-profits leave.
According to Bob Doherty (The York Management School), Helen Haugh (University of Cambridge), and Fergus Lyon (Middlesex University in London), a social enterprise combines the organizational characteristics of a traditional, for-profit business and of a nonprofit organization to pursue this dual mission. Ideally, social enterprises would be able to pursue both missions in a balanced way. However, the pursuit of two bottom lines — those of profit and of the social mission — often dictates contradictory courses of actions. Fiona Wilson (University of New Hampshire) and James Post (Boston University) posit that while social enterprises are organized as for-profit entities, they often prioritize the social mission and end up sacrificing profits.
In their 2017 master’s thesis on “Marketing in For-profit Social Ventures,” Ana-Maria Ignat and Martin Leon of Lund University state that the tension between the pursuit of profits and the pursuit of mission bleeds into how social enterprises market their products. Their study of six Swedish social enterprises operating in the fashion industry revealed that the degree of tension that an enterprise experiences depends partly on whether the social entrepreneur prioritizes the social mission or the profit, and on where in the value chain the social enterprise operates.
A curious finding was that some of the social enterprises that cater to the high-end market were careful not to overemphasize the social mission when communicating to their clients. As such, one of the practical implications identified by the study is to prioritize the communication of the quality of the product itself over the “doing good” aspect of the purchase. Another finding is that high-end customers prefer to learn about the positive changes that social enterprises introduce into the production process (e.g., using organic cotton, or sourcing gemstones ethically) instead of the negative practices that their non-social enterprise counterparts do (e.g., using cotton grown with chemical fertilizers, or mining blood diamonds).
Another recommendation that the Swedish social entrepreneurs made is for social enterprises to avoid using paid advertisements and to instead use Instagram as their main marketing tool. The Swedish social entrepreneurs have realized that online platforms, particularly the companies’ websites, are the best way of generating profit margins.
Curious about the difference between social enterprises in Sweden and in the Philippines, I interviewed Marie Cavosora, the owner and CEO of CalaBoo Dairyard, a Filipino social enterprise. CalaBoo Dairyard was founded at the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm, but is now based in Magdalena, Laguna. In partnership with the Philippine Carabao Center, CalaBoo produces fresh and natural dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt from carabao milk. Operating with a farm-to-fridge concept, it produces only when clients order, and delivers the orders to the clients’ doorsteps, effectively cutting the middlemen and improving the lives of small farmers by providing them with steady income.
I realized that the tension identified by Ignat and Leon also exists for this Filipino social enterprise. Also consistent with the social enterprise literature, CalaBoo, while established as a for-profit business, does not maximize profit. In fact, there have been times when the enterprise sacrificed potential profit to stay true to its social mission. For example, when considering an investment, CalaBoo makes sure that any condition attached to it will be consistent with its mission. Else, the investment is not accepted. Although this criterion significantly slows the growth of the organization, CalaBoo deems it necessary.
Throughout its operations and most especially in marketing, the owner makes sure that the mission of CalaBoo remains at the center. The mission guides the way in which CalaBoo forms relationships with its clients and selects its marketing platform and channels. CalaBoo makes sure that it partners with like-minded individuals and organizations to amplify its message.
Social enterprises may do well to learn from these practices if they want to thrive.
 
Shieradel V. Jimenez teaches Management of Organizations and Human Behavior in Organizations at the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University.
shieradel.jimenez@dlsu.edu.ph

Knowing the customer

By Tony Samson
MARKETING practitioners consider repeat business an important measure of corporate success, as it demonstrates “stickiness” with the customer. A good retention program to keep customers from leaving is seen as more cost-effective than trying to win new ones. This is why customer complaints are taken very seriously, if they manage to reach the intended manager, and not shredded at the first stop.
The concept of business development is no longer limited to winning new clients every time. It now includes efforts to deepen existing client relationships by offering more value to the same customer. Pitching incessantly for new business is seen as a costly strategy that sucks in precious executive talent.
In the pursuit of repeat business from existing customers, the front liners are trained to remember the regular patron and his habits sometimes with the aid of data from previous encounters. The reception (please wait to be seated) guides him to his preferred table and the waiter remembers his favorite dish and how it should be prepared. (Caesar salad with chicken, dressing on the side, Sir?)
A patronage algorithm tracks the pattern of e-books previously purchased, including titles and authors that have been browsed, and then e-mailing the tracked customer with new titles that follow his literary tastes. (You can pre-order the new Stephen King novel coming out in three months.) Also, previous orders reveal preferred genres (mysteries and thrillers) and open up pitches for new authors and recent releases in this category.
Hotels with good information systems understand their customer — king size bed again, Sir in a non-smoking floor? They may even leave a menu of the dine-in preferences — you just have to call room service and say “the usual.” And of course, breakfast buffet for two.
Not all businesses expect customers to keep coming back. Those that avoid repeat business from the same customer include hospitals, car repair shops, and funeral parlors. But even these organizations still use satisfied customers for word-of-mouth marketing to build their brand as reliable service providers. Here, frequent patronage may indicate an inability to immediately provide good solutions that work for a long time. Funeral parlors don’t even have to remember names and faces — it must be the makeup.
Still, even satisfied customers sometimes want variety. It’s not a failure of attention and care when a regular customer wants a change of scenery. Also, it can be creepy when the service provider is overly familiar with what you’re going to say before you open your mouth — a body scrub again, Sir? Too high a level of familiarity can strike the customer as presumptuous.
There is always the urge for something different or novel that requires marketing to offer variety in-house to the same customer. (Sir, would you like to try nibbling fish for your toes this time?) Companies can approach their service like a food court where different cuisines can be tried. Even the old all-you-can-eat buffet table has given way to kiosks with different offerings in a big hall with scattered seating.
Marketing programs are now driven by information on the customer. Social media sites have become the gold mine for data on the users, including their tastes, habits, destinations (length of time in each), shopping patterns, and lifestyles. With the right analysis of what is now called “big data” the marketing message is tailored to what a “granular” segment wants to hear on a product or service.
Still, the mantra of “know your customer” (KYC) can be overdone. There is a caveat in the saying that familiarity breeds contempt. A line is crossed when mining data on the customer from different sources constitutes a breach of privacy.
Sometimes a customer simply craves for anonymity. He may opt for out-of-the-way bar where he is just considered a walk-in. Isn’t there a market for places that routinely offer privacy to the customer? Fussing too much (how was your soup today, Sir?) can be considered obtrusive — please, I’m trying to explain the Pythagorean theorem to my grandniece here.
Knowing the customer should also include understanding when he just wants to be served, then left alone and be quickly forgotten.
 
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda
ar.samson@yahoo.com

Peso weakens vs dollar as market turns cautious

THE PESO weakened against the dollar on Wednesday as investors were cautious on the trade negotiations in North America.
The local currency closed Wednesday’s session at P53.46 versus the greenback, 13.5 centavos weaker than the P53.325-per-dollar finish on Tuesday.
The peso traded weaker the whole day, opening the session at its intraday high of P53.35 against the US unit. Meanwhile, its worst showing stood at P53.47 versus the greenback. Dollars traded thinned to $527.3 million from the $640.85 million that switched hands the previous day.
A trader said the peso moved in sync with major currencies as market players tried to cover their short dollar positions.
“We saw the dollar move stronger across the board [on Tuesday] night,” the trader said in a phone interview. “Finally, after three to four trading days of a lower dollar, [Wednesday, August 29] we saw a reversal.”
Another trader attributed the pair’s move to the participation of Canada to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement.
After the United States and Mexico reached a deal to revamp the free trade deal on Monday, US President Donald J. Trump warned he could proceed with the agreement with Mexico alone and impose tariffs on Canada if it does not come on board with the revised trade terms, Reuters reported.
“The trade deal between US and Mexico fuelled optimism in the market for a few days. But I guess they turned cautious about what’s going to happen in the negotiations with Canada,” the first trader said.
“Given the optimism, probably it ran its course and some investors tried to take profit on that move. We’re just seeing a bit of profit taking,” the trader added.
For Thursday, the second trader said the local unit will likely weaken further versus the dollar ahead of likely firm US personal consumption expenditures data, the preferred inflation gauge of the Federal Reserve.
The trader expects the peso to move between P53.35 and P53.55 on Thursday, while the other gave a P53.30-P53.55 range. — KANV

Shares slump as market consolidates after rally

SHARES SLUMPED on Wednesday as the local market paused for a break after rallying past the 7,800 level in previous days.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went down 0.17% or 13.65 points to close at 7,830.96, in sync with most markets that ended flat in Wednesday’s session. The broader all-shares index also dropped 0.17% or 8.27 points to 4,750.86.
“It was more of a consolidation with a downward bias after market was up substantially for the past two days,” Diversified Securities, Inc. trader Aniceto K. Pangan said via text on Wednesday.
Mr. Pangan said Wednesday’s performance was also a reaction to hints of another rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve. The Fed has so far raised benchmark interest rates twice this year.
“With the US Fed’s intent to increase rates this September, investors went on profit taking thus was downed thru most of the trading session [Wednesday, August 29],” Mr. Pangan explained.
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan attributed the decline to slower performances of international markets.
“Philippine markets took a bit of a breather due to muted US equity gains, with indexes closing off of intraday peaks,” Mr. Limlingan said in a separate message.
Wall Street indices ended the day flat, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average eking out gains of 0.06% or 14.38 points to 26,064.02. The S&P 500 index rose 0.03% or 0.78 point to 2,897.52, while the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 0.15% or 12.14 points to 8,030.04.
Most Asian indices also traded flat on Wednesday after jumping to record levels in the previous trading sessions.
Back home, the property sector was the lone sub-index that managed to post gains, adding 0.62% or 24.41 points to 3,959.42.
Mining and oil shed 0.95% or 95.66 points to 9,922.74, while financials slipped 0.82% or 14.98 points to 1,812.19. Industrials dropped 0.61% or 70.04 points to 11,263.30; services declined 0.42% or 6.55 points to 1,539.60; while holding firms lost 0.04% or 3.38 points to 7,674.01.
The market saw some 3.04 billion issues switch hands, resulting in a turnover of P6.21 billion, lower than Tuesday’s P7.65 billion.
Decliners trumped advancers, 112 to 81, while 51 stocks remained unchanged.
Foreign investors continued their buying spree, although net purchases slimmed to P91.21 million versus the P474.4-million net inflow posted in the previous session.
Fifteen of the 20 most actively traded stocks for the day ended in the red, with Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. posting the largest loss at 2.78% to P52.50 each. Bloomberry Resorts Corp., Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc., and GT Capital Holdings, Inc. also declined 1.21%, 1.25%, and 1.16%, respectively.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was the top gainer, as shares in the company jumped 3.16%, while San Miguel Corp. also gained 2.95%. — Arra B. Francia

Toyota to target tripling China production over next decade

Toyota Motor Corp. is aiming to triple car production in China by as soon as 2030 in a renewed push to make up lost ground in the world’s biggest market, according to people familiar with the plan.
Asia’s largest automaker is targeting to manufacture 3.5 million vehicles annually in China around that year while boosting imports to the country to half a million vehicles, the people said, asking not to be identified as the internal goal is private for now. Toyota can currently produce 1.16 million cars in China annually, and sold 1.3 million there last year for a 4.5 percent market share. Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co. delivered more than 4 million each.
The foray comes as Chinese officials warm to the hybrid technology that Toyota pioneered with the Prius, amid a realization that electric vehicles alone probably won’t be able to achieve Beijing’s ambitious environment targets, two of the people said. The government is aiming for a fifth of car sales by 2025 to be so-called new-energy vehicles, which include pure EVs and plug-in hybrids. Stringent quotas for NEV production go into force from next year.
Toyota is working to correct its course in a market where VW, GM and local manufacturers such as Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. are strengthening their presence with line-ups heavily featuring plug-in vehicles. Geely, controlled by billionaire Li Shufu, overtook all its Japanese rivals to became China’s third-biggest automaker by sales this year. By contrast, Toyota had to delay the introduction of a plug-in hybrid Corolla until next year, with an EV version of its compact crossover C-HR not due until 2020.
The China push is one way Toyota is adapting to fast changes in the car market — a focus on self-driving vehicles is another. On Tuesday, Toyota said it is investing $500 million more in Uber Technologies Inc. and that it plans to manufacture minivans loaded with the U.S. company’s software, with testing slated to begin on Uber’s ride-sharing network in 2021.
Some of the China-made vehicles may be bound for other markets in Asia. Nanfang Daily, the Guangdong provincial government’s official newspaper, cited Toyota’s top China executive as saying the country would become a hub for the company’s NEV exports to the rest of Asia. Toyota declined to confirm the comments.
The Toyota City-based company aims to boost Chinese capacity to 2 million vehicles annually by the early 2020s on its way to the 3.5 million-vehicle-a-year production target, two of the people said.
Shares of the automaker rose 0.6 percent in Tokyo on Wednesday. They have fallen 2 percent this year, compared with about a 6.5 percent decline for an index of Japanese car manufacturers including Toyota.
Factory Expansion
The company plans to expand capacity in Tianjin by 120,000 units annually with local partner China FAW Group Co., according to a document posted on a local government website. The investment will total 1.76 billion yuan ($259 million), with 110,000 of the vehicles being plug-in hybrids and the remainder EVs, according to the document.
Additionally, Toyota will build a new factory in Guangzhou with its other local partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., capable of producing 200,000 vehicles a year, Nikkei reported over the weekend. The joint venture is also expanding its existing facilities to make an additional 120,000 cars, bringing annual capacity to 1.7 million units by 2021, the newspaper said.
Toyota said it is studying how to reinforce its organization to accelerate its Chinese business, but declined to comment on specific moves. Toyota said it positions China as one of the most important countries within the global market.
Slowing Pace
The plans don’t come without challenges. After years of rapid growth, the Chinese market is showing signs of cooling. Auto sales expanded just 3 percent in 2017, the slowest rate in recent years, with a similar pace forecast for the current year, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Even so, China has been improving access to its market, slashing car import duties to 15 percent from 25 percent last month, and starting to ease rules limiting foreign ownership of joint ventures. That compares with Toyota’s biggest market, the U.S., where President Donald Trump’s administration is said to be considering tariffs on cars of as much as 25 percent, even as that market shrinks.
Toyota is building a new factory in Alabama after Trump took to Twitter last year to criticize the company’s plan to make Corollas in Mexico. Toyota sold more than 2.4 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, almost twice as many as in China.
“A shift away from dependence on the American market would make Toyota more resistant to pressure from the U.S. government,” said Seiji Sugiura, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Tokyo. “If Toyota goes this aggressively into China, it will start to see beyond the 10 million-unit ceiling that has so far seemed unbreakable.” — Bloomberg

Four charged over P2.4-billion shabu shipment seized in Manila port

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has filed charges before the Department of Justice against four individuals allegedly involved in the import of drugs found in the Manila International Container Port.
The PDEA filed against Chan Yee Wah Albert, Zhang Quan, Vedasto C. Baraquel Jr., and Maria Lagrimas A. Catipan over their alleged involvement in the drugs seized in the MICP in Tondo, Manila on Aug. 7.
They are facing charges for the violation of Section 26 (A) or the importation of dangerous drugs and Section 11 (Possession of Dangerous Drugs) of Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Last Aug. 7, the Bureau of Customs and the PDEA found in MICP 355 kilos or P2.4 billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu which was kept in two magnetic scrap lifters in a 20-foot container.
In its previous statement, BoC said the initial result of its preliminary investigation bared that the shipment belonged to Vecaba Trading of No. 712 Galicia St., Sampaloc, Manila that is owned by a Vedasto Cabral Baraquel. It is also not accredited by the BoC.
The BoC said the drugs were turned over to PDEA for investigation and disposition. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

When cars fly? Japan wants airborne vehicles to take off

Tokyo — It might sound like pie in the sky, but Japan’s government is banking on a future with flying cars, launching an initiative Wednesday with the private sector to develop futuristic vehicles.
The initiative aims to draw up a roadmap by the end of the year on commercialising flying cars, a concept that so far remains largely theoretical.
Japanese government officials are partnering with companies including Boeing and Airbus, as well as major Japanese firms like All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, NEC and the Toyota-backed Cartivator.
“(Flying cars) are expected to solve issues of transportation in remote islands or mountainous areas, or rescue operations and goods transport in disaster,” trade ministry official Shinji Tokumasu said.
“We launched the public-private meeting to cultivate a new industry and make it profitable in the world market.”
In Japan, a group of engineers working with the Cartivator project are already developing a three-wheeled car that relies on drone technology to take flight.
Toyota and affiliated companies have invested about 42.5 million yen ($382,000) in the project.
Cartivator is hoping to launch a manned prototype by the end of 2019 so it can be used to light the Olympic flame when Japan’s capital Tokyo hosts the Games in 2020.
The manned vehicle, dubbed SkyDrive, will have four sets of propellors and be just 2.9 metres (9.5 foot) long and 1.3 metres wide.
But Japan is not alone in the flying car marketplace.
Companies researching the sector include Uber, the Kitty Hawk project backed by Google founder Larry Page, Lilium Aviation in Germany, Safran in France, and Honeywell in the United States.
Last month, British engine maker Rolls-Royce revealed plans to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed the “flying taxi,” while Kitty Hawk in June offered test flights to people interested in buying its vehicle. — AFP

For first time in decades, astronaut quits NASA training

Washington, United States — For the first time in five decades, a NASA astronaut candidate has resigned from training, the US space agency said Tuesday.
Robb Kulin resigned from NASA effective August 31 for personal reasons, spokeswoman Brandi Dean said, declining to provide further details.
It’s not an easy gig to get — some 18,000 people routinely seek the 12 spots that open each year.
Kulin, who joined his class sounding upbeat, is the first would-be astronaut to leave training since a resignation in 1968. — AFP

Thai ‘dwarf giant’ boxer surpasses Mayweather record with 51st win

Bangkok, Thailand — Thai boxer Wanheng Menayothin grabbed his 51st straight victory Wednesday in a long but lop-sided bout against a fighter from the Philippines, defending his WBC title and surpassing the undefeated record of boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The 105-pound minimumweight champion, nicknamed the “dwarf giant” for his compact build and heavy hitting style, won on points after a bruising 12 rounds against Pedro Taduran in the Thai city of Nakhon Sawan .
Wanheng started strong, landing several hard rights in the early rounds that seemed to daze Taduran and signal a quick route.
But the 21-year-old southpaw from the Philippines lived up to his alias “Rattle Snake”, enduring the abuse and biting back in the fifth round with a flurry of punches.
The brief comeback was put down as Wanheng kept his composure in the second half of the bout, delivering clean hits that left Taduran visibly tired.
Wanheng, 32, shot to unlikely fighting fame in May when he dispatched Panamanian Leroy Estrada, equaling “Money” Mayweather’s win streak.
All three judges scored in his favour after the final round.
Wanheng’s record-busting quest has generated buzz in Thailand and in boxing media outlets.
But it has also been shrugged off as a statistical quirk because of the two very different careers of the famous, flashy American and the soft-spoken Thai.
Wanheng has fought undistinguished rivals on home turf while Mayweather defeated some of the sport’s all-time greats including Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya.
Mayweather’s fights also come with huge purses, like the $100 million on offer when he was teased from retirement last year to take on MMA star Conor McGregor.
Wanheng’s legal name is Chayaphon Moonsri but he also fights under the alias “Five-Star Grilled Chicken” due to a sponsorship deal with a Thai food company.
His latest win brings him level with Mexican flyweight Ricardo Lopez, who retired with 51 wins, one draw and no losses. — AFP

Facebook and Google chase a new $1 trillion payments market

Surendrasingh Sucharia always has a few thousand rupees in his pocket, but can’t recall the last time he used cash. The 29-year-old product manager in Bangalore uses a string of smartphone apps including ones from Google and India’s Paytm to pay for everything from $40 bags of groceries to street food that costs pennies.
A bewildering array of digital payment businesses from global names like Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp to Google are in a slugfest to win Indian users. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is acquiring a stake in the company behind payments leader Paytm.
Meanwhile, a string of other big-name players are also expanding in the country’s digital payments market including its banks, its postal service, and its richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
India saw a brief spurt in digital payments two years ago when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government banned most of the nation’s existing bank notes, although the spike petered out as new bills were printed. But over the past year, a string of new apps have made payments increasingly easy, and the discounts and cash bonuses they offer are proving irresistible to young, urban users like Sucharia.
Credit Suisse Group AG now estimates that the Indian digital payments market will touch $1 trillion by 2023 from about $200 billion currently. Cash still accounts for 70 percent of all Indian transactions by value, according to Credit Suisse, and neighboring China is far more advanced with a mobile payments market worth more than $5 trillion.
But local players have a stranglehold on China’s digital payments space. Modi’s administration, meanwhile, has welcomed foreign firms in order to expand financial services across India.
“This kind of a promising market exists nowhere else,” said Vivek Belgavi, a Mumbai-based partner at consultancy PwC India with an expertise in financial technology.
Still, the Indian payments market remains a chaotic field where the rules are hazy on what players can offer. And users often switch between apps. Rahul Matthan, a Bangalore-based lawyer, says he’s used every one of the leading payment apps, although he now confines most of his transactions to BHIM, Paytm and WhatsApp payments.
Experts like Vinayak HV, Singapore-based senior partner at McKinsey & Co., say profitability isn’t close on the horizon for the industry. While it’s too early to call the game, here are a few players with a shot at winning:
Facebook’s WhatsApp:
Began beta testing its payments service on a million Indians in February this year.
Pros: WhatsApp is India’s most popular messaging app, whose quarter of a billion users text family and friends all day. It doesn’t need to put in cash to acquire customers and that’s a massive advantage.
Cons: The service is stuck in beta mode, and its country-wide launch has been impeded by regulatory questions over areas like storage of user data. Meanwhile, the government has been upbraiding WhatsApp for not curbing fake videos that have gone viral on its messaging service and led to the lynching of over two dozen Indians. This could further delay the full-fledged launch of its payments business.
Google’s Tez, Now Rebranded as Google Pay
Google says its India payment app crossed 50 million app downloads a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, the company said it was rebranding the app as Google Pay. It’s been swiftly adding users and sprinted to increase total number of transactions using the country’s Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, a system that’s linked to over a 100 banks and facilitates real-time digital transactions.
Pros: Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the app is central to the company’s India strategy and also key to its global payments push. The payments app has localized, supporting several Indian languages, and is chasing young users with games that offer cashbacks.
Cons: The Google payment app is lagging rival WhatsApp whose strong base of users come from its messaging service. Google has belatedly introduced a chat feature.
Flipkart’s PhonePe:
PhonePe says it has 133 million app downloads.
Pros: When Walmart Inc. acquired a majority stake in PhonePe’s parent Flipkart Online Services Pvt. , the payments app also acquired a global backer. All signs are that PhonePe is already gaining from Walmart’s financial heft with a recent infusion of about $66 million from Flipkart.
Cons: Flipkart rival Amazon has been steadily pumping capital into its own wallet, Amazon Pay, and increasing its user base.
Paytm:
Backed by China’s Alibaba as well as Ant Financial Services Co. and now Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Paytm is India’s largest digital payments company and says it has 150 million app downloads.
Pros: An early player, it got a boost from India’s demonetization drive in 2016, when a scarcity of cash sent millions scurrying toward providers like Paytm. The company has since built a wide network of merchants and outlets with a robust system of cashbacks and discounts to keep users locked in.
Cons: Paytm’s users have to go through a multi-step enrollment process since it’s a licensed payments bank, unlike most of its digital wallet rivals like PhonePe. The regulator recently barred Paytm temporarily from enlisting new users for non-compliance with procedures. The company said it has responded to the regulator’s concerns.
BHIM:
Has 32 million app downloads. Designed by UPI, it’s the government’s own play in digital payments. The app is simple and fast, appealing to non-technologically savvy users in smaller towns and rural India.
Pros: The government has been actively pushing BHIM, using Modi’s face to promote its brand, setting transaction targets for banks and state-owned utilities to boost its user base.
Cons: Despite an initial popularity burst, it hasn’t been able to keep pace with rivals whose bottomless pockets have kept users hooked with sweeteners.
Next in Line:
A brand new India Post Payments Bank, set up by the state-owned Department of Posts, is starting operations with 650 branches and thousands of trained postmen fanning out to far-flung corners to teach users how to use its app. Also, Ambani’s digital payments business via his Jio mobile service, has the potential to jolt rivals. — Bloomberg

Video games not to blame for US shooting: Asia e-sports body

Jakarta, Indonesia — Video games are not to blame for the recent mass shooting at a competitive gaming tournament in United States, Asia’s top e-sports body said Wednesday.
Two people were killed and 11 others injured on Sunday after a gaming competitor went on a shooting rampage before turning the gun on himself at a tournament in Jacksonville, Florida.
It was one of more than 230 mass shootings to have occurred in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
In the aftermath of the killings some conservative and gun lobby commentators — many of whom oppose tighter restrictions on weapon sales — suggested violent video games should be blamed for the latest murder spree.
That view was rounded on by Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) chief Kenneth Fok in Jakarta, which is hosting a milestone eSports tournament as competitive gaming seeks Olympic legitimacy though an Asian Games exhibition debut.
“A tragedy like this should never happen,” he told reporters.
“It was a very unfortunate incident that happened in a video game arena, but does this mean that eSports or video games are to blame? I don’t think so,” he said.
“I think it is a bigger issue of gun control and also the access to guns,” he said.
The Jacksonville shooting occurred during a Madden NFL 19 Classic tournament, the latest edition of the video game series named after retired NFL Super Bowl champion coach John Madden.
Tournaments of various styles of video games have grown in popularity world wide in recent years, with shooting, strategy, and fighting for multi-player teams evolving into major arena events.
Asia has lead the boom, with South Korea considered the pioneer of competitive gaming and China the world’s largest gaming market.
The AESF are seeking recognition alongside traditional sports with its Asian Games debut, with an eye on one day appearing at the Olympics.
Last year International Olympic Committee chiefs declared that eSports could now be considered truly “a sport”, but that violent or shooting games could never be considered for inclusion in any future Olympics. — AFP

Asiad performance shot in the arm for women athletes

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

Asian Games Web site

FILIPINO gold medal winners at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia came home to a hero’s welcome on Tuesday night, met by local sports officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport celebrating and hailing their achievements.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz and golfer Yuka Saso and the Philippine women’s golf team all expressed pride and happiness to have been able to pull through amid what has been a tough campaign for the Philippines in the quadrennial continental sporting event even as they said their gold medals were a testament to what women athletes can do and, thus, should be accorded the proper attention as well.
Ms. Diaz was the first to hand the Philippines its gold medal in the Indonesia Asiad on Aug. 21, coming from behind to snatch the top spot in the women’s 53 kg weightlifting event.
Ms. Saso followed up on Ms. Diaz’s golden performance by outdueling her competitors in the women’s gold competition while also helping the Philippine team, along with Bianca Pagdanganan and Louis Kay Go, to notch the team championship gold.
For Ms. Diaz, a silver medallist in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, their gold conquests speak a lot of what Filipino women athletes like them can do and should go a long way in communicating such.
“All of us gold medal winners are women, and then most of the bronze medals won by the Philippines were by women. It goes a lot in communicating what women in sports can do,” said Ms. Diaz upon their arrival from Indonesia.
“Filipino women did well in the Asian Games and we were able to show that we can compete with the best from other countries. We have gone far from the days where we were deem not fit to compete in sports and that we just have to stay at home. With our performance we showed we, too, belong in sports. That should be the case and we should be proud to be women,” she added.
Other women who bagged medals, all bronze, for the Philippines in the ongoing Jakarta Palembang Games were the women’s taekwondo poomsae team of Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto and Janna Dominique Oliva, wushu’s Agatha Wong in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian all-around event, taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez in the -57kg event, wushu’s Divine Wally in the -52kg sanda event, jiu-jitsu’s Meggie Ochoa in the women’s 49kg event, Ms. Pagdanganan in golf, Cherry Mae Regalado in pencak silat, and Junna Tsukii in karate.
For winning gold medals, Misses Diaz and Saso and the Philippine golf team stand to receive P6 million for their efforts — P2 million from the Philippine Olympic Committee, P2 million from the government through Republic Act 10699, which expands the coverage of incentives granted to national athletes and coaches, and P1 million each from the Siklab Foundation and the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Hoong.
ZEROING IN ON FIFTH
Meanwhile, the Philippine men’s basketball team moved a step closer in salvaging a fifth-place finish in the Games after routing Japan, 113-80, at the start of consolation play on Tuesday.
Eliminated from medal contention after losing to South Korea, 91-82, in the quarterfinals on Monday, the Philippine Basketball Association-backed team moved a step closer to improving on the Philippines’ seventh-place finish in the 2014 Asian Games.
“We are assured of sixth place. But we still have to play one game against [Syria]. We want to finish our campaign here (with a win), even if we don’t have a medal,” said national team coach Yeng Guiao.
Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger led the Philippines with 27 points and 13 rebounds against Japan while Filipino-American National Basketball Association player Jordan Clarkson had 22 markers and nine assists.
The team battles Syria for fifth place on Friday.
As of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the Philippines was at 16th place with four gold and 13 bronze medals. Looking to add to the haul were athletes from athletics, boxing, skateboarding and volleyball.

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