The presentation about deAsra Foundation that I shared at the Bhutan Economic Forum in Thimphu on July 16, 2019

1. BEFIT
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Anand Deshpande
anand@persistent.com

2. Our experience from
deAsra Foundation
Anand Deshpande
anand@persistent.com
July 16, 2019 2

3. Thank you for inviting me!
It is an honour to be here.
Look forward to working together.
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4. Personal Context
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ananddeshpande
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(BSE, NSE: PERSISTENT)
FY 19
Revenues: ₹ 33,659 M
Profit: ₹ 3,516.79 M
10,000+ Employees
in 18 countries
Family Foundation on
a mission to help 25,000
self-employed businesses
Trained and practicing
Computer Science Engineer
B.Tech.(Hons) M.S. and Ph.D.
Part-time Member of UIDAI
Self-learnt entrepreneur
Have been at it for 29 years
Specialize in databases
Founding member of iSPIRT
Founding President ACM India

5. Personal, family
philanthropic venture
Established in 2013
Launched service in
February 2015
HQ: Pune, India
Inspired by
Set up as Company for
public good
Partners
Team of
70+ Employees
What is deAsra Foundation?
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Must-solve problems that don’t come
with ready-made solutions.
Solving these types of problems takes
optimism, resilience, and grit.
It takes turning beliefs into action.
It takes giving.

7. Our Mission:
Help Job-Seekers
become Job Creators.
Ensure their success!
Our focus:
urban services
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8. Eliminating barriers for entrepreneurs
Research the pain
points and the needs of
entrepreneurs
Provide everything
that an entrepreneur
needs in one place
Eliminate the
barriers for setting
up and running a
business
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9. Need to address both Quantity and Quality
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India needs
more than
15 Million
jobs every year
Urban jobs must
pay at least
₹ 20,000
per month

10. Our Sweet Spot:
Investment No Man’s Land
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Loan Requirement:
Between
₹1 Lac and ₹ 50 Lac
Our Sweet Spot
Revenue Between
₹5 Lac and ₹ 1 Crore
Every employee must
make ₹ 20,000 per
month

11. Version 1.0: Business in a Box
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Will provide everything a business needs in one place!

12. Specific to a business
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13. Very detailed, online, self service. (www.deasra.in)
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15. Monthly magazine and printed workbooks
in multiple languages
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17. Mobile platform for everything that a small
business needs
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18. Key Learnings
• Most businesses don’t start with a plan. They happen!
• They don’t want to be tracked.
• Much bigger segment –
I am stuck, help me!
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19. Version 2.0: Disaggregation of the box
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20. If you are stuck,
we have a solution for you!
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21. About 80 different services
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22. About 80 different services
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23. Most popular services
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24. How do I get a loan?
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25. Am I compliant?
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26. How do I find customers?
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27. Most popular businesses
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28. Current Score
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Businesses that have
benefited from our
services:
33,542
New businesses
added every month
4,000

29. Key Learnings
• Users want specific help – precise information.
Minimal interaction for accessing and consuming
knowledge and services.
• Stay very focused on the target group.
The requirements beyond the group are different.
• Important to track activities on the website.
Have patience. Entrepreneurs are coming back for repeat
services.
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30. Getting Loans is a Real Challenge
• Funding institutions, in particular banks, still work in traditional modes
with the relationship with branch managers determining access to funds.
• Most branch managers are reluctant to fund small loans. NBFC’s
predominantly fund only existing businesses with some cash flow or
credit history. So access to funds for starting small businesses remains
an issue.
• There are very few NGOs/CSRs supporting urban, small businesses
(between Rs 5L and Rs 1Cr annual turnover).
Greater focus is on rural or nano-businesses.
• Businesses are borrowing from lending sharks at very high interest
rates!
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31. Goal: Get to 5000 beneficiaries/month by
Dec 2019
Current Plan: Towards Subscription Package models – for stickiness
• “Uber”ization of services – for more self service
• Introduce HR, Marketing & Tech resources
• Building better quality research data
• Introduce video based outreach
• Start Community building initiatives
• Continuous improvement of enquiries to beneficiaries ratios –
through online & facilitators
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32. Version 3.0: Subscription Model
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33. de – Deshpande
ASRA – Anand Sonali Ria Arul
Why deAsra?
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34. What can we do
together?
Anand Deshpande
anand@persistent.com
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35. July 16, 2019 35
www.persistent.com