SONG partners with ISB CEMS for Education & Health care

The Soros Economic Development Fund, Omidyar Network and Google (SONG) have come on an academic partnership ground with Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS) at ISB, Hyderabad to make investments in affordable education and healthcare.

Noida, India (prHWY.com) August 6, 2010 - The Soros Economic Development Fund, Omidyar Network and Google (SONG) advisors have come on an academic partnership ground with Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS) at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad to make its maiden investments in affordable education and healthcare.
Talking about this venture, Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB said, "We set up a partnership with the investors out of a conviction that business schools have to go beyond their traditional boundaries to support the development of a profitable small and medium enterprise (SME) sector that has outsized social impact. I am delighted that SONG has made its first investments. The Fund, the investee companies and the ISB will all benefit immensely from each other," he said.
Professor Reuben Abraham, senior advisor to the fund and Executive Director, CEMS at the ISB, said, "Our aim is to be a catalyst in improving access to risk capital in the SME segment, which is crucial to job creation. In addition, we like to focus on sectors that can contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of India, like education, healthcare, agriculture etc."
The first investment is made in K-12 Techno Services, a school management company currently offering integrated school management services to affordable K-12 schools in Andhra Pradesh. Sequoia Capital was a co-investor in the round.
Speaking about the investment, M. Venkatanarayana, Managing Director of K-12 Techno Services said, "We are delighted to partner with SONG and Sequoia and believe that this partnership will enable the company to expand rapidly in the affordable school education segment."
Vishal Vasishth, Managing Director of SONG Advisors who will join the board of K-12 Techno Services said, "There aren't many private schools that offer affordable high quality education today to low-income markets. We believe that K-12 will help bridge this gap and provide a template to improve the quality of affordable school education in India."
The second investment has been made in the health care section. The investment has been made in the form of Eye Q Vision, a Gurgaon based affordable eye hospital chain operates eight eye care hospitals. "The Company has proven the viability of the affordable eye-care model in North India and is ready to scale the model with the potential to touch the lives of over 500,000 people in the next 5 years," said Vasishth. Rajat Goel, CEO of EyeQ Vision said, "The organised eye-care market in North India, though currently at a nascent state, is rapidly developing and we hope to be a leading player in this market over the next few years."

It should be mentioned here that Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS) at ISB has been set up with the conviction that market-based solutions exist for a large number of the developing world's problems. CEMS promotes the idea that the next 800 million in India and 4 billion globally be seen not as a burden but as a great opportunity. It focuses on six interrelated foundational elements: Small Business and Finance, Affordable Housing and Urbanization, Education, Healthcare, Energy, and Philanthropy. CEMS will act as a lab where solutions to emerging market problems are developed and then ported to other emerging markets.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on B-School ventures.

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