Innovation That Matters

Bra straps, revealing skirts, hiphop jewelry and rap snacks

Garland cell phone strap craze Rap Snacks hiphopjewelry.com

‘Native’ Asian restaurant chains that may well make it big

Jollibee Chowking Café de Coral Thai Exquisine System MTR Foods
We like simple ideas that can instantly be turned into potentially global businesses: check out Brooklyn-based Neighborhoodies, which sells cool, über-local hooded sweatshirts emblazoned with the name of one’s very own, very narrowly defined neighborhood. Big cities have always been about neighborhoods or even specific streets, so a Murray Hill shirt says more than ‘I heart NY’. Launched only a few months ago, 300 hoodies a month (source: NYT) find their way to everyone from proud NoLita residents to Carnegie Hill locals. Which brings us to the very pleasant opportunities that this business idea has to offer glocal entrepreneurs: there are literally thousands and thousands of city neighborhoods around the world, and strongly identifying with your ‘hood’ is by no means exclusively a New York thing. Arrondissement-hoodies should appeal to Parisians, and hoodies featuring London’s status-driven postal code system (from posh SW1 to funky N1) should be a big hit, too. As start-up costs are very low and very few entrepreneurs are in this space right now, it should be doable to at least quickly grab a national market. On its website, Neighborhoodies is already inviting customers to send in new cities and neighborhoods, and has so far added Berlin, London, Milan and Bombay to its list of non-US cities, though they remain somewhat hidden on their site, and no real-world examples of non-NY hoodies can be viewed. So hurry up, and go glocal! (more…)

Opportunities

Automated convenience stores / vending machines

Yatoo Partoo Shop24 Shop2000

Opportunities

Opportunities

Providing credit to low-income consumers

Springwise Newsletter January 2003 Grupo Elektra

Opportunities

Opportunities

The potential market is increasing by the day: 26 percent of the 21 million businesses in the US is owned by women, and 23 percent of American women makes more than her husband/partner. Clearly a juicy market, which warrants more attention than just launching superficial ‘pro-women’ advertising campaigns. Citigroup gets it. Deutsche Bank, ING, Bank of Tokyo, and HSBC to follow? (more…)

Smart, new concepts focused on women

In banking, Citigroup is making waves with its Women and Company service. Launched as a pilot in October 2001 in Chicago, New York and Florida, and now available nation-wide in the US, the service is aimed at women under 55 with at least $100,000 in investable assets. An annual $125 membership fee gives members access to an advisor from Salomon Smith Barney or Citicorp Investment Services, newsletters and seminars, and special rates for mortgages, child care facilities and saving funds. Following in WomenandCo’s footsteps is Malaysian Affin Merchant Bank, which set up a new division exclusively for female entrepreneurs in January 2003. Both banks have realized that there is a massive opportunity in tailored services for women, as relationships between banks and women show different dynamics than those between banks and men. Some research results: Women need to start investing earlier than men, as they tend to live longer, often still earn less than men, and sometimes find themselves (temporarily) disconnected from the world of labor due to pregnancy or family demands. Most women believe they know less about investing than men do. Women tend to do more research before they make a final choice for a financial advisor. However, after choosing an advisor, women have less time available to make investment decisions on an ongoing basis, as they often have to manage a family and household as well. Women tend to be more interested in what they can eventually DO with an investment rather than in achieving a (theoretical) maximum potential on paper. More than half of all women feel financial institutions show little respect for female investors.

Opportunities

The potential market is increasing by the day: 26 percent of the 21 million businesses in the US is owned by women, and 23 percent of American women makes more than her husband/partner. Clearly a juicy market, which warrants more attention than just launching superficial ‘pro-women’ advertising campaigns. Citigroup gets it. Deutsche Bank, ING, Bank of Tokyo, and HSBC to follow? (more…)

Opportunities

In-game advertising: another step towards the omni-presence of brands

Electronic Arts Sims Activision Street Hoops

Opportunities