Asian Paints Limited: Providing Asia and the World With Quality Paints Since 1942

Established in 1942 as The Asian Oil & Paint Company, Asian Paints Limited was originally a family-owned business.  However, when the family decided that the company needed more professional management, sales increased and their products reached different countries in Asia and even the whole world.

Asian Paints had humble beginnings in India, but today is one of the primary paint manufacturers in Asia and even the world.  The company operates in 17 countries, some in Asia and the Middle East, while others in the South Pacific and the Caribbean.

In 2002 and 2003, Forbes listed Asian Paints as one of the 200 Best Small Companies in the World. It is also recognized as one of the best employers in India. Today, the company is listed in the Forbes Asia Fab 50, a list of the top companies in Asia.

Asian Paints has over 5,200 employees and have reached annual sales of $2 billion.

Prada: From Leather Goods to the World of Fashion

Anybody with a keen sense of fashion will definitely know Prada as it is considered to be one of the premier fashion brands in the world today. With over 250,000 locations around the world, even non-fashion enthusiasts will have heard of the brand.

However, when brothers Mario and Martino Prada established the store in Milan, Italy, in 1913, the only products they sold were leather goods and some trunks and handbags imported from England. An interesting fact about how the company was run during those times was that Mario did not believe in the role of women in running a business. As such, none of the female members of the family were allowed to have any role in the business.

Unfortunately, Mario’s sons had no interest in running their store and it was left to his daughter Luisa, upon his retirement. Luisa was at the helm of Prada until her retirement in 1978, when her daughter Miuccia succeeded her.

In 1977, 17 year old Patricio Bertelli had started his own leather goods store. However, he would soon be joining Prada and be giving business advice to Miuccia. One of these would be to stop importing leather goods from England and to design and develop their own line of luggage.

With the help of Bertelli, Miuccia began designing her own bags and leather goods and these became an instant hit. It wasn’t until 1985 when Prada became known of their unique handbags, and their first release took the world of fashion by storm. Their first line of handbags where in fact, an overnight sensation.

The success of Prada in the global fashion scene was amazing. During the late 1990’s the company even made a shot at owning Gucci by purchasing a 9.5% interest. However, this was short lived and the interests were sold not long after.

Deciwatt: More with Less

The energy product development organization Deciwatt has a very noble mission: to explore the possibility of doing more with less. Deciwatt believes that this initiative empowers people so that sustainable and affordable power solutions are reached.

During a SolarAid charity event, Deciwatt founders Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves were challenged to replace kerosene lamps with low cost alternatives. Riddiford and Reeves created the LED lantern GravityLight which costs less than $10 each. They were successful because GravityLight is more than just battery or solar power.

In spite of the success, Deciwatt continued to explore the power level within which LED light can deliver. The result indicated that GravityLight can produce light with just a deciwatt of power but far more superior than the light that kerosene lamps produce. With just $10, Deciwatt expects that within just a few months, people will spend less for fuel costs.

Because of the increasing demand for cheaper alternatives, the Koomey’s Law predicts that the efficiency of energy devices will double every two years. And LEDs increase in wattage and lumens, Deciwatt will continue to explore how it can keep on producing more with less.

Trina Solar Limited: Vertically Integrated Solar Power

In an era when there is an outcry for alternative sources of energy in the midst of issues about climate change, Chinese photovoltaic manufacturer Trina Solar Limited supplies solar power to households, businesses and offices worldwide. Established in 1997, Trina Solar started as a system installation company.

At present, the company is one of just a few photovoltaic manufacturers that continued in developing vertically integrated supply chain. The energy is produced from monocrystalline ingots, cells and wafers to assemble high quality modules. Trina Solar primary market is in Europe.

Trina Solar is the fourth largest solar panel producer in the world, and the third largest in China. The company is also the world’s third largest silicon solar module producer. In 2009 alone, Trina Solar has shipped nearly 400 MW of solar panels.

Because of Trina Solar’s capabilities in solar modules, solar wafers and solar cells, the company is also into vertically integrated solar manufacturing. In the event of any quick free price fall, vertically integrated solar producers are believed to sustain greater pressure compared with others. In 2011 for instance when the solar prices dropped by 32.2%, five Chinese vertically integrated solar manufacturers have expanded their market shares to more than 30%.

The aggressive use of fossil fuels brought about by rapid industrialization has increased carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Studies show that these emissions have accelerated climate change and have threatened to adversely affect the balance of nature. Trina Solar believes that it is the right time to do something significant and avert serious consequences like water shortages, food crises, pollution, and the collapse of the ecosystem.

Furthermore, global inequality is expected to worsen as a result of rising fuel prices and expensive lifestyles. One of these inequalities is higher energy bills. Young and old, rich and poor all face the same evil effects. Our environment and communities need sustainable energy sources for sustainable solutions.

Solar is the most abundant source of energy. It is also the cleanest and safest that can power homes, offices and other structures anywhere in the world. Trina Solar is working on grid-parity in California, Italy and Germany. By 2020, Trina Solar’s vision is to global grid-parity by 2020.

Arup: Shaping a Better World

Arup is an architectural company composed of engineers, planners, designers, technical specialists and consultants. Arup was established in 1946 with the noble mission of making a positive difference by shaping a better world.

When Arup was founded, it focused on structural engineering. The company made its first significant difference and caught worldwide attention with the structural design of the Sydney Opera House. Then the Centre Pompidou of Paris followed. Since the company’s successes in these projects, Arup has evolved to become a multi-disciplinary organization. One of Arup’s most recent projects was its work on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which reaffirmed the company’s reputation to deliver innovative and sustainable designs.

Arup has a very unique and unconventional approach to design. The company encourages its multi-talented personnel to look beyond the limitations of their specialization. The company is owned in trust on behalf of its employees. Thus, its staff has developed an independence of spirit, and this is demonstrated in the quality of Arup’s products and in its continuing pursuit for technical excellence.

Tecsis: Small Contribution to the Growing Needs for Renewable Energy

Tecsis is the world’s leader in the production on custom wind turbine blades. Since 1995 when Tecsis was established, the company has supplied the energy sector with blades. Its management team of experienced professionals has guided Tecsis in implementing cutting edge manufacturing processes while maintain long term relationships with its global partners in order to ensure the company’s flexibility in meeting customer needs.

At Tecsis, energy is the central theme. Its products reflect the company’s commitment to promote the responsible use of energy. As modern lifestyle and population growth demand an increase in energy consumption, issues that pertain to reliable energy supply and environmental impact also require attention.

Tecsis is at the helm of all these issues with the emergence of wind power as an immediate alternative to hydrocarbons. Of all sources of renewable energy, wind power is perhaps the most competitive. And Tecsis is happy not only because it is taking part in the movement but actually leading it.

The imbalance of the demands in energy in relation with its supply adversely affects energy prices. Households, businesses and government offices are on the hunt for more efficient use of energy. The value of Tecsis ventilation equipment provides the most important energy saving solution because it offers the same operating performance.

Tecsis has more than a decade of experience in producing wind turbine blades. Tecsis leverages in its experience in the use of advanced materials used in space and aeronautics applications. Its technical expertise in structural design and aerodynamics, manufacturing processes, serial manufacturing and product testing is taking Tecsis on the lead. Its strong customer relations also help Tecsis in creating competitive e designs, production and delivery to main markets worldwide.

Tecsis is based in São Paulo, Brazil. Tecsis is strategically located that it can readily supply wind energy to its markets in North America, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Tecsis is committed to continue to keep its standards of quality high for the sake of every stakeholder that believes in the company.

Songza: Personalized Music Streaming

Songza offers free music streaming for residents in North America. It also offers recommendation services. According to Songza, its playlists were made by experts, and are based on mood, activity or time of day. Other categories include genre, themes, artists, era, and interests. Songza adapts to the personal music preference of the user, based on these categories.

Songza was acquired by Annie Street in October 2008. However, in August 2010 Annie Street was acquired by Amazon. Thereafter, Songza was re-launched in alpha version as a new company, retaining only the name from the original company.

Following the purchase, the new owners experimented and tried a number of iterations. Inspired by Turntable.fm, Songza featured Social Radio, a function where the user can act like a DJ. Social Radio makes Songza social and allows crowdsourcing. However, crowdsourcing was of low quality and the service was not differentiated from other companies of the same service, Songza was launched in beta on Android and iPhone.

The situation-based feature called Music Concierge was launched on iPhone and the web in March 2012. Examples of filters include, waking up, working out and singing in the shower.

Banjo: Next to Being There

How do you want the chance to explore what is happening around the world right at this very moment? Banjo is the greatest way to do just that. Using social networks, Banjo is a fun way to discover adventures, activities and places across the globe. Each time you explore using Banjo, you are sure to uncover new things. It can connect you with personalities and people you never knew and have not met before.

Banjo provides access to the world beyond what your present network can allow you. It is a great app for adventurous people who want to experience new places, try new things, or visit a particular event. Banjo is next to being there.

At the height of the popularity of social networking, Banjo can help filter and track through social media. As an Android and iPhone app, Banjo can search for geo-located Tweets, Gowalla or Foursquare check-ins, and even Twitpic images in a given area.

The app is helpful in two major ways. First, Banjo is designed to help find out what is happening in a particular area. It provides information on the activities taking place in a current location and they are plotted on a map. Aside from that, it can also provide information about a particular place of interest, say, Times Square. Banjo is a company that filters searches, like what restaurant is the most talked about in a given location.

Second, Banjo provides friend updates, sorted according to location and distance. For instance, businessmen stuck in a conference may want to find nearby friends. This feature was added by Banjo founder Damien Patton when he was stranded for hours in an airport and found out later that a friend was close by and Patton missed him because he did not know he was there.

One need not be on Twitter or Foursquare to be able to use Banjo. Banjo grabs posts from social networks, so it can be used as an app to access these social media services.

Sarvajal: Water for All

Sarvajal is a social enterprise established in 2008 to provide access to affordable pure water to everyone. Sarvajal issues franchises to carefully selected franchisees for the operation of micro-filtration plants. Each franchise serves communities according to size (ranging from a few hundreds to a few thousands) and location (rural and urban). As a franchisor, Sarvajal provides technical training and management support to its franchisees. Sarvajal not only offers affordable water (which sells at $0.007 per liter) but livelihood opportunities to the franchisees, its employees and the entire community.

At Sarvajal, technological solutions are in place to ensure real time management, monitoring and control of water quality and quantity. The company’s “source-to-service” technology, with its remote tracking and management, is helpful even in decentralized water supply, such as Sarvajal implements in many communities.

Sarvajal is based in Gujarat, India. It is serving 50,000 people in 120 villages every day. The name “Sarvajal” literally means “Water for All.”