ABSTRACT
This chapter describes two enterprises—LabourNet and AgroStar. These two enterprises are extremely different in terms of the sectors they serve, backgrounds of the promoter teams, how they launched and the challenges they faced. Most impact investors will acknowledge that skill development is an operationally demanding sector with low margins. Yet LabourNet has emerged as one of the fastest scale-up impact stories outside the microfinance sector, truly demonstrating positive social as well as financial bottom-lines. One of the most difficult aspects of being in the skill development sector, especially for low-income consumers, is the challenge of getting paid for services. In India, three models have prevailed over the years: the trainee pays, the government pays, and the placement partner or corporate pays. The Indian farmer travels an average of 15 km to procure regular agri inputs such as seeds, manure, fertilizers and pesticides. It was this observation that baffled the Sheth brothers and triggered the birth of AgroStar.
