WHO you talkin’ to? 😎
Contact less payments, billionaire generosity, and indoor farming.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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So let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 up 1.15% % 🔼
India - Sensex down 2.77% 🔽
The future of payments is contact-less 💳
The pandemic is destroying pockets of the market and simultaneously creating new ones. The digital payments industry is one such winner. After payments giant Visa reported very strong growth in digital payments earlier last month, rival Mastercard has now come out with a 40% jump in contactless payments, including mobile pay and tap to pay. 🚀
Due to the pandemic, touching objects in public spaces is frowned upon. Cautious customers are looking for the easiest ways to get in and out of stores. Contactless options to pay at the checkout are becoming the saving grace.
Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga expects the trend to stick even after the pandemic is over. He hopes that the benefits such as bio-metric authentication, speed of transaction, and general safety from not having to carry your card around will be viewed favorably and will stick with the consumers as a habit. Apparently, 58% of consumers who have used this mode of payment say that they are more likely to use it more now than before the outbreak.
Big business is quick in facilitating these payment methods. Department stores and shopping malls are encouraging contactless payments now in their welcome back pitches, hoping the service would alleviate consumers’ concerns about “touch” and encourage people to consider visiting by braving the pandemic. 💳📲
Movie theaters are asking customers to book and pay through the apps, circumventing the box-office area altogether. Restaurants have digitized menus and are facilitating app based ordering.
The question however is whether small businesses and stores, especially in emerging markets like India are ready to embrace this change away from traditional means. Majority of transactions in unorganized “baazaars” still happen via Cash. Despite the drive for digital wallet adoption post demonetization, vendors rarely have digital wallets set up here. Inaccurate documentation, lack of incentive to pay taxes, or just plain digital illiteracy is at blame.
Point being, this adds fuel to the misery of small merchants who are flanked in all directions right now by falling demand and attack from large enterprises (as well as digital platforms and ecommerce) eating into their share.
Can we urge you guys to consider shopping local more often than before? Small merchants need your support. 🤗🤗
How do the Billionaires stack up in generosity? 💸💰
Donations to fight the pandemic have been pouring in aggressively across the world, but who would have thought Indian Billionaires would be standing neck to neck with American billionaires? We’re modestly surprised, and honestly super proud.
Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter made waves earlier last month by pledging $1 Billion of his wealth to the pandemic fight efforts in a Tweet. So cool. 😎
In India, Azim Premji the founder of Wipro made waves by committing $132 Million from his foundation to the pandemic combat efforts. Other notable contributions have come from Mukesh Ambani, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Dell so far.
Btw, please consider donating yourself if you haven’t done so already. The PM Cares Fund is a great option to make an immediate impact. See here.
The rush to get back to normal 🔐
As we all know, New York City has been at the forefront of the coronavirus fight. Nearly 3.5 Lakh people have been infected in the state so far, with thousands dying. Things however are starting to look better. 😇
As hospitalizations decline while economic damages accumulate, the state’s Governor Mr. Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday that New York will look to ease some restrictions and open some low risk and recreational activities. Restaurants and bars will remain closed, but public parks may be reopened.
Experts however are taken aback a little. City doctors highlight that with no vaccine on the horizon, the chances of the virus re-surging are very high. However, the concerns pale out and lose voice in front of the millions that call the city their home that have been rendered unemployed due to the pandemic.
Heeding to these requests, authorities seem to find some common ground and have decided to reopen -
Only low risk businesses such as landscaping, gardening will be allowed
Outdoor sports such as tennis will be allowed but with limited contact
Drive in movie theaters will be opened
What do you think we can learn from the New Yorkers in jump starting things back at home in India? Comment at the end of the post and let us know. Read more…
WHO you talkin’ to? 🤥
As more and more countries are looking to restart their economies, WHO’s warnings about the coronavirus worsening situation seem to be falling on deaf ears.
The once respected global health organization responsible in large to eradicate Polio, stop AIDS and countless other such diseases is currently facing tremendous amount of backlash from the global community for doing very little to hold China accountable for its handling of the pandemic. Politics has taken over and in the process WHO is losing credibility as the guiding light for world response against the pandemic.
The organization said on Monday that cases have jumped in countries that have eased the lock-down restrictions. The Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom warned countries against lifting restrictions without proper testing and isolating infrastructure in place in case the virus re-surges. Most calls heeded little attention.
Countries like Germany, China have reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases since the easing of restrictions. This has experts thinking, are we looking at a second wave of surge in cases anytime soon? Read more…
Indoor Farming is Taking Off 🌱
As the pandemic puts strain on food supply chains and grocery stores’ ability to source healthy local product, an innovative farming startup is seeing surging demand.
Hear about Bowery farming, a modern farming company whose indoor farms create the most ideal conditions for growing the purest produce imaginable.
By controlling every last detail involved in growing plants right from the soil, the seed quality, the moisture to the temperature, air quality, lighting etc. the company ensures it produces the finest quality of organic produce for mass consumption.
The company was founded in 2015 by a former Investment Banker named Irving Fain. After thorough market research, and nearly $167 Million in outside funding, the company opened its first farm in New Jersey, USA in 2017.
Bowery’s main goal is popularizing sustainable agriculture. Worldwide, agriculture is the largest consumer of resources such as water. Indoor farming uses 95% less water than traditional methods of farming. Since the crops are grown in a well controlled and sterile environment, they do not require pesticides and fungicides.
Bowery estimates its farm to be 100 times more productive than a traditional farm on the same amount of land. The indoor farm highly relies on technology. Also, ramping up its game on the back of surging demand, the company recently hired Rachel Alkon as its first head of communications. Rachel was previously working for Amazon’s top organic food chain Whole Foods as a Principal for Global Policy and Public Affairs.
The Agriculture startup recently opened its second indoor farming location in Baltimore which is 3.5 times larger than the last. Read more…
What else are we Snackin’ -
Tweet of the day -
As most of India remains stuck at home, people are turning to online education and learning platforms to acquire new skills.
Unacademy, one of our country’s fastest growing online learning platforms posted some stellar numbers that have us awestruck. The company’s revenue has doubled since March, and has grown almost 10 times since April 2019 according to the platform’s founder Gaurav Munjal.
1.2 Lakh live classes were conducted on the platform in April, and more than 2.6 Lakh students took mock tests. Even legends like the charismatic politician Shashi Tharoor, esteemed cricketer Virat Kohli and talented actress wife Anushka Sharma have been taking classes on the platform.
We’re sure other platforms like Khan Academy, Byju’s, Coursera, and even independent creators on YouTube are facing similar surge in traffic during these times as people blessed with spare time, put a heavy emphasis on up-skilling and self learning.
As we mentioned in one of our previous issues, this might be a great opportunity to go after something you’ve always wanted to do, including taking an online class. ☀️
You could go after professional up-skilling by learning to code, write, design or learning a software tool. Or you could chase a hobby like singing, playing an instrument, cooking, brewing, or even acting. Or it could be something super personal like meditation, anger management, anxiety management or even breathing (yes, that’s a thing). Take your pick. YouTube especially is a gold mine of diverse tutorials. 🥂
All that matters is that you keep moving ahead and make progress. As they say, be the best version of you. 🥳
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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