From Tribeca to Tanzania

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2007-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Keely is now on Social Edge. Please update your browser and RSS feeds.

Getting Back to Living with HIV/AIDS Instead of Dying From It

2007-02-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

AtoZ has been working with the local government hospital here in Arusha to sell bed nets to malaria patients at a subsidized price. There are 10,000 cases of malaria in this hospital every year, so I went to meet the Regional Medical Officer there to exchange ideas about how we might distribute bed nets through all Tanzanian government hospitals. It turns out that the pilot of AtoZ's distribution scheme in this hospital was quite innovative. When patients came in with malaria who were obviously very poor, the doctor would write a prescription for the subsidized net. AtoZ would supply the nets in the hospital's pharmacy, and the pharmacy allowed them to be stocked without adding any profit margin for itself.

One of the challenges however, has been to get doctors to actually write the prescriptions given so many other priorities and demands on their time (resources are tight---this hospital has long lines and sleeps two strangers to a bed at times). We also found that the price, even at a subsidized level (roughly 3-4 USD), is still too expensive for many patients in the government hospital. We did brainstorm some interesting solutions for providing incentives to the doctors and cross subsidizing the nets from one distribution channel to another.

While I was there, I met a woman who has AIDS. The nurse (who happened to be this woman's cousin) told me that none of her treatment seemed to be working and the doctors had tried so many tests. She looked so beautiful wrapped in a bright yellow kanga skirt and a golden patterned headwrap, but I couldn't help but see the pain in her eyes. She was young like me, yet she walked slowly like a woman of 90 years old. I came home that night to hear a story from a friend about his good 30 year old friend dying of AIDS a few days earlier. While my time here in Tanzania has me focusing on malaria, this was a good reminder of the numerous other challenges we are called to meet in caring for those who are suffering from disease.

A new short film, THE BICYCLE, is an inspiring experience in just that. It follows Pax Chingawale as he cycles over 20km per day from village to village in Malawi, fighting AIDS at the grassroots. Pax volunteers with Dignitas International, headed up by Dr. James Orbinski, who accepted the Nobel Peace Price for Medecins sans Frontieres.

The movie shows us how determined volunteers and antiretroviral drug treatments allow millions of people to get back to living with HIV/AIDS instead of dying from it.

You can view the film by clicking here and going to the section "Watch Videos."

From 2 to 24 Striped Socks Behind Me

2007-01-30T06:37:00.000-08:00

A confession of my goal: I am going to hike Mount Kilimanjaro in June. This is the tallest free-standing mountain rise in the world at over 15,000 feet from the base and includes the highest peak in Africa which rises 19,340 ft. It is going to be quite a challenge for me. My training was sparked with a 6:30am jog this morning, complemented with crisp morning air.

This is what I saw as I ran:
>the green banana and acacia trees sharing their shade with me from the light sun;

>the butcher plopping down two giant bull heads into a wheel barrow spilling over with blood;

>chickens bobbing their heads up and down as they cross my path (accompanied by the rooster who is probably responsible for my annoying 4am wake up calls);

>the sound of gospel music waving from behind bars of the mud walled shopette;

>barefoot children excited to see a foreigner near their home greet me with a respectful “Shikamo” and then giggle to each other;

>Massai men in a crimson and purple wrap with beaded headbands and bracelets carrying a stick headed to town;

>well dressed ladies balancing buckets on their heads after just coming from the water pump;

>40 men from the local security company running in exact lines for morning calisthenics (not to be shown up, I ran faster);

>the most beautiful red and yellow flowers and plants you can imagine lining the road;

>overstuffed taxi vans decorated with silly names and colorful stickers polluting heavily;

>buses full of people headed to a factory for work;

>a lady sweeping the ground where a market full of onions, potatoes, tomatoes and carrots will soon appear.

But the best part of the morning was this:

I heard the sloshing of a backpack and patter of little feet behind me. I slowed my run to turn around and discover the shy smile of a little girl dressed in her green school uniform with black and white striped knee-high socks. She was carrying a homemade hand broom to dust off her seat on the floor at school later and an empty plastic container to collect milk at the market for her family after school.

At first, I thought it was sweet that one little girl wanted to jog with me (she said nothing and very carefully stayed just behind me by a few steps). Then, we continued to run and pass other children on their way to school, so they also joined in the jog behind me.

The next thing you know, I had a tail of over 12 kids in green school uniforms running behind me. What a sight! I could not stop laughing. It would be great inspiration if they came to hike Kilimanjaro with me, too!

We Owe it to Peanut Butter

2007-01-29T03:12:00.000-08:00

Innovative ideas are usually considered "nutty" at first. In the most recent Financial Times newspaper, an article about Acumen Fund describes how the idea for our social venture investment fund was inspired while searching a Rwandan city for peanut butter jars.

To read the Financial Times article, click here.

BACO Metrics & Measuring What Counts

2007-01-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Einstein once said, "Not everything that counts can be measured, and not everything that can be measured counts." Developing tools to meaningfully measure social impact as well as financial performance of an organization is one of the biggest challenges for our field. My favorite tools are the logic model, which I learned from Barbara Kibbe, and the SROI methodology, which I learned from Jed Emerson. In the last two years, I have been more intrigued by how New Economics Foundation has build on Emerson's SROI method. Acumen Fund has spent the last few years developing a methodology for assessing the performance of the social enterprises in our portfolio, with an emphasis on keeping it very practical and building on the good work of others in the field.

This methodology is known as the BACO (best alternative charitable option) and helps us to understand the social impact and cost effectiveness of our investment as compared to other charitable options that address the same issue. This is BACO's first public appearance, so we acknowledge its limitations and know that it is certainly not a perfect framework for assessing organizations delivering critical goods and services to the poor. However, we have found great value in using it with our portfolio of social investments, and we welcome any of your ideas or questions related to how to strengthen this tool. A draft document outlining BACO with the example of AtoZ’s bednet manufacturing in Tanzania is now available online by clicking here.

Loss

2007-01-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

Fighting fatigue, rain, heat and hunger, seven powerful and dynamic saleswomen from AtoZ put on their blue uniforms and walk daily door to door selling bednets to the people of Arusha.
One of the AtoZ saleswomen invited me to meet a client who had purchased the net from her. This woman lived in a small, simple, mud walled home, barely lit with incoming light from holes in the ceiling. She seemed so solemn as she shared with me that she suffers from malaria at least twice per year. The good news is that since she bought the bednet six months ago, she has not suffered. It took her two months to save the three dollars required to buy a subsidized net. Toward the end of my visit, stepping over a chicken running in the doorway and two small children staring at me intently, she shared with me that her son had died the day before. He was at his teacher’s house studying, when robbers burst in and began shooting. I could see the pain in her eyes, and all I could do was tell her how sorry I was for her loss. This strong and beautiful woman made me think about life's fragility and reminded me to cherish the gifts we have of family and health before they slip away.

Create a Future Which Has Light

2007-01-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

I love to discover the creative side of people- especially when I find them using it to motivate others and to help guide their own lives in positive ways. Last month, I met a new friend at the local vegetable market named Mike. He has taught me a lot about life for people in Tanzania, and I have always been impressed with the way his conversations manage to be founded upon such a hopeful vision for the future. He decided to share a rap with you about success in life. He even wore white clothing that day because he said it would reflect all light.

Mike reminds us that we are in control of creating a positive future for ourselves. It is the simple things, such as a smile, that count toward success. Click the arrow below to hear his rap under the backdrop of stunning Mt. Meru.

Create a Future Which Has Light
By Michael Emanuel Sarakikya (Arusha, Tanzania)

In the Life, you have to recognize

10 Steps of Success

Speak and Act

Be helpful

Be thoughtful

Smile

Be considerate

Be friendly

Be generous

Respect everyone

Call people by name and

Speak to the people in order to succeed

Also, you have to arrange your life

‘Cause life is like a bloom,

so don’t blame,

Because some of the people,

they don’t feel about the future,

When they fall in life, they blame,

Also when they fall in love, they blame,

So I don’t know what to do and I don’t know where to go,

I work hard in order to avoid the folly that follows me in life,

You have to arrange your life in order to

Create a future which has light.

Gates Defense of Investment Policies "Appalling"

2007-01-17T05:53:00.000-08:00

Jessica Shortall has written an open letter to the Gates Foundation. Her reaction pretty much aligns with mine. An excerpt:

16 January 2007
To: Ms Scott, Ms Stonesifer, Bill & Melinda, et al

"Appalling. I can’t think of another word to describe your organisation’s misguided and arrogant response to public criticism regarding your investment practices. I have in the past admired the Gates Foundation, and having done some work in the area of paediatric ARVs, have had significant reason to applaud your work.

Having an antiquated, double-blind approach to charitable giving vs. investing is one thing. The Foundation could be forgiven for realising it’s behind the times, and for getting up to speed, post haste. But having and then defending, without apology, said approach, says a great deal about your organisation, and none of it good. ...."

You can find Jessica's full letter by clicking here.

You can read the LA Times article about the Gates investments by clicking here.

What do you think?

Two Men Holding Hands

2007-01-13T10:16:00.000-08:00

The electricity was out all day again, so I went out walking. Under the hot summer sun. I smiled as I turned the corner and was met by the sweet sound of drums, trumpet and singing. A wedding procession: cars adorned with bright yellow bows and flowers, women in all satin crowded in the back of trucks waving, the bride in a puffy white dress, people dancing joyfully in the street.

My flat in Arusha is next to a round-about park where everyone goes to celebrate and take wedding pictures. Every weekend, I get to witness a very happy day for strangers.

This weekend during the procession, I noticed two men walking hand-in-hand, something I have seen occasionally here in Tanzania and something I remember being intrigued by in India last year. Two men holding hands here is merely an expression of friendship- an intimacy and companionship they are not afraid to show in public. Where I am from (the US), two heterosexual male friends would never dream of holding hands while walking down the street—too afraid that people would question their sexual orientation or perhaps think of them as weak and unmanly.

I found this simple and naïve expression of friendship quite refreshing.

Book Review: A Fine Balance by Mistry

2007-01-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

Reading this book is not for the weak of heart—get ready for an emotionally charged story that unwinds through peaks and valleys of chaos, tragedy and a sense of raw humanity. Through the lives of four key characters (two tailors, a widow and a student), the reader gets a glimpse of life during a fascinating time in India’s history known as the “Special Internal Emergency.” It is during this period of 1975-77 when the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called for a suspension of civil liberties. From such different backgrounds, the main characters find themselves eventually living not only in the same house, but also as witnesses of the other’s struggles and unjust circumstances….its all in there: from castration, fatal accidents, graphic suicides, forced vasectomies, hanging, lynching, slave labor, starvation, broken limbs, extortion and more.

If there is one thing this book shouts, it is “life is not fair.”

Ishvar nodded. ''And are the two children happy without Monkey-Man?'' Beggarmaster flipped his unchained hand in a who-knows gesture. ''They will have to get used to it. Life does not guarantee happiness''. -A Fine Balance, 542

Some people have described this book as depicting a fine balance between hope and despair; I think it is more like a fine balance between perseverance and surrender. As the characters’ distrust of each other evolves ultimately into love, the reader can see how much we as humans depend on each other for that perseverance.

For as sad as it is, the book was very well written and I would recommend it.

Partying on New Year's with Wild Animals

2007-01-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

As we descended into the enchanted green crater of Ngorongoro, a sense of peace filled me just as the white fluffy clouds fill the rim of the crater. My Acumen Fund colleague, Jocelyn, and I decided to say goodbye to 2006 by taking a safari adventure on New Year’s Eve in the eastern edge of the Serengeti.

We found good company with lions, white rhino, elephants, flamingos, wildebeest, baboons, zebras, hippos and cheetahs....

We camped in tents and at midnight, we joined the local guides and others at our campsite in celebration. A surreal picture under the stars of dancing, hugging and singing to welcome in 2007.

As we drove home last night passing tribal warriors of the Maasai wrapped in crimson and purple cloth with gaping holes in their ear lobes, I thought to myself how fortunate I am to experience this gift in life. This is the most beautiful place on earth. What a way to start 2007.

Learning Local Cooking for the Holidays

2007-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

A wonderful colleague of mine, Machua, kindly invited me to meet his family and learn how locals cook and celebrate the holidays. I had so much fun with his wife and daughter, who taught me how to cook in a traditional pot on an open fire. We fire-roasted fresh corn from their garden, squeezed fresh fruit juice and then they taught me how to make pilau (a rice and meat dish) and a special vegetarian dish with a coconut sauce. The kitchen was alive with smells of spices such as pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, garlic and ginger. Before we ate, Machua gave me a tour of their home, including banana trees, corn stalks and a huge chicken coop- all of which flourish under the silhouette of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Although the family speaks fluent English, I tried my fate at several words in the local language of Kiswahili.

Holidays are a happy time in their home because all of the children are home from school. It was nice to spend a day feeling like a Tanzanian and being around such warm people.

::Hear My Poetry:: An Invitation::

2006-12-25T23:29:00.000-08:00

The poet Emily Dickenson once wrote a poem about the beauty of books and poetry that ended “How frugal is the Chariot that bares the human soul.” I had to memorize this for school when I was eleven years old.

Recently, I wrote and performed the poem below “Slam Poetry Style” for friends and Acumen investors. My sister and bro supported me in the creation of this. I hope you like it.

Click the arrow below to hear me recite it:

An Invitation
By Keely Stevenson

I am the dying hospice patient teaching others to honor life

I am a giggle

and the love all things chocolate

I am the heart that says "Let's March on DC"

I am the Palestinian who hates the US but loves MTV

I am the citizen against terror that thinks Iraq is the key

I am the book that must be burned

the echo of Jim's crow

the ape who prays to the flying spaghetti monster

and the twelve year old forced to kill, for diamonds?

I am the unskilled farmer that got his land back from the white man

the profit of risk and the punishment of failure

I am the discrimination that you pretend no longer exists

I am the choice between HIV treatment for myself or food for my kids

I am the ceiling that women keep hitting their heads upon while trading derivatives

I am the dignity in poverty and the courage in chemotherapy

I am the believer that is jailed for prayer

And the fear of disease born of one bite

I AM THE CHALLENGE

I am the challenge to make a difference in this world

and I am lost

but I am rolling up my sleeves to go to work

I am hope, I am proud

I AM NECESSARY

I am you and you are me.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-25T23:25:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a very very special holiday season. Hope you are surrounded with good people, love, inspiration and relaxation.

Updates from My 'Fellow' Fellows

2006-12-25T23:19:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I am a part of a six person Acumen Fund fellows team. It has been great getting a few notes from the other six Acumen Fund fellows who are in India, Pakistan, Kenya and the US. Here are some reflections:

:::David Lehr:::
“I am with drishtee.com, a very innovative for-profit company focusing on delivering services to rural villages in India by leveraging local entrepreneurs. Their current services are via kiosk-based entrepreneur working out of a physical location (perhaps a small storefront, or even out of their house). To expand the reach to rural residents who do not, or can not (due to physical distance or mobility issues) visit an actual kiosk, I am crafting a plan to leverage the rapid growth of mobile phone penetration in India.

It is a bit wild here in India, especially compared to China .... I do have constant fears of lice, malaria, diptheria, typhoid, Delhi belly, death by auto rickshaw, threats by the real estate goons that I mixed myself up in, and just the possibility of falling thru large
holes in the street. And besides, there is no toilet paper in the bathrooms, and no silverware in the restaurants - you figure it out, I can't.”

:::Eric Berkowitz:::
Eric is settling into his new life with his wife and eleven-month-old baby. He has begun work with BroadReach Healthcare, a global company leading transformational change in healthcare delivery, distribution, and financing. Founded in 2003, BroadReach builds and grows successful businesses in three primary areas of emerging market opportunity in healthcare: Global Health; Provider & Distribution Networks; and Consumer-Driven Networks.

:::Jocelyn Wyatt:::
I’ve spent almost 4 weeks at the Sustainable Healthcare Foundation (SHEF) and have worked on many different projects including the 2007 work plan, a drinking water and school screening program sponsored by Proctor & Gamble, a new franchise compliance evaluation process, and a proposal to the Gates Foundation for an in-depth program evaluation. I visited the field several times and have been totally inspired by the work our nurses and community health workers are doing. I’ve found life in Kenya fairly easy (or easier than India at least) and am enjoying the perfect climate and rolling green hills around Nairobi.

Google's in the African Village

2006-12-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

You know why Google has won all of our hearts and has a market cap of $151.8 billion, compared with Yahoo's $36.2 billion, eBay's $46.4 billion and Amazon.com's $17.6 billion? It is out there indexing bits and bobs of the world that we would have otherwise never been able to reach alone. In true Google fashion, the “.org” team (charitable arm of Google) has been indexing inspiration, knowledge and the power of social entrepreneurship in Africa this week. We spent two days together in Arusha. Visiting the field is something that not enough foundations do to inform their strategies and ensure their dynamism in coordination with community needs. I am a big believer in experiential learning: some of you may remember this from my recent post titled, “Today I applied for Food Stamps and an Abortion.” We are what we have lived. Our decisions are really a braid of our past experiences and values. We are lucky if we can design those experiences. It was great to see that Google.org is off on the right foot in this sense.

We brought the Google team and some Acumen family to the AtoZ factory and visited the Usa River village. My first solo attempt at movie making can be seen by clicking the arrow below:

Usa River is a village in a highly endemic area for malaria. Here in Usa River, AtoZ has experimented with curtains and door hangings made of the long lasting insecticide net material. Some of the people we spoke with said that each person in their family would contract malaria up to 5 times per year. Since the 2004 bed net installation in this 120-home village, the people, the clinics and the school have reported a 90% drop in malaria cases. Some say they would spend up to US$20 when they get malaria, including the doctor visit, medication, transportation and 7-9 lost working days. Imagine this 5 times per year. The bednet only costs US$3-4 to prevent this. Still, prevention is a tough thing to sell.

We also heard that the nets have a positive ripple effect: they kill lice, roaches and flies…they also take away the buzzing mosquitoes so people sleep better at night. In the video below you will meet one man whose life has been transformed and some of the children who are no longer suffering from malaria. Click the arrow below to see a short video I made during our visit. My favorite part is the kids laughing and posing when they got excited to see their faces in the camera. All over the world, kids really know how to have fun.

MBA Full Ride Scholarship & Acumen Fellowship

2006-12-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Two great opportunities for social leaders have deadlines next month. As a first-year participant in both programmes, I can honestly say that they are life changing-- thrilling even.

MBA Scholarship for Social Entrpreneurs
Each year, the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship awards five full scholarships to individuals who wish to enter the one year full-time Oxford MBA programme. To qualify, you need a proven track record in social entrepreneurship and a clear vision for the impact the MBA can make to society. The deadline for the second round of admissions is the 12 January, 2007. Comprehensive admissions information can be found at:
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/skoll/mba/MBA+Programme.htm

Acumen Fund Fellowship
Acumen Fund is currently seeking candidates for the Class of 2008 Fellows. The application for the program is due January 31, 2006 and you can find more information on the website: http://www.acumenfund.org/About/opportunity.asp Acumen Fund also offers internship opportunities over the summer in the New York, India, Kenya, and Pakistan offices.

Hakuna Matata: day 1, 2, 3, 4...

2006-12-11T07:25:00.001-08:00

I have barely slept these first few days—but they have been great days.

Day 1: Looked for an Apartment
Thanks to Divyesh’s help, I got a cell phone and my apartment hunting landed me a nice place that is central, clean and managed by a woman named Happiness. That night, I had some tea in the hotel and started reading Jeffrey Sach’s book The End of Poverty, which was a recent gift from my friend Molly who I worked with in Peru several years ago. I was joined by Rustom, who had just flown in from New York. Rustom and I will be working very closely on this bednet project. He was central to the first investment deal that Acumen Fund made in AtoZ, and he is very passionate about this social enterprise space. He is quite entrepreneurial himself and should be an interesting person to work with.

Day 2: Got to Work in India or Africa?
As Rustom and I drove to the AtoZ factory, I tried to see the majestic mountain peaks of Meru (14,979 ft) and Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft), but they were hiding from me behind a few clouds. We went out to AtoZ’s new Olyset bednet factory being built- amazing! The nets start as tiny plastic blue pellets from Japan that get spun into thin strands, woven together with huge machines from China, cut and sewn up by local Tanzanian women and then quality checked by local women who ensure there are no flaws before stocking. This is an extremely complex process- the chemicals, the settings, the training, all have to be precise or else one mistake causes huge wastage. Including its new factory, AtoZ will employ nearly 4,000 people (mostly women near 20 years old) and produce over 7 million nets annually. They also produce textiles and plastic tableware such as bowls and packaging containers. Their expertise in plastics is why they were a perfect fit for the complex long-lasting insecticide treaded bednets.

AtoZ is a family business, and most of the senior management team at AtoZ is Tanzanian-Indian. There is a huge population of people with Indian ethnic ancestry here mostly because their ancestors originally came to Africa through interest in the spice trade via places like Zanzibar. Divyesh is Indian and invited me to join his family at a wedding that night—wow- what a beautiful Hindu ceremony full of interesting traditions. In a room full of women wearing sparkling jewelry and bright colored saris, I watched the bride’s parents pour milk on the groom’s toe, the groom’s little sister rub something on his back with a bell sound to keep him awake, and the groom and the happy couple as they circled the fire pit, carried a coconut, and changed from white to red, complementing the beautiful henna designs. I even got to feed the bride sweets in the tradition of wishing that only sweet things to come to her life. Divyesh’s family has wonderful personality and made me feel very welcome to their friend’s party. I did go to sleep that night wishing I had packed the fancy sari my friend Sujeet gave me 2 years ago and thinking: Am I in India or Africa?

Day 3: Rolling Up our Sleeves
Today we started to outline the project I will undertake this year (more on that later). In the AtoZ boardroom, I perused the pictures on the walls of people who have visited the factory—two Presidents of Tanzania, Bono, President of the Global Fund, US Ambassador, and now me ;-) … pretty impressive list. We began to dig into project planning and then took a break for lunch at a Chinese restaurant that is evidently the local favorite, Louie’s. I discovered that a block away from my new apartment is the standard place for wedding processions and pictures. Lots of people are all dressed up with music, singing in Swahili and dancing happily. It is quite a joy. Hakuna Matata

As I finished a leisurely walk on my new street, I wondered: how is it that women around the world are so good at balancing baskets on their heads and strapping large babies to their backs with just one small cloth? Impressive talents those.

Day 4: Lunch with Anuj
Today the CEO of AtoZ, Anuj, returned from a trip to China and we had lunch to discuss the project. Anuj was born in Kenya and is a phenomenal entrepreneur. His father founded AtoZ and he has run the company for nearly ten years. I spent the rest of the day analyzing some of the data on the effectiveness of a variety of distribution channels and preparing a presentation for the Google.org and Acumen teams who are coming to visit tomorrow.

This Week Was My Transition from Tribeca to Tanzania

2006-12-11T07:18:00.000-08:00

Getting on the plane to Tanzania was bitter sweet. I was excited about the 8 month adventure ahead of me, but also sad that I would be leaving my sister, brother-in-law and friends in New York….and all for a strange city where I knew no one- Arusha.

On the plane ride, I scored a whole row of seats to myself as I watched the movie Gandhi (only after boring myself with Nacho Libre) and was reminded of why I work for social change (because its possible)…and ultimately, why I waved good bye to my family and friends.

On the layover in Amsterdam, I hopped on the internet to escape the smoke-filled airport cafes and decided to read the Arusha Times online newspaper where I found bittersweet headlines that went something like this:

Man murdered over cell phone dispute, but Caught by the Long Arm of the Law
Dar man brings Cholera Outbreak to Arusha
Independence Day Festival this Weekend

Amused because I had never heard anyone seriously use “long arm of the law,” I also found myself curious about the Independence Day celebrations. Evidently there are speeches and parades- most people have the day off work. A bit of history: Tanzania fell under German control in 1886, but was given to Britain after WWI. Present day Tanzania is the result of a merger between the mainland (previously Tanganyika) and Zanzibar in 1964, after both had gained independence.

I arrived in Kilimanjaro airport around 10pm and was met in the hotel by Divyesh. Divyesh is my new colleague at AtoZ, the company I will be working with on behalf of the Acumen Fund. Divyesh has been managing the program which administers coupons that help the poor buy bednets at much cheaper prices ($3 rather than $6). Over a Coke, we chatted a bit about the culture and project and then he headed home so I could get some rest.

As I laid my head on the pillow to sleep, my mind was racing. I decided to name the gecko on the wall Fred. I was annoyed at the fact that I had been bitten thrice by mosquitoes already in such a short time and had forgotten to take the malaria meds. I also was thrilled that I was sleeping under a white net that cascaded around my bed like that of a princess…but thinking that the blue color nets made by AtoZ would be even more fun. Since the pole outside my hotel marked the exact center of Africa- midpoint between Capetown and Cairo- I wondered how long it would take to walk to Cairo from here and which animals I would encounter in the Serengeti along the way.

A Child Just Died of Malaria

2006-12-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

What were you doing in the last 30 seconds? Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria unnecessarily. Crazy, isn’t it?

Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases- killing three times more children than

HIV/AIDS. Malaria is an infection caused by a parasite and carried from person to person by mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable yet over 500 million people contract it per year and more than one million people die from it annually —most of them young children living in Africa.

Once contracted, you start to get a headache, feel hot with a fever and tired; you begin vomiting and have mostly flu-like symptoms. If not treated, you die.

There is no vaccine to prevent this.

The economic effects are huge, too. A Reuters report says that a single bout of malaria in Africa leads to a loss of around ten working days. Additionally, malaria can lead to loss of tourist revenue and international investment. The Roll Back Malaria Campaign reports that malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than US$ 12 billion every year in lost GDP, even though it could be controlled for a fraction of that sum.

Prevention

You can take daily or weekly pills that reduce your chances of contracting malaria. I spent $1,400 on medication for the nine months I will be in Tanzania. I also sprayed my clothing with a repellent and insecticide that lasts 6 weeks even with several washes; these spray cans cost me about $55. If you make less than $2 a day (as many of the people in high malaria zones do), you certainly could not afford these options (which are not even full-proof), especially since you would have to use them not for months like I will, but for every day of your life. So what to do?

There are many ways to reduce the transmission of malaria. In fact, simple things such as using a bednet treated with insecticide have proven to reduce transmission by 50%. A more controversial activity is the spraying of DDT indoors. This has been banned for over 30 years sparked by the book, Silent Spring, which highlighted concerns for DDT’s effect on the environment. The WHO recently lifted the ban citing little evidence of major environmental harm (in comparison to the tragedy of malaria). Beyond finding a vaccine cure, other prevention methods proposed by scientists have even included genetic mutation of the mosquitoes which transmit malaria. To learn more about malaria and specifically the types of solutions being implemented to eradicate it, click here.

Seems so daunting.

So why should we care? Beyond the fact that our hearts hurt when we see a child dying an unnecessary death or we think about the loss of potential innovation and economic productivity from malaria ridden regions. Some scientists predict that in the US and Europe, a re-emergence of malaria will soon come about even though it is mostly eradicated now.

This is everyone’s problem.

As my Tribeca (New York Based Training) Phase of the Acumen fellowship has ended, I am now moving to Tanzania. I will work with an amazing social enterprise which is manufacturing long-lasting insecticide treated bednets (AtoZ). We are trying to build private market distribution channels for the nets…in hope of sustainable ways to stomp out malaria.

What a wonderful adventure this will be…and malaria is certainly an important inspiration for action.

Image Source: REUTERS/IFRC/Marko Kok

New Paper on the Risk Capital Gap for Social Enterprises

2006-12-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

I have been working with a team on an exciting new paper focused on risk capital for social enterprises. Tim Freudlich, Jim Fruchterman, Jed Emerson, Loren Berlin and I finally sent it to the publisher in draft format, so please feel free to read it at the link below and comment. Abstract:

“A growing and global landscape of successful social enterprises, with both nonprofit and for-profit structures, has fallen through a critical risk-taking expansion capital gap. They are in need of investment to grow – investment that takes on the risk of the enterprise. This specific kind of expansion capital cannot easily be pieced together from limited grants, conventional equity or ill-fitted debt. As increasing numbers of social entrepreneurs and mission-based financiers seek to enter the playing field, a question stands out: Can the sector develop new instruments and sets of stakeholder relationships to meet this challenge? This paper explores the risk capital gap and its needs, the existing landscape of players, and proposes some potential solutions. It is not meant to be prescriptive, but instead forms part of an ongoing and necessary conversation between the sources and uses of capital.”

Download our paper on xigi by clicking here.

How I Raised (almost) $10,000 This Week

2006-12-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

As Acumen Fund Fellows, we showed up to work a few weeks ago and were handed another tough assignment. Just like our previous assignments of being homeless for a day or writing/performing a poem in front of hundreds of investors, this was once again true boot camp style experiential learning.

Our Homework: Raise $10,000 for Acumen Fund

Why?
To learn techniques for mobilizing resources and to get the courage and confidence to “make big asks.” It is something that we will have to do often in life as social entrepreneurs, so might as well start practicing.

How?
We are allowed to raise money anyway we can imagine as long as we do so in the next nine months. Don’t forget, these nine months will be spent working full time on other projects in developing countries…and most of us have never raised money before. Yikes!

So what did Keely do?
I had no idea where to start. First, I went to certain people at Acumen and tried to get some tips and some stories that make for effective ways to get people interested in the topic as a whole. Then, I came to a workshop on Social Edge titled “Why is it Hard to Ask for Money?” and listened to the advice, dug deeper into the resources shared. I was then walking in the park with my friend Sarah Caddick and we began to brainstorm ways to make this happen. We threw out ideas such as having people sponsor me with donations to Acumen Fund for every post to my blog or every meter I hike of Mount Kilimanjaro or every bednet I can distribute once I get to Tanzania. We really wanted to be sure that the fundraising efforts were also ways to spread the mission of Acumen Fund, even if people did not end up donating.

About twenty minutes into the walk Sarah says to me, “I think I will throw a party for you in my new apartment. I can invite some friends and they will be interested in hearing about how to support the exciting work you are doing.” Wow- what a generous offer, I thought.

Neither one of us had done this before.

That is really just the beginning—it gets even better. A few days later I meet her friends, Cynthia Joyce and Laurie Campbell, who are also excited about this and offer to co-host the party! What amazing women, no? They just met me and yet they reached out to their family and friends to help me reach my fundraising goal.

We had fun preparing the party invitation list and collateral…thinking about where in her apartment we could hang the bright blue insecticide-treated-long-lasting bednet. Sarah was especially good at being upfront and authentic in communicating to her invitees that this would be a cocktail party with the mission of raising $10K for Acumen Fund. Between Sarah, Cynthia, Laurie and I, we had a great group of people turn up. Most had never heard of Acumen fund.

With my heart racing and the blue bednet and 7 foot tall Acumen poster behind me, I performed a poem; Sarah and Laurie gave wonderful speeches which included a distinct ask for donations. We even had heartwarming words from current Acumen Fund investor, Lesley Goldwasser, who spoke of her roots in Africa and her belief in Acumen Fund’s approach to using markets to solve poverty. I felt so humbled that so many people came out to hear from me about my work. What a gift! When the party ended, I felt like doing cartwheels all the way home that night.

So, what did I learn?
1) set a goal you think is unreasonable
2) be authentic
3) be clear and be a storyteller—share opportunities as if they were stories
4) follow up is everything
5) take time to understand your networks and how they may see value in your work
6) people are generous when they believe in something

The best news is that I came very close to my $10K fundraising goal and met some new friends along the way.

So, not being afraid to ask: if you would like to support the Acumen Fund and my work this year with a tax deductible donation, you can donate online by clicking this link:
https://secure.ga3.org/01/acumendonation. If you do, please post a comment or email me to ensure I can add your gift to my goal and thank you personally with a note from Tanzania.

So, I did it and I am still alive to tell the tale (thanks to Sarah, Cynthia and Laurie…and all the wonderful donors!)

Fearing Silly Things

2006-11-28T10:08:00.001-08:00

When Sara Olsen commented on my blog last month saying that she sometimes considered shaving her head as a test of the origins of her self-concept and in protest of objectification, I could identify.

While my hair was drying at the salon the other day, I was reading Mistry’s novel, A Fine Balance. Ironically, the two main characters, Ishvar and Om, move from their native Indian village to a big city slum where they meet a man who collects hair for a living. On page 173, they ask him what people do with the hair when they buy it from him. His response:
“Many different things. Mostly they wear it… In foreign countries, they fear baldness. They are so rich in foreign countries, they can afford to fear all kinds of silly things.”

It reminded me of the essence of why I spend money on makeup, hair dos and nice clothes—conforming to the latest silly fears, resulting in the latest styles.

Is it because I am afraid of looking different? But then again, what is different? Is it because deep inside I believe that I won’t be considered attractive? Will it reduce my chances of finding a mate? I have heard that some scientists purport that basic animal-like attraction between humans is influenced by things like symmetry of features in one’s face or by one’s hip to waist ratio, signifying their health. We size each other up for our reproductive suitability, just as female birds do when observing colorful males. They proclaim to potential mates, that they are so successful that they can waste their energy on ordornment and exhibition.

Does that explain why people still buy fashion magazines and why the beauty industry is booming? Do we make such efforts for beauty to ensure that someone will find us a suitable match? Americans collectively spend $26 billion on beauty products, a number that is expected to climb to $30 billion in 2008. Compare this to the GDP of Bolivia which is only around $20 billion. The Environmental Working Group found that the average woman uses 12 products per day, and the average man 6. One woman in four uses at least 15.

My sister, Tanya, however says that these are misnomers, misunderstanding and misuses of evolutionary psychology (study of psychology stating that our behaviors and characteristics come from our prehistoric ancestors). She equates them with the horrors of when the bell curve was used to scientifically legitimize racism. Often when a political agenda is the motive for science, the output is simply bad science. The need to couple and to procreate is a common thread shared in all cultures, however how does this need become corrupted and commercialized to prey on our fears? Each society has different norms of beauty and their own media channels for socializing to that end. Who is in control of shaping those norms or questioning those norms? Is it the consumers? Is it the corporations? Is it government?

This Dove campaign is an interesting example of where a corporation has stood up to question those norms (click the arrow below to view it).

The message from Dove is clear: We are creating a false image. An unattainable goal of beauty. Only Photoshop can edit a woman’s neck to be as tall as a praying mantas and raise her eyes inches higher on her head.

We are buying the magazines, watching the movies and using the words to continue to spread unattainable concepts of beauty. Just like Ishvar and Om learned above, we fear all kinds of silly things. Why? With so many other things to do in this world, seems like such a waste.

We are the Ones We've Been Waiting For!

2006-11-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

In a reflection about how lucky we are to do work in social entrepreneurship, Jesse King and Jacqueline Novogratz pointed me to a wonderful story and song this week. It centered around a baccalaureate graduation speech in 2004 where Rev. Jim Wallis shared thoughts on faith, politics and culture. Jacqueline and Jesse knew the powerful street organizer (Lisa Sullivan) who Wallis refers to at the end of the speech for saying, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!” Some of the speech is below and for the full text, click here.

“…I now believe that the real battle, the big struggle of our times, is the fundamental choice between cynicism and hope…. Hope is not a feeling. It is a decision….

"And the realities of our world are these: almost half the world, close to three billion people, live on less than 2 dollars a day; and more than one billion live on less than 1 dollar a day. And every day, 30,000 children die needlessly due to utterly preventable causes like hunger, disease, and things like the lack of safe drinking water - things we could change if we ever decided to. For the first time in history we have the information, knowledge, technology, and resources to bring the worst of global poverty virtually to an end. What we don't have is the moral and political will to do so. And it is becoming clear that it will take a new moral energy to create that political will.

"…The antidote to cynicism is not optimism but action. And action is finally born out of hope. Try to remember that.

"…One of the best street organizers I ever met was Lisa Sullivan. Lisa was a young African American woman from Washington DC, a smart kid from a working class family who went to Yale and earned a PhD. But Lisa felt called back to the streets and the forgotten children of color who had won her heart. With unusual intelligence and entrepreneurial skills she was in the process of creating a new network and infrastructure of support for the best youth organizing projects up and down the East Coast. But at the age of 40, Lisa died suddenly of a rare heart ailment.

Lisa's legacy is continuing though countless young people who she inspired, challenged, and mentored. But there is one thing she often said to them and to all of us that has stayed with me ever since Lisa died. When people would complain, as they often do, that we don't have any leaders today, or ask where are the Martin Luther Kings now? - Lisa would get angry. And she would declare these words: "We are the ones we have been waiting for!" Lisa was a person of faith. And hers was a powerful call to leadership and responsibility and a deep affirmation of hope.

Lisa's words are the commission I want to give to you. It's a commission learned by every person of faith and conscience who has been used to build movements of spiritual and social change. It's a commission that is quite consistent with the virtue of humility, because it is not about taking ourselves too seriously; but rather taking the commission seriously. It's a commission that can only be fulfilled by very human beings, but people who, because of faith and hope, believe that the world can be changed. And it is that very belief that only changes the world. And if not us, who will believe? If not you, who? After all, we are the ones that we have been waiting for.

What is really possible? The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews says this:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And my best paraphrase of that for you is this: Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and then watching the evidence change."

"...you are the ones we have been waiting for. Let's give Micah the last word - something to take away with you as you leave from this place and for every step of your journey. What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God."

Click to hear the powerful song: We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For.

Live

2006-11-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

I received an email today with this picture that said:
Don't Be afraid that your life will end. Be afraid it will never begin.

Book Reaction: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

2006-11-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

Through the eyes of villagers in a border town in the Punjab area of India called Mano Majra, author Khushwant Singh paints a picture of the “Partition” of August 1947. The Partition is a historical reference to the time when India and Pakistan were created after the British rule. When the border lines were drawn, there were distinct religions associated: Muslims in Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs in India. It was a historical moment of great religious hatred, uprising and bloody violence. Throughout the book great detail about the characters’ relationships allows us to get close to a social, cultural and political understanding of the time.

Turning the pages, we witness the fairly peaceful lives of the villagers in Mano Majra impacted by the traumatic events of the national conflict. The Muslim villagers in Mano Majra are forced by the government to leave everything they know to get across the border to Pakistan safety. Trains back and forth over the border often arrived packed full of dead bodies- as a signal to the other side. This only fueled more retaliation for the conflict.

The book’s ending reminded me of a well known saying that my parents used to tell me in reference to Nazi Germany that went something like this:
First, they knocked on my door asking for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I was not Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me.

My friends and I did not agree on the final scene in the book, where they say Jugga (the village troublemaker) saves the train full of Muslims (including his pregnant girlfriend) that is about to be derailed before getting to safety across the border to Pakistan. I actually think the author never quite tells us who gave their life to ensure that the train got across safely. It left room for us to reexamine each character’s internal battle to stand up for what was right and also to draw parallels with our own lives. We all have it in us. Which of us would actually do it?

Evening at the Apollo: Where Stars are Born & Legends are Made

2006-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Omar is one talented tap dancer, but when you see his bright yellow suit and long hair bouncing around in your direction, you know to get off the stage. Although you touched the tree of hope, his dance interrupting your performance tells you that you are not the next Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday discovered at the Apollo Theater. That’s what I learned while sitting in the audience of a fun taping of Evening at the Apollo hosted by Whoopi Goldberg last month. I was also reminded that the Apollo is a phenomenal social enterprise and historical landmark.

I had the great gift of being hosted for a week in the house of the woman who manages the Apollo Theater- a warm, graceful and intelligent leader. With great pride, she shared with me all the exciting activities happening at the Apollo, which is considered the bastion of African-American culture and achievement. Built in 1914, the building is now what she calls “the quintessential example of both the cultural and economic pillar of community.”

As a social enterprise, the Apollo has both commercial operations and community services. One example of community services lies in the series of health fairs offered each year to educate Harlem residents about relevant health problems. In addition, The Apollo Academy is being developed as a multi-faceted program that exposes young people to various, non-performance career options in the arts and entertainment industries.

The commercial side of the Apollo, of course, is related to the performances there. These include TV show Evening at the Apollo which I mentioned earlier with Omar, concerts by the Temptations this month and Forces of Nature Dance Theater. Most importantly, this legendary venue has launched the careers of icons such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, James Brown and Lauryn Hill and continues to maintain its position as the nation's most popular arena for emerging and established African-American and Latino performers.

The Apollo Theater is a great example of a successful social enterprise, and I enjoyed getting a flavor of it.

US Court: Women can't say no after sex has started—it’s a contract

2006-11-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

Now here is a ruling that reminds me why we need more women on the bench. In any contract law, I assumed that we have the right to break the contract as long as we paid the financial consequences. If the argument goes that consent for sex is a contract, then why don’t we have the right to break it and be sued…instead of be raped. It's not as if I broke a contract for employment and the employer could physically force me to continue working...because I said I would type that document and started to....

Below is an excerpt from an online article of Feministing:

“An appellate court said Maryland's rape law is clear -- no doesn't mean no when it follows a yes and intercourse has begun. A three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals Monday threw out a rape conviction saying that a trial judge in Montgomery County erred when he refused to answer the jury's question on that very point.

The appeals court said that when the jury asked the trial judge if a woman could withdraw her consent after the start of sex, the jury should have been told she could not. The ruling said the law is not ambiguous and is a tenet of common-law.

So ladies, once it's in, it's in. Ain't nothing you can do about it. Changed your mind? Suck it up. He's hurting you? Oh, sorry--should have thought of that before. After all, it's not like your body is yours or anything.”

Click here for the full ruling.

We are in the News

2006-11-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

Acumen Fund has had a fortunate few weeks in terms of media coverage. Not only were we featured in BusinessWeek online, an article about us appeared in the “Giving” section of Monday’s The New York Times; James Surowiecki mentions Acumen Fund in MIT’s Technology Review; and we will be featured this weekend on CNN’s program “In the Money.” Clearly, the media is starting to pay closer attention to new models for social enterprise, and we’re happy to be part of advancing that discussion.

The Poet on the Street

2006-11-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

Two things I need to actively design into my life…opportunities for inspiration and reflection. I operate best with good doses of these to flavor life....and I found them on the street last night.

I met a man named Donald Green selling his handwritten poems on the street last night. I was on my cell phone and walked right by his sidewalk table with a few tattered boards and papers. I stopped just before stepping off the curb and turned around to talk to him, remembering that I myself have a poem to write and perform in a few days for the Acumen Fund investor gathering. I chatted with him and found out that he lives a very simple life, and he had one of his poems published in the New York Times. He listened as I told him about the work I will do in Africa and why I have spent my career in social entrepreneurship. I told him I needed some inspiration and he picked up his pen and began to write this poem for me on the spot.

Donald wrote:
My cause is to raise the atmosphere
My cause is not to be forgotten
Not in arrogance but in the legacy that allows the people
to live in prosperity
To go among those
Who suffer with disease as malaria
To give the way in netting,
An answer,
Or a relief from the mass death and illness,
This killer and injurer, called malaria
And then in introduction of irrigation, way
To provide water so the food for so many can flower,
These inventions, not new, but wanting in various places,
All the work,
From inventions to other aspects,
All the work and believe to make it sail or shall I say fly,
Like the butterfly
And its wings in movement producing effect to stir the tornado
Or other wrath along the atmosphere,
so small, so miniscule, and yet with such impact
so isn’t there hope for us.

Sunset in the Serengeti

2006-11-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

This is My favorite Photo.

Taken when I was in Tanzania in 2004 for a short trip.

Let Freedom Ring...Until It Makes a Sound We Can Recognize

2006-11-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to write a poem to perform at Acumen Fund's investor gathering in two weeks. As I looked for interesting examples to inspire me, I came across this one I thought I would share here titled, "Let Freedom Ring." Click here to watch:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HD2Ky9bPPfM&mode=related&search=

Low Carb Diet: Weighing In for My Carbon Emissions

2006-11-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Last week I invited you to join me on Slate Magazine’s 8 Week Carbon Diet by taking the quiz at this site: http://slate.com/id/2151739/

I had a whooping 59,999 lbs of carbon emissions…shamefully above the national average because of all my flights! So this week, I tried hard to keep my will power by turning off lights, shutting down my computer and taking the subway. I also was feeling concerned about the upcoming flight to Africa, so I actually “offset” my carbon emissions by using a flight calculator and paying for an “offset” that funds renewable energy projects like wind farms. (Read this Slate piece for more details and analysis.) You can offset your pollution from car or airplane flights by going to http://www.offseters.com/, TerraPass or Native Energy. You certainly can’t buy your way out of being responsible for your pollution, but at least it is better than nothing.

So, that is the update on my carbon emissions diet. I will keep you posted!

Wassup Last Week

2006-11-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on the speakers, activities and readings the Acumen Fellows experienced the past week and a half.

Speakers:
1) Ross Kauffman and Pam Boll, who created the Academy Award Winning documentary, Born Into Brothels. They taught us some techniques for filming while we are in the field.

2) Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. I just love this guy. He reminded us what an exciting time in history we are experiencing as the social sector/ civil society sector is growing so rapidly and professionalizing around the world. He also reminded us about the importance of assessing ethical fiber in social entrepreneurs.

3) Iron Bound Films gave us more training on our cameras and are considering doing a documentary about the experiences of Acumen Fellows in the field.

4) Rives, Spoken Word Poetry Artist, worked with us to create slam poetry for a performance in a few weeks! It was perhaps the most fun session so far!

5) Anthony Simon, Ex President of Marketing at Unilever, came to discuss his thoughts on the Bottom of the Pyramid markets.

6) David Keller, Formerly of Cisco, came to host a great discussion on supply chain management.

7) Louis Boornstin of the Gates Foundation shared with us an overview of the Gates priorities and we talked specifically about the challenges for the world’s water and sanitation issues.

8) Bill Mayer of Park Avenue Equity Partners and the Aspen Institute spoke to us about private equity and leadership.

9) Journalist Amy O’leary delivered Op Ed training and spoke about spreading ideas through publishing in journal, newspapers and mainstream magazines.

10) Ace Greenberg & Warren Spector of Bear Stearns spoke to us about their work as leaders in the banking industry for the last 50 and 30 years.

11) Michael Gordon of the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute provided tips for video taping case studies of our projects in the field as learning tools.

12) Sonal Shah, who created Goldman Sachs environmental policy and Indicorps, spoke about living and working abroad.

13) Pradeep Kashyap, Executive Director of American India Foundation shared an overview of their work to mobilize the Indians in America who are contributing to development in India.

14) Eric Cantor or Acumen Fund shared stories of his recent trip to Africa and India, including a rather interesting wireless technology conference held near the stomping ground of the Dalai Lama.

Seminars: Effective Management of Social Enterprises
>>Two Fellows, Adrien and Eric, hosted a great seminar on Design and Innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

>>Jocelyn and I also hosted a seminar which was related to Supply Chain and Distribution. Distribution of products and services to poorer communities in developing countries is topic I hope to delve down much deeper into over the course of the year in Tanzania. If Coke and cigarettes can make their way to the most remote regions of the earth, why can't healthcare goods such as medicines and bednets seem to make it? If we can figure out a way to incentivize the distribution as we stimulate the market, there is huge potential here. If anyone has good contacts, articles or cases about distribution, please let me know by posting a comment.

Readings:
1) Book: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
2) Book: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
3) Article: “Designing for the Base of the Pyramid” from the Design Management Review Vol. 15 No. 4 Design & Economic Development. Written by Patrick Whitney, Steelcase & Robert C. Pew Professor and Director, Institute of Design, IIT and Anjali Kelkar, Research Associate.
4) Article: “Strategy By Design” in FastCompany’s June 2005 Edition by Tim Brown of IDEO
5) Article: McKinsey Quarterly’s “A Point of Light in Mumbai” by Rukmini Banerji, Madhav Chavan, Paresh Vaish and Atul Varadhachary.
6) Article: “Innovate to End Poverty” by Louis C. Boorstin of Gates Foundation and IFC
7) White Paper: “Delivering Social Value via the Private Sector: A Framework for Market-Based Interventions” by Louis Boorstin

New Resource Bank is Launching

2006-10-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

On the 14th of November, the NewResource Bank in San Francisco will have its Grand Opening. Triodos Bank, the ethical bank which I love and used to work with, is a founding shareholder of the bank.

Prior to opening New Resource Bank, 240 founding shareholders subscribed to $24.75 Million of the Bank’s stock offering. The offering was strongly supported by the community, with $35 Million in subscriptions representing a 60 percent oversubscription from the original offering targets of $20 to $22 Million. This is one of the largest initial capitalizations for a start-up bank in Northern California.

The shareholders of New Resource Bank have built leading Bay Area companies as well as leading green and sustainable businesses. They are part of the New Resource Community, which the Bank draws upon to tap broader networks and knowledge to serve its clients. It's the old fashioned benefits of a community bank matched together with an innovative bank.

Check it out: www.newresourcebank.com

Without Struggle There is No Progress

2006-10-29T06:40:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I took a flying trapeze class on the banks of the Hudson River. As I climbed up the ladder and chalked my shaky hands to grip the swinging bar, I thought, "why am I so scared? There is a net there. This isn't very risky at all." People struggle through much scarier things everyday.

Earlier in the week we had read about the bravery of Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852. Born into slavery, he was asked to deliver a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In Rochester's Corinthian Hall, this 35 year old man addressed a nearly all white crowd, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"

You can read the full speech, by clicking here.

Now that takes courage! Douglass is known for another wonderful quote we should remember whether we are studying for school exams, slaving through a report or politics at work, flying from a trapeze, scrubbing floors to pay for our kids schooling, sacraficing certain liberties to build a political movement or hitting constant barriers when trying to change the world:
"Without struggle, there is no progress."

Three Views of Africa

2006-10-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

Since I am headed to Africa in three weeks, I wanted to point you to Jocelyn Wyatt's blog entry today on the three views of Africa.
View 1 - The Outsider Who Gets It
View 2 - The Insider Who Exposes It
View 3 - The Outsider Who Simplifies It
Click here to read more on her view.

This Week’s Book: The Tempest by Shakespeare

2006-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

This week’s book discussion focused on the Tempest by Shakespeare and was led by Clara Barby of Acumen Fund. Clara had a wonderful interpretation of how this mysterious text explored the topic of ego and what it means to be human.

Prospero, who had been trapped on an island with his daughter, used his magic to summon a tempest which shipwrecks those who trapped him there in the first place. His actions are more than just revenge; they also show he is trying to invite them to see their mistakes and seek redemption. Otherwise, he could have just killed them full stop. In his quest however, he begins to get caught up in his own ego and power until Ariel (the indentured sprite helper) reminds him to forgive. Ariel is the only non-human being in the book and reminds Prospero of what it means to be a noble human. The turning point in the text is below (5.1.17-20).

Ariel: if you now beheld them your affections
Would become tender.
Prospero: Dost thou think so, spirit?
Ariel: Mine would, sir, were I human.
Prospero: And mine shall.

Interesting book. I can’t help but think: if Prospero had so many magical powers, why were he and his daughter stranded on an island for 12 years? If I knew magic (enough to create a tempest and eventually get everyone off the island in the end of the book), I sure wouldn’t be hanging out on a remote island for so long!

Random fun question: If you could choose a magic power, what would it be?

Act Quick::: An Island is Sinking. Join me on a Carbon Diet!

2006-10-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Our world has changed drastically since good ol’ pangea—now it seems it is time to go on a carbon diet. Part of the Acumen Fellow’s training entails learning from each other through formal seminars. Nadaa Taiyab has particular expertise in climate change and led a very interesting session for us. One of the most surprising things I learned from Nadaa is that the situation is much worse than I thought! Due to pollution and consumption, the climate change situation has already caused an island to begin sinking. The island’s inhabitants have even made an agreement with New Zealand to move to their territory before it sinks.

Today, another Fellow, Jocelyn Wyatt, challenged us to take the Slate Green Challenge and go on a carbon diet. The goal is to reduce the amount of CO2 that you put into the atmosphere by 20 percent. This quiz calculates your annual carbon output, or footprint. It plugs the data you report into various formulas that tabulate emissions based on national averages. The total is an approximate baseline number—the carbon load you’ll be whittling away at for the next eight weeks.

Take the Quiz to find out your carbon emissions rate by clicking here:
http://slate.com/id/2151739/

My carbon emissions annually were at 59,999 lbs!!!!!! That's equivalent to the emissions from 5.89 passenger cars. I don’t even own a car or eat meat and I am pretty careful with lights, but the international flights I take have brought me way over the national average. Check them out--the average carbon emissions per year, per person:
United States: 44,312
Qatar: 117,064
France: 13,668
India: 2,645
Kenya: 440

Would love to have anyone reading this blog take the quiz and add your comments below!

Over the next eight weeks, I will take steps to offset my 'footprint' and keep you posted.
____

Other Highlighted Resources:
1) Nadaa Taiyab’s Research on Voluntary Carbon Trading:
http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?a=Nadaa%20Taiyab&x=Y

2) If you haven’t seen the movie yet “An Inconvenient Truth,” you should scurry over to blockbuster or order it on netflix. Whether you like Al Gore or not, this movie provides a great overview of this subject. P.S. (Watch the credits!)

IDEO & Design Innovation: Calling for the Next Seatbelt

2006-10-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Sarah who runs Columbia’s Center for Neuroscience Initiatives was talking about seatbelts the other day. Whether you secure yourself with a basic rope like a Cairo taxi driver or a fancy automatic seatbelt in a German car, the seatbelt is now fairly well accepted in society. It has not always been that way, and its creation in the 1800s significantly impacted the world and changed behavior.

Such a simple creation changed the way people think about their standards for safety. In some countries, policy was drafted to require them. Demand forced car manufacturers to begin adding the seatbelt as a standard safety feature which led to other standards such as airbags.

It saves many lives, lives which are contributing to our economy. It has perhaps saved lives of some of those who might be on their way to discovering an AIDS vaccine or creating the next Internet, string theory or algorithm for world peace.

Sarah asked: Where is the next seatbelt? ….simple idea, big impact.

The bednet project I will be working on in Tanzania has many parallels. Malaria causes more than one million fatalities annually. Furthermore, a Harvard study showed that Africa’s gross domestic product would be 32% higher if malaria had been effectively controlled 35 years ago. To address this problem, an exciting technology was created to manufacture long-lasting net material which is impregnated with insecticide and can be used over beds or in windows. Studies have begun to show that these nets are highly effective in preventing morbidity and mortality, especially when deployed in large numbers.

How do you change behavior so that people begin to value and adopt the use of bednets to significantly curb the cases of malaria—just as we did with the seatbelt? As you create a market, how do you ensure that the poorest segments of society can access the product?

This week our training is focused on "design for the bottom of the pyramid.” We had a great workshop today given by the world famous industrial design firm, IDEO. IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown and Chris Flink (Practice Head for Consumer Experience) led this two-day session for the Acumen Fellows on ‘design thinking’ as an approach to innovation. Design thinking, they say, is human centered innovation which starts with exploring what is desirable to people and then finding feasible technology or business. Great design thinking is both rational and intuitive, and the process has three phases: 1) inspiration = great ideas come from exposure to new experiences, 2) ideation = how you develop ideas through teams, processes, etc, 3) experimentation = how do you get things out into the world through prototyping, pilots, etc.

The most interesting part of today made me think about when I worked for Sally Osberg @ Skoll Foundation. She taught me to strive to build a culture of innovation—providing the right tools, processes, roles and environment for those in your company to explore new ideas, innovate and be entrepreneurial. This is the root of true success according to IDEO.

Chris & Tim's session today led us to the Google offices being built in Chelsea (NY). We observed construction workers in action and later used the design process to think of ways to improve the workers' ability to build office space. We eventually developed some ideas and built prototypes of masks and ladders (using clay, pipe cleaners and anything we could find in the office!)

As we learned about ‘generating ideas’ and not just ‘validating ideas,’ I thought about some of the possibilities for my work with designing a private market distribution strategy for bednets in Tanzania. It starts with just observing people and trying to view things from their perspective, not mine. This will help me understand the market on multiple levels (the mental, physical and intellectual experiences).

Hopefully someday the bednet in Africa will be as widely adopted as the seatbelt….better yet, perhaps my friend Sarah will be talking about her amazement of society's accomplishment in preventing "the crash" all together.

Last Week's Line Up

2006-10-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

It was another busy week in training! Below I have outlined the sessions for those interested in the speakers, readings and topics.

Book Discussion: The Tempest by Shakespeare

Session: Social Entrepreneurship & Documenting Your Experience
– Alan Grossman of Harvard Business School
Readings: Approtec HBS Case Study

Session: Good Society Part II
– Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund
Readings: Republic by Plato, Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen, The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, Equality & Efficiency by Arthur Okun, Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher.

Session: Self and the World- Moral Compass & Giving Back – Peter Reiling of the Aspen Institute
Readings: The Last Decalogue by Arthur Clough, Letter to Earth by Mark Twain, The Doer of Good by Oscar Wilde, Ozymandius by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Hayden by Frederick Douglas, How Much Land Does a Man Need by Leo Tolstoy, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula LeGuin

Session: Institution Building
– Niko Canner of Katzenback Partners Ltd
Readings: http://www.katzenbach.com/

Session: Honor Killings
-Ayleen Ajanee, Acumen Fellow

Session: Ethical Business
– Alan Hassenfeld, Chair of Hasbro and Danny Grossman, CEO of Wild Planet Toys
Readings: http://www.hasbro.com/; http://www.wildplanet.com/

Session: Working and Living Abroad
-Ankur Shah, Kennedy School of Government and Water Health International

Session: Photography in the Field
-Susan Meiselas, Photographer

Session: Models for Social Change - Peter Wheeler, Co-founder Social-Impact and New Philanthropy Capital
Readings: Funding Success report on http://www.philanthropycapital.org/

Session: Effective Management of Social Entrepreneurship (Strategy & Leadership)
-Acumen Fund Team & Fellows
Readings: From Good to Great, Level 5 Leadership and the Social Sector by Jim Collins, Leadership Without Easy Answers by Heifetz R.

Session: Blended Value Proposition
-Jed Emerson, Fellow at Generation Foundation and Oxford’s Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
Readings: http://www.blogger.com/www.blendedvalue.org

Evening Events:
Following the session by Niko of KPL, he hosted a cocktail party to honor the Acumen Fellows in his beautiful home. Afterwards, a few of us headed to the Nuyorican Poet’s Café (if you have seen the movie Pinero, u know the unique history of this place). In mid-November, we have to perform our own poetry at the Acumen Fund Anniversary Party.

Sex & the City: Last Night I Went to a NY Strip Club

2006-10-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did. Now why would I want to watch naked women slide down poles for cash? Certainly not my first choice for a night out, I must say. But some visitors from India asked me to go, so after experiencing cupcakes at the Magnolia bakery how could I deny them the chance to see a strip club?

So I did some research to find a club and the next thing you know the bouncer was holding up the red rope for us to walk onto the red carpet and into the sight of breasts, booty and strobe lights. Now, these ‘visitors from India’ that I mentioned are not some horny guys who wanted to see naked American women. Actually, our encounter with strippers was a bit more mature and sociological than that. These visitors comprised of an amazing social entrepreneur from South India and her colleague. They have spent the last ten years fighting against sex trafficking of women and forced prostitution of women and children. I met them when I was recruiting social entrepreneurs for a professional development program in India this year (http://www.social-impact.org/). They have a program that provides a safe place and rehabilitation services for women and children who have left or been rescued from being commodities in the sex trade.

Sex trafficking is estimated at a $12 billion trade globally and often fuels alternative black market industries such as drugs and weapons.

This social entrepreneur was in America for the first time on the special invitation of the US State Department’s leadership program. Although she seems to be a rather shy soft spoken woman, she wanted to go to the strip club because she often debates about the trade that functions on the exploitation of women but as a feminist knows that there is also power in the ability to choose one’s own profession and expression. Also, as a woman, going to a strip club in India is much more difficult for her to experience.

As we were sipping on some expensive alcohol, we interviewed Kimmie, who was one of the strippers. Kimmie was slender with blonde hair and high heels that were a transparent plastic. She and the other 50 women who work there make about $220 per night unless they get a private room rate of $500 per hour (cash payments are not taxed). She told us that she has a 7 year old child and she started stripping when she got divorced and decided her paralegal job was not paying her enough to live in New York City. She said that many of the strippers there were trying to pay their way through school. Having worked to rehabilitate women and children who were sold into sex slavery, the social entrepreneur I was with last night found this a bit of a shock that educated women were choosing this route.

Many of the New York strip clubs go much further than just stripping… and many of the strippers are there out of desperation, but many are there by choice.

What do you think? Is stripping just another form of exploitation and objectification of women or is it a healthy function of economic empowerment and freedom of expression?

Highlighted Resource: This week we also had training on photography in the field by famous photographer Susan Meiselas. She is Acumen's photographer, but also published a book in the 70’s about carnival strippers. Produced during the early years of the women’s movement, Carnival Strippers reflects the struggle for identity and self-esteem that characterized a complex era of change.

When My Mom Shaved Her Head

2006-10-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

My mother is an inspiration in many ways. A few years ago, my mother's best friend Hildy was diagnosed with breast cancer. When Hildy went through chemotherapy, my mother shaved her own head in solidarity so that Hildy didnt have to lose her hair alone. Today, Hildy is healthy and riding her bike like a shooting star.

1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.

This weekend, I got to notice all the leaves turning color in Central Park as I walked the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Walk. Here is more info on the campaign making strides:
http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MS_homepage

Bulletproof

2006-10-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

The theme last week for our training: Marketing & Pricing. The bullets below are proof that it was another busy week as an Acumen Fund Fellow.

We had interesting discussions with outside speakers:
* George Wellde who is a partner at Goldman Sachs and on the board of the GAVI Fund
* Dennis Whittle, CEO of Global Giving
* Dan Crisafulli, World Bank Development Marketplace
* Gayle Smith, Clinton Global Initiative and Center for American Progress
* Seth Godin, International Best Selling Author on Marketing & spreading ideas
* John McArthur, Associate Director of Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development
* Kate Taylor, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at International Aids Vaccine Initiative

We had several internal meetings:
* staff breakfast debate on leadership and the role of the UN and next Secretary General
* meeting to discuss a pricing study for malaria bednets with Exxon Mobile, Sumitomo and others
* media training from Acumen's PR firm
* storytelling training delivered by management consulting firm KPL
* a discussion on Acumen's Capital Markets initiative relating to co-investment
* Fellow Jocelyn Wyatt led a discussion genocide and the state of affairs in Darfur
* Fellows David & Ayleen facilitated this week's "Effective Management of Social Enterprises Seminar" where we discussed the pricing and marketing characteristics of each of our organizations we will work with this year

We stayed up late to read:
* Several articles about the UN and current events
* Several articles about the WB Development Marketplace and Global Giving
* How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets by Kotler
* HBS Case: The Promise of Channel Stewardship
* HBS Case: How Marketing Can Reduce Worldwide Poverty
* HBS Case: What Customers Want from Your Products
* PSI Study: Impact of Kenya Social Marketing. Program on Personal Risk, Perception, Perceived self-efficacy and on other Behavioral Predictors
* PSI Study: Implications of Free and Commercial Distribution for Condom Use: Evidence from Cameroon
* PSI Study: Conflict Between Profits and Public Health:A Comparison of Contraceptive Social Marketing Models
* Several other cases related to social marketingBook: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
* Books: Purple Cow and The Big Moo by Seth Godin

We were lucky enough to make enough time for a happy hour drink one night, and I was lucky enough to have gone to a dinner party with five extraordinary women in business (more on that later).

Good Capital's Update

2006-10-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

Good Capital's Deb Parson posted news on xigi recently about the progress of this new organization. One of their products is the Good Capital Social Enterprise Expansion Fund which looks to meet the market need in two ways: 1. to fill the gap in funding for expansion stage social enterprises 2. provide an investment vehicle for a new type of investor who sees that their investment dollars can have a more dramatic impact than a mere financial return. Their portfolio is slated to have 12-13 companies in it that are both for profits and nonprofits. To read more, click here.

Nobel for anti-poverty pioneers

2006-10-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank have been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr Yunus, a Bangladeshi, founded the bank, which is one of the pioneers of micro-credit lending schemes for the poor in Bangladesh. The bank is renowned for lending money to the least well off, especially women, so that they can launch their own businesses.
The winners will receive a prize of 10m Swedish kronor ($1.07m, £730,000).
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6047020.stm

A new documentary in the works by Peter- more than the rock

2006-10-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

A very special friend of mine, Peter Bisanz, has been creating an interesting documentary on spirituality and world religions. At the links below, you can see clips of his recent interviews with leaders such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

www.onethedocumentary.com
http://www.aworldoffaith.com/
www.entropyfilms.org

"We will strive to create an open, disassociative and non-confrontational setting in which key spiritual, political and cultural leaders (along with a representative voice from lay people) may present their respective world views and, ideally, offer insight towards healing interreligious strife and promoting greater compassion for all humanity in deeply troubled times."

Peter started with a big idea on his own and it has grown into something truly wonderful. I can't wait to see it, and I am so proud of him.

...even more good news is that the Acumen Fellows will be bringing cameras to our assignments in Tanzania, Kenya, Pakistan and India to film stories of the communities we are serving. Peter has graciously offered to share his expertise in workshop about film and getting the best from interviews with inspiring leaders.

Get a Job

2006-10-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Two orgs I love have job openings:

1)
Freedom From Hunger, a pioneer in microenterprise development and the franchise model. I visited their work in Haiti along with Claire Thomas and Chris Dunford and have such genuine respect for the depth of their commitment. This is how I met another interesting pioneer, Jonathan Lewis of Microcredit Enterprises. More info on the opporutnities with FFH:
http://www.freedomfromhunger.org/about/jobs.php

2)
Skoll Foundation, which invests, connects and celebrates social entrepreneurs
http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutskoll/job_openings.asp

Invitation: Acumen 5th Anniversary Celebration

2006-10-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Imagine. Innovate. Inspire. – Acumen Fund 5th Anniversary Celebration

Join us for a celebratory evening of cocktails, dinner and entertainment. Our 5th anniversary celebration is an opportunity to say thank you to those who have supported us thus far as well as to strengthen our community and launch into the future. Suketu Mehta, acclaimed author of Maximum City, will be the featured speaker.

Date: Tuesday 14 November evening
Time: 6:00 – 11:00 pm
Location: The Roxy
515 W.18th Street
New York City (map)
Cost: $500 per person
More Info: 212 566 8821 x124

Buy Tickets Online: https://secure.ga4.org/01/5th_anniversary_gala_celebration

This Week's Book: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

2006-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

Things Fall Apart opens by asserting the fame and strength of the main character, Okonkwo. The author, Achebe, paints a fable-like picture of Okonkwo’s journey in the 1890’s as a Nigerian villager of Umufomia. He is constantly trying to assert his masculinity throughout the book by beating his wives, killing his adopted son and believing in war as a means to resolution or dominance. He insists that these, plus hard work in growing yams, differentiate him from his father who was considered a lazy and irresponsible debtor. Throughout all of this, Achebe seems to write about him in a way that made me feel sympathy for his very human struggles.

As news of villages being destroyed by the whiteman comes, the final part of the book focuses on the interaction of the clansmen and the missionaries, in particular Mr. Brown (later replaced by Reverend Smith). This tragedy highlighted the conflicts between traditional society and new customs brought by whites.

It wasn’t my favorite book in terms of a compelling plot, but I enjoyed reading the book because of the interesting interplay with language. Achebe uses many Igbo words (the local language) and phrasing which allowed me to get a better sense for the culture and history.

On my way to work today, there was a beautiful violinist playing in the subway. The music seemed to get more and more intense as I read the final pages where Okonkwo hangs himself and the white Comissioner decides to write a paragraph about his life in his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

Good book. Sad ending.

You are Not Smart Enough to Be Pessimistic

2006-10-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true. You are not smart enough to be pessimistic according to Peter Goldmark.

Why would this former head of Rockefeller Foundation and International Herald Tribune insult your intelligence like this?

To make the point that major shifts in societal organization have occurred in ways that no one had predicted. No one was smart enough to predict the exact time that the Berlin Wall would come down without a gunshot… that apartheid would end in South Africa through a negotiated revolution and not massive bloodshed….that slavery would be legally abolished in the 1860s when for so long it was a legitimate form of social organization…

How many of you could have predicted 10 years ago that you would be sitting in this room right now reading this article on the Internet?

No one ever knows exactly how long it will take to get somewhere. The only thing they can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Slavery is a good example of something that underwent a complete shift in human attitude. It went for centures as a legitimate form of social organization, but by the 1860s it was no longer considered acceptable. Even where it does exist, it is still a crime.

Major transitions have happened sooner than anyone ever would have expected- and yet some never happen at all. Just as we are not smart enough to be pessimistic, nor are we smart enough to be optimistic either.

Peter Goldmark’s words continued: There are huge mountains in front of you on your journey. Most leaders will never know if or how they will get across them or even how far they need to walk before they arrive at their destination- their goal. They can only continue to walk and try to use the tools and opportunities around them to do so. Many will give up the walk and decide to live an easier life, but the most powerful will be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other and engage others to walk with them.

Define yourself. Be informed. The real risk is not being in touch with what is going on around you. On the train of history, you do not want to find that you spent so much time trying to get a little more (money, cars, houses) and realize you have been on the caboose.

In so many ways, Peter is right. And I think this is something I need to be reminded of every once in a while. Sometimes, I feel like the world is just falling apart: war, suffering, injustice, inequality. I mean, just last week on my day out in New York (see “Today I applied for Food Stamps and an Abortion” post below), I was wondering how we would ever be able to fix the social services system. I wondered what impact one person like me could really have.

Then I met Herb Sturz (longtime social innovator) and took a visit to Redhook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn (RCJC).

As rays of sunshine beamed through the window of a cold room, I walked into a meeting at RCJC with about twelve people sitting around a table reading off a list of convicts. These convicts had plead guilty to mostly non-violent crimes and had chosen rehabilitation options such as drug treatment or community service in place of jail time. The judge, legal aid society rep, a social worker, a sanctions officer, case managers, rehab clinic representatives, the Assistant District Attorney and others were represented around the table. They were actually reviewing the status of each person since they were convicted over the last several months—this is a rare occurrence in a courthouse where usually after they are sentenced, they are someone else’s problem to deal with for compliance.

In our meeting, Herb Sterz gave great advice about ensuring that you “see with your own eyes” and understand problems for yourself. The RCJC model is a wonderful design that allows the “system” to be closer to understanding the people and their problems. This is a ‘Problem Solving Court.” It is a one stop shop for services which allow for more efficiency in addressing the underlying problems that bring people into the justice system. RCJC believes that the real concerns are not drugs, but the lack of opportunity and isolation.

Launched in June 2000, the Red Hook Community Justice Center is the nation's first multi-jurisdictional community court. RCJC addresses neighborhood problems like drugs, crime, domestic violence and landlord-tenant disputes. It has fashioned a model whereby sixteen outside agencies are housed within the courthouse: Human Resources Admin (Medicaid, food stamps, job placement), victim advocacy services, GED classes, Housing Resource Center (helps facilitate public housing disputes to prevent court action), a nurse practitioner, child care, etc. There is no excuse for not successfully complying with your sentence given all the resources available there. They even have a Youth Court where peers put others on trial for crimes in the community.

The holding cells here are clean with glass walls, not bars.

The staff (such as the DA and judge) are present at most community events such as softball games and are not seen as the evil agents of the system. The judge even goes to make personal inspections in the public housing projects where a case against NY Housing Authority (NYHA) had been made for things such as a gaping whole in the wall and lack of heat or running water. They were able to rearchitect the complaints system and get NYHA to pay better attention to this low-income community with mostly minority residents. A coordinated approach with many agencies allows for more accountability overall (community members to the system and vise versa).

And guess what? They are saving you tax dollars. Most of the rehabilitation options chosen by defendants in this court are cheaper than traditional jail time (ex: $40K per year for drug treatment mostly paid for by private insurance companies vs. $100k per year for jail time paid out of tax payers pockets). And the compliance rates for sentences are at 80% in Redhook vs. the ‘downtown courthouse’ where it is at 55%. Since RCJC was opened, crime is at an all time low and studies show that people feel safer.

This model helps people be a part of the process of solving their own problems. It gives them a voice. It is being replicated throughout the US and in four other international locations.

So whatever your goal in this world, be confident and comfortable enough to take it step by step and try to get people to come with you (or join someone else)—even if you aren’t exactly sure how far away that goal may be. Remember what Goldmark said, “You are not smart enough to be pessimistic.” Peace, equality, justice and community may be closer than you think. Perhaps down the hall from the courtroom.

Highlighted Resource: PBS has a documentary on the Redhook Community Justice Center, and you can find more information by clicking here.

Roll Call: Cool Peeps

2006-10-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

We met some fabulous people the past week. I wanted to just post a few links to the work of those speakers I have not yet mentioned for those of you who are interested.

Seth Berkeley, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
Why haven’t we identified a vaccine for HIV/AIDS yet? Seth is leading a huge effort to do just that. Check it out: http://www.iavi.org/

Dr. Jordan Kassalow, Co-founder of Scojo
Scojo Foundation sells low cost eye glasses in places such as India and Guatemala where vision impairments have led to loss of their livelihoods. Glasses for many in developing countries allow people to regain their ability to do vital tasks such as weaving, sorting pebbles out of rice, reading and more. (When I was in India, I tried on some of their glasses- very cool!) Check it out: http://www.scojofoundation.org/

Dan Toole & Carol Bellamy, UNICEF
Dan and Carol facilitated a great discussion on issues of deep importance in development. The topic was titled understanding the poor. One of the things I appreciated about Dan was the way he honored the contributions and necessity of all sectors- government, private and social sector.

Woodcock Foundation
The Foundation and its family members are good friends of Acumen and they played a huge role in creating my fellowship program. We got together for a drinks reception this week to celebrate the kick off of the program and get to know each other. Here is more information on the Foundation: http://www.woodcockfdn.org/

….more later.

Finance: “To Me, It’s Thrilling”

2006-10-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

One of the most important personal goals I have for this year is to deepen my technical finance skills and better understand the capital markets.

Why?

Well, in the words of a very special woman and one of my mentors, Anne Perlman, “To me, it’s thrilling.” Being able to manage and channel capital to the right places at the right time is a powerful tool for any entrepreneur. This is even more important for those creating social change because it involves experimentation with new instruments for finance and unorthodox ways of thinking about value creation. Some of you may be interested in reading a paper I helped publish on xigi.net about risk capital for social enterprises (click here).

This week @ Acumen, my training helped me get closer that goal in several ways.

1)We were asked to use several approaches to determine the value of a company in which Acumen is considering investing. This is important because to take an equity stake, one must justify the worth of a company and thus their percentage of ownership based on the capital they are willing to invest. During this three day exercise, we explored many approaches such as the comparable multiple method, discounted cashflow method, discounted cashflow to equity method, etc. We also had a finance 101 bootcamp class prior, which warmed us up again to revealing the stories buried in balance sheets and income statements.

2) We presented our recommended valuations of this company to Scott Gallin . He teaches corporate finance at Columbia Business School and is also with AIG’s Global Investment Group. He then shared some tips and tricks for valuation methods given his experience in private equity.

3) I attended the Investment Committee meeting for Acumen Fund and, as they reviewed several proposals, I gained more perspective on the challenges for investors of social enterprise. The committee has a nice weave of experience in public and private sector finance—their vernacular impressed me and made me realize I should spend more time reading the finance section of the newspaper to grow my vocabulary. ;-)

4) I had dinner with Mary Houghton who co-founded ShoreBank . Her pioneering story is a great 30 year journey of building this bank. In those days of officially sanctioned discrimination on the basis of race and income, Mary and her colleagues created Shorebank to demonstrate that a regulated bank could be instrumental in revitalizing the communities being avoided by other financial institutions. It now has an international investment fund and also focuses on the environment.

Great week. I will keep you posted as I design ways to reach my goal of deepening my technical finance skills and my knowledge of the capital markets. Please share ideas as they may come to you.

MacArthur Awards- Congrats Jim!

2006-10-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

There are geniuses out there trying to make the world a better place for us all to live. I have the pleasure of knowing one, Jim Fruchterman, who recently was honored with the Macarthur Genius Award. Jim has done a lot for the field of social entrepreneurship. He is an electrical engineer turned social entrepreneur. One of his greatest contributions has been the creation of Benetech, a social enterprise that develops technology to benefit society: landmine detection devices, online books for the blind, human rights violation reporting systems and more. Check it out: www.benetech.org

Congrats Jim!

Vote for Acumen Fund

2006-10-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin is an amazing supporter of Acumen Fund on many levels including holding a seat on our Advisory Council. A marketing guru, Seth’s 2005 edited and published Book The Big Moo featured 33 chapters by 33 influential thought leaders, including Acumen’s CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz. The even more novel idea here is that the sales of The Big Moo are distributed to 3 different charities, including Acumen Fund. To this end, please click on the following link: http://www.squidoo.com/50000 and VOTE FOR ACUMEN FUND. It takes literally 2 seconds.

This Week's Book: Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

2006-10-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

I loved the way that Ghosh writes- so descriptive and imaginative that I easily see myself right next to the characters like a fly on the dal. The story of Shadow Lines opens in Calcutta in the 1960’s and provides an interesting historical perspective through the journey of two families. One family is Bengali and the other is English. The depth of knowledge the narrator has about the families’ lives and life in general that he has not experienced was an interesting dynamic. We can walk in the private lives of his family and learn about WWII, the years of the Bengali partition and violence as well as the threads of his personal identity. The book opened up a much richer conversation with my Acumen colleague Ayleen who is from Pakistan; she shared her own family’s experiences as the partition was drawn.

Good book- quick read.

Today I Applied for Food Stamps and an Abortion

2006-09-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

Some days you can set out to change the world and you find that the world changes you.

So there I was at 11am, sitting in the New York Human Resources Administration (HRA) with everyone else waiting for an appointment about Medicaid, food stamps, drug rehabilitation support, housing and child care. I had been there about two and a half hours, and as I sifted through more than 100 pieces of application papers (so confusing for even this UC Berkeley/ Oxford grad), I felt a tug at my ankle and discovered a happy face of a little girl crawling on the floor. Her mother was across the bright purple room from me talking about how her phone was disconnected so when HRA couldn't get a hold of her, the food stamps were cancelled. A deep voice next to me was struggling to read the electronic numbers on the signpost with a pair of broken glasses and then he began to comment, "all these teenagers having babies and you know the daddies just run away fo' sho. The only place they can go is here. This is the only help for them babies." It made me think about the night before when my sister and I were watching the Irish news about a woman who had tried desperately to get help from social services for severe depression, but no one was there that day…in the meantime, she killed herself and her children.

So why was I here?

Well, the seven Acumen Fund fellows showed up to work this morning and were asked to empty our pockets. We were given a paper explaining that our assignment for the day was to write an article from the perspective of the poor about the quality of New York's social services. We were given a $6 metro card, a $5 bill and a paper listing the instructions and some homeless shelters, clinics and food stamp offices. Our challenge was to live for a day as if we were poor so that we could understand better all the day to day struggles of our clients—the poor.

I had started off early in the day hoping to go to a rehabilitation center on our list in Staten Island, but when I got off the free ferry and finally found someone who knew the zip code, I realized there was no bus and it was so many miles away that I didn't have enough money to get there by cab. So I asked around and landed at a drop-in shelter where people were sleeping on chairs. After a bit of chatting, some of the clients at the shelter pointed me to the food stamp office a few blocks away. On my way there, I tried to use the bathroom in a restaurant, but was not allowed if I didn't buy something. I finally found a Taco Bell, but the bathroom was so filthy it literally made me vomit. They were nice enough to give me some water and I met two homeless women outside- Micky and Annie. These two women had been friends for the past year and were a wonderful example of how the homeless community supports each other with kindness.

Micky, who was 55 yrs old and had been on the streets for decades, showed me where she had been shot before and gave me lots of tips on locations of the cleanest shelters, best free breakfast, clothes and more. Annie had track marks all up her arm but insisted that she was not an addict- only a recreational drug user. She had been abused and raped after she began living on the streets because she lost her job when one of the military bases closed several years ago. She was in and out of foster care as a child and according to her, Alcoholics Anonymous was the only reason she was still alive. She receives $156 per month in public assistance from HRA and uses it to buy food such as milk, fried chicken, cool aid, iced tea, taco bell and splenda soda. She gave me tips on getting assistance and said that people there were always very nice to her.

Next, I walked into the HRA not exactly sure what to do and decided to take on the identity of many of the women I met at the shelters I had worked at in California. A friend of mine once said that, "the application for public assistance treats you like a potential felon, PhD and an idiot at the same time." Its true! After standing in a few lines, being puzzled by paperwork and sitting in the wrong room, I finally got an interview and my heart was racing as I shared my story.

My story: I was a young woman 2 months pregnant with a 2-year old child who fled to New York escaping a violent relationship. Broke with a 10 th grade education and only work experience from Walmart several years ago, I had lived with my boyfriend after the birth of my child and had never applied for public assistance. I had a place to live in NY for only one more week, but after that my child and I would be on the streets. I needed help in finding shelter, applying for food stamps, getting medical support, getting some cash, getting job placement support and child care.

The woman from HRA was very nice to me, but I had a tough time understanding her. I didn't have my social security card or birth certificate, so she couldn't process my paperwork. I didn't have an address and she said I needed some address or they couldn't issue me anything. She had no idea where I could get a social security card, and I was all out of money (had given it to Micky and Annie outside Taco Bell), so I couldn't call anywhere to find out. I certainly couldn't go to my boyfriend's house to get it because we were hiding from him since he abused my son and me. When I told her I was 2 months pregnant and needed a doctor, she said it didn't matter until I was four months pregnant. There were so many confusing components of the conversation because she was thinking of her system and I was thinking of my needs- a miss match. If I was a shy, less confident person, I might have just made assumptions and accepted that I couldn't get help. Instead I asked more questions and finally found out that I could get food stamps the same day if I had my and my son's social security card and that it takes about a week to open a case for Medicaid, child care services, shelter assistance, domestic violence services, etc. I told her I would try to get some ID (somehow) and come back tomorrow.

I was so overwhelmed and was empathetic of my own story (since it was really a story of so many women I have met before), I felt hopeless. Tears actually began to stream down my face.

I walked down the street and saw a medical clinic. Since many women in these situations might consider getting an abortion, I decided to inquire about getting an abortion if I didn't have insurance, money or an address. While waiting in line, I talked to several patients, held someone's baby and found out about lots of interesting services offered in the clinic. When I finally talked to a nurse, she kindly and discretely referred me to a Planned Parenthood office in Manhattan where I later went and found out that it was $500 unless you had Medicaid (which if you remember, I still needed my social security card and address to process).

On the ferry back to Manhattan, I stared at the statue of liberty clutching my mountain of application papers feeling hopeless: how could the people be so friendly, but the system itself be so unfriendly? Millions of people feel hopeless like this everyday.

I tried next to apply for several jobs- Tasty Delite Ice Cream wasn't hiring and Staples and BofA told me to go online. When I said I didn't have Internet they told me to go to the library which I later found out only has 15 minutes usage at a time and rather long waiting lines for Internet. McDonald's was the only place I got an application on-site, a drink of water and a smile with a "here you are mamacita." I walked out of there wondering who would watch my 2 year old child if I got my minimum wage job at McDonald's.

My feet started to get tired and I was hungry, but I had no money and there was no place clean to sit. I sat on the concrete and several people stared at me like I was crazy. Henry, a homeless man with several mental and physical disabilities, was across the street, so I went to him and chatted. He was asking for spare change so I gave him the remaining money on my metrocard and watched as so many people ignored him.

In the evening, my Acumen friends came together to share our stories and reflect on the day. All of our experiences had similar themes:

1) the power of kindness and communing as human beings

2) the importance of recognizing, honoring and channeling the knowledge of users of the system (the poor were more helpful than anyone else in getting around)

3) the terribly unfriendly systems (even if well intended) and importance for accountability within those systems and leaders who are concerned with the entire architecture of the system to make wholesale differences in people's lives

4) the importance of dignity, trust and community

Anthony Romero, the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union joined us to facilitate the discussion and started with a story about a successful bank who made its staff fill their shoes with pebbles and stand in line all day as customers so they knew what it would be like to be old with bad feet and finally get to the teller. Knowing your customer is the most important asset any business can have, and while I was homeless in NY for only a day, I learned so much and had a reawakening.

Sparked by years of volunteering in shelters in Oakland, Sacramento and Peru, I once had a dream of creating a universal education curriculum for homeless children that would be distributed through shelters. So many kids are caught in the cycle of poverty because they move so much and go from school to school without consistent support services. Today reminded me to hold onto that dream.
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Highlighted Resource: http://www.thebeehive.org/
The Beehive was created by One Economy as the place to go for information and resources around the things that matter in our lives: money, health, jobs, school and family.

Bob the Builder: Can We Fix It? Yes, We Can!

2006-09-30T12:10:00.002-07:00

David Bornstein is one of my favorite people in this space- a true pioneer journalist for social entrepreneurs. He wrote the book, “How to Change the World” and was one of the founding members here on Social Edge. He came to chat with the Acumen Fellows today about the field of social entrepreneurship and we delved into some great issues of sustainability, microfinance, human pattern recognition, the power of the media, innovation, happiness and more.

My favorite part was when we discussed how to recognize opportunity in the world. This is something social entrepreneurs do very well by observing many patterns of how people are solving problems and then using that in their own solutions. Fabio Rosa (featured in his book and online) from Brazil is a great example of this.

His next book will focus on social entrepreneurs in the US and Canada with a vision toward having more academic and mainstream momentum and interest in the US spread throughout the world. He talked about the need for more positive media about the social sector. “The private sector has never had a magazine called Bankruptcy, instead they have things like Fortune which radiate a Bob the Builder cartoon “Yes We Can!” attitude.” The social sector needs more positive coverage in the media so when we talk about our schools or hospital systems needing to be fixed, we hear Bob the Builder say, “Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”

We later made our way to Bridgeport Connecticut to meet someone who really depicts Bob the Builder’s, “Can we fix it? Yes, we can!” motto. Eric Anderson of Urban Green Builders showed us their work as visionary architects of communities. This is the stuff hope is made of. In economically dead area of CT, we walked into a huge construction site which will soon be brand new affordable housing and shops- a breath of life for the people here, many of whom were working with hard hats around us.

A big part of Urban Green Builders mission is about bringing people closer together- in a literal sense. They believe that revitalizing neighborhoods where people can work close to where they live will diminish environmental hazards and cause people to walk and talk with their neighbors, building a sense of community where many other social goods are created. They believe in giving people a choice, even if they are low-income. Spacious and affordable lofts next to railroad apartments in Harlem; luxury condos in downtown hastings-onhudson-where there hasn’t been such a building in thirty years; geothermal heating and bamboo products instead of oil furnaces and further deforestation. They are creating jobs, providing beautiful homes at a low price and politically empowering a community of what seemed to be mostly African Americans with little voice in decisions about their community.

Urban Green Builders strategy is much more unique than I am capable of describing, but I encourage people to check them out for inspiration.

Turning the Pages of Acumen Fund's World View-- Books!

2006-09-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of the ways that we are learning of Acumen Fund's culture and view of the world is through books. Every week we are reading and discussing a different book, and here is the list:

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Tempest by Shakespeare

Every week I will jot down a few sentences for my reaction and share it with Social Edgers. This week we read King Leopold's Ghost about the Belgian King at the end of the 1800s and his horrifying conquest of the Congo.

My thoughts: King Leopold’s Ghost is a powerful book. The fact that I had never heard of the events leading to the death of 5-10 million people and the suffering of so many more in the Congo, makes me humbled by the importance of listening carefully to historical lessons. I was most struck by the impossible trade offs people had to make who lived in the Congo. For example, the tribal chiefs faced with the decisions to either sell their people into slavery or see their entire kingdom murdered. The power of money and political influence in masking such atrocities and negatively reshaping the well being of so many individuals is something I strive to understand better in my life. I truly believe that not only could those who control such power influence in an exploitative fashion, but the same forces could be used to create more beautiful societies where all can actually enjoy their full potential under responsible leadership. If we have the courage and good fortune not to be blinded by the PR tactics and manipulations, but instead use them to transform possibilities of our own.

The book had some pretty horrific scenes of murder, whipping and cutting off of hands which would make any reader uncomfortable. Its important to be uncomfortable. It moves us from apathy to action. So many people would talk about how horrible King Leopold's obsession was with ivory and rubber in the Congo, but would they do anything about it if they were benefiting from it? If countries such as China and others have oil interests in Sudan from which we benefit, are we speaking loud enough about DarFur?

Mug Shots: Entrepreneurial Leaders for Social Change

2006-09-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

There are seven of us Acumen Fund fellows in my program. I have been really impressed with the intelligence, humility and fun personalities of this group. I wanted to share a bit of their backgrounds below so that you can get a sense for who else is walking with me on this journey.

Ayeleen Ajanee
The first Pakistani to attend the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, Ayeleen is finishing an MBA, specializing in Strategic Marketing. After high school in Karachi, Pakistan, she graduated from the Southern Methodist University of Texas with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Returning to Karachi in 2003, Ayeleen joined Unilever Pakistan as an Area Engineer, the first woman ever to hold such a position. Still an active member of her local mosque school, Ayeleen helped devise the curriculum and establish a library.

Eric Berkowitz
Eric consults on projects in India, China and the U.S. in the areas of microfinance, financial services and business development. Previously, he was a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and served as Director of the China office at Tractus-Asia, where he assisted foreign companies making investment decisions and setting up operations in Asia. Eric holds a BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Adrien Couton
With experience studying and working in eight different countries, Adrien’s professional background includes private equity, an internet start-up, the World Bank (for water and sanitation consulting) and four years with McKinsey & Company, working mostly in the energy and transportation sectors. He holds a Masters in Management from HEC Paris, a Masters in Political Sciences from Université de la Sorbonne, and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

David Lehr
A Reuters Digital Vision Fellow, David is currently a principal in an early-stage venture that delivers customized market data via mobile phones to farmers in the developing world. Previously, David held management roles with key Silicon Valley companies, including launching Adobe Systems in China. He holds a Masters of Pacific International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego, and a BA in economics from the State University of New York at Albany.

Keely Stevenson
Before Acumen, Keely was working to start up a development program for social entrepreneurs in India (www.social-impact.org), Keely has worked for Triodos Bank UK, the Royal Bafokeng Nation in South Africa, the Skoll Foundation, the California Senate and was a United Nations Fellow. She was an Honors Alumni Scholar at University of California, Berkeley and earned her MBA in Management and Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford’s Said Business School. A Skoll Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship, Keely created Social Edge (www.socialedge.com), the world’s first online community for social entrepreneurs.

Nadaa Taiyab
Nadaa just finished a Masters at Tufts in International Business and International Environmental Policy, with a focus on climate change, carbon markets and sustainable development. She has worked as a financial analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Goldmans Sachs in New York and for the World Bank in Indonesia, piloting a project for private sector development in post-conflict areas. Nadaa obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in International Relations. Born in Sri Lanka, she grew up in Indonesia and Canada.

Jocelyn Wyatt
Jocelyn just finished an MBA at Thunderbird, where she organized the Net Impact Global Citizenship Challenge and the International Development Association Microfinance Conference. Previously, Jocelyn served as Country Director for Scojo in India and was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the program including finance, accounting, marketing, distribution, inventory management and training. She also worked for five years for Chemonics International, a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC.

The Next Adventure...so why from Tribeca to Tanzania?

2006-09-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

For a woman who had never been on an airplane until she was an adult (at which point I actually was skydiving out of that plane with my sister Tanya and brother-in-law Jacob), I never expected that over a decade later, my life would be so blessed as to see so many parts of the world. This year has been a fun and exciting year for me. For both work and play this year, I have traveled to over ten countries and had the good fortune of learning many new things about people, politics, social enterprises and finance. A passion for international development and global understanding now runs through my blood at quite a pace. This is one of the reasons I chose this next adventure with the Acumen Fund and have accepted Victor’s gracious invitation to blog the experience this year on Social Edge.

I started my gig this week as an Acumen Fund Fellow. Acumen Fund is a global non-profit venture fund serving the four billion people living on less than $4 a day. The aim is to create a blueprint for building financially sustainable and scalable organizations that deliver affordable, critical goods and services that elevate the lives of the poor. They have several areas of businesses in which they invest (invest=debt/equity and management support): affordable housing, water, energy and health.

The Acumen Fund Fellows Program is a 12-month fellowship for seven individuals “with the dedication to serving the poor in the developing world and the business skills to effect change.” Though primarily based in the field (with our investments/social enterprises in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and India), the fellowship begins with an eight week rotation in the New York office to orient the Fellows to the Acumen Fund culture, methodologies, investment portfolio and pipeline. Once in the field, Fellows will be responsible for overseeing and managing a variety of investments currently in the Acumen Fund portfolio. I will be headed to Tanzania for the year with a company called AtoZ which created bed nets that have significantly decreased malaria.

I hope to share many of the inspiring things I see and learn this year through Social Edge.

Some pictures from Tanzania’s AtoZ where I will be working for the next year:

September 11, 1906

2006-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

September 11th is a significant day for us all.

On September 11, 1906 in Johannesburg, Gandhi launched the modern non-violence movement. Touching the world forever, he initiated the Satyagraha against the Natal Government, which was trying to pass an Ordinance meant to disenfranchise the Indians of South Africa. "I had no companion. We were 2,000 men, women and children against a whole nation capable of crushing the existence out of us. I did not know who would listen to me. It all came as if in a flash. Many fell back. But the honour of the nation was saved. New history was written by the South African Satyagrahis."

On September 11, 2006, I want to especially honor those victims and heroes from the September 11, 2001 tragedy in the U.S. and thank those who work every day to bring peace to our communities around the world. Sometimes the smallest contributions of our time, talent, ideas or finances can truly change the world. We must not forget that there are many more people out there creating hope and vibrancy in life and than are planning destruction.

Mapping the Social Capital Markets in India.

As many of you remember from my last post, I have been working this year as a consultant/interim Director to launch a new company called Social-Impact in India. As I wrap up my work with Social-Impact and move to my fellowship with the Acumen Fund, I have been working on an analysis of the Indian social capital markets. I sparked the creation of this study because Social-Impact aspired to deepen its understanding of the funding market within which Indian social entrepreneurs are operating and to identify potential co-investors/funders for the programme.

At the end of this research, I hope to have carefully mapped the landscape of social financers such as foundations/trusts, corporations, individuals and banks or other financial sector entities in India, including the type of instruments they use (grants, loans, equity), their primary interest areas (livelihoods, education, women, etc), driving philosophies/strategies and their motivations (philanthropic/commercial).

This also incorporates some review of the legal or policy issues that affect the financing of social change organizations.

I have posted below a few DRAFT slides and welcome your feedback on the framework I have begun or the initial map. The initial draft of the landscape was derived from a set of 20 interviews in India and two focus groups in August 2006.

Sparking Social Change in India

2006-08-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

The first day Social Edge launched in 2001, the homepage quoted the great Indian leader Gandhi: "We must be the change we wish to see in this world."

Very exciting things are happening in India today. This year was my first visit to India. I had read about developments in social entrepreneurship in India on Social Edge from my friend, Mr. K.L. Srivastava’s paper, and I have a few Indian friends from business school working on exciting ventures such as Cleanstar Technology.

However, upon visiting, I still found myself in awe when I witnessed the momentum of social change initiatives here…and most importantly, the potential to solve massive social problems.

Since April, I have been helping to launch a new organization called Social-Impact. The three founders, Eric Archambeau, Charly Kleissner and Peter Wheeler, chose Hyderabad, India to launch a pilot for a new professional development programme for social entrepreneurs.

Building on the vision of the founders, much of the programme design has been crafted by Kim Alter of Virtue Ventures and implemented by me and our India Director Thomas T.T. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with such movers and shakers.

Social-Impact selects social entrepreneurs with established projects and helps them scale up by providing mentoring, training, technical assistance networking and access to finance. Among other things, I went to India to conduct the due diligence process for selecting Social-Impact’s first group of social entrepreneurs for the programme. This process resulted in a final group of eight extraordinary social entrepreneurs whose profiles can be viewed here. In my next post, I hope to share a bit more about them and their engagement with Social-Impact.

Random Note: My favorite thing about today was getting a bit of quiet time to read “Train to Pakistan” and have a yummy shot of wheatgrass juice in the Singapore Airport.