A recent paper titled “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage†stirs up debate around the business opportunity around the poor – and garnered a response from C.K Prahalad. The paper argues that the only way to alleviate poverty is to focus on the poor as producers – not as consumers – to raise their income. We, like Prahalad, believe that these are not mutually exclusive. Given the right access to choices, the poor can make consumer decisions that increase their ability to generate income and improve their overall quality of life. The fact that there is ongoing debate around this idea reinforces the need for Acumen Fund, and others in this space, to continue to find and support examples of enterprises that are successfully serving the poor.
Archive for September, 2006
Debate at the bottom of the pyramid
Thursday, September 28th, 2006MacArthur’s social entrepreneur “geniuses”
Monday, September 25th, 2006The MacArthur Foundation recently announced their prestigious “Genius” Awards, and it was thrilling to see two of our peers, Jim Fruchterman of Benetech and Victoria Hale of One World Health, be named to this most exclusive list. Both Jim and Victoria are social entrepreneurs, using the practices of business to implement social visions to improve the world. We’re proud to know them both and proud to see social entrepreneurs being honored in this way. The world is changing as this most vital sector begins to emerge and reshape itself. Congratulations to Jim and Victoria and all who work with them.
Giving ideas wings
Thursday, September 21st, 2006I came across this (rather long but very interesting) article in The Economist about how ‘business angels’ step in to provide small entrepreneurs with access to capital where venture capital firms are often wary of going – for reasons of risk or simply, size.
In a way, I suppose we could think of Acumen Fund as a ‘business angel’ for social enterprises – we step in and place our bets on innovative social entrepreneurs and effective ideas and business models that manifest the potential to reach underserved markets. We help give socially driven market-based ideas wings by going a step further than simple financing and providing intensive management support to incubate social enterprises until they are ready to fly on their own.
More than money
Monday, September 18th, 2006
Great article on the front page of the New York Times about our partner Google.org and its executive director, Larry Brilliant. It is really exciting to see Google.org push boundaries around what is possible and how we need to use ALL of the resources at our disposal to solve tough problems of poverty. If there is one thing our work over the past five years has taught us, it is that to be more effective, philanthropy cannot be thought of only as money given to help people. Google has such great reach in the world that it can influence entire sectors using much more than its money – and their vision is an exciting one.
From Acumen Fund’s perspective, watching ideas that were seen as crazy five years ago be instituted as more mainstream also is a reminder that change can happen. Varun Sahni , our India Country Manager, and I had a breakthrough with a reporter in India when she asked us if we were the new “Missionaries of Charity.” After thinking about it, we said, that no, we were not missionaries; that the world needed to get away from a bifurcated vision that organized itself in business, government and charity. Instead, what is needed is to think about how we, as a more interconnected world, need to organize ourselves to use our resources more effectively to enable all people in society to flourish. In the 21st century, it will take new kinds of organizations that incorporate ways of reaching the poor as well as covering their costs. Acumen Fund is experimenting with these new kinds of organizations – and through these experiments, will learn better how to serve people so that they can make their own choices in life.
We’re learning daily and also learning from new partners like Google who are pushing the envelope. It couldn’t be a more exciting time.
Using the power of the media
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz’s latest journal entry from Pakistan follows.
September 3, 2006 – Karachi, Pakistan
In the late afternoon, we visit Mir Ibrahim Rahman and Imran Aslam at GEO TV. The air at GEO crackles with the excitement of young people using the power of the media to change the world. I’m struck by the power of this partnership between the young and innovative Mir with the more seasoned, deeply insightful Imran. They are trying to change the nature of media between them and turning issues on their heads. Their most current programming focuses on Satan telling people what to do given their assumption that Pakistanis prefer doing things they are not supposed to do. The cartoon-like Satan at GEO will beg people to chew pan, a traditional mix of betel and other leaves and spices, and then spit the red juice on the sidewalks and floors. It will ask people to litter and despoil places, too. You have to be intrigued by this station’s sense of humor as it looks at its own culture squarely in the face.
I have been watching GEO’s work on the Hudood Ordinances for the past several months and believe it has many lessons for Acumen Fund – and the world. Pakistan’s Hudood Ordinances are a repressive set of laws, focused largely on the rights of women. One of the worst is the ordinance stating women must have four male witnesses to prove a case of rape. They have been justified largely on the basis that they come from the Quran, and no recent government has been able to overthrow them in large part due to pressure from conservative forces. GEO interviewed seventeen religious scholars, including a number who actually helped create the Ordinances, to ask whether they did indeed come directly from Quranic law. Essentially, every one stated that the ordinances were man-made and, indeed, did not come directly from the Quran. Moreover, the campaign created widespread discussion about the Hudood Ordinances throughout the country. Recently, the government has moved forward a bill to overturn most of the Ordinances – to public outcry from some of the most conservative elements in Pakistan. (more…)