June 2008

Position: VP of Sales and Operations

Location: New York - with 30% international travel

Organization: VisionSpring (formerly Scojo Foundation) is a global social enterprise, currently operating in 13 countries, which creates jobs and sustains livelihoods through the sale of affordable reading glasses to the 700 million people who require clear, up-close vision to read and work.

VisionSpring trains low-income men and women as “Vision Entrepreneurs” to start microfranchises that conduct vision screenings within local communities, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who require advanced eye care to reputable clinics.

Description: The VP of Sales and Operations is responsible for the leadership and management of VisionSpring’s global operations team and the achievement of their operational and sales objectives. The position is a key member of the senior management team and is actively involved in shaping the future direction of the organization.

For more information - including a detailed job description - contact Gretchen Anderson at On-Ramps.

Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on NextBillion.net.

Last night, Ernst & Young announced its 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year awards for the Metro New York region, and Acumen Fund’s own Jacqueline Novogratz took home the award for social enterprises. Given our mission to support amazing entrepreneurs who are building thriving businesses in India, Pakistan and East Africa, it is humbling to be recognized as entrepreneurs ourselves. We’re honored to be included among such impressive company.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Christine Flanagan, Director of Research for the Business Innovation Factory up in Providence, Rhode Island. The BIF is basically a real-world lab where innovators get together to design and test ideas, with an eye to creating value (not just creating gadgets, for example.) The Factory’s advisors include heavy hitters like IBM’s David Yuan, Harvard’s Clayton Christensen and former PARC Director John Seely Brown.

While poking around the site, I noticed a post on BIF Speak (the Business Innovation Factory blog) about Acumen Fund friend and ally Cat Laine. You may already know Cat as the Deputy Director of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group and a blogger in her own right. What you may not know is that Cat has a background in public health and a real passion for serving base of the pyramid customers with appropriate technology. The post explains:

With AIDG, Lainé attempts to stretch the goals of a traditional NGO by throwing savvy “business acumen” into the mix. She brings her own scientific background to the table when the group spearheads a new project, but she also knows the value of a good old-fashioned sales pitch. Bringing new technology to such communities is a matter of gaining trust and demonstrating a need for the product—the same challenges faced by large corporations looking to tap into emerging international markets.

Check it out. Finally, Cat will be speaking alongside Jacqueline Novogratz at the Business Innovation Factory’s Collaborative Innovation Summit this October. Glad to know we’ll be able to touch base with her there as well…

Editor’s note: Acumen Fund ally Tanya Sehgal recently let us know of some exciting opportunities at Indicorps, an organization we admire. If you’re in the market for work - or know someone qualified who is - please read on.

Indicorps is an entrepreneurial organization run by a small, tight-knit community of critical thinkers committed to transforming the world. Their “work” extends conventional boundaries, and includes both philosophical and practical discussions regarding the vision of the organization’s future, pressing social issues, and potential paths towards personal growth.

Given Indicorps’ desire to learn and innovate - as individuals, as an organization, and as a community - it is looking for multi-faceted, dynamic individuals who aspire to effect meaningful change by inspiring individuals to realize their inner capacities. If you are looking for an opportunity to engage with India in a critical, intensely personal way, and hope to meet people with the conviction to effect meaningful change, then you may be an ideal Indicorps staff candidate.

Net Impact held its first conference in Europe last week, achieving a major milestone while paying tribute to the intense interest on the part of European and international MBA students in using business tools to make a positive social impact. The ability of corporations and business tools to drive social change is still a hot topic, and the participants at this conference brought diverse perspectives on the issue and some challenging questions, all related to the conference theme of “Sustainable Prosperity.”

It was my pleasure to be there representing Acumen Fund as I have been a big fan of Net Impact since I revived the Net Impact chapter at Stanford when I was there from 2001-2003. The conference had its own unique flavor, hosted by three institutions from across Europe – the International Organization MBA, a program based at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, The University of Nottingham in the UK, and INSEAD in France. Over 400 participants joined the meeting, bringing an interest in everything from corporate social responsibility, to environmentally sustainable business; socially responsible investing to business at the “base of the pyramid” (BoP). The dedication of the student volunteers managing a dizzying array of panels was readily apparent, and they put together a professional and compelling event.

Though Net Impact began 15 years ago with a focus on how MBAs could make a positive difference within the business world, this conference and other recent Net Impact conferences in the US have clearly demonstrated that working for a socially responsible for-profit company is just one way to make a difference. The Net Impact Europe conference had a much greater showing from international organizations like Global Alliance for Improved Nuitrition (GAIN), CARE International, Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM), and the ILO, with fewer corporate titans taking the stage as keynote speakers or panelists than I have seen at other Net Impact conferences. Representatives from Toyota, Microsoft and KPMG were there, however, to share some of their best practices related to social responsibility. At times, though, it seemed like the businesses that were represented were on trial, being challenged as to whether they were doing enough or taking the right approach.

For example, on a panel I joined to discuss innovations for serving BoP markets, the question was asked: Is selling low-cost products to the poor really the same as poverty alleviation? A fair question, though one that suggests a zero-sum-game approach to developing more inclusive markets. In our experience, businesses may fail to reach the neediest through their products, but can still expand access and reduce the burden on governments and aid organizations by allowing them to target their efforts towards the poorest.

Guest blogger Jocelyn Wyatt works for the design firm IDEO, leading its base of the pyramid projects. Prior to joining IDEO, Jocelyn was an Acumen Fund Fellow in Kenya. She holds a MBA from Thunderbird. Jocelyn blogs at Design and Reach.

By Jocelyn Wyatt

As NextBillion.net mentioned last week, The Rockefeller Foundation and IDEO recently presented their research on how design firms can get more involved in social sector work. We presented this work in the form of a how-to guide and a workbook on how to use design to intentionally create positive social impacts and have posted the deliverables online.

Before I joined IDEO, I wondered (like most of you probably do) what application design could have to addressing some of the world’s largest problems. Tim Brown does a great job laying out the basics on design thinking in a recent article in Harvard Business Review entitled Design Thinking.

During the course of our work with Rockefeller, we had 142 conversations with social entrepreneurs, foundations, management consultants, academics, writers, and designers. What we heard over and over again was frustration with the progress in addressing the problems that we all care about and excitement about the potential of design thinking as a new approach.

Three aspects of design thinking that are particularly salient for social enterprises are empathy, prototyping, and storytelling.

Last night, I was part of an overflow crowd squeezed into an overheated room, waiting 15, 30, 45 minutes to hear a speech on the future of social entrepreneurship. For whom do 200-plus people squeeze into a room set for 75 on a random Thursday night in the middle of June: Muhammad Yunus? Bill Drayton? Jeff Sachs? No, no and no again.

Not to say that Neil Blumenthal, Eni Bakallbashi, Lalita Advani and Bhakti Mirchandani aren’t worthy of the attention – they absolutely are. But when you get down to it, people came to last night’s event, “The Value Chain of Social Entrepreneurship: How Young Professionals Can Get Involved,” not to hear from a superstar speaker, but rather to get actionable, inspirational advice from their peers.

Bhakti, for instance, suggested that aspiring social entrepreneurs might be able to subsist on a daily breakfast of Diet Coke and bananas, as she did while starting the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards (between stints at Lehman). Lalita quoted Gandhi, suggesting that harmony in what you think, say and do will lead to happiness. (I took this to imply that just being interested in social entrepreneurship isn’t enough – you have to actually do something and spread the word.) Eni told the audience that your heart has to be in the right place, and that you can do something here and now – as she is doing with her health information startup in Albania. Finally, Neil laid it on the line, telling the audience to get out and work in the sector, even if it means taking risks – as he did when he hopped on a plane to El Salvador to work for Scojo Foundation (now VisionSpring) a few years back.

After nine months of working hard to set up operations in China (for product design and prototyping) and India (for sales and distribution) Acumen investee d.Light Design is getting ready for its initial product launch. Sitting with CEO Sam Goldman recently in Delhi, I was excited to hear him talk of an expanding global team and the prospect of getting substantial volumes of affordable lights into the market. This article shows the company’s product range as they gear up for sales, and we encourage you to read this compelling note by Sam, which shares the stories behind their hard work.

Editor’s Note: Sam Goldman writes a great blog - Let There be D.Light! - at Social Edge. Check it out.

Congratulations to Aravind Eye Hospital for being awarded the 2008 Gates Award for Public Health, which carries a $1 million prize. Aravind joins rare company – previous winners of the Gates Award include the Rotary Foundation, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, The Carter Center and other public health luminaries.

The award is well-deserved. We have known Aravind since Acumen Fund was first established, and although Aravind was one of the first organizations supported by us, it is Acumen Fund who stands proudly on the shoulders of Aravind and not the other way around. Dr. Venkataswamy, who sadly passed away in 2006, founded Aravind in 1976 at the age of 58. His goal: eradicate needless blindness in India.

Dr. V. and his team – mostly family members, including his seven younger siblings – focused on using a rigorous, market-oriented approach to delivering basic services to all people, including the poorest. A sliding scale pricing system enables those who pay to subsidize the cost for those without the means to afford Aravind’s services. Aravind also re-engineered the intra-ocular lens to make it more universally affordable. And critically, the operations are driven by a culture of compassion, respect and dignity for all – and you can feel these values in the hospital’s very halls.

Acumen Fund supported Aravind in 2002 to experiment with building a telemedicine network that would allow doctors at Aravind’s five main hospitals to serve low-income people living in rural areas. Today, Aravind serves more than 2.3 million outpatients and performs 270,000 surgeries annually through its network of hospitals and clinics – making it the world’s largest provider of eye care. Even more staggering is the fact that two-thirds of the outpatient visits and three-quarters of the surgeries were provided to poor clients, at no cost. These milestones are a testament to a system that is both efficient and just.

Dr. Venkataswamy and the Aravind team had a profound effect on me personally. Through knowing this remarkable team, I’ve tried to live more fully the idea that we can hold the discipline of the market and deep compassion at the same time. I’ve worked harder to emphasize the dignity of work. At a very personal level, I think often of what Dr. V. often said: that we can integrate divinity into our lives through not only what we do, but how we do it. It has been such a gift to know this institution.

All of us at Acumen Fund are cheering for the wonderful team at Aravind and look forward to its continued success.

At a time when the world is experiencing an incredible economic crisis, it was powerful to sit in Lehman Brothers’ Midtown Manhattan office Tuesday night to hear Jeffery Sachs, head of the Millennium Project and Director of the Earth Institute, and Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund, speak about how to address the issues of global poverty.

More than 300 Lehman employees and guests filled the auditorium, listening to two of the most influential leaders in the social sector discuss the role of public and private approaches in alleviating global poverty. Millennium Promise and Acumen Fund have each received significant philanthropic support from Lehman Brothers, and Lehman Brothers’ $5 million gift to Acumen Fund made them our first Corporate Steward in our $100 million capital campaign.

The evening served as an opportunity for Sachs and Novogratz to explore ways to bring together top-down and bottom-up approaches to fight poverty. And while we would all love to know that there are simple, straightforward solutions, it was clear from the speakers’ comments that multiple approaches are needed to tackle poverty.

This idea was wonderfully illustrated by Jacqueline’s vivid story of the seven-foot-tall sunflowers growing in the middle of the Thar desert of Pakistan. Local smallholder farmers can grow these sunflowers because they are finally able to receive water through the use of a micro drip irrigation technology distributed by a local entrepreneur and Acumen Fund investee, Micro Drip, in addition to a government subsidy that provided solar panels to power the generators that extract groundwater.

Drishtee, a rural information technology company in which Acumen Fund has invested, was featured on CNN-IBN earlier this week. The story describes how Drishtee helped launch a business process outsourcing operation in rural Bihar, creating well-paying, dignified jobs for previously under-employed villagers.

Congratulations to the Drishtee team on this high-profile news coverage.

Today, Acumen Fund welcomes a new class of fifteen Summer Associates – undergraduate and graduate students who will spend their summers working closely with our team. These associates bring a wealth of real-world and academic experience to bear on our work, and we’re very pleased to have them with us. Some will spend the summer in our New York office; others will be based out of our offices in Nairobi, Karachi and Hyderabad.

These Associates – much like our Fellows – represent Acumen Fund’s commitment to building talent in the social sector. Not only will we benefit immensely from the Summer Associates’ work, but we hope they will leave us in 11 weeks with a better understanding of the role of business in driving social change.

By way of introducing them to our broader community, here are short bios for the 2008 class of Acumen Fund Summer Associates: