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Inspiration and Hope from Echoing Green Fellows in Kibera

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Alex Sungubi is one of the founding members of the Blue Sweater Book Club in Nairobi. Pictured here, he's walking through Kibera with a donated copy of Seth Godin's book Tribes.

I am currently in Nairobi, Kenya as we work to build what will be the first in a series of leadership development initiatives around the world.  In the next ten years, we plan to invest in thousands of leaders who are building and driving groundbreaking social change initiatives as entrepreneurs and also as intra-preneurs within businesses, public sector organizations, and leading NGOs.  We believe that by connecting and investing in these individuals, we will create an interconnected web of global leaders who share values, are driving change, and have a deep commitment to building a more inclusive economy and social system.   My current trip to Nairobi has been one of listening and learning from Kenyan perspectives on leadership and development so that we build a program that will have real and lasting impact.  The journey has been rich with stories, but I wanted to share one.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet two fantastic individuals who reminded me of the power of the human spirit at work.  The first is Jessica – young, fearless, resourceful, and completely and utterly resilient (my favorite qualities in a social sector leader).  This young woman is a recent graduate of Wesleyan College and is doing some incredible work in Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa, with her partner Kennedy (both Echoing Green Fellows).  They have built an all-girls school in the heart of Kibera and while the school is free, they’ve developed a model that ensures repayment in other ways. The parents must commit 5 weeks of work to the school each year and run services around the school they charge for like: pay per use toilets, a community center, and a health center.

I met Jessica at a fancy shopping mall, which is where I thought we would hold our meeting.  So of course I showed up in white pants, a nice silk shirt, long flowing scarf, gold bangles, and before I know it she whisks me away from the comfort of the mega mall to a nearby mutatu (small local bus transport) which we crammed into for the ride to the slums. As I sat there smushed between two people – body odor filling the bus, only to be over powered by the smell of burning garbage – in an instant I was back in Senegal (where I lived at 20-years-old) taking the local road, the hard road everywhere, at any cost. We exited the mutatu, I looked down at my already dirt and grease stained white pants, and jumped onto the red dusty road that leads into Kibera.  We walked together, followed by groups of shouting kids who were dying to hold my hand, touch my leg, and just be noticed. Honestly, I had almost forgotten what that was like since my last few trips have been focused on meetings with business executives and government leaders.

As we walked down the road, Jessica buzzed with energy to tell me what she was doing, so inspired, proud and accomplished for a young woman.  When we finally arrived at the school, I met Kennedy, one of those people who just radiates energy and wisdom beyond his years. He stood in front of their community site in a rainbow-colored tiedye shirt and jeans, with a huge Kenyan smile. They told their story, and I shared mine, and as Kennedy told me he admired me because I was “way up there” but also “way down here” I sat there thinking, “How can this young man admire me?”

After our conversation, Kennedy walked me down the long winding road out of Kibera.  We passed many men yelling in Swahili, ”Who is the white woman with you?” (Kennedy translated).  He stopped to chat with a man who was making wooden bed frames.  They exchanged greetings and we were off. Kennedy told me how about 4 years ago he had raised 2000 Shillings ($25) and invested it in 20 businesses in Kibera.  For his small investment he asked that the borrowers not pay him back, but instead pay it forward.  The man selling the bed frames was doing quite well and now had the ability to pay it forward and also pay Kennedy back.  I felt a tinge of guilt flow through my body as I thought about the last thing I did with $25.

Kennedy was born in Kibera to a girl of 15; he never knew his father.  At the age of 9 he was living on the streets and was angry at the world, but then at 12 he met a priest who helped to educate him.  Kennedy told me he was determined to learn English so he could speak to the “white people.”  He’s currently in his second year at Wesleyan in Connecticut.

As he shared with me his story, I looked around and was so intensely reminded of the pain and sadness that exists and has existed in the world.  In a world with such injustice, such poverty, how do people not live with constant anger, frustration and sadness?  How can those of us who have been given so much live right next to it and allow it to exist?  I wonder if there ever will be a point when we can find a place where we are all truly given the opportunity to realize our potential as individuals and as a world.  Acknowledgment and forgiveness are such hard things to achieve.

And then there are people like Kennedy and Jessica, who remind us that there is hope and that things can change.  As we work to build this new initiative for Acumen and develop the next generation of leaders around the world, we plan to invest in more individuals that can show the world positive change is not only possible, but it is already happening.

Blair Miller is Talent Manager for Acumen Fund and runs the Acumen Fellows Program. She just returned to New York from three weeks in East Africa where she was working to develop Acumen’s Fellows Program globally.

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Congratulations to the Fellows Class of 2011

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

After an intensive selection process that spanned the globe and drew 575 applicants from 65 countries, Acumen Fund has chosen ten extraordinary individuals to join the Acumen Fellows Class of 2011.  The Acumen Fund Fellows Program is designed to address a talent gap in the social sector and cultivate the next generation of global leaders, offering young professionals the opportunity to provide on-the-ground management support to Acumen Fund investees who use business skills to help solve the problems of global poverty. Learn more about the Fellows Program.

Meet the new Fellows:

  • Bryan Farris, from the United States, is a management consultant for Bain & Company. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley. He will work in Lahore, Pakistan with Ansaar Management Company, which is a housing development and management company that provides an integrated approach to affordable, quality housing.
  • Mario Ferro, of Italy, works with NGOs in the post-earthquake relief effort in Haiti. He is a former management consultant with experience in the internationalization of Italian SMEs in China and received an M.S. in Development Management from the London School of Economics. He will work in Nairobi, Kenya with Ecotact, a company that aims to improve the urban landscape for low-income communities through environmentally responsible projects in sanitation and housing.
  • Chikako Fujita, from Japan, worked for SANYO on the company’s enviromental initiatives, and started an NGO’s rural electrification and development initiative in India. She earned an MEM from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She will work in Mumbai, India with 1298 Ambulances, which focuses on providing affordable emergency medical response services.
  • Shane Heywood, from Jamaica, has a background in the consumer goods industry as well as microfinance experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Shane received joint degree in Business Administration and International Relations from the University of Western Ontario and an M.A. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He will work in Kitale, Kenya with Western Seed, which develops and distributes high-quality hybrid seeds to improve crop yields for smallholder farmers in East Africa.
  • Khuram Hussain, of Pakistan, is a consultant at TechnoServe and formerly worked for Endeavor and JP Morgan. He earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at University of California at Berkeley. He will work in Bihar, India with Husk Power Systems, which uses innovative biomass technology to convert abundant rice husks into energy that provides power to Indian villages.
  • Elizabeth Maina, from Kenya, is consultant for different companies in systems and process improvement. She has a BSc. in Information Systems and Technology from the United States International University in Kenya. She will work in Nairobi, Kenya, with Global Easy Water Products, which provides affordable drip irrigation for small-scale farmers.
  • Bavidra Mohan, of Sri Lanka/Canada, works as a corporate social responsibility consultant at Ethos JWT.  Bavidra received an Honours Degree in Sociology from Queen’s University, and an MA in Marketing from Kingston University. He will work in Shenzhen, China with D.Light Design, a company that makes low-cost solar lights that provide cleaner, safer, and cheaper lighting to families living at the bottom of the pyramid.
  • Wendy Wallace, from the United States, currently works in consulting, and previously served as a field agent in Nairobi, Kenya with Renew Strategies. She has an MPP from Harvard University and a B.S. in Engineering Sciences and Astronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy. She will work in Hyderabad, India with LifeSpring, which is a network of Maternity and Child Healthcare hospitals that provide vital reproductive and pediatric healthcare to low- and lower-middle-income people in urban and peri-urban areas.
  • Benje Williams, from the United States, is a management consultant for social enterprises and Fortune 500 corporations, and supported start-up SMEs in Nairobi. Benje holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He will work in Lahore, Pakistan with a company that provides access to drinking water for low-income urban customers .
  • Brenda Williams, from the United States, is the president and CEO of GlobaLink Consulting, Inc., a private consulting company specializing in business development, microfinance and organizational management services. She earned an M.S. in Organizational Management from the  School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. She will work in Andhra Pradesh, India with WaterHealth International, which incorporates a cost-effective technology designed for the poor, and an effective approach to social marketing and distribution to increase access to safe, affordable water.

Following eight weeks of training in New York, the Fellows will begin their nine-month field placements with Acumen Fund investees, supporting senior management in tackling critical business issues–market expansion, business plan refinement, supply chain improvements, or even leading a new business initiative.

The Acumen Fund Fellows Program has also been named as a finalist for the John P. McNulty Prize, an award affiliated with the Aspen Global Leadership Network aimed at recognizing exceptional leadership projects that galvanize efforts to address the foremost social, economic and political challenges of our time. The prize will be awarded November 4, 2010 at the 27th Annual Aspen Institute Awards Dinner.

Blair Miller is Talent Manager for Acumen Fund and runs the Acumen Fellows Program.

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New Film Shows One Story of Many for Acumen Fellows

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Suraj and Ecotact

The Acumen Fund Fellows Program gains incredible exposure today as “The New Recruits”, a documentary film about three Fellows in the class of 2009, airs on PBS.  The documentary follows the Fellows through their personal journeys as they work with Acumen’s portfolio companies in India, Pakistan, and Kenya. The Fellows Program was launched five years ago with the vision of helping shape the field of social enterprise by bringing together diverse leaders from around the world with the operational and financial skills to support businesses combined with the moral imagination to create solutions with the poor.

Even in one class of Fellows, made up of 10 people, there are a thousand stories you could tell.  This film picks one angle on these stories – and highlights the bumps and bruises the Fellows experienced along the way.  If there’s one thing that all the Fellows and I have learned is that there are no easy answers to tackling poverty.  Though I think the introduction of the film suggests otherwise, the Fellows represent truly diverse perspectives from all over the world, and these perspectives are what is needed if we are going to create real solutions that build on our collective humanity and common aspirations.

To date, we have received thousands of applications for the Fellows program from nearly 75 countries.  The program’s 44 Fellows and alumni are representative of a variety of religious, economic and ethnic backgrounds and hail from 16 different nations including: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Japan, Italy, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, United States, Uganda, Panama, Pakistan, and India. After graduating from the program, the Fellows alumni have gone on to become social entrepreneurs, grassroots change makers, private and social sector intrapreneurs, and social investors, all working toward furthering the vision of patient capital.

While the Fellows add significant value to the businesses in which they are working, the true value of the Fellowship comes from what the Fellows learn from each other, the businesses where they are placed, and most importantly, the low-income people with whom they are developing solutions.

Fellows Program

In December I visited Josephat Byaruhanga, a 2010 Fellow who is working with Western Seed, a hybrid seed producer and distributor based in Kitale, Kenya.  Josephat was born and raised 500 miles outside of Kampala, in rural Uganda, and has spent his career working in Agriculture development.  Josephat recently took the time to explain to me the direct-to-farmer sales initiative he is leading at Western Seed.  The initiative is focused on lowering costs and increasing access for the small-scale farmers in rural Kenya.  While Josephat brings significant expertise in building sustainable business models, he is successful because of his ability to learn from and connect with the rural farmer and the dynamic and successful team at Western Seed.  In just six months, the team has already reached hundreds of rural farmers in Western Kenya through this new initiative.

Fellow in Pakistan

The Fellowship is also about what the Fellows learn from each other.  During my recent visit to Pakistan, I spent time with Sarah Dimson (2010 Fellow whose family were first generation Ghanaian Immigrants to the US), Asim Hussnain (2010 Fellow from Pakistan), and Jawad Aslam (2008 Fellow and current Acumen Fund investee from Pakistan) all of whom are living in Lahore, Pakistan.  From these three, I learned about low-income housing by visiting customers who received mortgages that never before were provided to their income segment.

But, without a doubt, the most powerful part of my trip was listening to what they have learned from each other about politics and religion (Sarah is a Christian, Jawad and Asim are Muslim) in this increasingly dynamic and polarizing world.  At Acumen, we believe that this conversation between leaders with diverse backgrounds not only transforms individuals, but can transform societies.

While the development field can benefit from the tools of the private sector and the market can be a powerful listening mechanism, we know that capitalism cannot save the world.  The Fellows Program is about building a cohort of leaders who bring unique economic and geographic perspectives, a strong business discipline, the empathy to learn from the poor, and the humility to know that complex problems of poverty cannot be solved with a silver bullet.

Blair Miller is a Talent Manager at Acumen Fund and runs the Acumen Fellows Program.

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Remembering CK Prahalad – A Student’s Reflection

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Blair Miller is the Talent Manager at Acumen Fund and oversees the Fellows program.

The world has experienced a great loss this weekend, Coimbatore Krishnarao (CK) Prahalad, strategy guru, University of Michigan Professor, and mentor to me and many others passed away on Friday evening.

There are few people who have created a global movement that has changed the way millions of people see the world and CK Prahalad is one of them.  I first heard about CK through his book, “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid”.  The idealist in me was moved by his words of dignity and a new approach to poverty alleviation and the pragmatist in me was driven by his talk of business models and market opportunity.  I immediately left my job, was accepted to the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and moved to Ann Arbor to learn from this remarkable man. I am merely one of thousands, perhaps millions, who were inspired by Professor Prahalad’s message.

While CK was one of the world’s most respected strategy gurus (ranked #1 in the top 50 global business thinkers) it was clear his life’s mission was to change the way the world thought about poverty.  He believed in the dignity that came with giving the poor a voice and a choice in the decisions they made about their lives.   And most importantly he believed in humility and deep listening.  He once told me that when you do your work go with real humility Blair, for the poor know more about life than you could possibly imagine.

What makes CK so amazing is that he was not walking the halls of the United Nations or the State Department to address poverty; he was waking up Fortune 500 companies to his vision of social change.  He was attempting to convert the seemingly unconvertible, and he was creating an entirely new paradigm in his wake.

CK created a language (Bottom of the Pyramid for example) that allowed the business community to talk about social change and simultaneously allowed the social sector to talk about capitalism as a tool to fight injustice.  This contribution alone demonstrates his sheer brilliance in the face of one of the greatest cultural and ideological divisions of our time.

CK’s work was always grounded in his deep commitment to education.  Despite his fame and prestige he always continued to teach and to listen.  I will never forget my first day in his class when he had assigned 100 business school students, with hundreds more waitlisted, to read philosophy.  The typical MBA’s were waiting for him to deliver his lecture supplying them with their first framework for innovation and instead he asked us to reexamine our lives and the society in which we lived.   Let’s just say that was not the typical assignment for business school, but CK was not a typical man.  He once said to me, “I don’t like to think inside the box, I like to create my own box.”  And he did just that.

Our final exam for the class was to write a two page essay on where we saw ourselves in five years.  My vision was to be at Acumen Fund, and that vision has become a reality.  It is amazing what happens when someone like him asks you about your dreams and then gives you the confidence and support to realize them. CK Prahalad was not just a guru or an icon he was a teacher and a mentor.

Last year I asked CK to speak at the Acumen Fund Fellows Graduation.  During his presentation he told us, “If there was one thing I could wish for it would be to be young again”.  While CK could not have his wish; his voice, his vision, and his passion, now live in those hundred of companies, thousands of social sector organizations, and millions of people around the world who are young enough at heart to hope, to create their own box, and to see the world through a different lens.  These people no longer see the developing world filled with poverty and corruption but instead see these markets filled with opportunity and hope.  CK we will carry on your legacy and as you told us we will “work to see the world not for what it is, but what it can be”.

Thank you Professor Prahalad you will be missed.

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Building a community that will change the world

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Acumen Fund Community members gather to discuss the Blue Sweater in Nairobi, Kenya.

Acumen Fund Community members gather to discuss the Blue Sweater in Nairobi, Kenya.

Blair Miller manages the Fellows Program at Acumen Fund.

Over the course of the past few months, we completed the interview process for the 2011 Class of Acumen Fund Fellows. Through the process, we got to meet bankers, doctors, artists, investors, microfinance experts, brand managers, development workers, academics, and entrepreneurs, all of whom shared a vision of creating social change through market based solutions. In total, we have interviewed 56 candidates in 9 panel interviews across the world (Nairobi, Karachi, Mumbai, London, San Francisco, New York), and have leveraged the knowledge and expertise of over 40 advisors, entrepreneurs, Fellows alumni and partners to help us recruit this next class of Fellows.

Having been the only Acumen Fund team member to interview each of these final round candidates, my biggest takeaway is that leadership is not only critical, it is essential for the growth of the social enterprise sector.  We are at a moment in time where, the world’s biggest problems have real and tangible solutions. The missing middle that can bridge the gap between problems and solutions is the talent, the real leaders who have the financial and operational skills, the empathy and humility, and the influencing skills to create lasting change. This is the corps of social sector leaders that Acumen Fund has been building through our Fellows Program, and I’d like to give you a taste of the inspiring community we’ve been able to build to date.

What are we looking for? – Insight into a current Fellow:

During my recruiting trip, I also spent time with each Fellow at their current field placements. Let me give you an example:  Sarah Dimson, (a Ghanaian American) and Fellow in our current class, has positioned herself as a key part of the management team at AMC, one of our housing investments in Pakistan, run by former Fellow Jawad Aslam.  She is bringing her experience from low income housing in Los Angeles to Lahore and has a vision of returning to her roots in Ghana to continue her passion for low income housing development.   I have no doubt that when Sarah does start her own housing management company, this global perspective and connection will allow her to redefine housing for the poor in Africa.

What do they do after? – Insight into a Fellow Alumni

I also had the opportunity to spend time with many of our Fellow Alumni, all of whom are doing incredible things in the social sector.  For example I met up with Ram Hariharan, from the class of 2009.  Ram was trained as a financier in India and was placed in Kenya during his fellowship at a start up company called UHEAL, providing laser eye treatment for the poor in Nairobi, through a cross subsidy model. Post-fellowship, Ram has joined an enterprise called Bridge International Academies, which is providing affordable private education to slum dwellers in Kenya. They have 7 schools set up, which will grow to 25 in the next year and then 75 in the following year, with the goal of reaching 1 million children in the next 6 years.  Ram’s role is similar to a COO, building Bridge’s systems and processes.  Ram is doing what we had hoped the Fellows Program would lead him to: leveraging the experience and knowledge he gained at Acumen Fund to identify and realize promising opportunities to create positive change at the bottom of the pyramid.

The Ripple Effects of our Talent Investment:

However, Acumen Fund’s Fellowship is not just about the individual. It is about the collective community that is created, as a result of these individuals who have the moral imagination to show the world that the impossible, is in fact, possible.

Let me tell you what I mean.  I spent my last day in Kenya with Suraj Sudhakar, Fellow Alumni who worked at Ecotact during his fellowship, and is now working at PeePoople using innovative solutions to address the sanitation issue in the slums in Nairobi.  In addition to his work at PeePoople, Suraj has become close friends with, and mentor to a promising group of young men in Kibera who are now running TedX conferences in the slums and recently hosted a book club meeting for Jacqueline.  I attended the book club meeting along with around 150 other people, the majority coming from in and around Kibera.  We were also joined by Jocelyn Wyatt (Fellow Alumni, now working at IDEO on their social impact work), Catherine Casey (Fellow Alumni, now working as Innovations Manager at Acumen Fund, a role akin to Jacqueline’s Chief of Staff), and Gamuchirai Chituri (current Acumen Fund Fellow).  As we crowded into the hot and small conference facility in Kibera, surrounded by young people who believed change was possible, the significance of our work in the Fellows Program became so apparent. These were the very men and women who will go on to lead patient capital and social enterprise sectors one day, and I felt fortunate to be standing amongst them.

While Acumen Fund invests in social enterprises, our investment in individuals is equally invaluable to our goal of solving the problems of global poverty. Building a community of individuals with the empathy to see through the eyes of the poor, the boldness to imagine a new world, and the competence to execute with real business acumen, could perhaps be one of Acumen’s greatest legacies.

Stay tuned for the Class of 2011….

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