Sitting on panels to interview candidates for Acumen Fund’s fellows program is always a highlight for me. Yesterday was no different as we met with five of 56 finalists from 600 candidates who applied from 65 countries for our one-year program. Each person at our New York City panel was engaged, alive and curious about the world. For some reason, the majority were from immigrant families — from Peru, China, India, Germany. Each told stories of struggle and all had grown up in families where hard work, discipline and a focus on giving back were core values. While all could be doing anything they wanted, coming from careers at Goldman Sachs, IBM and consulting, among others, they were hungry to serve. Throughout the day I thought about this next generation so willing to take risks, so eager to change the world; and I thought about the power of the immigrant experience in the U.S. Mostly, I felt blessed.

The day, however, was a long one, and by the time I left the group dinner in Brooklyn, I was feeling under the weather and thinking about my 4 a.m. wake-up for my early flight the next morning. I waited a long time for a taxi, and when a dilapidated yellow cab pulled up, I poured myself exhaustedly into the seat. The tall, wiry, dark-skinned African with enormous hands drove for a few hundred feet and then asked me if I minded if we drove a little out of our way so that he could pick up food he’d just ordered. I sighed and asked how far out of the way it was, and he said it would be just five minutes each way. That prospect didn’t thrill me and I asked if he was sure the food would be ready, and he told me not to worry because he’d drive back over the bridge to get his food after he’d dropped me off.

It was well past 10 and I liked the easy familiarity of the guy and so said, no, let’s go and get your food. He thanked me profusely and we sped across Brooklyn. Five or six minutes later, he pulled the car to the side of the street, and sprinted to a Halal Chinese food joint. Within a flash, he was back in the car and we were heading toward Manhattan.

The driver chatted happily as we drove through Brooklyn, telling me that he loved living in New York City, that in Congo he could never have worked his way up to buying a taxi, and that he was making money and sending it home and was now seen as a hero by his family. Everyone accepts him in New York, he said, even more than in his country where there is too much violence and mistrust. “I love the American dream”, he said, “and I am living it!” He added that he thought New York was different than other cities because everyone was accepted here, and he didn’t want to live anywhere else.

We arrived at my apartment, only 10 or so minutes later than we would have otherwise, and my fare was about $12. I handed him $20 and was about to tell him to keep it all because his spirit was so effusive, but he wouldn’t accept the bill. “Please,” he said, ” the fare is on me because I took you out of your way,” and I said, no, no, no. And he said, “OK, you can give me $5 but only $5 — that’s all I want.” And I laughed because something had made each of us want to be generous. So often, though, it is those with so much less who make the first move to offer something of themselves. This time I insisted and gave him the $20. The driver finally accepted and then insisted on getting out of the car to shake my hand.

At dinner, one of our partners had spoken about looking for light these days, and finding random acts of kindness every day in unexpected places. I thought of the hard life my taxi driver had left and his open, optimistic attitude toward the world and others. I was thankful that this man had managed to remind me that my time is not all that precious. So often when I am in Africa, people go way out of their way to help me, even if they’ve never met me before. We could use bringing some of that spirit to our fair city. It starts with taking just a moment to see one another, and it goes from there.

In a recent

Das’s article cites the foundational critique of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from Milton Friedman, but it also overlooks the potential for CSR to be strategic as a value driver for companies. It is true that many CSR efforts are not strategic, that they in fact represent a thin veneer of “green wash” or philanthropy, and are staffed by people with few resources and little authority to actually get things done.

These efforts waste the time and resources of the companies and the nonprofits who indulge them in thinking that they are going to get value from a “strategic partnership” (I have been involved in more than a few of those discussions in my tenure at Acumen Fund, but won’t name names). But even these largely shallow CSR efforts, ones that build brand and communicate a message to loyal customers or inspire employees to work harder, longer or smarter can have a real return for the company. (And Das somehow conflates corporate philanthropy with CSR, by citing the Ambani’s building hospital. We can debate whether philanthropy is an effective tactic for a CSR strategy). But many CSR initiatives nowadays, including those that are looking at “BOP markets” are about exploring new markets, new products and new strategies for business growth and will have a significant impact on a company’s value over time.

The challenge is figuring out the difference. Not too different than the old marketing saying: “The good news is that I know that half of our marketing spending is really effective. the bad news is that I don’t know which half.” The same could be said for R&D. So if everything a company has to do has a narrow linear link to near term shareholder value creation, you would see CSR and marketing and R&D budgets shrink. and even CEO compensation would be cut to the barest of bones (yes, there is no link between what a company pays its CEO and shareholder value, so I would love Gucharan Das’ perspective on that point as well).

So it is true, many CSR efforts might not actually be strategic, or they might be very poorly executed. But I think that the notion that companies shouldn’t indulge in anything noncore to the business is a fallacy. CSR is here to stay whether Das likes it or not.

1. The earthquake in Haiti is a double disaster…it is a massive hit on the Haitian people whose history is already too full of hardship. The country was crippled by four hurricanes last year. Access to clean water, sanitation, hospitals, and other infrastructure — roads and communication — was barely functioning to begin with — now, much has been wiped out.

2. Children are the humanitarian priority. Nearly half the population of Haiti is under 18 years of age, 38% are under the age of 14 — making children the first call, for assistance.

3. Life saving supplies, emergency experts, and equipment are arriving — Getting the supplies to those who need them is the key, and the absolute, number one, priority.

4. Aid is getting through - Three UNICEF planeloads have landed in Port au Prince and in Santa Domingo. More are on their way. The road between Santa Domingo and Port au Prince is now useable and today 35 metric tons of UNICEF supplies will travel that road.

5. Clean water is saving lives and preventing disease outbreaks or a second wave of disaster - UNICEF is leading on water distribution. Yesterday, we delivered 250,000 liters of water to 60,000 people. Water tanks are been erected in each zone of the city. Today, 50,000 liters went to 38 distribution points providing drinking water for 80,000 people. Today, we supplied the general hospital in Port au prince with 120,000 liters of bottled water. Repairing the water and sanitation systems is a priority.

6. Providing for children who are lost or have become separated from their families must be a priority - In the middle of the kind of upheaval they are living — it is crucial they be reunited with their families, or with someone they already know. They need to be found, fed and kept safe. We need to find the right combination of providing care and being careful – to make children are properly protected.

7. Schools are closed - And we will re-open them. While that work is going on, UNICEF is bringing in supplies for temporary schooling once “safe spaces” for children are identified. We know only too well that in the chaos of any emergency, one calming factor for children is to re-establish routines…key among them, is the comfort of going back to school — even if it is a makeshift school.

8. This is a complex emergency, and in some ways a unique one - A combination of factors is challenging us: The capital is destroyed and along with it critical emergency services and infrastructure that are needed for relief distribution. The UN and other humanitarian agencies have also been directly and severely affected; loss of staff, loss of family, loss of relatives…and still, to their credit and through their grief, continue to do the work that needs to be done for the children of Haiti.

Each year 536,000 women die of complications during pregnancy or childbirth – that’s around 1 death per minute. What’s astonishing is that 99% of these deaths are in developing countries. Most of the complications, such as post-partum hemorrhage, infections, eclampsia and prolonged or obstructed labor, that lead to death or severe injury can be prevented or treated with quality reproductive health services.While improving maternal health is one of the Millennium Development Goals, not enough progress has been made. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that maternal mortality has decreased at an average of less than 1% annually. The world needs more solutions.

At Acumen Fund, we’ve seen the difference that innovative business models can make in making quality reproductive care accessible to those who do not receive adequate care from the public sector and cannot afford to go to a private hospital. We’ve invested in LifeSpring Hospitals, a network of low-cost, high-quality maternal and child healthcare hospitals in India. LifeSpring’s services include prenatal and postnatal care, normal and caesarean deliveries and family planning services, at prices that are 30-50% below market rates. Since our investment, LifeSpring has grown from 1 hospital to 9 hospitals, and has provided quality, dignified care to approximately 80,000 patients.

If you have an innovative idea that has the potential to change the field of maternal health, now is the time to share it. The deadline for ideas is March 3, 2010, and winners will be announced on June 16^th.

A few weeks ago I started a generosity experiment.  The idea, sparked by a homeless man to whom I did not give, was to spend a period of time saying ‘yes’ to all requests to give – whether a person on the street, a donation request from a nonprofit, whatever.

Some people, like Jeff, really hated the idea at first (“AHH! NOO! STOP!” was his initial reaction); others shared my sense that the practice of being generous itself was inherently valuable.

A month later, I’m glad for the experiment.  I gave more than I normally do and I gave more often.  And it felt good and right, especially during the holidays, a time when presents of all sorts were flying in all directions.

And while I won’t continue giving to virtually everyone who asks, I will give more and more often.  The practice of being generous instead of critical (discerning?) is, I have found, important for at least two reasons:  first, we are how we act, so if I can habitually act more generous, I will be and become a more generous person.  Second, the experiment served as a deeper exploration of how much giving is an act of self-expression, rather than (or in addition to) a “purchase” of a social outcome.

The people who didn’t like my experiment all said something like, “If I pass a person on the street asking for money, I don’t give because I know it makes more sense to give to a homeless shelter.”  Put another way, one could better purchase social change for a homeless person by giving to a shelter or a food bank.   Objectively, that’s probably true (though one doesn’t know for sure).  However, it also misses something: first, because whether or not you give a dollar or two to a person on the street really doesn’t affect the larger donation you’ll hopefully make to the homeless shelter or the food bank; second, because the act of saying ‘no’ over and over again is reinforcing something in you and in me.

I’m not saying give every time, I’m asking us to be honest about why we do and don’t give, and to recognize the effect it has on us.

Let’s take an extreme example: suppose that over the course of the year I’m asked to give 200 times – maybe 100 times directly and 100 times by various nonprofits in various ways.  And let’s say I have a limited amount of money to give, which I do.  Isn’t the practice of saying ‘no’ 195 times and ‘yes’ 5 times reinforcing a mindset and habit that I’m the kind of person who says no when people ask for help?  And couldn’t there be a way to say “yes” 15 or 50 or 100 times that would reinforce something else entirely?

I don’t want to take this too far – to the conclusion that all philanthropists should spread their funding widely so that they can practice saying ‘yes.’  That’s not right either.

But I do want to push myself and others to ask whether it is healthy to think of every giving decision from the head rather than from the heart.  Can’t the argument that “this isn’t the best use of my money” be paralyzing or, worse, an excuse never to part with any money, because nothing is ever good enough?

Maybe a request for a gift isn’t always chance to analyze what is or isn’t the “best” use of my money.  Instead, maybe a request for a gift is an opportunity to practice being the person that I want to be – someone whose first response is to be open and generous.

And maybe, with practice, I will be transformed in a way that is powerful for me and for the world.

Studies have indicated that up to 25% of those hospitalized in South Asia fall below the poverty line. In large measure this is a result of hospital related expenses (the situation is similar in sub-Saharan Africa). Microinsurance has the potential to shield these families from such shocks and to help them to maintain a minimum standard of living. It can also provide them the opportunity to bounce back from illness, to take active charge of their economic and social position within society. And as research in this field has demonstrated, significant percentages of the poor do not seek healthcare because of the cost. Thus microinsurance can also promote health-seeking behaviors.

The primary focus of our investment in First Microinsurance Agency (FMIA) in Pakistan is in fact Health Insurance, though the company also offers credit life insurance and is exploring agricultural insurance. We also expect that some of our other portfolio companies might benefit from becoming customers or partners of FMIA. But there will be a steep learning curve for both established and start-up companies considering the use of microinsurance services. Many established companies have, at least at the outset, treated microinsurance as more of a CSR play than potentially advantageous service. Start-ups, while better prepared to embrace the opportunity, and more inclined, often do not have the protocols and systems in place to adequately respond. As we become shrewder in our understanding of microinsurance, this will of course change. But it will take time.

And certain strategic networks and/or partners will be important for companies that want to start extending microinsurance to the poor. From a customer acquisition point of view, partnering with organizations that can provide for a large group of people will be important (e.g. MFIs) in order to quickly reach scale and lower costs. It is also very important to partner with a wide variety of clinics and hospitals to ensure that we are providing genuine access to the poor. Finally, the government too may come to play a crucial role in providing microinsurance to the poor.

Economic and political stability will be essential for the facilitation of innovations and investments in microinsurance. If we take Pakistan as an example, where inflation is now officially running at 25%, it is hard to convince a customer that health insurance, which is a new product to begin with, should be considered a necessary addition to their already constrained budget.

Taking a long term view will be crucial to enabling the spread of microinsurance. If we use microfinance as an example, we need to be cognizant of the fact that it took 30 years for Microfinance to be as widely developed as it is, and there is still room for further growth. Those now working in microinsurance should be able to utilize some of the lessons of the microfinance revolution, so its growth should be quicker, but it will still require long term vision.

Dear Editor,

Your piece on the rise of metrics, and the risks of being too metrics focused, was terrific. As the person that declared World Metrics Day on June 16th, I share the author’s perspective that metrics can be valuable, but that they have limits. But for too long, philanthropists have failed to generate any meaningful metrics that can be used to complement our professional understanding of what is working, and what is not. Those of us in the business of providing capital to businesses that combat poverty have an even greater need to measure the social efficacy of t he businesses we support.

Professional intuition that goes too long unexposed to metrics that can help complement the story fosters a guild mentality where only the “experts” know what is best. Metrics without judgment is automation; judgment without metrics is either expertise… or guesswork. (See Pinker vs. Gladwell from the NYT Book Review for further discussion). What we need are more leaders who marry both the relevant metrics with intuition to inform our experiences and help us learn from those experiences, in both quantitative and qualitative terms. The art of measurement, is in knowing which measures to select (and not just one, as our global obsession with the almighty GDP may be leading us to a crisis of global environmental proportions), when to look at them, and what decisions to make based on the data and our experience. And by the second World Metrics Day in June 2010, we hope to see a 17% increase in the number of people marrying metrics and judgment to make better decisions!

Best,

Brian Trelstad

The current wave of terrorism that the larger cities of Pakistan face lead us to assume that the insurgent elements pushed out of the Northwestern Mountains are now quite active in the plains and cities. It is true; some of these elements — including those who were pushed out of the highlands through military action — are currently taking refuge in urban spaces, generally in cities such as Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi.

No doubt, it is terrible and quite inhumane to kill civilians without any discrimination. But this seems to be the natural outcome of systemic brutality. Plains and cities are difficult to vacate and clean out of such elements immediately. That is why terrorist elements often find it easy to plan and execute dangerous attacks from cities. These types of attacks, however, are for two reasons starting to diminish. One reason is that these elements have lost much of their local sympathy with ever fewer allies throughout the county. The second reason is that people in Pakistan have accepted these problems as a fact — resigned themselves to understanding them as unfortunate but necessary stage that the country must go through. Both these reasons make me so hopeful about the prospect of a good future.

My stand on this situation, I repeat, is that the earlier it comes, the better it is! People have not seen or really observed the true face of extremist elopements and the subsequent miseries until quite recently. It might have grown into a size that could have never been controlled by future generations. And this is why I see it as an opportunity. As a nation, we are gaining the strength to be able to prevent, discourage and disenfranchise extremist elements in our society. Pakistan is also ever more capable of absorbing the extraordinary physical and emotional shocks of terrorist action, to know how our friends and enemies will develop an infrastructure to fight such insurgency, develop tools and equipment and, last but not the least, become responsible citizens, true Pakistanis.

There are number of other reason to believe that this country is facing the “climax” of terrorist action, in advance of its approaching end. Our media has developed enormous strength – in terms of the freedom and education of its citizenry – and to an extent that even recently the nation could not have imagined. Real time information resource-sharing by the media is resulting in making our politicians and public servants more responsible, with the pubic better educated.

Take as an example the sense of freedom and of responsibility that our judiciary is currently exhibiting! The Judiciary is even discussing corruption cases against a sitting government and a controversial President! How amazing and hopeful this is!

And look at the Pakistani Army! Are they not doing well themselves? Getting any number of martyrs and atrocities on daily basis; still focused, committed to their business and remaining on the front; not de-stabilizing the democratic government nor taking any stake in judicial activism. Is this not positive and hopeful too?

My hopes for the future of this country strengthen when I see boys and girls receiving equal education in the remotest and most far flung University, the University of Malakand, which is located in Lower Dir district. For those who know this geography, it goes without saying that this is indeed the epicenter of militancy and extremism; where until very recently, even schooling for girls was banned outright.

Despite the ongoing problems, I am at heart an optimist, and I am encouraged as I see huge number of youngster in my area working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which were so recently considered un-trustworthy agents of the west (and in particular America) with employees stigmatized. Pakistan is changing and finally realizing its potential. The path ahead is rocky, but it is ours and it is hopeful.

Cross Posted on ThinkChange India

Day One: Laying the Groundwork

In a gathering of practitioners and investors, the Khemka Forum kicked off at the India School of Business in Hyderabad.  The day’s activities ranged from plenaries to sector working group lunches to track breakouts.  Social entrepreneurs converged to discuss the state of their field, lessons learnt, ideas for collaboration, and the way forward.

As Don Mohanlal, CEO of Khemka Foundation, quoted, “the best time to begin a long journey was 10 years ago. The next best time is today.” In the long journey to create a complete social entrepreneurship ecosystem in India, the Khemka Forum aimed to kick off a constructive conversation on action-oriented, short-term ideas that Indian social entrepreneurs could take as the work toward the longer term goal.

Working Scale Issues: “Fingers Burnt, Lessons Learnt”

Healthy debate and discussion around scale indicated that even the most successful social enterprises in India are grappling with this issue. Manish Sabharwal, Co-Founder of TeamLease, mentioned that entrepreneurs can create two types of organizations – a baby or a dwarf – one that starts small and gets much bigger, or one that will remain small. He identified various factors that influence scale, including opportunity, team, organizational design, strategy, and risk.  Pawan Patil, CEO of the Global Partnership for Youth Investment, talked about creating an enabling environment and busting myths.  Dr. Patil focused largely on creating jobs, especially for the growing youth population, as a necessary step toward achieving scale.  Nachiket Mor, President of ICICI Foundation, emphasized starting from the ground, building up, and then replicating.

SCALERS

In a session on “SCALERS – Driving Social Impact,” Matthew Nash, Managing Director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University, discussed a new model for talking about scale.  SCALERS stands for Staffing, Communicating, Alliance-building, Lobbying, Earnings generation, Replicating, and Stimulating market forces.  Parag Gupta, Founder of Waste Bank, presented a case study on SELCO (TC-I previously interviewed Harish Hande here) using the SCALERS model and identified the enterprise’s accomplishments and challenges.

Similarly, Professor Madhukar Shukla of XLRI Jamshedpur presented a case study on Nidan (founded by Arbind Singh, Khemka’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008).  Since Nidan focuses on a completely different sector – organizing marginalized workers – and operates as a nonprofit, the two organizations had very different outcomes on the SCALERS model.  The model provided a good basis to talk about the various factors involved in scaling up and strategic steps for moving forward.

Sector Working Groups

I sat in on the sector working group focusing on rural innovations, led by Prema Gopalan of Swayam Sikshan Prayog.  Other working groups included health, education, renewable energy, and youth entrepreneurship.  The rural innovations group identified major barriers – from knowledge management to product design to innovative financing.  From there, the conversation shifted to collaborations and action steps, especially on ways that practitioners could connect more deeply and consistently.  We will all have to stay tuned to see what these working group discussions will eventually produce…

Alternative Talent Pools

Finally, I attended the track organized by Dasra on Building Alternative Talent Pool.  In a panel facilitated by Dasra Managing Partner Neera Nundy, Manish Sabharwal (again of TeamLease), Deep Joshi (Co-Founder of Pradan), and Prashant Bhaskar (Head of PLUG HR) discussed the ways in which they attracted, retained, and built the capacity of talent for organizations.  A lively discussion around how social enterprises should hire and train employees ensued, with Mr. Sabharwal reminding the audience that the role of the employer is not to manufacture employees, while Mr. Joshi explained his desire to treat each person in the organization as a changemaker or social entrepreneur.  A lot of the discussion linked back to public policy and the existing inequality of opportunity, as well as the need to reform current skill development and vocational training programs.  Finally, participants worked through the importance of organizational culture, citing personal examples of how to make sure a certain culture permeates from the top to the bottom of an enterprise.

Day 2: Moving into Action

While Day 1 of the Khemka Forum on Social Entrepreneurship focused on plenaries and making connections within sectors, Day 2 moved into smaller groups, deeper conversations, and creating plans for bridging gaps.

Measuring Impact

In the track on Performance Metrics, Matthew Nash of Duke University provided a thorough overview of the key trends in social impact measurement.  He discussed many trends, including the experimentation with tools and techniques, movement toward common metrics, emphasis on data quality, program evaluation through randomized design, and building robust performance management systems.  Mr. Nash also made the important point that outcomes do not equal impact, and that impact is actually the outcome minus what would happen in absence of the program.  Organizations often confuse this, thereby inflating the actual impact of their work.

Anant Kumar, CEO of LifeSpring Hospitals, which offer low-cost, high quality maternal and child care, spoke on the enterprise perspective of tracking metrics.  One of the key points he made was the value of democratizing data – basically, data needs to be present up, down, and across an organization so that it cannot be manipulated or modified.

Acumen Fund India’s Energy Portfolio Manager Katie Hill spoke on the social investor viewpoint.  She pointed out that the real challenge is that metrics must be understandable, inexpensive, and useful. You can read more directly from Katie in the Acumen Fund blog post on metrics.  Finally, IFMR’s Centre for Microfinance Executive Director Justin Oliver wrapped up the panel by elaborating on what gets measured, how it gets measured, and how to interpret the data.

Participants, while eager to learn how to incorporate good data gathering into their organization, also discussed the difficulties around funding data collection and being able to measure data accurately.  A general agreement on the value of data and metrics, however, pointed the way forward for experimental systems and reminded everyone the importance of starting small, but starting somewhere.

Consultancy Clinics

One of the more unique aspects of this forum were the consultancy clinics, which focused on law & social entrepreneurship, effective stakeholder communication, getting investment ready, and new forms of knowledge creation.  Matthew Nash led a dynamic consultancy clinic on knowledge creation, which I attended with the interest of understanding how TC-I could continue to serve as a platform for newly created knowledge.  The small group consisted of both academics and practitioners, allowing both sides to voice their perspectives and then discuss how to bridge existing gaps.  Mr. Nash started with the basic question of what action research agenda is needed to advance the field of social entrepreneurship in India.  While case study development is common, practitioners were concerned about the lack of usefulness for their organizations, as well as the large amount of time needed to share this knowledge.  The group discussed how to create collaborative research, use online networking forums, and engage students via practicums or internships.  As time spilled over into lunch, the clinic participants formulated a plan on how to move forward after the forum and ensure continued dialogue on this important issue.

Building an ecosystem

At the beginning of this event, speakers placed emphasis on building an ecosystem for social entrepreneurs in India.  The Khemka Forum was a bold attempt to convene the right players to do just that.  As a starting point, it was great to see the enthusiasm and seriousness with which participants approached this task.  Discussion and action will continue well beyond the Forum, and I’m hopeful in witnessing the creation of a more enabling environment for social entrepreneurs in India.  At the end of the day, there are investors, entrepreneurs, academics, donors, and the wider community who want to see innovative, market based solutions make a deep impact on India’s social issues.  With the efforts of all these stakeholders, and a concerted effort to bring others into the fray (from government to lawyers to media), the Khemka Forum is indeed a catalyst for accelerating the business of social change.

As we reach the end of this series, on the nature and the role of cohorts in leadership programs, we find ourselves confronting the after or extended life of our programs. In other words, what do you do once the program finishes?  Needless to say, this question demands a discussion on alumni development. Though quite challenging to administer, maintaining strong ties among alumni (both with one another and with the institution) must be considered an essential element of programs such as those we have been discussing in this series. From my perspective, indeed, this is one of the key pieces of the leadership development puzzle. In our interviews with various people involved in developing, participating in, and administering leadership programs, we have identified four essential aspects of effective and successful alumni development. In this last post of the series, we want to share our findings with you.

First , we have discovered that alumni development must be part of the program from the very beginning; new recruits should be aware from the first day of training that their commitment is a lifetime one. Or, phrased slightly differently, from the outset, participants should understand that though their training will have a limited duration, their commitment to the program and to each other will last through the course of their lives. There are various practical, strategic, formal, and informal ways that leadership programs can encourage this kind of commitment.

One organization that has been particularly effective at this is Ashoka, who have developed one of the finest alumni networks in the field of social entrepreneurship.  While the Ashoka fellows program lasts only three years, Ashoka as an institution continues to support former fellows throughout their career. They do so by providing assistance to former fellows with pro bono support, open access to Ashoka’s extended global network, and periodic extended training. While Ashoka have been innovative in creating and administrating alumni initiatives, in some measure, they have based their own model of alumni development on university alumni organizations.

As the model from which all other alumni development efforts derive, top university alumni associations have a great deal to teach us all.  Alumni networks such as those operated by Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and other top academic institutions all continue to provide support to their alumni well beyond their time at the university. Alumni remain connected to their Alma maters through targeted events such as annual reunions, web-based networks, local chapters of alumni groups, newsletters, magazines and other similar development projects.  Many of these programs are so strong, the sense of community so richly established by them, that it has become an almost unstated rule that if an alumni or student contacts another alumni, they will almost certainly respond.  Now that is really impressive!  These programs capitalize on an individual’s desire to be involved in a group of people that has shared a similar experience.  If you are looking to build your alumni network, turning to university alumni organizations would be an excellent first source.

One of things that university alumni networks are so excellent at realizing is a continued platform for interaction by former members of cohorts, or of extended cohort groups. And while there is an almost intuitive connection between alumni of a university, other organizations have also found effective ways to develop the sense of affiliation amongst their former members. Organizations can ensure that its groups remain connected in a number of ways. For instance, the Henry Crown Fellows Program has a yearly gathering for all of its alumni, an event where the fellows have the opportunity to work and network with one another over the course of several days spent on specific projects.  The key to an event such as this is that it has direction; the gathering will be much more valuable for all those involved if it is organized around a particular goal or activity, which these yearly gathering always are. Specifically, if the fellows are either working on solving a specific problem together or are being trained in some new skill set, these types of gatherings will be both individually productive and instrumental in further creating a shared sense of group. These events create a specific value for its fellows, encouraging them to fly in from distant places, to learn new skills, or apply their professional talents towards a distinct aim. These events wind up doubly productive; the new time spent on a shared activity reinforces the fellow’s commitment to the convening organization and to one another.

Third, we have found that the programs which recruit fellows with a shared mission are more likely to have strong alumni networks than those without it.  For example, at Acumen Fund we have found that even though we do not convene our alumni yearly in the way, say, the Henry Crown Fellows Program does, (though we are would be very interested do so if any potential donors would be interested) less formal “reunions” are continually under way, with fellows remaining in close proximity to one another (occasionally geographically but more often in terms of life direction). To cite another example, I mentioned in my last blog that two of the 2007 Acumen Fund Fellows at Bamboo Finance have invested in a 2008 Fellow who is building his own low-income housing development in Pakistan. This investment and renewed partnership between alumni fellows, while not generated from some form of “top down” alumni development initiative, nevertheless reflects the ways that informal alumni collaborations can wind up having the same function, if the sense of shared mission is strong enough.

Fourth, as is a common practice at universities, alumni groups can and should involve its alumni in ongoing recruiting processes.  At Acumen Fund, we do this at multiple stages of our annual fellows’ recruitment process. Acumen Fund Fellows Alumni carry out multiple rounds of resume reviews, phone interviews; attend our final round panel interviews, and recruitment dinners around the world.  We do this because we find it is a surefire way to ensure the finest new Fellows are recruited each year, to help continue to build our alumni’s networks, and to keep alumni involved and engaged in the program.

These are just a few ideas though. As I think about managing Acumen’s alumni network I would love your thoughts on ways you have worked to bring your own global alumni together. We would love to hear from you all of you and continue this conversation online.

By Aden Van Noppen

“I will develop a social enterprise major on my campus.” “Thousands of incoming freshmen will read the Blue Sweater as their first taste of college.” “We will create a viral video that reaches millions.” “Students will learn about and engage with social enterprise through the online hub we will build.” “We will change the way our generation tackles poverty.”

The seventeen student leaders who took Acumen Fund’s New York office by storm last week committed to accomplishing all these goals and more. Acumen’s inaugural Student Leaders Workshop was meant to ignite the fire under a cohort of young leaders who will return to their campuses in the fall as champions of social enterprise. The workshop and the students exceeded all expectations, and time will tell what they will accomplish together.

History tells us that college students are frequently on the cutting edge of social change. We (as a recent graduate, I still count myself among them) are often unsatisfied with the status quo and have the energy and passion to demand new ways of solving old problems. However, young people today are not protesting or rioting—instead, we are proclaiming ourselves social entrepreneurs and actively searching for the best models to address poverty. The movement for social enterprise is brewing on campuses across the country and the world, and seventeen young global leaders left Acumen Fund’s workshop last weekend inspired and driven to bring it to a new level.

We spent much of the workshop asking ourselves hard questions. What is development? How do we measure poverty alleviation? When can market-based solutions sidestep the barriers of traditional approaches? What is leadership? How do we know when to step forward and when to step back? How do we change the way our generation tackles poverty? There are still more questions than answers, but the participants now look to Acumen as an inspiring model and to each other as a dynamic group of leaders who can continue searching for the answers together.

If the last few days are any indication, their excitement, curiosity, and commitment will continue to grow. Social media tools are buzzing as they stay in touch, collaborate, and strategize. What they accomplish together is still to be seen, but I have no doubt that they will inspire many on their campuses and beyond to question the status quo and embrace a new model of fighting poverty.

In the coming months, the students will demonstrate the power of young people and of building a tribe of individuals who, as Seth Godin told us when he kicked off the workshop, “Decide to say yes.” Two days after leaving, one participant wrote, “The workshop left me with hope and inspiration. I now have a better idea of the field and how it works but most importantly, the workshop gave me the confidence to aspire and dare to dream.” These seventeen leaders will return to their campuses in the fall as extensions of the Acumen Fund team, ready and equipped to support Acumen’s mission to change how the world tackles poverty.

But no. Instead, you are putting together a spreadsheet tracking each of the local dealers who are going to distribute your low-cost, low-margin product to the base of the pyramid. You have just met 5 dealers in the past six hours plus you plan to meet another 50 in the coming week and your boss (a venture backed entrepreneur) has to report the numbers to his investors by 5pm that day. And by the way, he asked you for the information this morning when he called you on your cell - which barely gets any signal.

This is not the typical role of an ex-Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Stanford MBA graduate normally finds himself playing. So why in the world did this particular individual want to do this kind of work - and what type of leader does it really take to succeed in this field? As the manger of Acumen Fund’s Fellows Program it is my job to know.

So what do I think are the skills needed to succeed in this field? Here are the the “Three R’s” of Social Sector Leadership, which I believe are all necessary ingredients for success and some characteristics that I believe truly differentiate the social sector from others.

1. Resilience: For those of you who are clamoring to get into this sector, I first want to dispel the romantic vision of social entrepreneurship; taking a business to scale in this sector is incredibly hard and takes extraordinary humility, patience, and sheer resilience. Be prepared to bang your head again about 10 doors before you manage to open one. And that data you have to report in a beautiful, McKinsey-style deck is often hidden in tens and hundreds of hand-written ledgers (that’s right - many social enterprises are not IT enabled! There is even one company we know of that has 7 million clients and not a single e-mail account - can you believe it!).

Resilience is not about the physical challenges you will face on a day to day basis (though they are important, too); it is about the emotional battle you will encounter with yourself every day. Most days you will think you are crazy to do this stuff, and your mind will try to convince your heart to quit. A real leader in this sector is one who wakes up every morning ready to battle this fear and goes to bed every night exhausted and fulfilled. So your job as a leader, mentor, friend, fellow, or peer is to encourage each other to keep fighting, because those are the leaders we need. There is a great TED talk up about by Elizabeth Gilbert discussing this issue and the constant battle between your inner demon and genius… check it out.

2. Resourcefulness: I recently heard a presentation by the leadership guru Tony Robbins in which he said too many people spend their time making excuses and that the defining factor for a leader is not resources - it is resourcefulness. This could not be more true for leaders in the social sector. If social sector leaders simply said “sorry, I don’t have the resources to make this happen” we would not see some of today’s leading organizations like LifeSpring, Aravind, Ashoka, Echoing Green, Kashf Foundation - just to name a few.

So I encourage leaders in this sector to create change by reevaluating, reassessing, and re-organizing their resources. Spend your time mapping your assets to understand what you do have and then just go for it.

3. Reflection and Empathy: I cannot emphasize this capability enough. Innovation is a practice of trial and error, and yes there will be errors… many. The leaders that I value most are the ones who take the time learn from their failures not the ones who don’t make any (which of course there are none).

So I encourage young leaders out there to take the time to write in a journal, discuss a thoughtful article, and enjoy the company of your own thoughts. Reflection takes practice and discipline but it will pay off in spades when you find yourself battling the daily challenges of the social sector and it will teach you how to learn from your mistakes and find more innovative and lasting solutions.

And so there you have it - reflections from the Acumen Fund Fellows Manager. Do you have these capabilities? If so, I hope to see your application this fall for the Class of 2011 Fellows Program!!

Acumen Fund Summer Associate call - April 1, 2009

For the 10 summer internship positions Acumen Fund has open globally, we received 700 applications from an amazing group of candidates. We’re going to do our best to find the 10 people who are the best fit for our needs this summer, but the bigger, harder question is, “What about the other 690?”

Sasha posed this question a few weeks ago on his blog and on the Acumen Fund blog. There were some comments; there was also a discussion here at Acumen about how best to engage this “amazing group of candidates.” After a couple of e-mails and meetings, we decided to run an experiment: offer our 690 non-accepted candidates a private conference call briefing from senior Acumen staff. This was a way to say thanks, to welcome folks into our community, and to offer ways to stay engaged - not just with Acumen Fund, but with the social enterprise space as a whole.

The call was yesterday morning; about 10% of the invited candidates joined (67 total). I helped moderate; Brian Trelstad and Yasmina Zaidman talked about the latest Acumen happenings (describing some of the newer investments, our plans for 2009 and 2010, etc.) We actually recorded the whole call, and will release a .mp3 version of it as soon as we get a copy and have a chance to convert it. (For some reason, Global Crossing records conference calls in .wav format - not helpful.)

Acumen Fund Summer Associate call - April 1, 2009

After a short presentation, Brian and Yasmina took questions - and the floodgates opened up. I promised at the end of the call to post questions to our blog, so here they are. We - Brian, Yasmina, me and the rest of the team - will do our best to answer them over the next few weeks. In the meantime, take a look - and comment below if one question in particular is of interest!

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1. How do social metrics figure into an ROI calculation? What are the typical returns on investment and investment timeframes you look for in assessing viability of projects?

2. One of the biggest challenges is identifying entrepreneurs in low-income communities. What is the methodology that Acumen follows to identify these entrepreneurs? Furthermore, how does Acumen Fund provide the technical assistance to ensure that these enterprises are indeed successful?

3. Has Acumen Fund encountered challenges in the more political unstable regions it operates in? If so, how has or is it working through them?

4. What is the evaluation process for the ventures you look at for investing? Do you use some kind of a Social Return On Investment metric? Or what metrics do you use?

5. What percent of your annual investments (in 2007?) were considered failures? Were they considered failures because of inability to repay or lack of social impact? How has this number changed since Acumen was founded?

6. Could you talk a little bit about the work of a Summer Associate an Acumen? In other words, what would a typical day at work look like?

7. What are the next steps if we are interested in working with Acumen Fund, and we are not considered for this year’s summer internship program?

8. Many of my peers are excited about careers in the social venture sector but struggle to see what the long term career path might be given the maturity of the sector. Could you help chart out the possibilities for a post-MBA graduate?

9. What is Acumen doing to increase awareness of their services to people in the developing countries?

10. How did Acumen Fund start, and does the opportunity exist (in your opinion) for an individual to start an analogous Fund working in other geographical locations? If so, what skills would you suggest an entrepreneur develop to follow this path?

11. How important is it for clients to have the potential to receive additional loans from Acumen in the future? Have any clients already received repeat loans? Do you think the potential has a strong influence on an entrepreneur’s motivation to repay?

12. Could you comment on non-profit/philanthropic and profit-driven/sustainable funding models?

13. I’m curious with regards to the diversification of investment strategies adopted. For example: if investment is being done in the housing sector of Pakistan do you invest in multiple arenas or are your investments confined to a specific focus area?

14. How does Acumen Fund take investment decisions or evaluate ROI in an environment where there is no financial data?

15. Could you elaborate on your thoughts with regard to involvement in social investing earlier in one’s career versus later in one’s career? Would getting involved later in one’s career have a greater impact and perhaps be more worthwhile?

16. Could you talk about your own professional paths and how you made the shift from more traditional careers to management roles in the BoP/ social entrepreneurship space?

17. Is something specific that Acumen looks for in a candidate profile?

18. Could you talk a little about entry level positions at Acumen Fund for recent MBA and policy graduates?

19. Could you comment more on how to get involved with Acumen Fund’s work outside the fellows and interns program — perhaps more detail on the “young professional” network?

20. What do you suggest an individual who has little experience in international work can do to participate with Acumen?

21. Where does Acumen Fund see itself in the future in its investments in ecomarkets? Is Acumen Fund aware of any viable engagements in payment for environmental services in the water sector, not only in water delivery but resource conservation (e.g., in watersheds/parks/reserve systems)?

22. Given the culture of intellectual property protection in the market and the simultaneous high purchasing value of knowledge (such as journal subscriptions), which can be an access barrier for “the base of the pyramid,” how does Acumen Fund address such issues head on to promote and extend its knowledge sharing impact? Particularly, how does Acumen Fund convince its partners (if they are entrepreneurs in a highly competitive marketplace) to be more open in sharing their knowledge?

23. What is the Acumen Fund’s position on the role of public-private partnerships both in the areas of environmental markets and knowledge sharing?

More information can be found on Aden Van Noppen’s blog post or on the Acumen Fund web site.

Thanks for your interest, good luck with the mini projects and we look forward to reviewing your applications!

Among this year’s award winners was Jordan Kassalow of VisionSpring, a social venture that Acumen Fund has supported since 2005. Jordan is truly a visionary, pioneering social franchising in India, wholesale partnerships with established organizations in Latin America, South Asia and Africa, and a lean supply chain to India. He is a new global capitalist, combining his business skills with his training as an eye doctor to reach the 400 million people in the world who suffer from being near sighted. The story that he told of when he restored vision to an older woman in Mexico, who had come to him clutching her bible wanting to some day read it again, brought tears to my and many other people’s eyes.

There were too many other memorable moments, including a stunning Jordanian women Soraya Salti, who is bringing business education to young people throughout the Middle East and a pair of human rights activists, Juan Mendez and Paul van Zyl, who have put their lives on the lines for the rights of the oppressed in their home countries, Argentina and South Africa, respectively, and 30 other countries transitioning from conflict to reconciliation.

But to prove Acumen Fund Sustaining Partner Donald Rubin’s point that you need both bread and roses (although it is hard to think of the Skoll Awardees as mere bread), the art stole the evening. KT Tunstall’s stunning voice and innovative rhythmic style lifted everyone’s spirits to join the angels on the ceiling of the theater.

Credit: Daniel Goodrich

Acumen Fund is eight years old today! It is hard to believe we were approved as a public charity on April 1, 2001 with the ability to raise nonprofit funds and invest loans and equity in both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises. The world was so different then – just after the dot.com bubble burst, just before 9-11, long before the financial crisis. The idea of investing philanthropic funds was a new one, and each day was one of discovery.

Eight years later, our learning curve continues to be steep, but we’ve accomplished a lot and learned enormously through the years. We now hold five investments serving more than a quarter million low-income customers sustainably. Water Health International serves more than 350,000 customers, bringing safe drinking water to 287 villages – and the company intends to grow to a million customers in the next few years.

LifeSpring Hospitals, a healthcare franchise in India - now with six hospitals - is opening a new hospital every 35 days, and the results in terms of women served with safe, reliable healthcare are remarkable. 1298 Ambulances runs a fleet of nearly 100 ambulances, providing services for people of all classes in Indian cities where for too long, people have expected little or no provision of emergency services. A to Z Textile Mills produces 20 million long-lasting bednets yearly, providing protection to nearly 40 million people and employing 7,000. Global Easy Water Products has sold drip irrigation systems to more than 300,000 of the world’s poorest farmers, enabling them to double their yields, on average.

Drishtee is bringing information services to nearly 5,000 Indian villages; and BEEPZ (formerly Advanced Bio-Extracts) is working with 3,500 farmers, producing artemisinin for 60 million doses of malaria treatment yearly. In Pakistan, more than 15,000 people now hold health insurance policies and more than 300,000 women are borrowing – and repaying – their tiny loans. And these are just a few of the 40 investments made by Acumen Fund in South Asia and East Africa. We established Acumen Fund to help create a world where all people had access to affordable, quality basic services like water, healthcare and energy – and we now see a number of important models to do that.

In the past years, we’ve also built a metrics platform - PULSE, formerly PDMS - that is being beta-tested by 50 partner companies, intermediaries and foundations – and we hope this brings greater accountability to measuring social impact as well as financial returns.

We’ve seen 24 Acumen Fund Fellows from around the world participate in our program; and most have gone onto help run important social enterprises or are running social investments funds: I believe we are planting the seeds for the sector’s next generation of leaders.

We’ve built our own team to 60 people in offices not just in New York, but in Pakistan, India and Kenya. These teams are supported by incredible advisors who give more of themselves than we could have hoped – along with our global board and advisory council who make our work possible. And we couldn’t be prouder to be supported by more than 200 Acumen Partners who have contributed significant financial resources, enabling us to have a $40 million portfolio that we hope to grow to $100 million in the next few years. Thanks to everyone who is such a vital part of our community.

Thanks, mostly, to our team members around the world who give so much of themselves every single day. To say it is an honor to work together is an understatement.

It has been an amazing eight year journey; and yet, in some ways, we’re just getting started. There is a lot of work to do, and we’re ready to take on the challenges. We are looking for new and creative ways to raise funds in this difficult economic environment. We are considering questions of talent: more than 600 individuals from top business schools applied for our 10 summer internship spots, and how the world uses this resource is a question we take seriously. We are working on strengthening our performance management as well as bringing for our insights from the work in order to influence others more directly.

These challenges - while big - aren’t daunting, for now we have a platform on which we can stand, one that is strong and clear and focused. I personally have never felt as energized by this work, especially in this historic moment, for we have a real chance to help imagine and reinvent our financial systems so that they can be extended, ultimately, to all people on earth.

Happy Birthday, Acumen!

In the summer of 2005, Henrik Skovby, a founding partner of Dalberg Global Development Advisors, had noticed in a series of lunch meetings with some of our peers in the field that we were all talking about some of the same problems: how do we tap into the capital markets like microfinance has?; how do we prove the case that small and growing businesses can be a major force in fighting poverty?; and how can we work together to build more effective investment teams?

With the blessing of the Aspen Institute’s Peter Reiling, we were able to convene for a summer discussion in 2006 to imagine a movement that would find a way to reach the small farmer, the healthcare entrepreneur, or the community looking to finance and purchase a water filtration plant with the right capital at the right time. Patient capital for people too impatient to wait for the development industry to “solve their problems”.

Competitors showed up at the first two meetings wondering whether there was any real value there, and if so, what are the aims of the movement at this moment? In the crisp mountain air of Aspen, competitors became colleagues, and colleagues became friends.

Willy Foote at Root Capital, Christine Eibs-Singer at E+Co, Simon Winter of Technoserve, and Andrew Stern at Dalberg were the stalwart members of the voluntary executive committee, and we were joined by thought leader Stace Lindsay and Peter at Aspen to help push the boulder up the mountain for three long and sometimes lonely years.

It was thrilling, then, in the over-crowded and over-heated room to see old colleagues and over 100 new faces join together to talk about how we can work together to find ways to help today’s emerging markets entrepreneurs strive to build their businesses more quickly and more ethically, employ more people in high quality jobs, and serve more customers with products that fill urgent needs.

Randall Kempner, the new executive director, guided the day with energy, humility and humor, just the right recipe to fuel the momentum of the movement; ANDE was off to a great start. In a time when the world is questioning the very role that global capitalism should play in development, Tuesday morning’s launch of ANDE was a bright spot that may be viewed in 50 years as a turning point in a new approach to development and to capitalism.

I spent some time at a panel on Community Development (moderated by 2007 Acumen Fund Fellow Keely Stevenson). As always, Martin Burt (Fundacion Paraguaya), Vera Cordeiro (Reneascer) and Craig Kielburger (Free the Children) inspire and impress.

I’ve met Craig on several occasions and he is an extraordinary young man. His organization is about engaging children as responsible global citizens and the curriculum he has developed for children is mandatory in Canadian public middle schools. He is now getting some traction in US schools (tough nuts to crack!) and has also created a summer leadership program for kids. Acumen has several initiatives underway to reach out to engage more directly with teenagers and college students, and Craig has promised me a brainpick on “kid engagement” during his next trip to NY.

Good panel in the afternoon called “(Financial) Power to the People”, featuring three entrepreneurs who have created big online marketplaces: Premal Shah (Kiva.org, online micro-lending), Mari Kuriashi (Global Giving, online donations) and Mads Kjaer (MYC4, online investing). They are all trying to build movements and to give people the sense that they are part of something bigger and dynamic, the goal is “ to broaden the base of social activism”.

By definition, they all deal with huge stakeholder communities, including their respective lenders/donors/investors and have explored various means of keeping them engaged without expending too much bandwidth. One (Premal) talked about having conference calls with thousands of listeners, each with the ability to type in questions. Premal is also thinking about how to close the gap between lender and borrower. Is there a way through a web cam or Skype that the lender could see how the borrower’s business is doing with the loan? And why would the information all need to be going from south to north to make the lender (north) feel good? Why not advice or other non-financial resources going from north to south (or vice versa!) to help the borrower?

These entrepreneurs are not daunted by the enormous numbers in their respective spheres, they only want to increase them . They spoke of crowdsourcing, a new term for me. Mads talked of his dream to create an investment fund with BILLIONS of investors, at one euro a share. He thinks a whole new vocabulary will be crafted in the online social enterprise space and the words haven’t yet been invented (he reminded us that “iron horse” preceded the word “train” and “horseless carriage” preceded the word “car”). They share the dream of making transactions in the social enterprise space as easy as ordering a book from Amazon online and so exciting that the individual tells her friend and the friend tells a friend etc. Mari’s Global Giving not only lets a person make a donation online but also sells gift certificates so that the ultimate recipient can choose to which charity he’d like to donate.

The panel talked about organizational issues as well. Mads talked about the complexity of running a non-profit organization in affiliation with a for-profit one. Premal described about how Kiva was on the brink of bankruptcy in the fall of 2006. Then Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize and micro-lending burst onto the global scene. Overnight, Kiva’s volume of business grew exponentially and their website was down four days because it could not handle the volume. Business has continued to grow (Kiva says it raises $1 million in $25 increments every 10 days) and their annual operating budget is $5million—Premal does not want it to increase any further but wants to use more and better technology to increase efficiency and support scaling. Interestingly, Kiva has 12 volunteers for every fulltime employee, but the volunteers need to make a minimum 4 month full-time commitment. His advice to new social entrepreneurs: “keep your burn rate down until serendipity hits”.

Later, I spent some time dropping into other panels. “Expansion Finance for Social Impact” was among the best. The late afternoon session was the awards ceremony for the 9 Skoll Awards. I was particularly excited about Soraya Salti who is dazzling in every way. She is doing great things with Injaz which provides youth business training in 12 Arab countries.

A casual dinner with friends from Rockefeller, Visionspring, Lex Mundi Foundation, McKinsey, Mercy Corps, IDEO, Bamboo Finance, Rockefeller, Ashoka and others made for a very full but enjoyable day.

This interview was conducted by Bill Javetski, an editor with the McKinsey Quarterly, in February 2009. It was recorded in the New York office of Acumen Fund.

Click below to watch the video:

By Aden Van Noppen

Young people today are not protesting or rioting—instead, we are proclaiming ourselves social entrepreneurs and actively searching for the best models to address poverty. This movement is brewing on campuses across the country and the world, including my own, and Acumen Fund wants to help us develop the skills and knowledge we need to pioneer new approaches to poverty alleviation.

In response to growing interest among college students in social enterprise, and the potential we have demonstrated to lead social change, Acumen Fund wants to find ways to work with us. To start, Acumen is hosting a Student Leaders Workshop in New York City from May 28-30th to share their knowledge and collaborate with those of us who feel passionate about finding and communicating entrepreneurial ways of addressing poverty.

This workshop is an opportunity for students to gain skills and knowledge about enterprise development and social venture capital, and just as importantly, to communicate with Acumen about how to build meaningful partnerships with young people. The students who participate will return to their campuses in the fall with the opportunity to spread this movement amongst their peers.

If you are a leader for social enterprise on your campus, we want you to apply! If you believe that business and investment are powerful tools for poverty alleviation, we want you to apply! If you want to learn from Acumen Fund and members of Acumen’s community in an intimate setting, and then share what you learn with others, we want you to apply!

If you think Acumen Fund will hold your hand and help you find a dream job in the social sector after graduation, or want to add a cool brand name to your resume, this is not for you. Changing how the world approaches poverty is a big job and the people I have been working with at Acumen Fund are looking for real leaders who want to roll up their sleeves to challenge the status quo. If that sounds like you, we are looking forward to hearing from you.

Click here to find out more about the workshop and how to apply. Hope to see you in New York City this May!

Our most recent intra-office debates revolve around the question of how to support and encourage social entrepreneurship - let alone find the solid business ideas that are providing services at the BoP - so we at Acumen Fund are excited to see positive news of on-the-ground initiatives and social businesses that often operate in the most challenging environments and landscapes. The story really is around social entrepreneurs like Roshaneh Zafar, Tasneem Siddiqui, and Dr. Sono Khangharani who “have seen possibilities where other people see hopelessness.”

Also featured in the same issue of Blue Chip is Roshaneh Zafar , President of Kashf Foundation, who recently launched Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited (KMBL) in October 2008. KMBL is an investment of Kashf Holdings Private Limited, the parent holding company in which Acumen Fund has also invested.

In the five months since operations were launched, Kashf Microfinance Bank has set up 18 branches and is serving 20,000 microfinance clients. But with the microfinance industry facing a challenging period in Pakistan due to the macroeconomic environment and political instability, the innovation of the original group lending methodology is now facing a setback. There is a need to innovate in microfinance services beyond the group lending methodology commonly used by microfinance institutions in Pakistan.

With the launch of the new Kashf Microfinance Bank, Kashf has begun individual lending and savings mobilization and now provides savings products to women from low-income communities. Roshaneh discusses the pioneering work Kashf has been doing at the BoP and Acumen is proud to support Kashf and the microfinance sector in Pakistan.

I’ve recently been asked by several people, including team members at Acumen Fund, whether or not one should give to a beggar. The question has weighed even more heavily this week in India, where beggars have knocked on my car’s window daily. Ultimately, I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

Indeed, Acumen Fund’s entire mission is based on principles of dignity and freedom; we work to build systems that enable individuals to access affordable, quality services so that they can make their own decisions and choices. Our deepest philosophy rejects systems that insist only on hand-outs, and yet, we also have learned that sometimes hand-outs are indeed necessary, especially when people are barely surviving.

But too many no’s make a stone of the heart, and some level of inconsistency may be what makes us most interesting and even beautiful as human beings. There are times to give alms, a time just to give a few dollars to a person standing in front of you because he so clearly needs it right there in that moment. There are certainly times to give your coat on a cold night.

Rather than endlessly debate this paradox, our shared goal should be asking ourselves daily what we are doing to help create a world in which all human beings really are treated as equal, a world in which dignity trumps charity, a world in which giving becomes mostly about solving problems while also celebrating small kindnesses daily – as long as they are about the other person and not about yourself.

Naturally, we at Acumen Fund are excited to see WaterHealth continue to grow up and out, serving more and more base of the pyramid customers with a critical service. But what’s even more interesting - and encouraging - is the range of co-investors that have stepped forward to support WHI. There’s Dow Venture Capital and SAIL Venture Partners; Johnson & Johnson Development and Plebys International; Dr. Anji Reddy and Acumen Fund. And now, with another huge commitment, the IFC.

We believe in building systems rather than one-off solutions or projects. Who doesn’t? Unfortunately, the process of international development aid grantmaking and monitoring seems to lend itself better to “new” and “pilot” projects - a grant to support something “innovative” or “paradigm-shifting” has a better chance of winning than one to support a “small, struggling - but growing - business”. Donors tire of the same old, boring projects - they want new ideas! - and funds shift around to the cause du jour.

Not so with investing, at least not in this case. WaterHealth International has been at this for 12+ years (it was founded in 1996). If WHI were a traditional development project, it would have had to re-apply for funding at least 4 times (the average development aid grant runs for 3 years). But as a company, WHI has been able to raise angel, Series A, Series B, Series C and now Series D rounds of funding, all based on financial and operational results. And after 12 years of learning, re-learning, adapting, adjusting and innovating - a process that continues - WHI is beginning to reach real scale.

Is WaterHealth International perfect? Some argue that its UV Waterworks technology is too expensive, and that reverse-osmosis filtering is a better BoP-oriented solution. But you can’t argue with results - millions of customers today, millions more in the next few years. And with the IFC dedicating $100M to “infraventures” (infrastructure projects in low-income communities), we’re beginning to see real progress in a space formerly dominated by top-down government and aid projects. I’ll raise a glass to that.