Remarkable People

Batool is the Pakistan Business Development Associate, managing fundraising and communications initiatives. Prior to joining Acumen Fund in Pakistan, she worked in the US in the consumer banking sector and has experience consulting in microfinance. Batool holds a Masters of International Affairs in Economic Development from the School of International Affairs, Columbia University.

A heartfelt thank you to our community for sharing the day with us at last Saturday’s Acumen Fund Pakistan Community Gathering. Thank you to Zubyr Soomro, Acumen Pakistan Advisory Council Chair for hosting the gathering and thanks to everyone who sent warm thoughts and words of appreciation for what the day represented for them. And a special thank you to our Dubai friends for joining us and really showing the reach of our community! It was a truly powerful day and we could not have been more blessed than to share it with all of you.

With an audience of over 100 individuals that was a happy mix between our wider community (old friends and new), investees, partners and advisors, we had an opportunity to really demonstrate the power of ‘patient capital.’ It included a truly lively debate on the agriculture panel, “Creating Economic Access for Small Farmers,” (hats off to our incredibly knowledgeable panelists, Dr. Rashid Bajwa, Dr. Sono Khangharani, Shahzad Iqbal, and Abdul Samad Khan) that had the audience engaged in a back and forth in way I have never seen before (who would have thought we would be arguing that aartis are good?!). It was followed by an inspirational message from the Fellows in a well choreographed and riveting session. They challenged the crowd to up their moral leadership compass to focus on dignity not dependence, solutions not sympathy, and choice not charity. It was so inspirational in fact, that we are now speaking with a local multi-national corporation on how they can support the Fellows Program and get more Pakistanis involved in joining the next generation of leaders.

We were honored to have Mr. Syed Salim Raza, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan as the keynote address who had a very strong message on what it takes to spur economic growth from the ground up. Access to finance and capital, whether for micro-entrepreneurs or for small farmers will be key in economically empowering a segment of the population that is critical to the economic health of Pakistan.

And the day was really topped off by a segment on “Honoring the Frontline.” The frontline staff of these social enterprises - the loan officers, installation, accounts, and site managers – the ‘backbone’ of all these organizations are the true inspiration for our team and we are humbled by the tireless work they do day in and day out. Nothing could have been more powerful than to have them recognized and honored. From the Kashf loan officers whose enthusiasm never wavers, to Saiban’s Akhtar sb who was so generous with his time in Acumen’s early days of investing and really taught us about housing – this was the highlight for all of us. We simply could not stop smiling.

On Saturday, through the substance and depth of the panel and the focus on the innovative business models that are really tackling poverty in Pakistan, we went one step further in demonstrating to the broader community that it can be done and patient capital can lead the way. We want to engage all of you, a community of believers and doers who do not accept the status quo and want to show the country what is possible.

We are all so proud to be part of this and hope you are too.

With gratitude and warmth,

Batool

Sara is currently a senior at Brown concentrating in COE (Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship). She is originally from Bogota, Colombia. This past summer she participated in Acumen Fund’s Student Leader’s Workshop for Undergraduates. Sara is also the Director of the Client Services Team and a Loan Officer at the Capital Good Fund.

I was lucky enough to attend Harvard University’s 2007 Commencement ceremony and listen to Bill Gates’ stirring speech. While I found the speech inspiring and fascinating in many ways, I was really struck by one part in particular. Gates said:

“I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.

All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing – not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.

The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.”

This past summer, I had the chance to participate in Acumen Fund’s first Student Leaders workshop for Undegraduates. I left the workshop inspired, with a lot of caring, awareness, and passion – but still uncertain how to turn this caring into action. A lot of ideas were floating around amongst the student leaders; to sell bag tags, sell blue sweaters, and to coordinate amongst ourselves to create a movement out of these ideas. But complexity blocked these initiatives from actually happening.

This brought me back to Bill Gates’ speech. Complexity had made it hard for the student leaders to mark a path of action, and consequently made it hard for our caring to matter. But as Gates said, “To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact.”

With this in mind, I set out to turn caring, awareness, and passion into action.

Problem: With schoolwork and other commitments, I didn’t have the time to set up a full-fledged fundraising initiative for Acumen Fund. So how could I use my skills, passions, and networks to create awareness of Acumen Fund’s mission on the Brown University campus?

Solution: Find an easy, logical way to appeal to a broad audience, sensitize them to the problem of poverty, engage them in a cause, and simultaneously raise money. This is when I asked myself: what do college students like to do?

They like to party.

So I thought I could take advantage of this and extract a philanthropic “pleasure tax” for partying. While it may seem strange to bring the two emotionally polar opposites together, I thought that by “Partying to End Poverty” we could use the things we love – music and dance – against the things we hate – poverty – to create a sense of global unity.

So I met with a couple of venues in Providence and ultimately decided on the State Lounge, as they did not charge a fee for using the venue. And I got Nico Jaar, a famous DJ, to agree to provide music with no charge.

But there were always a lot of parties going on around campus, so I had to figure out how I could encourage people to pay $20 to attend a party when there are a handful of fraternity parties that were free of charge?

To solve this problem, I decided to add a free drink to the ticket (what magical things a drink can do for a college student), to make the dress code semi-formal, and to undertake extensive marketing about the Acumen Model.

I set up a Firstgiving page one month before the event with the goal of raising $1,000 in 24 hours. I went all over campus, announced the event in big lectures, dormitory halls, on Facebook, and Twitter, even just running into people.

I also sent out an email that said:

“…It all started back home in Alexandria, Virginia, with the blue sweater, a special gift that quickly became her prized possession—until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, during a morning run, she spotted a young boy wearing what looked like the same sweater. She approached the boy, asked to see his sweater, and found her name still written there on the tag inside. That her garment had made it all the way to Kigali, Rwanda, was ample evidence of the way we are all connected…

In 2001, Jacqueline Novogratz started Acumen Fund, a non-profit organization that is revolutionizing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in transformative businesses that serve the poor.

From Alexandria, Virginia to Kigali, Rwanda, we now bring her story to Providence, RI and invite you to celebrate her story and Party to end Poverty.

Date: Saturday, November 7th

Place: State Lounge (located Behind Olives)

Admission: $20 cover (includes free drink) + any charitable donation

Music by Nico Jaar

*100% of proceeds donated to Acumen Fund

Because you rarely get the chance to drink with dignity, don’t miss this opportunity - DRINK WITH DIGNITY, and buy your ticket today. ”

The key was to create a sense of immediacy. People wanted to contribute to this. And the early donors were constantly checking the webpage to see how close I was to my goal – because they felt as though they were for promoting the party a couple of weeks later.

Once this foundation was set, I recruited about 20 friends and asked for their help in marketing the event. Initially many people were reluctant to spend $20 on a ticket, even though it was for a good cause. This is why I spent a lot of time individually encouraging people to attend, explaining why Acumen Fund is not just another non-profit organization, but is actually revolutionizing the way the world tackles poverty. I decided to call the event “The Blue Sweater Party” because I knew this would cause everyone to ask: why The Blue Sweater? These were exactly the kinds of conversations we wanted to trigger.

Impact: Delicious food, great drinks, upbeat entertainment, and an energetic and positive atmosphere could be felt throughout the crowd. $3,000 was raised for Acumen Fund but more importantly; over 120 students became engaged in the fight against poverty. Every minute of time or penny donated to this cause means that somewhere, someone’s life has improved. It is our responsibility as students and as future leaders to take action and allow organizations such as Acumen Fund to disseminate their powerful message in order to continue to do the work that they do. This event proved to me that the fight against poverty can be brought to the dance floor and that if we set ourselves to achieve something, we can block complexity and turn caring into action.

In the mid 1950s, Chinua Achebe, then a mid level employee of the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), began work on an epic and in many ways unprecedented novel, the story of several generations of Nigerian men. The idea for the work, which would later be condensed into the single, sharply propulsive narrative of the noble though hubristic Okonkwo, came to Achebe while still enrolled at the University of Ibadan. Then pursuing a degree in English literature as part of that school’s first class of students, Achebe had been chosen for admission to the new institution based on the exceptional leadership qualities he had exhibited as a young man. Ibadan would become a hub of West African intellectual life after independence, but was established to “form” or produce the rising generation of Nigerian leaders. Under late British rule, these emerging local “leaders” were meant to serve largely as collaborators under the subordinated rule of a colony.

With a curriculum based heavily on the English canon – from Shakespeare to Milton to Conrad– Achebe, though an exceptionally able student, began to find himself troubled by many of his readings and the assignments he was obliged to produce on them. With scant mention of African histories or cultural forms, and with what few representations of Africans he encountered of a largely regressive nature – savages such as Caliban at best – the pre-independence image of Africa and its peoples that the young Achebe encountered in his courses insulted both his pride as an African and his emerging artistic vision. Where, he wondered, were the African protagonists? Why was he being educated exclusively through the stories of precisely those who had subordinated the communities of which he was part? Was there any reason that the novel as a form could not articulate the story of a Nigerian, or articulate a vision of Africa’s future? On the eve of Africa’s independence, Achebe realized that emerging nations such as Nigeria would need written versions of its own stories and new stories to educate its coming citizens.

Even from that young age, Achebe’s understanding of art was predicated on a progressive relationship to society, and he believed even then that the role of an author was akin to that of the teacher: to instruct and develop the moral character and worldly knowledge of emerging publics. At that startlingly young age, though, Achebe understood a key difference between teachers and writers: while teachers were responsible for educating their students through a variety of means – from lectures, to tests, to recitation periods – the exclusive tool available to the literary author was storytelling. What Achebe believed while beginning the novel – a belief that would become a hallmark of his critical writings and his literary practice – was that sharp storytelling combined with innovative ideas carries the potential to change the world.

Several years later and after several administrative hiccups (the sole manuscript at one point losing a year in the unhurried hands of a London- based typing service) the streamlined story of Okonkwo become Things Fall Apart. Then and now the novel represents an innovation based on an adaptation of existing tradition, in this case the novel. Published in 1958, the novel would eventually sell over eight million copies worldwide, and make Achebe a lion of global literary culture. Not only did the success of Achebe’s work facilitate the establishing of the institutions most responsible for the development of African writing in English – publishing houses and distribution networks – but it also serves as a perennial and indigenous cornerstone of a whole new kind of literature. It remains the first text in most if not all African studies curricula.

I was strongly reminded of the history of this novel’s birth as I listened to Fred Swaniker describe his experiences developing the African Leadership Academy during his recent visit to Acumen’s New York offices. A graduate of both Macalester College and Stanford Business School, Fred first had the idea for the ALA while working as a consultant at McKinsey’s Nigerian office, just prior to beginning his graduate work at Stanford.

Astonished to find so many wealthy Nigerians sending their children to expensive foreign boarding schools, many of them costing upwards of $40,000, Swaniker wondered why it was that no viable alternative existed anywhere on the African continent. As he recently recalled for Junior Kanu of Solving Africa , Swaniker began asking himself,

Why are we spending so much money to educate kids outside of Africa? Why don’t we have a school on par with the best in the world right here? It would be a cheaper alternative… [and because]… these kids were leaving at such an early age, they would never come back to Africa. And if they came back, how useful would they be to the continent?

In addition to this “lack,” there were two other conditions facing the continent that convinced Fred that an elite school based in Africa was not only a good but also a necessary idea. The first reason is the so-called “brain-drain,” alluded to in the quote above. Throughout the continent, the smartest, best- educated African youth have been fleeing to Europe and the United States in startling numbers, often pursuing lucrative careers thought to be unavailable in Africa. This kind of corporate diaspora, a path that Fred himself initially followed to McKinsey, often winds up a self-perpetuating cycle, with new African businesses and firms being built outside the continent, with foreign capital and foreign profits.

Fred also identified early on the centrality of leadership in both those African nations that were flourishing and those that were locked in alternating cycles of kleptocracy and dependence on foreign aid. In one case, exceptional leadership had worked to build central institutions, self-perpetuating infrastructure, and sustainable industry, in the other corrupt, factionalizing rule had lined the pockets of small elites while impinging the development of nations. A continent rich in resources and industriousness, leadership and its follies have been at the heart of persistent problems facing Africa. As Fred puts it, again in the interview from earlier this year:

The countries I’d lived in that I saw things were working, like Botswana, you could see that it was the leadership at the root cause of it. And no place shows you the impact of leadership in Africa [more] than Nigeria. People think what we need in Africa is resources, it’s not resources, the world keeps giving us more aid, that’s not what’s going to change Africa, we have all the resources we need… They have all these natural resources… time and time again, we find that our leaders have held us back.

Like Chinua Achebe and Fred Swaniker, leaders can also drive nations forward, helping them reach their potential. It is this brand of leadership that Acumen Fund seeks in its Fellows, and why Swaniker was an ideal speaker to include in their training. With funding from family, friends, Stanford classmates, and others, by the time he was a year out of school, much of the initial work had been realized. Last year, with the arrival of their first class of students, the two-year ALA began educating the future leaders of Africa. Its curriculum based on the best practices of global entrepreneurship yet grounded in the history of Africa, and its wildly variegated cultures, ALA is teaching its exceptional pupils how to be both global and continental leaders and how to be historically-conscious Africans. Needless to say, holding a central place in the African Studies section of its three-pronged curriculum (the other two being leadership and entrepreneurship) is Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Let me congratulate Acumen investee David Kuria, founder of Ecotact, for being named the African Social Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009 by the World Economic Forum! This is fantastic recognition for David and his team’s work on bringing affordable, high quality sanitation services to thousands of people every day. Currently, Ecotact serves more than 9,000 customers daily through 10 toilets operated throughout the city of Nairobi, Kenya and other nearby locations. The toilets cost 5 shillings per use, though individuals also can pay a bit more to take a shower in a clean environment – a real luxury for thousands who travel into the city from the slums and far-flung rural areas to work in offices after long, dusty bus ride. Ecotact is showing that public-private partnerships can work on behalf of all people and we are proud to be a part of this effort.

Guest blogger Aden Van Noppen is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she earned a degree in International Development. She is also an intern for Acumen Fund, where she works to develop programs that teach college students about private sector solutions to poverty. Aden was formerly an intern for Dalberg Global Development Advisors, where she worked on the development of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.

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.

TechnoServe VP for Development Simon Winter speaks at ANDE training. (Photo by Brian Murray)

Last week, along with 40-plus other participants, the Acumen Fund summer associates participated in an energetic and informational training session run by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE).  ANDE is a member-driven organization whose goal is to dramatically increase the effectiveness of capital and technical assistance for entrepreneurs in developing countries.  This training was a definitive step towards that goal.

For the second year in a row, ANDE has organized this training along with Acumen Fund, Root Capital, Grassroots Business Fund, Endeavor and many other members of ANDE.  With the exploding interest in supporting Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) as a means of alleviating poverty, the importance of coordinating and connecting those entering the field has never been more critical.  Not only was the training immensely important to developing relationships across organizations; it also provided a forum to share best practices and to promote innovative thinking.

The two-day seminar was packed with a discussion of different business models, presentations on social metrics and hands-on case studies.  As if any of the graduate-level interns needed more motivation heading into the sector, the opportunity to hear from amazing speakers such as Christine Eibs Singer from E+Co, Brian Midler and Namrita Kapur from Root Capital, Susie Lee from IGNIA, Raj Kundra, Sasha Dichter and Ann MacDougall from Acumen Fund, Simon Winter and Jennifer Golden from TechnoServe, Ben Powell and Ricardo Teran from Agora Partnerships was inspirational.

I was uplifted to meet our peers who are now heading into the field to countries such as Pakistan, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Nicaragua and Guatemala. In particular, I was humbled and inspired by their backgrounds, skill sets and demonstrated passion for the work we will be undertaking.   I hope that this foundation of collaboration is something we all push to continue beyond the training amongst ourselves and by including more people interested in the sector.

My personal highlights were:

• Sasha Dichter’s non-profit Venn Diagram
• Learning more about the Global Impact Investing Network and its mission to educate and drive more investors into the sector
• Quote to inspire by Ben Powell of Agora Partnerships:
  Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success

  ~ Sir Ernest Shackleton’s trans-Antarctic expedition recruitment advertisement

Although not exactly applicable to those of us heading out into the field (safe return = certain), it is a reminder that we all need support, encouragement and community to help us through the hard times when things don’t seem possible and barriers appear impassable.  I’m confident coming out of this training that this community is stronger than ever and I look forward to contributing.

For those of you who were at the training, please feel free to share your highlights in the comments section!

“Everyone says we should do what we love but doing what you love can be really hard.  Making change in the world is what I love but it won’t be easy.”

~Willa Zhou, Harvard College

They came from India, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, and Singapore, from Ohio, California, Florida, Massachusetts, and beyond, in part to learn how they can make a difference.  This was our first cohort of student leaders - a group we see as the sparks that will ignite a network of college students that can help Acumen Fund advance our mission of changing how the world tackles poverty.    

The first part of this journey culminated with a Student Leader’s Workshop held last weekend.  Chosen from a highly competitive group of applicants, each student leader brought diverse experiences to the table: from working with laborers in garbage dumps in Guatemala to distributing bed nets in Ghana. All were hungry to learn how patient capital can be employed to combat poverty. We are honored to have them in our community.

Over the course of a three-day workshop our goal was to share with them our perspective on the social enterprise sector and the role of patient capital, and help them explore their role as leaders that can expand Acumen Fund’s impact in the world by building communities, or “tribes” on their campuses.

Marketing guru and Acumen Fund partner Seth Godin led the first session, discussing the importance of community and leadership.  In addition to addressing the importance of building tribes, an insight he explores at length in his most recent book by the same name, Seth outlined a simple message – DECIDE.  Make a choice about who you are and how you want to lead – then do it.  This call to action set the tone for three days of dialogue, debate and idea-generation.

On Saturday morning, after a late night of teamwork over pizza on Friday, the students presented bold ideas for building awareness and communities around social enterprise. Their ideas included creating an online social enterprise hub aimed at college students, producing a viral video and organizing a conference focused on impact. They each shared concrete individual goals and timelines for things like spreading the word about The Blue Sweater, as well as fundraising and bringing knowledge on Acumen Fund to their networks and campuses.

I was particularly inspired by the students’ desire to understand the range of strategies that can be applied to addressing poverty. Also, in discussing their own approach to leadership, they were honest about their shortcomings, their fears, and their personal contradictions 

As the weekend wrapped up, a commitment was made to moving forward with their proposals. These student leaders are now crisscrossing the globe on their way home, eager to continue what they started, to share their experiences and dedicate themselves to tackling the challenges of poverty.  If these three days are any indicator, patient capital has just gained some powerful allies that will impact our world now and in the future.  We look forward to continuing this journey with them. 

Please feel free to visit their Twibe that they created on Twitter.

At a conference last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Jeff Seabright, Coca-Cola’s Vice President for Environment and Water. He spoke about the company’s policy to reach a water neutral footprint. In other words, for every liter of water Coke extracts from aquifers, it will take action to replenish the earth’s water supply. In some areas, the company is planting trees; in other communities, it is providing drip irrigation to farmers who otherwise would use flood irrigation to water their crops.

This is a thrilling initiative. First, it underscores to me that many of the world’s new standards are likely going to come from corporations who increasingly see themselves as global citizens. Of course, regulation is critical – and I am not naïve about the damage multi-national corporations can cause to the environment. But this is an important step forward, and I do believe that young people especially will hold companies to a higher standard of behavior and the smartest companies will stay ahead of this curve.

This initiative also excites me because it may provide an algorithm not only for corporations but for all of us. What would it take to influence our individual behavior so that we took the attitude that we give back to the world what we take out of it? We now have sophisticated tools to measure our carbon footprint – therefore, we know what steps could be taken to offset it. The same calculations can be done for water.

We could take this further as well, for example, around luxury consumption. What if we each created some sort of match for ourselves, whereby we would contribute to organizations fighting poverty in proportion for what we spend on luxury consumption? In other words, we would not “charge ourselves” for what we think we need in terms of the essentials (and this figure may vary widely according to overall income, of course). But we might contribute to charity at a rate connected to the very non-essential – not only to make us think about what we’re consuming but also create a different kind of redistribution that would be encouraged not by government taxation but by an individual’s own – but perhaps shared – moral code.

In the early years of Acumen Fund, one of our Partners told me that he was considering buying a Lexus when it hit him that he could, instead, buy a good (but less expensive) car, and give the difference to Acumen Fund. Years later, that gift is one of the most meaningful to me. I saw the partner recently and he told me that after seven years, he’s still driving the car and that every now and then, he smiles to himself thinking about the meaning the particular car enabled him to create. There’s something to this idea…

With Pakistan often among the top headlines on The New York Times front page (and usually not in a flattering way) – we are heartened to see the most recent issue [Dec – Jan 2009] of Blue Chip Magazine, a leading business magazine in Pakistan, carry a cover story on our very own Jacqueline Novogratz and the investments Acumen Fund has made in Pakistan.

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.

We all want to be able to say, “This is the house my father owns.” This dream is floating all over the world. Pitrus Saab, early resident of Khuda Ki Basti 3.

I recently visited Khuda Ki Basti 3, a low-income housing development 2 hours away from the city centre of Karachi. I first learned of Khuda Ki Basti (”God’s Settlement”) and the incremental development model when I met Tasneem Siddiqui of Saiban during a research project in 2005. I was ushered in an office by Mr. Siddiqui’s assistant (his only staff at the time) where he sat at his desk, shrouded by mountains of papers and books. Though he was extremely busy and seemingly understaffed, he made himself available to speak to me. Mr. Siddiqui is the sort of person who inspires people. Not because he is a great story teller with heart warming anecdotes that leave you with a good feeling. No, he is inspiring because he takes a no-nonsense approach to a problem that is colossal and overwhelming both in its scale and by its nature.

Without a piece of land on which you can raise your family, sleep at night and call your home, it is difficult to find the stability you need in your life to propel yourself forward. No one should be denied the opportunity to attain this stability and prosperity. Almost all people understand this. However there are very few people who will roll up their sleeves and try to get something done about it. This is especially true in an environment like Pakistan where public officials are a part of the problem, not solution. (Pakistan was ranked 134th out of 180 countries by Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index - which is not a good ranking.)

My report recognized that, without government cooperation, there is no method of scaling any successful models in housing. However, it also acknowledged the reality – that public sector solutions are usually public relations rhetoric within a larger political game. As a result, government-initiated projects do not often reflect the reality of the issues. For example, as has been documented by Saiban extensively, the age-old government approach of creating elaborate “sites and services” schemes in Pakistan ends up inflating the cost and price of housing far beyond the reach of base of the pyramid, and yet we continue to hear of initiatives based on this model.

In his inauguration speech at the National Assembly on 29th March 2008, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced his coalition government’s agenda, including a plan to build one million homes annually targeted towards the lower income sector. Such grandiose plans that are removed from the reality of the current and historical housing reality are not uncommon - especially when they come during times of crises (in this case both economic and political).

Tasneem Siddiqui is known internationally for his work in low-income housing - he has been the recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, The Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service and nominated for several others. What is somewhat disheartening is that even today, despite his reputation and the successes (KKB has been replicated in three areas of Karachi and currently in the process of development in Lahore) of the incremental development model, government cooperation (in the form of subsidized land) remains the biggest bottleneck to solving the housing and squatter settlement crisis in Pakistan.

Though consultation with Mr. Siddiqui and Saiban is often part of protocol during various government-led initiatives, they have still not been able to get their model officially adopted. A Saiban employee told me that while officials praise Saiban’s efforts and achievements in the field during meetings and conferences, off-the-record discourses usually involve an official asking very plainly “Meray liye faida kahan hai?” (“Where is the benefit for me?”). It is easy to see how anyone with good intentions might be discouraged. But as the perseverance of Mr. Siddiqui, his colleagues at Saiban and of the residents of Khuda Ki Basti 3 demonstrated, determined ideals will get you long way.

In my next blog post, I’ll talk about how two of the earliest residents of KKB 3 and its very model taught me the meaning of patient capital. For now I’ll end on a note that nags at the back of my mind whenever I think of the achievements of Mr. Siddiqui in such an onerous environment. How much is the success of a movement dependent on its figure head? We at Acumen Fund like to talk about the sustainability of our advocacy for social change, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, how do you go about succession planning for revolutionaries – especially when it is their reputation and clout that opens doors in such a dramatically politicized environment like Pakistan?

Editor’s note: New contributor Priya Pingali joined Acumen Fund in October 2008 as a Portfolio Intern. She earned her B.A. from Brown University, where she studied Economics and International Relations. Prior to joining Acumen Fund, Priya spent time working with child victims of sexual exploitation in Bogota, Colombia.

By Priya Pingali

Last Tuesday night, Rob Katz and I had the privilege of attending a talk by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, hosted by NYU’s Stern School of Business and its Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Not surprisingly, the hall was packed with students, faculty and professionals, but very luckily, we were offered a couple of reserved seats right up front! One of the original pioneers of social entrepreneurship, Yunus and the Grameen Bank are shining examples of how businesses designed to serve the poor can have a profound impact on the lives of millions.

The stories of Grameen Bank (and the other businesses founded by Yunus) are clearly well known, but I would be surprised if anyone had walked away that night without a revitalizing sense of optimism, if not pure awe and admiration. Yunus’ journey began in one village in Bangladesh, with no plan except for the idea of lending $27 to a group of 42 people. Today, the Bank has about 7.5 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women. It manages over $1 billion in small loans, lending $100 million per month, and is currently making it possible for 34,000 students to enter higher education with loans and scholarships. Among his other ventures is Grameen Phone, the nation’s largest phone company and employer of 300,000 telephone ladies, and a solar energy company that currently sells about 8,000 solar systems a month. Yunus has also dedicated his efforts to the eradication of night blindness in Bangladesh by selling fortified vegetable seeds.

In a soft spoken yet powerful manner, Yunus challenged the audience to remove our “profit-maximizing glasses” and to regard making money not as the means and the end, but as the means to a social end. Admittedly, he seemed almost to be preaching at times, but judging by the standing ovation and roaring applause received, he had inspired the room of future leaders and entrepreneurs to reject the traditional (and outdated) trade-off between creating successful businesses and serving the poor.

I was personally moved by his emphasis on how insignificant the differences between all humans are. Hearing this at a time when the entire world, it seems, is yearning to believe once again in the possibility of collaboration, I was reminded of the importance of working to eradicate poverty, not just for the sake of reducing inequality, but in service to the idea that everyone in our world deserves the same chances in life.

I met Roshaneh Zafar; Roshaneh met Khairoon Apa. By the power of deductive reasoning, I have therefore met Khairoon. Right?

Of course, that’s not how the world works - the truth is that I’ve never been to Pakistan, and I’ve never met the “Ted Turner of a small village near the Bay of Bengal” as Roshaneh describes Khairoon. I did have the pleasure of meeting Roshaneh, however, and she left a lasting impression. Her passion for microfinance is contagious; she believes deeply in the power of credit to bring dignity and choice to a formerly disempowered underclass - to people like Khairoon Apa.

So, how do I know Khairoon? After all, I’ve still not been to Pakistan…but I feel like I have after reading a recent article authored by Roshaneh, the founder and CEO of Kashf Foundation. In the article, entitled Female Empowerment and the Promise of Microfinance, we learn Khairoon’s story, about “a woman who started her life owning only one sari that she would wash from one side wrapping the wet end around herself since she did not have the resources to buy another.”

I urge all members of the Acumen Fund community to take a few minutes on this Saturday to read Roshaneh’s words. You may even meet someone new in the process.