base of the pyramid

Micro Drip is a company that is committed to demonstrating the highest level of ethical behavior. Unfortunately in Pakistan, that makes our job even more difficult than it already is.

Besides the obvious benefit of helping farmers earn more with less, Micro Drip’s work has the added benefit of helping Pakistan address its impending water crisis. Currently, Pakistan is under a severe threat of water scarcity, according to the current level of per capita water availability, which hovers just above 1,000 cubic meters of water per person. The World Health Organization has set 1,000 cubic meters of water as the minimum amount of water necessary to satisfy basic needs for food, drinking water, and hygiene. At the current rate of decline, Pakistan is projected to reach 886 cubic meters of water availability per person in the year 2020, well below the minimum threshold. In light of these issues, the Pakistani government has enacted a number of programs designed to increase water efficiency, including a US$ 1.3 billion program for subsidizing drip irrigation. On the surface, this seems like it would ideally suite Micro Drip, but the proposal was written primarily with the highest quality orchard drip irrigation systems in mind. Micro Drip’s innovation is being able to reduce the price of drip irrigation so that it is more accessible to poor farmers, but this same innovation is making it much more difficult for us to qualify for the subsidy.

Recently, we had a discussion with a government representative who asked us why we had flagged our products in the beginning as not meeting certain government specifications. He questioned why we did not simply forge certification documents and place fake labels on our material in order to qualify for the subsidy. This same representative also alluded to the fact that other drip irrigation companies are doing just that. By doing what is right, we have made the path before us even more complex, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anyone who has worked at the Base of the Pyramid can tell you that human resources is a major challenge. Recruiting and retaining good talent can be a nightmare and has major implications for how fast (or slow) a social business can scale. I am faced with these issues every day in my work as an Acumen Fund Fellow with Micro Drip, an irrigation solutions company that focuses on poor farmers in Pakistan.

Micro Drip has been searching for over a year for a competent Operations Manager. Most candidates are either extremely over or under-qualified. As a social business, we simply cannot compete with large multi-national corporations in terms of salary and benefits. Our plight provides further evidence to the gap at middle management that is often present in developing countries.

Recently, I helped develop a start-of-year workshop that was designed to rally the company around a new Vision & Mission and build a feeling of belonging & teamwork (video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH4gv2tm_UU). As part of the three-day event, we introduced a strategic task list to help strengthen the company’s foundation in preparation for further expansion. Each employee was assigned at least one strategic task with which they were supposed to outline a logical sequence of steps to complete the task, along with an estimate for how much time each step would take. Yesterday, I reviewed the tasks in detail with several key managers and requested that they jointly create a sequence of steps necessary to complete one of the tasks. I was amazed when they were unable to do it unassisted. After about an hour of coaching the managers through the process, we arrived at a logical plan. It is not that these gentlemen aren’t intelligent, quite the contrary. I attribute their inability to complete the task at hand to two main factors: (1) Traditional Pakistani education system, and (2) A “Yes Boss” culture.

In the traditional Pakistani schooling system, there is often a stronger affinity for rote learning, discipline and respect for authority. In most classrooms in the country, critical thinking skills and problem solving skills are new concepts. This can lead to dependency on superiors in the work environment. Some of the more prestigious schools do embrace independent thinking as a critical concept to teach students, but these schools primarily cater to the elite.

Pakistan is a very hierarchical society. Many bosses in hierarchical cultures simply want to give orders and have their direct reports follow their plans to the letter. They encourage a “Yes Boss” culture in which employees never voice a dissenting opinion. This poses particular problems in Micro Drip, as we are a small company with limited resources. We need capable employees who can think for themselves without having to be guided every step of the way. Ultimately, our company will be stronger if different points of view are better represented, irrespective of where they come from in the organization.

At Micro Drip, we are committed to helping develop our employees to better themselves, but the verdict is still out on how long it will take to introduce a culture of problem solving. We must begin now to think on how we will retain our talent, because once our employees reach a higher level of professionalism, they will be a scarce commodity in an underserved human resources market.

Editor’s note: This is Amon Anderson’s (pictured here, on the right) first post on the Acumen Fund blog. Read his bio by clicking on his name or visiting the Our People page of Acumen Fund’s website.

I’ve been studying, working with and thinking about leadership development for the last seven years, but I never stop being surprised. This past summer, I led an idea session for the Center for Creative Leadership to brainstorm how leadership development could be applied in the context of poverty.

But in this group of East Africans, West Africans, and North Americans, we could barely agree on semantics-leadership for the base of the pyramid, bottom of the pyramid, leadership for the majority, leadership for all…etc. However, no matter what we called it, we all could agree that not only did the poor have little access to leadership development tools, but the research and resources at hand had limited relevance to someone living in poverty.

That is not to say that there aren’t leaders. I have had the honor of meeting leaders born into poverty and raised through adversity who demonstrate true leadership irrespective of socio-economic status.

Living in Ethiopia, I met Solomon (above, left), a young man who lost three of his limbs when the Addis-Djibouti railway overturned on route to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s second city. Solomon ended up in one of Mother Theresa’s clinics and tried a variety of prosthetic options, none of them feasible for the life he would lead in Ethiopia.

So he decided to pack it up and return home. Solomon wanted to start his own business, and I worked with him over a period of months to figure out how he could make it happen. Solomon left his old community, where people saw him as half the man he once was, and established one of the most successful video rental shops in his new neighborhood. His business has grown quickly because Solomon has impressed and befriended those around him, and he’s not done yet. He’s sending home money to his mother, employing boys from the street and he dreams of opening a proper internet café.

After such a devastating accident, many in Ethiopia take to the streets as beggars-either by choice or by force-but Solomon chose a different path. His optimism, courage, and work ethic helped him found his shop and attract a growing number of customers each day.

For me, leadership is about unlocking human potential. In my work with the Cherokee Gives Back Foundation and the Acumen Fund, I have struggled to find entrepreneur-leaders and provide them with the financial support needed to succeed and alleviate poverty through market-oriented solutions. But finance is only part of the picture. I have participated in two Leadership Essential programs, designed by the Center for Creative Leadership’s Leadership Beyond Boundaries initiative, and experienced first-hand the impact of “leadership development for the majority.”

I see immediate potential to introduce these tools to a broader audience in East Africa, but I see an even greater opportunity/challenge: How do we take this concept of leadership development and apply it to the people living in the villages and slums? In East Africa, the “pyramid” looks more like the Eiffel Tower - a needle at the top and large in its foundation. I believe that unlocking doors for this “foundation” will require creativity and a cross-disciplinary effort. But I also believe in the power of leadership development to transform the paradigm. Solomon is one of those extraordinary leaders who succeed, no matter the odds. There are many more out there like Solomon, and with appropriate and accessible leadership development, the impact could be revolutionary.

Want to lull me to sleep? First, start your event at 6:30 and go until 8:00 in the evening; I get to work early, so I’m often exhausted by the end of the day. Second, draw the blinds to keep out natural light; exacerbate the soporific effect by dimming the lights (so I can see the PowerPoint slides, sure). Third, serve food – especially heavy, rich food like meat and cheese – before the presentation starts. Between these three, you’re guaranteed to have me – and at least 75 percent of your audience – asleep by the 20 minute mark.

Or not. To my surprise, there’s an antidote to this sedative trio – and his name is Nachiket Mor. Last night, along with 150 or so others, I sat in rapt attention while Nachiket described his latest thinking on banking at the base of the pyramid in a talk entitled The Next Big Step: Revolutionizing Financial Services Distribution in Rural India. Yes, the event started at 6:30, and they served delicious (but heavy) hors d’oeuvres. And since the auditorium was bright in the late-day sun, the organizers drew the blinds and dimmed the lights. But for the duration of Nachiket’s presentation and through the Q&A, the entire audience sat and stood at attention. It was that good.