Posts Tagged ‘The Blue Sweater’

« Older Entries

Why I want to start a MUMBAI+acumen volunteer chapter

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

I am an engineer by education, and I thought my life was all sorted when I graduated.  I had a job in hand and was excited about finally earning a living and working my way up the professional ladder.

Yet it didn’t feel right. A connection was missing. Born and raised in one of the most backward states in India, Odisha, I was used to seeing a startling level of poverty all around me. Throughout my four years of college I volunteered at several organizations.  There was so much we did, yet I was frustrated by our level of impact. There remains a gnawing desire within me to bring about a considerable, lasting change in the lives of those who suffered day in and day out.

Exploring different models of building successful social enterprise has always intrigued me as a way to create lasting change.  My interest led me to begin working on a book on social entrepreneurs in collaboration with two professors at XLRI, School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur. It was during this wonderfully humbling journey that I came across The Blue Sweater, a book written by Jacqueline Novogratz, the CEO and Founder of Acumen Fund.

I felt connected. Her journey, which started in the world of investment banking and ended up in an impact investing patient capital fund, was inspiring to say the least. I also had the privilege of meeting her at an event in Mumbai, and I read up on the impact Acumen Fund has had in countries across the world, especially in India. Over the course of my reading, I realized that I wanted to get a lot more people in Mumbai involved in Acumen’s work to contribute through a successfully proven model and help build a better society.

I am extremely excited to help start up a MUMBAI+acumen volunteer chapter that will seek to inspire and empower like-minded individuals who are passionate about supporting Acumen Fund’s mission to create a world beyond poverty.  If we are successful, we will join a global movement of 12 other +acumen chapters around the world.

We are hosting a chapter information session at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Chembur today, the 1st of February, 2012 and at the Acumen Fund office in Bandra (West) on the 6th of February, 2012. The session will answer any questions you may have regarding being part of the chapter. If you are interested, please RSVP to this session on the application forms below.

Our first step is to gauge interest from the Mumbai community, form a chapter leadership team and recruit interested chapter members by Sunday, February 12th.

-  If you are interested in being part of the core leadership team, please fill out the chapter leadership application form here

-  If you are interested in being a part of the chapter, as a member, please fill out the chapter membership application form here

For any further queries, please send an email to mumbaiplusacumen@gmail.com.

If you are interested in starting a +acumen chapter in your city or school, please contact Jo-Ann Tan at jtan@acumenfund.org.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Acumen Community | 2 Comments

3-2-1 Blastoff: A Unique Video during the Acumen Fund East Africa Fellows Program Launch

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

The Blue Sweater aboard the International Space Station

When I started planning the launch event for The East African Edition of  The Blue Sweater and our new East Africa Fellows Program, I never imagined we’d be getting a visit from outer space. Amazingly, that’s just what happened.

Ron Garan is a NASA astronaut currently on board the International Space Station. Apart from being a full time astronaut, Ron is running a project called Fragile Oasis, which uses his unique perspective aboard the International Space Station and his strong belief in social entrepreneurship to inspire others to improve life on our planet. The Fragile Oasis website is also highlighting all the projects being led by our East Africa Fellows.

Ron is a big fan of The Blue Sweater, our founder/CEO’s memoir that illuminates many similar themes to Ron’s message on Fragile Oasis – that our world is in interconnected in ways we may not ever really see.

We had the great privilege of having Ron address The Blue Sweater Book Clubs from Kibera and other slums in Nairobi and the East Africa Fellows and our community during the launch event a few weeks ago and give us a video tour of the International Space Station.

Watch the video here:

Suraj Sudhakar is East Africa Fellows Manager at Acumen Fund.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Acumen Community | 1 Comment

Photo of the Week: Ladies of Kenya’s Daraja Academy hold a Blue Sweater Book Club

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

I joined the Acumen Fund’s San Francisco Chapter in February 2010, after attending the chapter’s Blue Sweater Book Club. A year later, inspired by Jacqueline’s story and the Acumen community, I quit my job, gave up my apartment, and came to Kenya to volunteer and conduct research.

I spent my first month in Kenya at the Daraja Academy of Kenya, one of East Africa’s first free secondary schools for girls. The school’s American co-founders, Jason and Jenni Dougherty welcomed Daraja’s first twenty six students to campus in March 2009. This first class of students will graduate from Daraja in 2013. My volunteer project involves helping the Dougherty’s prepare for the students’ graduation. I am collecting information about Kenya’s education system so that I can create a product that will equalize access to higher education for brilliant young Kenyan women with big dreams but limited means.

Acumen Fund enabled me to arrive at Daraja’s campus with twenty five copies of The Blue Sweater, so that I could run a book club for the students. It was the perfect way to introduce a conversation about self-worth, empowerment, and entrepreneurship with the students.

When I asked Daraja students about their professional aspirations, most named well-known careers in the medical profession. I wanted the students to know that there is more than one way to define success, and more than one way to have an impact on your community. With The Blue Sweater, I had a way to open up this conversation.

In June, ten students, Vice Principal Victoria Mwangi, fellow volunteer Maria Kelly, and I met under a tree in the classroom quad to discuss the book. The students learned the definition of an entrepreneur, using examples from the book as well as the schools founders, the Dougherty’s. We talked about the challenges that these individuals faced while trying to realize their dreams, and the attributes needed to overcome these obstacles.

One of the students, Leila, offered me her reactions to Jacqueline’s story:

Controlling poverty is not an easy thing to do, but Jacqueline dared and she is succeeding.  This inspires me because she is erasing the tape in our mind that says ‘we can never do something about poverty.’  I was reminded that success does not come easily. As I have learned, “the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” One must struggle and hustle to achieve their mission. No matter what people say, one must not give up.  Jacqueline’s method of helping needy people was the greatest way of making a difference in the world.  She really inspires me.

I feel like Jacqueline’s story is a story to motivate people out there who are able to change the world.  The story gives you courage to work hard in order to achieve your goal.  Even though Jacqueline was a banker, she used her career to change the world step-by-step, and this is very important.  Most people in work only concentrate on their work and never care what other people, especially the poor, are doing or eating.  I also feel that life isn’t supposed to be easy or trouble free.

Jacqueline also saw the possibilities bridging the gap between the poor and the rich, whether it was in achieving her goal, meeting challenges, or overcoming a problem.  She also looked back on her life in Africa and it helped her so much.  Jacqueline never said, “I will never get through this.” She never gave up, and focused on all the possibilities.

The twenty five copies of The Blue Sweater are now on the Daraja Library shelves. When a student opens the book they’ll find the inscription “For the Ladies of Daraja. We believe in you. Love, Nicole, Jo-Ann, and the Acumen Fund Team.” I hope that the books will help future Daraja students find their own inner worth and purpose – just like the book, and the Daraja students themselves have done for me.

If you’d like to view my Daraja Academy of Kenya Blue Sweater Book Club lesson plans, they’re posted on the Acumen Fund community page here.

Nicole Parisi-Smith is a member of San Francisco for Acumen. Photo by Maria Kelly.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Acumen Community | No Comments

The Blue Sweater travels back to Rwanda

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Editor’s Note: Last summer, we ran a book giveaway competition, and awarded free copies of The Blue Sweater to those who submitted the most creative ideas to use to book to spread change in their communities. Faith Tushabe, a teacher at the Akilah Institute for Women in Kigali, Rwanda, integrated the book into the school’s curriculum to help students build skills and spark inspiration.

This semester, the Akilah Institute for Women integrated The Blue Sweater in the Intensive English Language syllabus. This book was chosen to improve the students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, as well as encourage students to think about ways of fighting poverty. Additionally, the book was used to enhance the students’ critical and creative thinking skills, and will prepare them in ways of handling people with diverse problems.

Students were given copies of The Blue Sweater in the Advanced Leadership and Hospitality class, in which they read the book aloud. Each student was asked to comment on what has been read. Different experiences which are relevant to the students’ day-to-day and future experiences were picked from the book and the teacher guided the students through a discussion. The students were in turn asked to relate Jacqueline’s experience to their own, and give their views of how they would have handled different situations had they been in Jacqueline’s shoes.

Enforcing correct English language usage, the students were then asked questions related to what had been read and discussed. We found that using The Blue Sweater in this class was a great success. Students improved their reading, writing, listening, speaking and critical thinking skills.

When I asked the students to give their comments about The Blue Sweater, they had this to say:

Florence Mukundwa: “The book has helped me know how to live in a community. The quotation, ‘A bird outside, A tiger within’ has encouraged me to know how to build relationships and how to face different challenges by being confident, courageous and persistent in getting what I want.”

Esperance Uwajineza: “Jacqueline inspires me by her ability to adapt herself to a new place and being able to bring change to the women in Rwanda even when she met difficult and challenging situations. I have learned never to give up on what I want.”

Noella Abijuru: “Jacqueline was always finding ways of overcoming obstacles in order to let women have financial capacity. She saw moral imagination as the ability to understand others in order to help them. This has helped me know that I have to understand the situation I am coming from and know where I need to go.”

Allen, Jocelyne, Carine, Francine, Fais, Blandine, Nanette, Providence, Rose, Clementine, Alice and Immaculee expressed that they admire Jacqueline for being humble, strong, hard working, patient, respectful and full of vision.

The students were also fascinated with Jacqueline Novogratz’s work with Duterimbere and The Blue Bakery in Nyamirambo.

When asked about their favorite moments from the book, many of the students cited the following quotes from the beginning of chapters:

” Hope is a path on the mountainside. At first there is no path. But then there are people passing that way. And there is a path.” -Lu  Xun

” You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the things which you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

The wisdom in this book has touched us, and we are sure that it will continue to touch others.

Faith Tushabe is a teacher at the Akilah Institute for Women in Rwanda.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Acumen Community, Jacqueline Novogratz | No Comments

A Blue Sweater visit from Jacqueline Novogratz & Some tips for your own book club

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

A lively dialogue between Jacqueline Novogratz and The Emerging Markets club of the University of Michigan Business School

As part of the University of Michigan’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Emerging Markets Club was delighted to be asked to organize a book club to discuss The Blue Sweater, which brought together students from across the campus to discuss issues raised in the book with Jacqueline Novogratz.

The event, held on November 19th, was marketed across campus to both graduate and undergraduate students as a unique opportunity to interact with Jacqueline in an intimate setting and take part in a substantive conversation with her about the book.  As such we limited the registration for the event to 30 people.

The event was structured in two parts. First, we held small group discussions for an hour in groups of 8-10 people during which each group formulated 3-4 questions that delved deeper into specific topics. Next, we had a30 minute discussion with Jacqueline based on the questions generated by the small groups.

If you want to plan a similar event, but don’t have the benefit of Jacqueline’s insights, I would suggest formulating the output of the groups into a short presentation (4-5 mins) given by one member of the group.  Depending on the size of the audience it may also be possible to discuss one or two key questions or discussion points raised by the groups.

Preparation

We appointed a facilitator to ensure that the group discussions were both effective and inclusive and that the groups focused on developing questions that were concise and that would make for an interesting discussion later on with Jacqueline and the wider group…questions that couldn’t necessarily be answered just by reading the book.

Since we had a relatively short period for the group discussions,  it was beneficial to have the facilitators be ready with a list of questions that would act as a starting point to prompt the discussion; however the facilitators didn’t feel compelled to use these if they weren’t needed.  For larger events, allocating specific themes to each group might also help avoid any overlap or repetition in the discussions.

Discussion Groups

The discussion groups chatted about the book for an hour and used flip charts to record their thoughts.  During the last 15 minutes, the facilitators focused on finalizing questions and assigned each question to a member of the group to ask.  Some of the questions addressed specific topics in the book while others developed from participants sharing their own experiences within the group. We found it particularly useful to have a single facilitator roam between the groups to get an understanding of the scope of the conversations and questions being developed.

Discussion with Jacqueline

Each group had written their questions on a flip chart and these were placed around the room for the discussion with Jacqueline.  This segment was run by the roaming facilitator who selected group members and questions based on the flow of the conversation, which loosely progressed from issues of Jacqueline’s individual motivation and experiences to questions about Acumen Fund and issues regarding the institutions it interacts with.

Alternatively, for groups that don’t have Jacqueline present to take part, the roaming facilitator would invite each group to present a summary of their discussions and, if appropriate, facilitate audience response on key questions or issues raised by the groups.  Given the time constraints, it wasn’t possible to do this as part of our event, however, it would have been very valuable to gain wider views on some of the issues discussed, especially given the diverse experiences and backgrounds represented in the audience.

We plan to use the success of this event to continue to engage students on campus in substantive conversations about topics in emerging markets, as feedback suggests that there are too few outlets for this type of interaction and that students appreciate the opportunity to discuss these issues with their peers and to benefit from each other’s experience.

Colm Fay is a second year MBA student at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and is Vice President of Academic and Educational Development for the school’s Emerging Markets Club.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Acumen Community | No Comments

« Older Entries