The Ripple Effect project presented the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation (JBF) in the Thar desert of Rajasthan with quite a challenge: Improve access to safe drinking water in the area in just 8 weeks. Not only did they meet this challenge but they went a step further - and added an additional goal – to create livelihood opportunities for women in the process!

The story of JBF is an inspiring one — as can be seen in this recent coverage on Indian television. For a start, the challenges addressed are not small. The project began in a region with highly saline ground water, rainfall of no more than 10-50 cm per year and temperatures of over 50C (over 110 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer. A few years ago, in an attempt to bring high quality, affordable water to the community, they had launched one reverse osmosis plant in Pachpadra village. While the plant was successful in providing safe drinking water at reasonable prices to customers who came to the plant, those customers had to walk around 2km to do so. JBF struggled to make it a sustainable business that reached larger numbers of people who could not travel the distance.

With the help of a small grant of $15,000 and business coaching provided by the Ripple Effect team, JBF created a viable water distribution business model that addressed these challenges. They established water outlets in villages that are managed and owned by women from local self-help groups (SHG), and also increased water sales from the plant itself.

Critical to the long-term impact of the Ripple Effect project, work was also done to make these advances sustainable. Work was done with JBF to understand the unit economics of the operation.  Once it was understood how much water needed to be sold per day, it became a matter of developing a strategy that would lead to multiple sales channels – wholesale to tankers and retail to individuals from the plant in addition to sales to and from the local outlets. Pricing models were then created to support this business plan.

This planning was essential but JBF’s commitment and enthusiasm was what really took this Pilot on to achieve results. In a span of the 8 short weeks of the Ripple Effect Pilot Project, JBF trained SHG members in business management; established four water outlets managed by the women entrepreneurs; improved the infrastructure of the treatment plant to fill a water tanker in 15 minutes instead of the typical 2 hours; created business plans for the main plant and the outlets and executed aggressive awareness campaigns in the village of benefits of safe water.

This careful planning, passion and commitment has reaped results that can serve as a viable delivery model in rural parts of India.  The water sale from the plant increased from an average of 2000 liters per day to 16,000 liters per day and the distance walked to fetch the water was reduced from 2 km to under 500m. Most significant, however, is that women operating the outlets are earning a living from their micro-enterprises and that, compared to a few short months before, thousands more people now have safe drinking water available.

Jal Bhagirathi Foundation has now turned over the running of the plant and it’s operations to the local village body, and is now planning to replicate the success of Pachpadra in 13 more villages in Rajasthan.

See more on this remarkable project here on local TV news.

• Portfolio Associates - New York (3)
• Communications Associate - New York (1)

Applications will be accepted until 5:00PM EST on February 3, 2010. If your school subscribes to The MBA-Nonprofit Connection’s summer jobs program, please apply through that channel (a list of participating schools can be found at: http://mnconnection.org/schools/partner-schools.html). If your school is not a member of MNC, please send a cover letter and resume to summerintern2010(at)acumenfund.org. Please include the job title “Summer Associate - Portfolio” or “Summer Associate - Communications” in the subject line.

As part of the new release in paperback, Acumen Fund is offering a limited edition Book Club in a Box, which includes:

• 5 paperback copies of the book
• 5 discussion guides
• 5 hand-designed bookmarks by Acumen Fund high school volunteers
• Access to a webinar with Jacqueline, just for book club in a box readers
• Available till February 16th, or while supplies last

The Book Club in a Box is available for $50 USD including shipping to anywhere in the world. All proceeds Acumen Fund receives from this initiative will go toward supporting our work. We hope you’ll take us up on this incredible opportunity to discuss the ideas in the book with your friends, co-workers, or community members.

Start by watching Jacqueline tell her Blue Sweater story: http://www.acumenfund.org/bluesweater

I hope you will inspired to spread the word about The Blue Sweater and help change lives.

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.

While Acumen does not work in the field of emergency care, at this critical and challenging moment, we encourage our community members, supporters, and friends to consider giving to organizations that are involved in efforts to provide emergency relief at the present and large scale reconstruction in the coming months.

There are many good organizations working to address the crisis, such as Partners in Health, which has worked in Haiti for over 20 years and already initiated efforts to provide relief to those impacted by the quake.

For reconstruction efforts, we suggest supporting Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit design group that has already launched a major initiative to assist in reconstruction. As in previous efforts, they are doing so with an eye towards sustainable, innovative, and design oriented solutions. Click here to read an article by Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, discussing the challenges of reconstruction in Haiti.

Whoever said living in India was cheap?

Certainly not someone who would have followed my friend’s recommendation to check out Aer, the newest addition to Mumbai’s hip social scene. Sitting on top of one of the fanciest 40-something-floor hotel in the city, this rooftop lounge is one of the most stunning bars I have ever been to.

With an incredible view of the sun setting behind the Arabian Sea, an “atmosphere that redefines the notion of freedom,” and a Moet & Chandon glass in hand, what more could you ask for? Classy weights to hold down champagne flutes on the lavish coffee tables? check. Stylish mini-torches to read the Mediterranean tapas menu? You got it. Quite simply, things can’t get any better.

But everything has a price, especially in Mumbai. A few weeks ago, Aer’s manager was quoted as saying that “All you can see is the sea and the lights of Mumbai spread out like a blanket beneath you.” Well, that is certainly true. But what is also true is that if you look down instead of looking over to far-away cruise ships sailing across the Indian Ocean, you would see dark, disorganized areas of the city, appearing almost blurred from the fortieth floor. Below you are some of the world’s largest urban slums.

My biggest culture shock in India has not been the omnipresent abject poverty, or the constant deafening noise, or the thousands of people crammed together in the rickety commuter trains. Ironically, it has been the incredible wealth that sits right next to absurd poverty. More than half of Mumbai lives in slums, yet it is home to the richest collective of billionaires in the world – ahead of New York and London. With 0.00001% of India’s population now accounting for a quarter of its trillion-dollar gross domestic product, the wealth disparity is enormous.

And yet, it seems to make sense to everyone but me. My middle-class Indian friends have reinforced this many times when they say: “Of course it’s normal that the rich and the poor live next to each other… The rich live here and require services, so the poor come in to fulfill that demand.” It doesn’t shock anyone that you could pay 22,000 rupees to get into a new year’s eve party, much more than the national yearly income. And no one seems to mind that the office I work in, which has air-conditioning, wireless internet, and biometric fingerprint security, sits literally across the street from hundreds of temporary workers and their families – we’re talking dozens of children per street block – who cook, eat, bathe and sleep on the dirty sidewalks every night.

In that sense, India is quite different from Africa, where the rich are merely middle-class, the poor and the rich are typically segregated, and the ultra-rich promptly shift their assets (and themselves) out of the country. Yes, as an expat in Africa, I certainly felt wealthy, privileged, or just plain lucky. But here, holding a glass of one of the most expensive champagnes in the world, surrounded by the cream of the crop of Indian society and looking down on more than six million human beings living in slums forty floors below, I can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of a sick joke that everyone, including myself, is somehow part of.

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.

“This approach highlights the difference between aid and investment. Through aid, we supply what is needed to the people who need it – be it sacks of rice or cartons of medicines. But through investment, we seek to break the cycle of dependence that aid can create by helping countries build their own institutions and their own capacity to deliver essential services. Aid chases need; investment chases opportunity.

Now, that is not to say that the United States is abandoning aid. It is still a vital tool, especially as an emergency response. But through strategic investments, we hope to one day, far from now, to put ourselves out of the aid business except for emergencies.

Our commitment to partnership extends not only to the countries where we work, but to other countries and organizations working there as well. New countries are emerging as important contributors to global development, including China, Brazil, and India – nations with the opportunity to play a key role, and with the responsibility to support sustainable solutions. Long-time leaders like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.K., Japan, and others continue to reach billions through their longstanding work in dozens of countries.

Multilateral organizations like the World Bank, the IMF, the UNDP, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have the reach and resources to do what countries working alone cannot, along with valuable expertise in infrastructure, health, and finance initiatives.

Non-profits like the Gates Foundation, CARE, the Clinton Foundation, Oxfam International, networks of NGOs like InterAction, as well as smaller organizations like ACCION and Transparency International bring their own resources, deep knowledge, and commitment to humanitarian missions that complement our work in critical ways. And some foundations are combining philanthropy and capitalism in a very innovative approach, like the Acumen Fund. Universities are engaging in critical research, both to solve urgent problems like hunger and disease, and to improve the work of development, like the work of the Poverty Action Lab at MIT.

Even private businesses are able to reach large numbers of people in a way that’s economically sustainable, because they bring to bear the power of markets. A company like Starbucks, which has worked to create supply chains from coffee-growing communities in the developing world that promote better environmental practices and better prices for farmers; or Unilever/Hindustan, which has created soap and hygiene products that the very poor – long-overlooked by private business – can afford.”

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of the Acumen Fund Student Leaders Workshop this past May. After three days of intense, passionate conversations and brainstorming sessions, I left inspired to translate our ideas into action, particularly to spearhead a movement to spread the concept of social enterprise at my school, The Ohio State University.

After the workshop, I continued to have conversations with Teddy Warria, an undergraduate AF Student Leader who is leading social initiatives in his home country of Kenya, about how to share Acumen Fund’s message. Because the concept of social enterprise is just beginning to grow at OSU, I wanted to educate more students about social enterprise, in particular through Jacqueline Novogratz’s book, The Blue Sweater; a memoir recounting her journey from college student to founder of Acumen Fund, and the lessons she learned along the way.

With the firm belief that building awareness is a necessary first step to ultimately taking action, I thought of various ways to inform OSU students. We realized that by combining Teddy’s oratory skills with my ability to quickly raise money and build partnerships at OSU, we could invite Teddy to speak about his background in Kenya and tell students here about Acumen Fund and The Blue Sweater.

We were on a tight schedule because we decided to host Teddy before winter break. We decided the best format would be to give two separate presentations - “Holistic International Development” and “Ending Extreme Poverty through Social Ventures” – to accommodate students’ schedules and make the most of his time at OSU.

While Teddy worked hard to put together his talks, I immediately began emailing and calling several different university departments and student organizations interested in issues of poverty. We secured partnerships with the Global Health Initiative, the Center for African Studies, and the Honors Collegium at Ohio State to co-sponsor his talks. These co-sponsors helped post fliers in every building on campus and sent event announcements for the talk to their members. We also had professors share details about the event in their classes.

The audiences for Teddy’s presentations consisted not only of students, but also of community members and faculty from various departments on campus. Teddy discussed the concept of social enterprise, the work of Acumen Fund, and of course, The Blue Sweater, asserting that social enterprise, as exemplified by AF’s work, is an innovative and effective method to ending poverty. He also told his own story about growing up in Kenya, attending college in the U.S., and launching initiatives to improve health systems and catalyze entrepreneurship in Kenya. Teddy also spoke about his plans for the future; how he plans on going  to both medical school and business school, ultimately towards serving East Africa by transforming their health systems and private capital markets through sound business practices.

A recurring question in the two presentations focused on the dichotomy between government and markets and the role of social enterprise in bringing the two together. In response, Teddy told the audience that “We need a comprehensive approach to solving these problems…You need both.” Teddy also encouraged the students to voice their opinions about these issues through their elected officials and on campus. He emphasized that students should support entities “with a face” so that they can personally observe the impact of their support, especially since living in an interconnected world makes this so easy.

By organizing this event at OSU, both Teddy and I learned that one presentation can only ignite the conversation. College students will themselves have to keep the flame going by becoming world-changers on their own right. By learning about innovative organizations, transformative books, and concrete steps for action, we can all be one step closer to changing the way the world thinks and talks about poverty. As Teddy said, “Acumen is not just a name of an organization, but it is a state of mind. This state of mind is about smart philanthropy and business skills to transform individuals, communities, and nations.”

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

• Pakistan’s Business Recorder recently featured piece about Syed Salim Raza comments at the Pakistan Community Gathering. The Financial Daily has also reported on his speech.

• In case you missed it in the end-year bustle, New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof suggested giving to Acumen Fund, highlighting Acumen’s work as exemplary. Click here to read more.

• D-Light and Sam Goldman recently featured in Rediff Business, discussing the work of D.Light.

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.

The Following Presentation Was Made at the Pakistan Community Gathering Earlier this Month. To read more about the Pakistan Community Gathering, click here.

When we speak of  impressive achievements in the social sector, often times it is the pioneering philanthropist, theorist, or, more recently, the social entrepreneurs who come immediately  to mind.

These are the Muhuammad Yunus’s, the Akhtar Hameed Khan’s, the Tasneem Siddiqui’s and the Roshaneh Zafar’s – people who have not only exhibited  unwavering discipline in working towards what they believe in, but also the creativity of mind and courage of spirit to figure out how to make it all work.

These are the people who are celebrated by their country, the media and often internationally too. And no doubt it is their initiative that gives us hope in an environment like ours, where working for the public or social good is unfortunately under incentivized.

But there is also a second group of people who need to be acknowledged here, our ‘unsung heroes’ –- the front line of these social organizations.

These are the ones who have their work cut out for them given today’s challenging political and economic climate. They are the ones who go door to door to make collections, even in blistering heat; who galvanize communities to empower themselves; who deal with the hostilities of skeptics; and grapple with bureaucrats on a daily basis. They are truly agents of change and they work tirelessly in difficult terrain, to keep the cogs and wheels of their organizations turning. These are organizations that they believe have the capability to improve their communities. And ultimately most of the front line staff being honored today themselves come from the communities their organizations are serving. This is really capacity building, self-sustenance, and dignity at their best.

Today we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the dedication of the frontline staff of our investee companies and thank this group of people upon whose shoulders Acumen Fund’s entire ecosystem is based. I can say from experience that as a team each and every one of us has learnt a lot from spending time in the field with them.

We are Honoring the Following Individuals, Who Exemplify What it Means to Be on the Frontline

From The First Microinsurance Agency (FMiA)

Dr. SherAziz HIkmat Nazar heads the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Health Insurance Program for the First Microinsurance Agency and has been integral to the success of the program ever since.

With a sense of social mission, the doctor left a comfortable job as a medical consultant with the Aga Khan Development Health Services to take up the challenge of creating awareness, marketing, and distributing of the Health Insurance Product in the northern areas. Since joining FMiA, Dr. SherAziz has managed to increase enrollment from 6,000 to 30,000 policies. He has done this in only two and a half years.

He spoke to me recently with passion about the astounding beauty of the north, and how this is juxtaposed with the crippling poverty that so characterizes it from within.  He also discussed how a product like microinsurance really addresses the root problem that is lack of affordability.

A typical day has him travelling several hours between hospitals, meeting patients, interacting with clients and gatekeeping at hospitals - and with a small team of only five, it’s been difficult, especially in a market like Pakistan where health insurance is a new concept.

Dr. Sher Aziz has never looked back. He hasn’t even taken one day of vacation during his time with FMiA.

From the Kashf Foundation.

The next two people I want to call on two loan officers from Kashf Foundation.

This segment today is actually the result of a field exercise with these loan officers a couple months ago that opened the team’s eyes once more to the challenges faced by the frontline staff.

Their morning is spent with the branch managers on strategy and targets and then in the 2nd half of the day the loan officers, half of which are women, either walk, or take a chingchi (local rickshaw) unaccompanied in the Punjab heat to go from door to door to their clients where they not only have to recover payments, but disburse new loans too.

The relationships these officers have forged with their clients are so strong that their typical day involves them being invited into the client’s homes and talking about life where many a concern are shared and advice is given.

The loan officers are from the communities they work in and share with their clients an inherent trust, one that has only been strengthened over time.

CEO Roshaneh Zafar calls these officers Kashf’s “rirh ki haddi” (backbone) and they are truly a force to be reckoned with; an inspiration to us all.

Naureen Rizwan – Loan Officer for Kashf Foundation’s (Dharampura Branch) has been with Kashf since 2005 and has the highest number of disbursements of new loans in her area.

Nadia Ismail – Loan Officer (Bahawalpur 05 Branch), Kashf has been with Kashf since 2008 and is known as the overachiever of her branch, consistently surpassing her targets.

From Micro Drip.

Mohammed Ali, Installation Officer at Micro Drip was initially hired for his plumbing skills, because Micro Drip needed someone to connect the drip system to tube-wells.

From that point on he has demonstrated impressive leadership and a tireless work ethic, in the areas of assembly and installation.

He has grown to lead the installations team for smaller fields and has worked at all hours in Hyderabad, Dadu and Sukkur to complete installations on time.

Mohd Ali has stepped up when needed in the field without thought to accommodations, environment or even the time of day.

On several instances Mohd Ali has lived on the farmer’s fields overnight, if the job called for it, and he travels constantly  — in pretty dangerous and hostile environments at night to get a job done.

He has led the rest of the team by example and driven others on the team to step up their performance.

From basic plumbing to leading installations and assembly, Mohd. Ali is Micro Drip’s jack of all traits and consistently gives his work his all — and more.

From Saiban, Khuda Ki Basti 4 (Lahore)

As one of the pioneering employees of Saiban’s Khuda Ki Basti-4, Jamshaid Cheema has been working with the project for three years now.

After completing his education in business administration and economics from Lahore, Jamshaid opted to pursue a career in accounting.

In December, 2006 Jamshaid joined Saiban as an accounts officer. Considering the nature of the project, he became frustrated early on with the lack of structure and focus for his career development. However, Jamshaid took the time to understand the true purpose and impact of Saiban and once the real power of the model became evident to him, he committed himself to this sector, and for the long haul.

During his years with Saiban, Jamshaid has been able to develop his skills in various aspects of the business, taking a keen interest that has extended far beyond his daily responsibilities as an accounts officer.

From dealing with the local bureaucracy on building permits to dealing with HBFC on mortgage approvals, or handling critical community development issues, and marketing in the field — Jamshaid has proved willing and ready to learn and sacrifice whenever the project has needed him. .

From Saiban, Khuda Ki Basti 3

Akhtar Ali Khan has been associated with the work of Saiban since 1986, when it launched its first project, Khuda Ki Basti I in Hyderabad.

Back then he was working with the Hyderabad Development Authority, assigned to the Saiban project. In 2000 he left HDA to join Saiban full-time where he has since been the Project Director of Khuda Ki Basti 3 in Taiser Town.

While working with Tasneem Siddiqui to set up the project from scratch, Akhtar saab lived in the basti for its first 8 years, when it was just a barren piece of land with no facilities and far removed from any other settlement at the time.

He’s tackled many challenges that come hand in hand with the socio-political environment of this city, challenges that are compounded with the very nature of such a project such as handling the land mafia, dealing with the very daunting political environment and one can say that despite risking threats on his life more than once, he was never deterred from his commitment to Saiban’s vision.

I’d like to end with a quote that I saw hanging in the office of Khuda Ki Basti 3 in Karachi when I first visited (and it was actually Akhtar Saab who showed me around) and it encompasses perfectly the lives of the people that are being honored today. It’s a quote from the Chinese Daoist philosopher Lao Tzu and it goes:

“Go to the people, live with them,
Love them, learn from them
Work with them, with what they have.
Build on what they know,
and in the end
When the work is done
The task accomplished
The people will rejoice:
‘We have done it ourselves’ “

Support Acumen Fund this holiday season and help to build more businesses that provide dignity, not dependence.

• Governor of State Bank of Pakistan Syed Salim Raza’s speech at the recent Pakistan Community Gathering has been covered by several local news sources. Both The International News and The Nation have recently spotlighted his remarks on microfinance and the future of Islamic banking in the sector.

• The Wall Street Journal recently ran a feature on former Acumen Fund Fellow Heidi Krauel and The New Recruits the forthcoming  documentary about the AF Fellows program. Click here to read Gordon Gekko’s Grandchildren.

• It must be the (giving) season. Just this week, NextBillion allies and SME investment pioneers Root Capital and E+Co announced $14M each of new investments and grants. Congrats to our friends and colleagues at both Root and E+Co, both of whom have done pioneering work in the agricultural finance and energy finance sectors, respectively. Click here to read the latest funding rundown.

• SEVEN Fund has just announced an exciting contest for those working in the social entrepreneur space. The “I Am an Entrepreneur” photography competition will be awarding 12 prizes (one per month) for the next year for photographs profiling global entrepreneurs in hopeful and compelling ways. Monthly winners will be awarded $100, and the grand prize winner (selected from the monthly winners) will receive $1000.

• Our friends at Changemakers, with offices in Washington DC, Buenos Aires, Calcutta, and Sao Paulo are now hiring for exciting careers in a variety positions and locations . To learn more, click here.

• Sweta Mangal, CEO & Co-Founder of Dial 1298 for Ambulance was recently awarded the Tata TIE Stree Shakti Award. TiE is an initiative of TIE Mumbai to recognize the relentless effort and resilience displayed by women entrepreneurs in setting up successful ventures and also a bid to create a platform to help them connect, share and network to form trust based partnerships. Congratulations Sweta!

The following speech was delivered at the Acumen Fund Pakistan Community Gathering on Dec 11, 2009. It is also cross-posted on Asim’s Personal Blog, Life of An Acumen Fund Fellow.

I’ll tell you a story

Once upon a time, there lived many, many poor people who used to raise many, many animals. Since the people were poor, they used to maintain their animals poorly, and in return, animals used to yield poor quantities of milk. This milk was poorly sold to middle men, who used to poorly store and transport it to buyers. The buyers paid a poor price for the poor quality milk which gave them only poor health.

There was poverty all around, everywhere. And the belief was that the poor could find solutions to poverty by themselves. With this belief they waited. One poor generation passed on this belief to the next who passed it on to the next. And the chain of poverty extended through many, many centuries and generations. Until one day one person started thinking and acting differently. He brought these poor people together, connected them and pooled their resources together for their collective benefit. Today his cooperative sells around two billion dollars of dairy products, every year, making the lives of millions healthier and richer.

The moral of the story (and it’s based on Newton’s law): the poor will remain poor in the absence of any moral leadership. And I want to talk more about moral leadership since this is what makes Acumen Fund’s fellowship program so great and the experience so rich. Thethe mechanics and structure of the program have been addressed, so  I’ll focus instead mostly on the content – what goes into making of a leader at Acumen.

We start this program by setting our moral compass right. We discuss the UN Charter and chapters from Bible. We read works by distinguished thinkers on topics like human nature, the concepts of good and evil, and working forces in society. We discuss Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Rousseau, Hobbs, Aristotle, Ibn-Khuldoon, Amartya Sen – just to name a few from the long list.

We go through exercises on integrative thinking; understating our differences and using them as our strength. We meet leaders who have fought against the status quo, the established systems of gender discrimination and exploitation. We discuss the power of social media in social mobilization. We practice empathy by pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and putting ourselves in shoes of the poor. We spend a day in shelters for the homeless, soup kitchens for the destitute, and in long queues outside public hospitals.

And this is the process that produces people like Aun, Tricia, David and the many others Saima just mentioned. I understand that identifying myself with these great people I am making a commitment to do something comparably great as these people have done. And I know I can do this because I have support and guidance of all of you.

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

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.

Cross Posted on India: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As I mentioned in a previous post on my personal blog, one of the best things about working at LifeSpring is the fact that whenever you are feeling a bit low you can go two floors down and check in on new mothers and their babies, the clients of the hospital.

The past Saturday, as I was trying to leave the hospital (due to local political agitation), I had the wonderful opportunity to see a new mother and child, whom I watched delivered through a C-section recently. The mother and her child had returned to LifeSpring for a post-surgical checkup.

An older woman, who I would soon learn is the young mother’s own mother, immediately handed the newborn to me. She looked so much better and was beautiful in every sense of the word. She had grown a full head of hair, and looked so gentle. Perhaps the most interesting or amazing thing about her was the way she slept, with such intention. Having never been around a newborn, I have never realized how intently they sleep, as if sleeping is their only job on earth. Her little hands were clenched in tight fists and as I looked at her I couldn’t help but sort of fall in love with the little thing. She was spectacular.

I turned to the mother, “she is beautiful.”

The mother solemnly replied, “she is?”

“Yes, she is looking so healthy and happy,” I said.

The mother then looked at me and said, “No one has come to see her - my husband and his family refuse to see her because they are angry and upset she is a girl.”

I was astounded and shocked. I simply had no idea how to reply. What do you say? All I could think was here is this perfect little human being, who is, thus far, unmarked by life. But then I thought, is she really?

Coming from the Western world, I was once again forced to swallow the reality of my own privileges. In India, the male child is still favored outright. He eats before any female children, he goes to school before them, and he is valued more than the female children in every other respect. End of story. And this gender bias is a major catalyst for certain malnutrition problems women face. It is also a major factor in many other social woes. In India, it is illegal (at least on paper) to have any test performed which identifies the sex of the child, because of the ever present risk of female infanticide.

And these thoughts don’t even touch on the way it must feel to be the mother of the child, who is a female herself and the mother of the child.

As I am holding this dear baby, I can’t help but think how ridiculous this whole notion is, and all I can wonder about is how this cultural-social bias still exists, even though I fully understand why it exists, and the history behind it.

I continue to hold the child and just say, “she is happy and healthy and that is what matters.” But now I sort of feel like a fraud because, clearly, this is not all that matters. In fact, what matters most is that she is a girl.

The mother slowly dabs away of couple of tears and just remains still, eerily quiet. She is neither disagreeing nor agreeing with me. She is just there - she is just stuck here, a week after major surgery, with an infant no one feels is good enough.

“Is this your first baby?”

“Yes.”

“Will you have another?”

“I don’t’ know,” she shrugs as she looks away from me.

As she looks away, she puts her hand on top of mine, and I turn to her and say, “it will be okay.”

And, honestly, from that moment forward to the moment I find myself writing these words, I have been thinking about that coy little phrase: “it will be okay.” Here I am, white, educated, free and female. So who am I to say this, so palliatively and comfortingly? In reality, it might very well not be okay. And it is not okay now, at this moment. This mother has been abandoned, thus far, by the father of her child. She has been made to feel inadequate, unworthy and shamed. This child I am holding, so small and gentle, has hardly begun life and yet she has already been condemned to a certain sad reality: she is female.

I don’t know why I said “it will be okay.” The more I think about it, the more I begin to believe that I said it more for myself than for this mother.

I first heard about Acumen Fund through TED Talks. I am an avid TED fan and one day clicked on a patient capital icon and discovered Jacqueline’s TED talks. Her talks are truly inspiring and I felt her points resonated with my own beliefs about the need for market-based solutions to alleviating poverty.

I believe in the development goal of wealth creation over poverty reduction. Given economic freedom, individuals in developing countries can choose solutions that are tailored to their needs, their environment, their goals and their dreams.

Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, I used to throw themed annual fundraisers as a fun way to tell friends about the causes I am passionate about and to shed light on different global issues. Having moved to UK for graduate studies, I thought the tradition should continue in London.

Along with a Canadian friend, Sue I Ong, we decided to throw a Fundraiser themed “Business for Tomorrow”. We brainstormed for a charity to support – children, health, education, housing, which worthy cause should we choose? After watching the Acumen videos together on YouTube, we decided to fundraise for Acumen Fund – a charity that invests in ALL those areas and continuously makes a difference utilizing sustainable capital.

Before going too far, I called Acumen to double check if it was okay to throw a fundraiser for Acumen. That was how I got in touch with Jo-Ann Tan, global coordinator for Acumen Chapters.

After speaking with Jo-Ann, she connected us with others who had expressed interest in a London chapter. And just like that the London Supports Acumen Group! was established. That was in October 2009 and within one month of starting, we have held two events. The core London Supports Acumen! team members are: Stephanie Kogan, Sue I Ong, Rajni Chandrasekhar, Aisha Mansur and Jay Barrymore. Along with our wonderful volunteers South Side Jazz Band (the “Band”), Sarah Pooler (our guest live artist), Shilpi Mahindroo (photographer), Joanne Cheung (graphic designer) – we owe our sincere thanks. This event could not have happened without their help. Together, we raised just under £1000 contribution from across the pond.

Above all, “Business for Tomorrow” was a fantastic way to introduce Acumen Fund to the London community. We had over a hundred guests throughout the night, with a mixture from London, Cambridge, Oxford (including Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship) and professionals working in the City.  We also had spotlight breaks with two-minute introduction from social entrepreneurs representing Kiva and Aptivate.

Acumen Fund is not as well known in the UK as it is in North America. The spotlight breaks, videos and short Acumen presentation by the London Supports Acumen! team generated a lot of discussion. The conversations around the cosy venue held an aura of excited buzz, where knowledge was gained and ideas were shared.

If you would like to join the London Supports Acumen! Group to continue the conversation online with the global Acumen community please join here.