NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Eradicating Poverty through Profit

Director, Markets and Enterprise Program

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:36:42 +0000

Organization: World Resources Institute

Location: Washington, DC, US

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is seeking a Director to lead its Markets & Enterprise Program. WRI's work in this area has focused on the role of the private sector in tackling some of the world's most pressing environmental and social problems. The Institute has been a pioneer in this field, building a portfolio of ground-breaking initiatives that aim to influence capital markets, investment flows, and enterprise development to achieve greater sustainability. The program is well positioned to grow and increase its level of impact.

The program's work is currently clustered around the following areas of work:

New Ventures: New Ventures supports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that drive sustainable development through "green" products and services in six of the world's most dynamic emerging economies: Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Since its inception in 1999, New Ventures has provided business development and investor engagement services for over 200 SMEs, leading to nearly $200 million of investment into these companies. Looking forward, New Ventures will focus on ensuring that its six local centers are financially and institutionally self-sustaining and that its research and analysis leverages significant investment flows into three sectors: clean energy, clean water and sustainable agriculture.

Envest: Envest provides forward-looking, applied financial research that translates complex environmental trends into financial terms useful to investors ("environmental intelligence for tomorrow's markets"). In this way, Envest helps investors identify, quantify, and communicate the financial value of environmentally superior business strategies. Ultimately, Envest will strive for a transformative shift in private-sector investment decisions by demonstrating the financial relevance of climate, energy, water and forest issues.

The Program Director will lead a multidisciplinary team of 15+ staff and 1) provide overall strategic direction to the program; 2) lead fundraising and management of a budget of over three million USD; and 3) act as external spokesperson for WRI's business work, presenting MEP work at external events, positioning him/herself as an expert in this field. The position requires a strong strategic mindset and in-depth knowledge of environment, development and private sector issues. On the latter, the successful candidate will know how to best relate to MEPs target audience which includes investors, entrepreneurs, multinational companies, and NGOs in developing countries. In addition, the candidate should be comfortable operating in a results-focused culture. The position is located at WRI's headquarters in Washington DC and reports to the Executive Vice President/Managing Director. The successful candidate will be expected to travel internationally. This is a challenging position that offers a unique opportunity to have a major impact on environmental sustainability issues.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership:

Develop and maintain a compelling vision for the Markets and Enterprise goal that contributes to WRI's mission and leverages WRI's unique value proposition
Provide strategic direction to New Ventures and Envest to ensure they have a high-impact strategy that achieves concrete and significant results on-the-ground.
Identify potential new lines of work that would lead to transformative change in support of the Markets and Enterprise goal.
Act as the external voice for the program. Lead outreach and communication efforts and promote staff research findings through briefings to corporate leaders, practitioners and policy-makers.

Management:

Provide day-to-day management of MEP staff: help staff focus on achieving results, motivate and develop personnel, and identify and manage conflicts and problems as they arise.
Keep program and projects focused on critical issues and opportunities where new insights, analyses, proposals or efforts could lead to significant impact.
Delegate authority to team leaders and ensure that they are effective and supported in their leadership role, but follow-up to ensure that planned objectives are achieved.
Oversee the quarterly program budgeting process. Ensure that program and project budgets are managed within budget and according to donor procedures.
Review draft publications to ensure they meet the highest standards of quality.
Contribute to overall management at WRI through participation in the Management Team and WRI's strategic planning and peer review processes.

Fundraising:

Lead efforts to develop and secure long-term funding for program and new projects based on identified needs in coordination with team leaders and WRI's Development Department. This will entail leveraging existing relationships with businesses and government donors, as well as cultivating and maintaining new relationships. Director assumes principal responsibility for program's financial health.
Mentor staff to broaden their fundraising skills, help them manage existing fundraising relationships and cultivate new funding prospects.
Represent the Program's interests and needs in decisions about institutional funding.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have:

Demonstrated commitment to environment and development issues.
Proven track record of real world outcomes and influence. Substantial experience working with the private sector on environment issues, particularly in the context of developing countries
Proven management skills. Desire to work in a collegial fashion as part of a team with little hierarchy, along with ability to motivate staff and teams. Willingness to be accessible to staff and fair and transparent in decision making.
Established network of professional contacts with private sector, multilateral institutions, governments, and/or individual donors. Proven ability to secure funding from the above groups on a large scale (over $2M per year), as well as extensive experience with project development and proposal writing.
Superb analytical and strategic thinking skills as well as the ability to communicate clearly and compellingly to diverse audiences both verbally and in writing.
Willingness to travel internationally for about 20% of time.
Advanced degree with a minimum of 10 years management and team-building work experience. MBA, Finance, Economics or other similar degree preferred.

Salary Range: $135K - $145K (depending on background and experience) and excellent benefits package.

If you are interested in this position please send a cover letter and your CV to:

Vivian Fong, Director of Human Resources

World Resources Institute, 10 G. St. NE, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20002

E-mail: VFong@wri.org Fax: 202-729-7890

World Resources Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is WRI's policy to recruit, hire, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, sexual preference, parental status, or disability.

Have you Been to Changemakers Lately? It's About Time

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Authored by: Francisco Noguera

Changemakers is one of the web's most dynamic and interesting destinations for those of us interested in ideas and their power to advance tangible change in the lives of the "next billion". Its recent re-design and the upcoming finals for one of their competitions (one very much in the vein of development through enterprise) are reasons compelling enough for me to ask you: have you been to Changemakers lately? If the answer is no, well it's about time.

Their new site is refreshing in so many ways. Visually it a made a great leap forward, showing beautiful pictures that introduce their variuous competitions, like the ones that ends in just five days which is focused on innovations to improve the lives of rural communities. It also has other new and interesting features such as a space for stories, a summary of Changemakers and solutions by country and a space where anyone can start group discussions on topic related to social change.

The site (and competitions in general) serves a very important purpose: it helps unveil many solutions and entrepreneurs out there, who would otherwise remain unheard of. This platform opens up the space for people interested to identify previous entries ideas in their topic and region of interest. The one thing I'm not 100% on board with is Changemakers' prize structure. Cash prizes (which are the norm at least in the competitions I've checked out before... I hereby confess I've not looked at every one of them) only go so far. Most of the entries in compatitions like Changemakers are entrepreneurs who would find other prizes much more useful for the purpose of launching their ventures.

Sure, you can argue that the competition's prize is not only cash but also recognition and visibility, which are also of great importance. Agreed. But how about recognition plus visbility plus, say, a scholarship at business incubator such as GSBI? Or a scholarship to travel and participate in the next IDDS or Maker Faire? Each competition draws a different pool of entrepreneurs who may benefit from different opportunities and connections that may well replace or add to the current cash prizes.

The good news is that "prize design" is becoming more of a science and less of an art. At least that's my takeaway after reading Rob's entry on Incentive2Innovate, thanks to which I found out that McKinsey has been doing some thinking on the subject of prizes and competitions for social change. (A bit off topic but this is not the only fascinating thing McKinsey has surprised me with lately. Have you been to What Matters?)

I look forward to continuing the conversation on the topic and prizes and competitions in BoP contexts. In fact, stay tuned for what I hope will be an interesting interview with a researcher on the topic. However, this shouldn't be a distraction from the original purpose of this post: Check out the new Changemakers. If anyone in this space is testing ideas in this area for the rest of us to take action and comment, they are the ones.

Breaking News: Husk Power Systems Wins $250K Venture Competition

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:02:41 +0000

Authored by: Rob Katz

Husk Power Systems, a company we profiled here on NextBillion back in October, was announced today as the winner of the Global Business Plan competition sponsored by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco Systems. As the winning entrant, Husk Power walks away with $250,000 in seed funding, which they will use to build and operate more power plants in rural areas of Bihar, India's poorest state.

Congratulations to Chip Ransler, Manoj Sinha and the rest of the Husk Power Systems team on this big win. They have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and FOX Business. More PR will inevitably follow.

I am personally extremely excited about this development, not only because I know and like Chip and Manoj. Part of my excitement stems from the fact that Husk Power is working in some of the poorest, worst-served parts of India - Bihar - that are hardest-hit by the poverty penalty. Many BoP-focused companies work in relatively better-off urban areas or peri-urban villages, where average incomes are higher and consequently, so is ability to pay.

But the single biggest factor that has me so excited about this is that the Global Business Plan venture competition was not limited to socially-focused businesses. Rather, Draper Richards and Cisco collected thousands of entries from companies around the world, most of them focused on a single bottom line. That the winner is a legitimate triple bottom line company - generating financial, social AND environmental benefits - shows how much the social sector is mainstreaming in the eyes of "non-social" investors.

Much remains to be seen - Husk Power remains a start up, and will for the foreseeable future - but, at least for today, there is reason to celebrate in Bihar.

Social Capital Markets 09: Go to "Woodstock" with a 40% Discount

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Authored by: Rob Katz

By the time we got to Woodstock / We were half a million strong - Joni Mitchell, "Woodstock"

Well, there won't be half a million of us, but as Bill Baue noted in a recent CSR Wire article, the Social Capital Markets conference (2009 vintage) is quickly shaping up to be an important event for our generation of changemakers, investors, intrapreneurs, policymakers and innovators. (His exact quote was "...[SoCap09] is quickly becoming the Woodstock for social entrepreneurs.") NextBillion.net covered the event extensively last year, and we are pleased to be going back as a "Deep Channel Partner" (aka Media Partner).

The SoCap team has released a version 1.0 of the schedule and speakers, which deserve a close look. Keynote speakers include

Sonal Shah, head of President Obama's Office of Social Innovation;
Alvaro Rodriguez-Arregui of IGNIA Fund;
William Foote of Root Capital;
Jed Emerson of Uhuru Capital Management

And many more. The panel sessions also look promising, giving participants a deeper dive than a typical "social innovation 101" you would get at a less-focused conference. Take a close look at the web site for all the details; you can even follow SoCap on Twitter, read their (excellent) blog, check out the Facebook page, etc.

Once you've done your diligence, take advantage of a 40% discount (!) that will expire July 8. Use the code WEB40 to receive the special discount.

Francisco and I will both be at SoCap; will you?

Microfinance: An Open-Book Blog

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Authored by: Tayo Akinyemi

Occasionally one encounters a novel application of a familiar technology. In this case, it's blogging. David Roodman, fellow at the Center for Global Development and architect of the Commitment to Development Index, is writing an open-book blog about microfinance. He drafts a chapter, then posts it for comment and critique. Mr. Roodman shared the introduction to his book on February 17th and has since authored nine additional sections. Although the work looks substantially complete, there is still a tremendous opportunity to contribute to its evolution. (Talk about opportunities for co-creation!)

What I appreciate most about Mr. Roodman's approach (apart from his willingness to share the manuscript-in-progress), is his clear and thoughtful use of a framework to couch the discussion. The purpose of the book is to explore the impact of microfinance from three primary perspectives : development as freedom, development as institution-building, and development as measurable impact.

Development as freedom, a concept introduced by Amartya Sen, refers to the ability to exercise one's sense of agency and maintain control over one's life. With respect to microfinance, the question is whether (and under what circumstances), microfinance increases or limits the freedom of those who use it. Creative destruction, described by Joseph Schumpeter as the dissolution of the status quo caused by disruptive innovation, is the underpinning of development as institution building. From this perspective, the relevant query is whether the evolution of financing for MFIs has improved the state of the field. Finally, development as measurable impact explores the debate over whether social impact can be meaningfully measured. In other words, how do we know if microfinance is really helping the poor?

Editor's note: A blog post written by Manuel Bueno, published yesterday on NextBillion.net, addresses this exact question.

Given the extreme contrast between microfinance success stories and those of disaster and indebtedness, a balanced interpretation of these accounts and a rigorous exploration of the truth is quite welcome. Check out David Roodman's Microfinance Blog here.

Happy Reading!

Yes, Microfinance has Positive Effects on the Poor

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:15:00 +0000

Authored by: Manuel Bueno

Microfinance in its simplest form involves extending loans to a group of borrowers (usually called self help groups) who agree to help each other by means of group savings and informal support. The typical self help group consists of 10 to 20 people who meet regularly to discuss social issues and activities and deposit their savings in a joint bank account. Once enough savings have been accumulated, group members can apply to internal loans within the group or apply for loans through a commercial bank.

Even though microfinance is estimated to have directly reached 100 million customers in 2008 (for more details see my previous post) there is still plenty of debate about whether it has a significant impact on the lives of the poor or not. There are many good reasons why it may benefit or harm the people it tries to help. In theory, microfinance self help groups are better at allocating resources because it takes advantage of more comprehensive local information regarding local needs and lower monitoring costs, thus mitigating challenges like moral hazard and adverse selection. Therefore transferring resources to self help groups should result in local empowerment and efficiency. On the other hand, those resources devoted to the self help group may be appropriated by local elites. Additionally, if these resources are channeled through institutions parallel to local governments they may undermine rather than strengthen local capacity.

Continue reading this story...

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:07:58 +0000

Organization: Just Energy

Location: South Africa, ZA

Salary: Circa £42,000 net salary
Reports to: Just Energy Board Chair

Overview of Just Energy:

Just Energy is a not-for-profit social enterprise that works with low-income communities to maximise community revenues from medium sized renewable energy businesses. Just Energy was founded and launched as an independent business by Oxfam GB and draws on the technical and financial collaboration of a diverse range of private sector, NGO and academic partners.

As energy prices rise and technology costs fall, renewable energy is becoming an increasingly viable option for meeting the rapidly rising energy demands in developing countries. These changes in energy markets provide an income generating, skills development and job creation opportunity for low-income communities if they can overcome a range of technical and financial barriers to their involvement.

Just Energy will jointly develop renewable energy projects with communities, helping to overcome these barriers by:

Providing risk capital for feasibility studies and project development.
Providing capacity building services and technical expertise to support project development.
Managing an investment fund (in partnership with an established fund manager) to directly invest in community based renewable energy projects on behalf of a range of investors.
Facilitating equitable partnerships between communities and private sector organisations and investors.

Just Energy projects will also increase the supply of clean energy for local and national consumption and will provide an investment opportunity in projects that have good social and financial returns. Just Energy renewable energy projects will range in size from approximately 25 – 80 MW and will generate income through sale of electricity to the local grid. They will initially focus on harnessing wind energy, and will expand to include other technologies such as solar and bio-mass as markets and technologies develop.

Role Description:

This is an exciting role that will give an energetic entrepreneur with experience in project development the opportunity to take a business from start-up to success in an emerging markets whilst creating real social and environmental value for the communities in which it operates.

Key responsibilities include:

Providing strategic leadership and vision to the business, attracting and engaging a range of technical and financial partners to ensure the highest standard of project development, and financial viability for both Just Energy and the projects it develops with communities.
Ensuring successful development, delivery and financial close on a pipeline of projects, initially in South Africa and later extending to other countries, with a goal of 20 successful, medium scale (30-50MW) renewable energy enterprises by 2020.
Managing overall operations.
Hiring, motivating and managing a small team of professionals who will work across a number of countries to develop Just Energy projects.
Managing and developing the business to maximise opportunities for growth, whilst ensuring that all projects further community development, maintain environmental integrity, and transfer knowledge to the local people.
Leading an ongoing strategy for securing financing for Just Energy expansion and project development, and ensuring strong financial management of a diverse funding portfolio.
Working closely with the Board Chair to ensure good governance and financial success of the business.
Making recommendations to the Board regarding project selection, country selection, staff decisions, and on the ground investments.
Working with partners to capture the learning from Just Energy projects to influence policies and practices in the field of renewable energy development.
Representing Just Energy externally to a wide range of stakeholders including government officials, corporate partners, funders and NGOs and attracting new resources and contributions to the business.
Developing the Just Energy brand as a symbol of fairness and equity in the renewable energy sector.

Just Energy is in its early development and initially will be hosted and administered through Oxfam GB’s financial, administrative systems. In the first 6 months, the CEO will also be responsible for:

Ensuring the development of independent financial, personnel and legal structures and systems for Just Energy, and making the transition from Oxfam systems.

The Candidate:

The right candidate will be a charismatic leader with proven entrepreneurial skills. He/she will be resourceful, personable, communicative, enthusiastic and culturally sensitive and will have the following skills or the ability to gain access to these skills by hiring a diverse team and leveraging the Just Energy network.

Strong leadership skills with an ability to inspire confidence and motivate a team as well as stakeholders.
Excellent communication skills both in formal presentation situations as well as in one-on-one situations, and an ability to secure institutional commitment at the highest level.
Knowledge and experience in project development of a relevant scale, preferably in the renewable energy sector and within a developing country context.
Knowledge of early stage companies or initiatives, with experience in strategy setting, budgeting, recruiting and managing staff, and business development.
Knowledge and experience of working with low-income communities, and a clear commitment and understanding to Just Energy’s core focus on maximising community benefit and enabling communities to make informed choices in project negotiations.
An ability to build in-country support through leveraging networks, working with local government officials, NGOs, stakeholders and global institutions in country.
An ability to assess, monitor, and manage risk in relation to projects, and across Just Energy business as a whole.

CEO Role in Relation to Just Energy Governance Structure:

Just Energy is owned by a group of members made up of Oxfam GB, Oxfam America, the Green Hub at MIT and E+Co (to be confirmed). As a Company Limited by Guarantee, the owners have limited liability and do not benefit from shareholdings, but have the responsibility for ensuring that Just Energy adheres to its core purpose and principles.

This oversight role is exercised by appointing and confirming new members, the Board Chair and approving new Board members.

The Just Energy Board of Directors holds responsibility for the overall governance, development and financial sustainability of the business. There will be 5-7 Board members, including a Board Chair. The CEO holds a Board position, although may be required to absent her/himself for some aspects of Board business. A detailed description of Board operations will be made available to final candidates.

The CEO reports to the Board Chair and will be reviewed through an annual performance review process that will set objectives for each year. Annual increments and extension of contract are made on the basis of reviews.

Contract, Compensation and Benefits

The Just Energy CEO will initially be hired by Oxfam GB and will be supported through the Oxfam HR policies and systems. The CEO will oversee a process of transition from Oxfam to Just Energy administrative systems and the CEO contract will move to Just Energy when the systems for contracting and payment are established.

Just Energy will offer a competitive salary and package including comprehensive benefits consistent with comparable posts in the renewable energy sector.

Programme Director, Enterprise Development

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:10:58 +0000

Organization: International Business Leaders Forum

Location: London, GB

The purpose of this senior leadership role in IBLF is to initiate, develop and implement a programme that will enhance, promote and stimulate enterprise development in emerging and developing countries primarily through the core business activities of our corporate partners. Reporting to the Director of Programmes, this role involves leading a small team that is accountable for delivery of one of the three strategic aims of IBLF, namely social development through increased prosperity. The focus of this work is on developing Base of the Pyramid business models with partner companies, deepening the linkages between multi-national corporations and local supply and distribution chains and on optimizing skills development to address chronic under-employment particularly in young people.
.
Key Responsibilities:
• Develop and provide overall programme direction for projects designed to advance prosperity by stimulating local enterprise development and developing employability skills, with responsibility for managing and developing staff and consultants (as required).
• Manage high-level strategic collaborative relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including funding partners, who support programme delivery.
• Identify and secure new business opportunities, adequate financial resources and key funding streams, working with IBLF colleagues to formulate/negotiate creative and successful funding proposals
• Ensure meaningful impact measurement systems are in place and results are reported, communicating internally and externally, implementing changes to programmes where necessary to secure maximum impact.
• Present strong business case to business leaders and other stakeholders to address business and development challenges that result in demonstrable changes to policy and practice.
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of responsible business practices in the context of international development, with a particular subject focus on the impacts of business activities on economic growth and poverty alleviation.
• Identify opportunities to raise IBLF profile, representing the organisation at external functions, in the media on relevant issues and on national/international platforms.
• Participate in IBLF’s management team, and act as Engagement Manager for a number of IBLF Corporate Partners

Competencies (skills, experience and characteristics)
• Sound knowledge and understanding of role of business in stimulating economic growth and relevance to developing countries and emerging economies.
• Minimum of 7 years experience in a business environment, understanding of pressures and priorities and of the relevance of the development agenda to the business world.
• Ability to build projects by pulling together ideas and opportunities from different sources, to “sell” the project as a proposal to potential funding sources and then to deliver the project within agreed resource and timing commitments.
• Commitment to and experience of cross-sectoral partnerships and matrix working
• Highly effective negotiating and inter-personal skills, with ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people at different levels of seniority and from different cultures and backgrounds
• Experience of public speaking and presenting at conferences or similar events
• Ability to communicate succinctly and clearly in writing including in formal project reporting.
• Flexibility and ability to respond quickly and adequately to new sets of priorities and to deliver through and with the team
• Relevant professional qualification
• Able to travel as required to monitor and deliver programme

Desirable:
• Foreign language(s)
• Overseas work or volunteer experience

Please send CV and covering letter, outlining relevant skills and experience, to Gillian Gurne by 6th July 2009.

Financial Inclusion in India: Interview with Anurag Gupta from A Little World

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Authored by: Pankaj Agarwal

Financial inclusion has long been a challenge in India, where bank transactions are mainly urban based and people living in rural areas rarely even have a bank account. Financial inclusion is the delivery of banking services at affordable costs to vast sections of disadvantaged and low-income groups. The Reserve Bank of India’s initiative to reach rural India by extending banking services through Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has been a welcome step forward.

A Little World, a Mumbai based organization is one such organization working to connect rural India with mainstream financial institutions. In less than ten years, A Little World has expanded into more than 20 states in the country and developed partnerships to run the banking operations of over 25 banks. Recently, the company was awarded the The Sankalp 2009 High Impact Award for Highly Scalable Social Models at the Sankalp Social Enterprise and Investment Forum.

During my internship here in the company, I recently had a chance to speak to Anurag Gupta, Innovator, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of the company and also the Director of the company's Zero Mass Foundation.

NextBillion.net:Tell us a little bit about yourself - where do you come from, your educational/professional background.

Anurag Gupta: I come from the state of Uttar Pradesh in India and studied architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

NextBillion.net: Can you provide us with some background on A Little World?

Anurag Gupta: A Little World is operating micro-banks in rural and remote areas of India, which have traditionally struggled with financial inclusion. We are spread in over 20 states working with local governments and 25 Banks, including State Bank of India, the largest in this regard, to carry out transactions and other financial activities in those areas. As a business correspondent for these banks, we enroll new customers and follow up on transactions by utilizing Bank-in-a-Box methodology. The enrollments and transactions are authenticated by using a finger print scanner, which also serves as a printer for the receipt of transaction details. The operators, 98% of which are women, also have a smart-card-enabled mobile phone with them to type in the details of the transaction. GPRS technology is used to communicate between the mobile phone and the finger print scanner. At present, we have 8,200 outlets in the country with 24,000 trained women operators running them.

NextBillion.net: What ideas led to it's inception? What was your inspiration to start this venture?

Anurag Gupta: There was a clear need for a domestic payment system that was affordable despite the amount involved in the transaction. Credit cards, for example, have this inherent challenge because it is infeasible for all the parties involved to approve transactions at very low amounts. In 2003 we started mCheck which is a mobile payment platform that could make and receive payments securely and instantly over any distance. After the adoption of this technology by the State Bank of India, Airtel, and others, we sold off this business model in 2006. On the 7th of November 2007, we created the first outlet for Zero Mass Foundation in Mizoram to work as an implementer of the Social Service Payment System.

NextBillion.net: What’s the biggest challenge you face as a Director?

Anurag Gupta: It has always been difficult to raise investments to scale a business model like ours. Dr, Sayed AR Zaidi,former head of the Philosophy department at University of Delhi and one of our investors, has been the soul of the company although he exited the company after we sold mCheck. Without his support all this time, the company would not have been in existence.

NextBillion.net: What’s the one thing you never would have imagined when you started the company, but is obvious to you today?

Anurag Gupta: When we started in 2000, the proliferation of the mobile phone as a tool we could utilize was definitely not at the levels that it is today. We never thought our company would be based around the cell phone to this extent and that now we would be creating a whole eco-system around it. At the inception, we were visioning a model based on stand-alone terminals rather than using mobile phones. Now, the thought only of the terminals seems so obsolete.

NextBillion.net: What was the most important thing you read in college relating to your work today?

Anurag Gupta: As an architectural graduate, I realized that we need to think openly in three dimensions. It is more flexible and gives you a much better understanding of a challenge. Also, the company and its operations are an architectural model in itself and so the principles are applied in an organization context as well.

NextBillion.net: What does Base of the Pyramid mean to you?

Anurag Gupta: For me, Base of Pyramid means the kind of people we are serving - the underprivileged and poorest in the income pyramid. A 95 year old widow with a mere pension of INR 200 month, a physically handicapped staying below the poverty line and millions others. Our business model is based on improving the quality of their lives and making it as sustainable as possible in the process.

NextBillion.net: Where do you see the company to be in next 18-24 months?

Anurag Gupta: We vision to make this company the largest microbanking organization in the world. We hope to reach a level of 100,000 outlets serving a base of over 50 million customers in the process.

Web Quality Assurance Tester

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:58:55 +0000

Organization: Akvo Foundation

Location: Flexible location, NL

We are looking for a quality assurance tester to work on our open-source Akvo RSR web application. You should have experience writing and executing black box test cases for integration and functional testing.

You need excellent communication skills in English for reporting bugs and reviewing specifications with the team, and the ability to work independently, since we are a geographically diverse team. This last means some unusual hours will be required for meetings. Experience with or inclination to learn automated test tools is a plus, as is experience with Mac OS X / Linux systems. Experience with release management is also a strong merit.

This is a half time position, with the possibility to grow into a full time position, based in Europe, preferably in London, Stockholm, Gothenburg or the Hague. You have to have a work permit for the location you will be based in, we can't help you get that.

To apply for this position, send your resume to thomas@akvo.org

Building a Practical Platform for Collaboration: Akvo.org

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Authored by: Francisco Noguera

With this long overdue post I want to direct your attention to an innovative, relevant and icreasingly active platform called Akvo.org. Its topic area is one of obvious relevance to the NextBillion audience: drinking water and sanitation in the developing world. It's overdue because I learned about Akvo quite some time ago, back when I was working with Al Hammond, Jim Koch and the Global Social Benefit Incubator team on a review of community-scale, enterprise based approaches to these challenges. I choose to write about it today to join them in announcing the investment that of Rabobank recently made in the project and to finally put a check next to it on my list!

Akvo's platform serves three main purposes: First, it facilitates the flow of funds and resources to water and sanitation projects in the developing world; in Akvo, you'll be able to find hundreds of projects in many countries with detailed descriptions of their funding needs, executing organizations, etc. Once you donate to the project of choice you'll be curious to see how it performs and grows over time, of course. Well, project performance metrics is Akvo's second pillar of work through a methodology called Really Simple Reporting. Finally, through Akvopedia, it facilitates the transfer of skills and knowledge among existing projects and basically anyone interested in learning more about the different technologies and approaches that address the challenges of water and sanitation.

Akvo is a fantastic resource and it's only beginning to gain traction. Surely, it will continue to gain strength, relevance and visibility in years to come. Nonetheless, there are a couple of things I would like to see happening in the site as it continues to mature. The first is a shift from donations to investments in these projects, or at least that the choice is made available for users to make. It would be interesting to see how different projects (whose goals are ultimately the same) compete for resources in a single marketplace that houses both "pure philanthopy" and social investment alternatives. The second is that the Akvopedia would be greatly enriched if all the entries included two examples: one of "where it has worked" and another one of "where it hasn't worked" with an explanation of the whens, hows and whys.

Given the open nature of the platform, both suggetions are not for Akvo staff to take on but for users to propose and submit. That said, go ahead and explore this great resource. NextBillion will continue to report on the progress of the "open source for water and sanitation" as it continues to grow and create change.

Intellecap Launches Magazine Dedicated to Social Enterprise

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:53:32 +0000

Authored by: Rob Katz

Intellecap launched Beyond Profit, a print and online magazine dedicated to the businesses, people and ideas within the social enterprise space, on April 28. The inaugural issue was released at Sankalp 2009, South Asia’s largest social enterprise business and investment forum.

Intellecap is a social business advisory firm that provides services to the for-profit development sector in areas such as microfinance, water, energy and education. The firm also publishes Microfinance Insights, a magazine that serves the knowledge needs of the growing microfinance sector.

Both of these publications are offering a free, 1-year e-subscription. Find out more on the Beyond Profit and Microfinance Insights websites. The offer ends June 30.

Stop Talking, Start Making: Maker Faire Africa

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Authored by: Rob Katz

"I'm going to a conference this week..." This phrase generally fails to inspire, especially after you've been to a few keynote-panel-keynote-lunch-panel-panel-reception type events. There are exceptions - TED and Pop!Tech both stand out in this regard - but the average conference is usually valued more for the off-hours networking than the content itself.

For the base of the pyramid sector, the trend of boring conferences is beginning to reverse itself, albeit slowly. First we had the Social Capital Markets conference in 2008, which featured, on its third day, an "unconference" format - where participants planned and hosted panels of their own choosing - that was universally well-received. Earlier this month, the Cornell Global Forum pushed boundaries by asking delegates not to sit in long plenary or panel sessions but rather to break into deep-dive working groups. Both formats value active participation and break down the speaker/participant glass ceiling - all in service of getting something done (beyond talking, of course).

In this vein, I am really excited to learn about a truly innovative "non-conference" being planned by a group including NextBillion allies Emeka Okafor, Erik Hersman and Nii Simmonds. Their Maker Faire Africa event, which will be held in Ghana this August, is no-talk, all-action. The 3-day event will bring together roboticists, hobbyists, blacksmiths - MAKERS - to jam collectively on home-grown solutions to local problems. In Emeka's own words, "we want to spark an interest in fabrication - make it sexy, if you will."

As if Emeka, Erik and Nii weren't heavyweights enough, the Maker Faire Africa guys are working with the grandmaster of local, appropriate technology - Amy Smith (another NextBillion ally). Amy's International Development Design Summit will be taking place in Ghana this August, which will allow her group to interface with the Maker Faire.

Bringing home the spirit of this non-conference, Maker Faire Africa is not a ticketed event with flashy speakers that fly in and out the same day. In fact, it couldn't be further from what we think of as a conference - it's free, it's open, and you're encouraged to bring your prototypes so that everyone can tinker along with you.

We'll be sure to report back on Maker Faire Africa as the event gets closer, but the idea of it is incredibly encouraging. Yes, talk - discussion, research, writing, etc. - is important. But time and again, we leave conferences without a tangible call to action. I applaud the Maker Faire Africa team for pushing the boundaries of what a conference is all about, and keeping the focus on putting ideas into action.

Inside the Entrepreneur's Studio: A Conversation with Mo Ibrahim

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:49:35 +0000

Authored by: Tayo Akinyemi

Most of you are probably familiar with the story of Dr. Mo Ibrahim, the British-Sudanese entrepreneur who built Celtel (now Zain) into one of the most successful telcos on the African continent (and beyond). Then you can imagine my surprise when the following email landed in my inbox:

Dr. Mo Ibrahim, founder of Celtel and a 2008 Time 100 honoree, will be on campus next week as the 2009 Bartels World Affairs Fellow. Dr. Ibrahim is one of Africa's most successful businessmen and created the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in 2006 which awards the Achievement in African Leadership [prize].

I have been fortunate enough to secure a portion of Dr. Ibrahim's time to attend Monday's class. If you are interested, I would love to have you join us for a continental breakfast from 8:00-8:40 am, followed by discussion from 8:40-9:55 am.

Unbelievable-I couldn't believe my good fortune. Never would I have imagined that I'd be within twenty feet of an entrepreneur of Mr. Ibrahim's caliber. Not only is African telecom one of my primary interests, I'd been enamored with the CelTel/Zain story since completing a strategy project about its rival, MTN. Furthermore, I was intensely curious about Mr. Ibrahim's motivation for creating his foundation.

On the surface, his two careers, telecom entrepreneur and democracy advocate, seemed rather disparate. However, (as I was recently reminded), the role of government is critical to the success of business in Africa, particularly when it comes to infrastructure. Given the critical role that government officials play in the distribution of licenses, it's little wonder that he linked the two.

Those of us who attended this session were treated to an Inside the Actor's Studio-style interview conducted by Mark Milstein, Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. Please read on for a smattering of what we discussed. (Note: This is not a verbatim transcript. It's just a summarized excerpt of a much longer conversation.)

Mark Milstein:
How did you spot an opportunity for telecom in Africa?

Mo Ibrahim:
People thought that Africa was too dangerous. People didn't want to work in Uganda because of Idi Amin despite the fact that he'd been gone for more than 15 years. Cynicism and romanticism co-existed. Both are true, but the larger picture is also true. For example, everyone knows about Mugabe, but this is an incomplete, inaccurate picture. Life can be as boring in Africa as it is in Ithaca-people get up, go to work, etc. (Who knew Mo Ibrahim had such a wry sense of humor!)

Mark Milstein:
Why was the success of the mobile phone so dramatic in Africa?

Mo Ibrahim:
First, there was a high degree of equity in the phone call and secondly, the market was defined. There were limited ways for people to communicate; often, they had to meet in person. In Kinshasa, people used messengers. If you didn't live in the same town, it could take ten days just to tell your mother that you were engaged.

Mark Milstein:
Did you realize that cell phones would be so powerful?

Mo Ibrahim:
They definitely exceeded our expectations. They are essential for trade and education and are a tool for democracy and openness. Zimbabwe and Kenya represent a great victory; people stopped elections from proceeding [due to their ability to communicate about what was going on].

Mark Milstein:
What quality made it difficult for companies to learn how to operate successfully in this space?

Mo Ibrahim:
Business people who were shifty and behaved illegally made things challenging. People warned us that it wasn't possible to do business with integrity. But at CelTel, any check for more than 30,000 pounds had to be signed by the board. This was our silver bullet because the clout of the board discouraged bribery. At the end of the day, the level of transparency and quality of corporate governance enhanced the value of the company. When we sold the company we received 8.5 times EBITDA. In fact, Celtel's story is taught at Harvard Business School as an example of how strong corporate governance attracts a premium.

Mark Milstein:
How did the state of leadership help you determine what markets to enter?

Mo Ibrahim:
We looked beyond the condition of the market to governance. We've paid for licenses but then walked away. We delayed entry in another place due to corruption. Don't let short term gain push you to do something. In the end, it will harm the value of your business.

Mark Milstein:
What advice do you have to give for people starting business with a social value?

Mo Ibrahim:
Any business has social value, otherwise it's unethical. For example, prostitution and gambling have no social value. Creating jobs and looking after the community are important. A business cannot thrive in a community that is failing. Social value should not be invoked as an excuse to do lousy, unsuccessful business. Mixing the two is a recipe for disaster. The sole purpose of business is to generate value generally, not just the kind that is social in nature. As long as the company is ethical, there is social value.

Mark Milstein:
Why decide to promote democracy?

Mo Ibrahim:
Democracy is terrible, but it is the least evil system we know. Democracy, transparency, good government, rule of law, and strong law enforcement are all very important.

Mark Milstein:
A society of entitlement compounds the likelihood of success for the wealthy.
Doesn't the Prize for Achievement in African Leadership give money to the already wealthy?

Mo Ibrahim:
The first part of the statement is correct, but we we're not dealing with wealthy, crooked people. Once you finish the job as head of state, you leave your means behind. Tony Blair charges $500M per speech and $2M to sit on Merrill Lynch's board. But many leaders can't rent an apartment in the capital where they were living because they can't afford to. Also, we're not paying people excessively.

Well, that's all she wrote. Not surprisingly, the dialogue during this session was much richer than I could convey in this excerpt. Of particular note was the James Lipton-like approach to the initial round of questions. Thanks to that, I now know that Mo Ibrahim likes the sound of babies, admires Madame Curie (complete with poster on the wall), and detests hypocrisy. How's that for a 360 degree view of a leader?

Chief Executive Officer

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:31:50 +0000

Organization: Micro Drip

Location: Karachi, PK

Micro Drip is a private limited company that provides affordable irrigation solutions to small and medium sized farmers in Pakistan. Micro Drip believes all farmers, regardless of their income group, have the right to access technology that will enable a higher yield from their land at a lower input cost.

Micro Drip is an investment partnership between Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP), a rural development organization, and Acumen Fund, a US-based social venture capital fund. In addition, Micro Drip works with several corporate partners and leading multi-nationals to leverage their management expertise, market access and product knowledge to offer the best possible solutions for its customers. The Company’s drip irrigation systems are sourced from leading regional and domestic irrigation solutions companies that enable it to provide the most reliable and efficient irrigation systems at the best price to its customers.

Founded in 2007 with offices in Karachi and Hyderabad, Micro Drip has established sales in Southern Sindh and plans to further expand in the province as well as in Punjab over the next couple of years. The company has retail operations in addition to working directly with institutional partners and distributors to expand the scope of its operations. For more information on Micro Drip, please see www.microdrip.pk.

Micro Drip is seeking to hire a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the company from its current start-up phase towards becoming the leading provider of affordable irrigation solutions to small and medium farmers in Pakistan.

General Position Description
The CEO will be responsible for overall company performance and direct all aspects of its planning and operations, including marketing, sales/distribution, finance, human resources, business development, product development and supply-chain management. S/he will set the strategy and develop the plan of
the Company with input from senior management, the Board of Directors, and principal investors. S/he will build a core-team of senior and middle management to execute the Company’s operations, including recruiting for new positions where needed. The CEO will also lead all the business development
initiatives, including strategic relationships with financiers, relevant government agencies and policy makers, other agri-businesses and marketing/distribution partners. The CEO will report to the Board of Directors and engage closely with the principal investors.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Develop the 3-year Company strategy of Micro Drip based on the Company’s SWOT and overall market opportunity, with guidance from the Board of Directors and principal investors, and input from senior management team members.
Direct the development of the annual budget and business plan, working in conjunction w/ other team members
Oversee the development of the operational plans of key business areas.
Report to the Board of Directors and investors on Company performance and assist the Board in fulfilling its governance function.

General Management

Direct and oversee all aspects of Company’s operations, providing guidance to other team members.
Set operational and financial policies of the Company.
Maintain a close pulse of key business performance and risk areas, diagnose performance gaps, analyzing risks and take appropriate action as needed.

Business Development and Strategic Relationship Management

Build and manage relations with key existing and potential stakeholders in the Company – including government officials/agencies, institutional marketing and distribution partners, agri-business companies etc.
Manage investor relations and cultivate potential new investors and financiers in the Company.
Organizational Development and Team Building
Develop the organizational structure and assign clear roles and responsibilities for different positions within the company.
Build the core management team including recruitment of new managers; develop and execute a general strategy to build and retain Talent in the Company.
Provide guidance - as needed - on the design and development of operational processes and systems.
Focus on efficiency and cost effectiveness in running operations with financial sustainability/ viability as a clear goal.
Build a high performance oriented culture with the highest ethical standards.

Qualifications
Ideal candidates for this role will have excellent general management skills combined with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, capacity to think out of the box and the vision to build a profitable business serving hundreds of thousands of small farmers in Pakistan. They will have strong leadership qualities and the ability to lead change in a coherent and clear manner while maintaining the motivation within the company. They will have a results orientation and a management track record in scaling early-stage businesses in resource constrained and challenging environments. They will also have strong organizational and team-building skills and the ability to attract, build and retain quality management talent.

Additionally they will have the following attributes:

At-least 10 years of executive/senior management experience - Agri and rural based business experience a strong plus.
An established track-record in building and scaling early-stage businesses.
Previous exposure and a strong commitment to serving small farmers with a comfort level of dealing with them directly.
Strong strategic planning skills and abilities to set/ plan both short and medium term objectives.
Willingness to spend ample time in the targeted rural markets, particularly in the first couple of years.
Excellent general management skills.
Strong professional networks which can be translated into business development opportunities.
Strong team building skills – ability to attract, motivate and retain talent.
Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to present arguments and analysis in a clear and succinct manner to Board members, staff, partners and investors.
Highest level of integrity.
Commitment to and enthusiasm for Company’s mission and vision, and respect for the organization’s core values: equity, fairness, diversity, voice, participation, knowledge, creativity, humility and respect.

Compensation
Micro Drip offers a competitive compensation package, commensurate with experience.

To Apply
Send a cover letter and resume to ceo@microdrip.pk.

Knowledge Director

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:12:46 +0000

Organization: Changemakers.com

Location: Arlington, VA, US

Do you love big ideas, solving puzzles & social change? If so, Changemakers is hiring a Knowledge Director to lead our existing efforts in framing the topic statements and mapping social innovation for our competitions. The director will also lead the Changemakers team to design a series of new and innovative knowledge based products and services for social investors and innovators. The role will require working with the entire team to leverage our existing data and efforts while also building a core knowledge team of full time staff and contractors from around the world. We are looking for a candidate who isn't afraid to aggregate a large amount of information into a few powerful insights that will help advance the way the world is solving social problems.

Skills:

Research, analysis and direct management experience
Background in human centered design, anthropology or journalism a plus
A passion for and experience in solving social problems
Ability to conceptualize and identify patterns from raw data
History with user generate data collection and online knowledge distribution
Track record launching new ideas and programs

If this sounds like you then send us your resume with a short letter of introduction to: connect@changemakers.com

Vice President for Program and Impact

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:09:36 +0000

Organization: Skoll Foundation

Location: Palo Alto, CA, US

Vice President for Program and Impact

The Skoll Foundation Vice President for Program and Impact (P&I) is responsible for leading the Foundation’s strategic program development, execution, and evaluation. The Vice President for P&I will be challenged to advance the Foundation’s five success indicators and their relative weight in decision making and resource allocation:

Enabling “breakthrough” SASEs (Skoll Awardees for Social Entrepreneurship): The Foundation applies its resources and talents to enable SASEs to achieve breakthrough, large-scale solutions to the world’s most pressing problem.
All SASEs strengthened: From the beginning of the selection process, the Foundation identifies SASEs based on their potential to achieve breakthrough impact on one of more of the issues identified in the framework. Once an SASE is part of the portfolio, the staff delivers “invest, connect and celebrate” services designed to strengthen their ability to achieve large-scale results.
An enabling ecosystem for successful social entrepreneurship: As a third priority, the Foundation invests in the larger ecosystem that benefits social entrepreneurs within and beyond the SASE portfolio, believing that a healthy ecosystem enables more effective social entrepreneurship, and thus more successful societal problem-solving.
Nurturing a healthy Skoll Foundation organization: The Foundation continually strives to enhance a team-oriented work environment that allows Skoll employees to develop and utilize their full range of professional talents.
A compelling and authentic Skoll Foundation brand that exemplifies who we are, what we stand for, and the way we behave.

The critical aspect of the work of the Vice President for P&I is to drive mission-aligned program investments that achieve maximum results. Skoll’s program strategy is led and advanced by the Vice President for P&I, who works closely with all members of the senior management team. Collaboration, execution and evaluation are all critical elements of success for the Vice President for P&I. The Vice President for P&I reports to the President and CEO and is based in Palo Alto, California.

The broad goals for the Vice President for P&I include:

Evolve the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship program to maximize the impact of the grants relative to the Foundation’s mission, and to optimize the human resource talents of the organization.
Agree upon and provide “baseline” services to all SASEs and determine customized “add-on services” to provide to SASEs who demonstrate the greatest capacity for achieving large-scale change.
Establish process and tools for impact assessment of investments and services, and ensure this information informs decision-making.
Align vital resources—time, talent, and funding—to maximize impact, consistent with Jeff Skoll’s vision, the Foundation’s mission and Success Framework (5 indicators).
Evaluate and evolve P&I processes, practices, and structure to ensure team members’ individual and collective talents are effectively and efficiently deployed in the service of the Foundation’s mission; reinforce, model and celebrate the Foundation’s core values.
Participate fully in the Foundation’s management as a member of its executive team: contribute, challenge, and debate ideas and opportunities openly and honestly. Ultimately ensure decisions—and the reasoning behind them—are effectively communicated to staff and implemented.
Build and nurture strategic partnerships with the portfolio's leading social entrepreneurs and with the field to advance the Foundation’s mission and contribute to its effectiveness.

The new Vice President for P &I will be challenged to meet the following responsibilities:

Recruit, coach, develop and evaluate performance and contributions of P&I team members.
Create and manage the P&I department annual and 5-year budgets, including grant making and payout.
Serve as a member of the senior leadership team in developing, aligning, and updating the Foundation’s annual and long-term strategic and business plans.
Partner with the CEO, the Board, and colleagues in focusing the Foundation on the privilege of working to achieve its founder’s vision for a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable global community.

The Vice President for P & I should ideally possess the following Professional Qualifications and Personal Attributes:

Professional Qualifications:

Significant experience in managing, guiding, and developing professional staff with an emphasis on establishing clear and measureable objectives, empowering and coaching staff members, teambuilding, and accountability.
Demonstrated leadership and business acumen, a proven record of continually enhancing organizational effectiveness, engaging and fully utilizing Board input, and skill in dealing with the budgeting process and management of staff and financial resources;
Combination of both business and nonprofit/philanthropic experience.
Substantial international work experience, preferably with social entrepreneurs or other local organizations in developing countries.
Advanced degree (M.A., M.S., M.B.A., or Ph.D) required.

Personal Attributes:

Thrives in an organization which includes the strategic engagement of the donor.

Ability to persuade, inspire and motivate others, and an ability to be flexible and adaptive in consultative process with senior management and Board.
An ability to inspire trust, a proven ability to lead and facilitate with strong interpersonal skills and an ability to move from ideas to action.
An ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a diverse range of people from different environments, sectors, and society.
An ability to stay grounded, trustworthy, an ability to give credit and recognition to others and a personal style of acting with humility and grace – in sum a superb professional with personal presence.

Intellectually curious with sound judgment and a sense of the potential impact the Foundation can make in its areas of interest.
Ability to be proactive, flexible and well-organized, with appropriate attention to detail and follow-through.

Compensation

Compensation for the Vice President for Program and Impact includes a competitive base salary and an excellent package of employee and health benefits.

Interested candidates should send their resume to:

Daniel Sherman
President
Explore Company
Email: resumes@explorecompany.com

Social Media Coordinator

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:57:23 +0000

Organization: Changemakers.com

Location: Arlington, VA, US

Are you passionate about social networking to change the world? Do you have a flair for engaging media to mobilize social campaigns? If so, Changemakers.com is looking for a colleague who knows what's hot and what's next - a master of metrics with an insatiable drive to utilize the latest tools and techniques to build online communities of action.

Check out the online community creating the solutions that our defining our future at www.changemakers.com and the position that is going to be at the centre of change at http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/careers

Part-time Consulting Entrepreneur

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:37:32 +0000

Organization: Ascension Health

Location: Michigan, US

Role: Part-time Consulting Entrepreneur to coach and support a new community-driven, health-focused business in Flint, Michigan
Duration: 12 months starting July 2009
Initial Application Deadline: June 26, 2009
Contact: Hyung T. Kim, MD, MBA, Vice President, Research & Development

Ascension Health, the largest Catholic and not-for-profit health system in the United States with operations in 20 states and the District of Columbia, is seeking an individual with deep entrepreneurial experience to serve as an independent consultant and start-up coach to a community driven business we are germinating in Flint, Michigan. This engagement will require a twelve-month commitment starting in July 2009, dedicating an average of 50% time.

ENTERPRISING HEALTH OVERVIEW
During the Summer of 2008, a group of Flint, MI residents, along with a team from Ascension Health, began participating in the first US-based implementation of the BoP Protocol: a non-traditional innovation process that guides corporations in co-creating new enterprises and markets with residents of low-income or vulnerable communities. Dubbed “Enterprising Health”, the initiative in Flint focuses on conceiving and developing a self-sustaining and locally managed business that would improve the overall health of people in the Flint community.

Over an initial six-month immersion and engagement period, the Ascension Health team drew together a core group of 15 local “business partners” made up of residents from throughout the Flint area, and with them, co-developed a business concept focused around the business and health values of pulling people together in neighborhoods. Today, Ascension Health and the business partners are building Successfully Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Enterprises, through a Protocol-led process of product/service co-creation that engages with the broader Flint community. The consultant will serve as an entrepreneurial resource and coach to help the business partners refine and codify these co-created services into organizational practice, as well as helping SUN Enterprises to develop the business systems that support them.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
The key accountabilities of the Consultant would be working with the Ascension Health team and business partners during the completion of Phase II – Building the Ecosystem and coaching the SUN Enterprises business partners during Phase III – Enterprise Creation. Key elements of these phases of the work include:

1. Phase II - Business Prototype Co-Creation, which includes the following activities:

Guiding the local team in developing an initial service/product offering and working with them to develop an initial business prototype through small-scale business experiments
Coaching the business partners in developing customer engagement, sales, pricing, and other business skills that are needed during the prototyping phase
Working with the local team to build an organizational foundation for the new enterprise
Planning for Phase III – Enterprise Creation

2. Phase III - Being a coach and mentor to SUN business partners through creation and stabilization of the enterprise. Key activities will include working with the business partners to:

Develop the organization systems and business management skills necessary for managing on-going operations
Identify and codify lessons from initial service offerings and customer engagements
Establish a committed market base through deeply vesting the community in the business success
Assisting the transition from start-up to self-sustaining enterprise through sharing and coaching on the difficult but vital decisions entrepreneurs must make to bring a sustainable business to life.

The consultant will work closely with the current project director, be in direct interface and collaboration with the SUN business partners, and be a key interface with the Enterprising Health Advisory Council made up of executives from Ascension Health and principles from ESW.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Within successful candidates for this role, it is anticipated that accomplishments and capabilities would include:

Entrepreneurial experience with multiple businesses, preferably multi-person start up experience
Experience in evolving organizations, hierarchies and decision making structures as a business grows – particularly in early phases
Evolving business models and developing business systems based on early market lessons
Entrepreneurial marketing – marketing with limited funds
Pricing, accounting and operations in a small, growing businesses
Effective functioning more as a coach/advisor for all of the above

Familiarity with the Flint community and the available resources to start-up business would be valuable. A willingness to live in or near Flint during the period of the work would be preferred.

SELECTION PROCESS AND KEY DATES
The selection process will consist of screening interviews conducted by Patrick Donohue, Enterprise for a Sustainable World (ESW) and Scott Lambert, Ascension Health (AH) followed by detailed interviews conducted by a Steering Committee with representatives from Ascension Health, Enterprise for a Sustainable World, several business partners in the start-up enterprise and members of the Flint entrepreneurial community.

Initial Application due Friday, June 26, 2009, 5 p.m. EST: Email brief expressions of interest and current resumes to Patrick Donohue (patrick.donohue@e4sw.org) and Scott Lambert (slambert@ascensionhealth.org)

Ascension Health is looking to fill the position as soon as possible, with a candidate getting started during the summer (2009). The final selection process will include a 1-2 week mini-immersion to give selected candidates and the local business partners a chance to determine if there is a mutual fit (candidates will be compensated for the mini-immersion). As the selection process will kick off as applications come in, interested candidates are encouraged to submit applications before the deadline.

NOTE: This is only an overview of this position. For a full job description or for questions about the selection process, key dates and arrangements, contact Scott Lambert (slambert@ascensionhealth.org).

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:38:42 +0000

Organization: VisionSpring, Inc.

Location: New York, US

Overview of VisionSpring:
VisionSpring (www.visionspring.org) is a global social enterprise that creates jobs and sustains livelihoods through the sale of affordable eyeglasses to the more than 400 million people who need them to work and live productive lives. A leader in social enterprise and Base of the Pyramid (BoP) markets, VisionSpring has been recognized by President Clinton as helping “hundreds of thousands of people and in the process create a whole new sector of the economy." Praised as “innovative” by The Economist and “life-changing” by NBC Nightly News, VisionSpring is the recipient of awards from the Skoll Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the World Bank, and Fast Company Magazine, among others, for its role in poverty alleviation and social capitalism.

VisionSpring empowers low-income women to work as “Vision Entrepreneurs” selling affordable eyeglasses in their communities. Each Vision Entrepreneur receives her own “Business in a Bag,” a microfranchise kit containing all the products and tools she needs to run a profitable business. Our innovative business model allows entrepreneurs to earn income selling a health
product that, in turn, helps others to improve their lives.

Purpose of Position:
This senior leadership role reports to the VisionSpring CEO and Chairman and is responsible for operating the VisionSpring organization, including: Business Development, Sales and Operations, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Human Resources, and Facilities, as well as the Regional activity and interfaces. The COO will provide organizational leadership across a range of staff, country locations, and functional areas. The position will manage a small entrepreneurial team in New York and the India based-Regional Director for Asia.

Description of Duties:
The functions of this role fall into four major categories: managing the day-to-day operations/executing the VisionSpring strategy, ensuring compliance with all legal, finance, tax and regulatory responsibilities, driving all Human Resources activities, and supervising fund raising activities.

1. Managing the Day to Day Operations/Executing the Vision Spring Strategy

Oversees the design, delivery and quality of programs and services.
Creates and maintains procedures for implementing the strategy developed by the Chairman and CEO and the Board of Directors.
Provides strategic guidance for direct reports: VP of Sales & Operations, VP of Business Development, the Regional Director – Asia and their respective areas of responsibility.
Directs the organizational flow of communication among Team (regional and home office) and the three boards, Chairman and CEO and other service partners.
Manages allocation of resources including maximizing the operational impact of annual donations and building a more sustainable business model.

2. Ensuring Compliance with all legal, tax, finance and regulatory responsibilities

Ensures that the VisionSpring resources are within the budget - guidelines according to current laws and regulations.
Ensures compliance for both the Team and service providers with GAAP and other appropriate accounting procedures.
Stays informed and current of important finance, regulatory and legal issues, and provides associated required reporting and compliance.
Oversees and manages, with guidance from the Chair of the Audit Committee, the annual audit.

3. Driving all Human Resources activities

Leads the development, documentation and communication of HR policies and procedures.
Oversees all employee compensation and benefits plans.
Ensures that each employee is managed according to authorized personnel policies and procedures that fully conform to current laws and regulations.
Ensures that each employee receives an annual performance review that includes a plan for development and training.
Sets up and participates in formal mentoring partnerships for Team and ensures that it is ongoing and that goals are achieved and progress is made.
Organizes recruitment and contracting of project team and service providers.

4. Overseeing Business Development Activities with Support from the CEO and Chairman and the VP of Business Development

Supervises the development and execution of the fund raising and communications strategies.
Attends key fund raising meetings with or in place of the CEO and Chairman.
Generates ideas for potential business development opportunities.
Oversees content, production, and distribution of all marketing and publicity materials.

Qualifications:

A minimum of fifteen years of professional experience, including operations management, business development, and financial management, with significant senior management (including cross-cultural) experience.
Demonstrated success working closely with and building relationships with staff, partners, donors, investors and a Board of Directors.
Success growing an organization particularly in an entrepreneurial environment.
Desire to execute organizational strategy for a social purpose and to achieve ambitious targets.
Extensive international experience and enthusiasm for different cultures.
Eagerness to travel regularly to locations with limited infrastructure (significant travel in first year).
Energetic, innovative and resourceful self-starter.
Tenacious work ethic and a sense of urgency in solving problems.
Approaches challenging situations with humor and goodwill.
The highest level of ethical standards.
Bachelor’s degree required, MBA preferred.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

Flexibility:
Full-time role in New York-based headquarters, entrepreneurial culture, with extensive international travel

Compensation:
Competitive compensation and benefits, commensurate with
experience

VisionSpring is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified women, minority and disabled candidates.

Please submit applications including cover letter and resume to visionspringcoo@visionspring.org.

Preferred start, August.

Contact:
Search Committee
VisionSpring, Inc.
12 Desbrosses Street
New York, New York 10013

Technology Manager

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:58:42 +0000

Organization: PharmaSecure

Location: Delhi, IN

Status: Full-Time
Effective Date: July 1, 2009 (see Application Instructions below)

About PharmaSecure
PharmaSecure is a company dedicated to curbing the global trade of counterfeit medicine and providing unprecedented branding services and market data to leading suppliers of quality medicine. The annual global trade in counterfeit drugs is estimated at $50 billion. Counterfeits penetrate every pharmaceutical market and have been blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. In emerging markets where more than 30% of available medicines may be fake and ineffective, PharmaSecure allows consumers to authenticate medicine using mobile phones and the internet. PharmaSecure also provides targeted market research and advertising services by capturing data from authentications. The
company will expand to authentication of other consumer products and will enlarge its geographic scope in emerging markets through its research and marketing efforts.

Job Summary
The Technology Manager is responsible for PharmaSecure’s technical development and operations. This individual will coordinate technical exchanges with current and new clients and support existing IT infrastructure. S/He will be accountable for meeting development objectives created alongside the senior management team. Key performance indicators are functionality of the client-facing system and customer satisfaction.

The Technology Manager will advise PharmaSecure’s executive team on technical
strategy. This individual will interface with PharmaSecure’s partners -- primarily
manufacturers of drugs and formulations but also service providers of related services globally. Opportunities exist for more senior candidates to oversee expansion with partners globally and/or for consumer products beyond drugs. The Technology Manager will oversee the technical effort in India (and potentially a larger team globally).

Responsibilities
1) Manage company’s data systems.

Maintain IT infrastructure, including servers and data security.
Oversee product development.
Respond to technical problems and QA issues.

2) Manage technical team.

Manage sub-contracted programmers.
Recruit and hire additional programmers and systems admins as the company grows.

3) Mediate between clients’ and prospective clients’ IT departments.

Build custom data interfaces into packaging and data management systems of current and future customers.
Be available for troubleshooting across a wide variety of issues related to project implementation including but not limited to technical integration.
Work closely with Sales Group to develop executable projectimplementation plans.

4) Work with PharmaSecure executives to design current and future products as well as develop functional goals for PharmaSecure’s technology and design system architecture.

Work with PharmaSecure executives to set functional objectives and create a development plan.
Regularly report development progress to CEO against plan.
Serve as primary technology architect for future development of PharmaSecure’s system. Work with technical and non-technical members of team to determine functional requirements of new products.

Qualifications

Highly motivated, entrepreneurial individual with expert oral/written communication skills towards individuals with technical and non-technical backgrounds. Strong commitment to excellence.
Able to operate independently and flexibly in an unstructured but demanding multicultural environment.
Minimum three years programming experience in open source environment.
Extensive knowledge and experience with PHP, Cake PHP experience desirable.
Skilled in MySQL.
Corporate experience in Linux and Apache administration.
Minimum three years project management experience.
Extensive experience working with external clients.
Proven track record of managing teams of developers, ensuring quality, timely completion of a range of concurrent development projects in unstructured environments with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership.
Ability to write detailed specifications and effectively manage developers working on different projects.
Available for moderate travel (10-30% of time, depending on scope of responsibilities).
Exposure to healthcare and/or telecomm industries (e.g.; IT, network security, packaging, quality assurance).
Experience working with a major IT company and start-ups is a plus.
Pre-sales and sales engineering experience desirable.
MBA desirable.
Experience living or working abroad is a plus.
Individual will be based in Delhi, India.

Application Instructions
To apply, e-mail Letter of Interest, CV, and contact information for three references to jobs@pharmasecure.us. In the subject field of the email please type Technology Manager.

Sales Manager

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:48:52 +0000

Organization: PharmaSecure

Location: Delhi, IN

Status: Full-Time
Effective Date: July 1, 2009 (see Application Instructions below)

About PharmaSecure
PharmaSecure is a company dedicated to curbing the global trade of counterfeit medicine and providing unprecedented branding services and market data to leading suppliers of quality medicine. The annual global trade in counterfeit drugs is estimated at $50 billion. Counterfeits penetrate every pharmaceutical market and have been blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths annually. In emerging markets where more than 30% of available medicines may be fake and ineffective, PharmaSecure allows consumers to authenticate medicine using mobile phones and the internet. PharmaSecure also provides targeted market research and advertising services by capturing data from authentications. The
company will expand to authentication of other consumer products and will enlarge its geographic scope in emerging markets through its research and marketing efforts.

Job Summary
The Sales Manager is responsible for operations of PharmaSecure’s Sales Group. This individual will develop and maintain relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers throughout India. This includes identifying, contacting, and meeting with potential clients and strategic partners in order to drive contracts to a close. The Sales Manager will also be responsible for partnering with PharmaSecure’s Account Managers to offer enhanced services to current customers. Key performance indicators are revenue and margin. This
person is accountable for meeting sales objectives through work with potential and current clients as well as strategic partners.

The Sales Manager will lead PharmaSecure’s overall strategy and approach with
customers and partners -- primarily manufacturers of drugs and formulations but also service providers of related services globally. Opportunities exist for more senior candidates to oversee expansion with partners globally and/or for consumer products beyond drugs. The Sales Manager will coordinate and lead the sales effort in India (and potentially a larger team globally) in all aspects of customer relationships and interface with PharmaSecure executives to provide support on expanding product authentication throughout India and beyond.

Responsibilities
1) Identify, contact, and meet with prospective clients and strategic partners, guiding them through the enterprise sales process.

Work with PharmaSecure executives to set sales objectives and create sales plan that includes which companies will be targeted by which dates.
Regularly report sales progress to CEO against plan.
Attend industry events to build relationships with key industry heads.
Contact key people in pharmaceutical companies then send information, make sales calls, and close deals.
Develop strategic partners that support PharmaSecure in its growth.

2) Support engagement between PharmaSecure Technology Group and clients/partners to develop executable project implementation plan.

Be available for troubleshooting across a wide variety of issues related to project implementation including but not limited to technical integration.
Interact with PharmaSecure’s Technical Group to develop and implement strategies to help clients accelerate adoption of PharmaSecure services.

3) Lead negotiations with customers on pricing and other project service terms and conditions.

Work closely with PharmaSecure executives to monitor and alter pricing model, as necessary.

4) Maintain relationships with current clients to offer them enhanced services.

Partner with Account Managers to identify what products and productenhancements would appeal to clients.
Contact and make sales calls to clients.

5) Remain aware of competitive products and innovative trends within the pharmaceutical marketplace. Provide ideas and suggestions relative to other security company’s product lines and sales strategies. Communicate concerns and trends to PharmaSecure management and work together to address these.

6) Coordinate with PharmaSecure peers to provide input on marketing campaigns to maximize marketing budget.

7) Support PharmaSecure’s expansion to new products and geographies, per the growth strategy. Provide strategic consulting advice to help identify key opportunities for market entry.

Qualifications

Highly motivated, entrepreneurial individual with expert interpersonal and oral/written communication skills with a strong commitment to excellence.
Able to operate independently and flexibly in an unstructured but demanding multicultural environment.
MBA with three years sales experience at a pharmaceutical or FMCG company.
Proven track record of enterprise sales valued above Rs 25 lakh.
Available for frequent travel (50-80% of time, depending on scope of responsibilities).
Exposure to healthcare and/or telecomm industries (e.g.; sales, marketing, security, brand management, packaging, quality assurance).
Written and oral fluency in English required.
Experience living or working abroad is a plus.
Individual will be based in Delhi, India.

Investment Officer, Central America

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:37:57 +0000

Organization: Root Capital

Location: San José, CR

Root Capital seeks applications for an Investment Officer (IO) for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. This IO, together with the Root Capital team, will be responsible for the following activities in the region mentioned above: identify potential investments; analyze them using rigorous financial, environmental, and social criteria; execute them; and monitor them. The Investment Officer will be based in Root Capital’s regional office in San José, Costa Rica and have one or more Spanish-speaking countries in his/her portfolio. Candidates should have experience with banking or with investment funds, possess a technical professional background, and be passionate about supporting the advance of Root Capital’s mission of conserving vulnerable natural resources and promoting equitable social development in rural areas of Latin America.

For full job description and instructions on how to apply, click here.

For more information about Root Capital, please visit: http://www.rootcapital.org

Investment Officer, South America

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:33:55 +0000

Organization: Root Capital

Location: Lima, PE

Root Capital seeks applications for an Investment Officer (IO) for South America. This IO, together with the Root Capital team, will be responsible for the following activities in South America: identify potential investments; analyze them using rigorous financial, environmental, and social criteria; execute them; and monitor them. The Investment Officer will be based in Root Capital’s regional office in Lima, Peru and have one or more Spanish-speaking countries in his/her portfolio; it is likely that this position will have a special focus on Brazil. Candidates should have experience with banking or with investment funds, possess a technical professional background, and be passionate about supporting the advance of Root Capital’s mission of conserving vulnerable natural resources and promoting equitable social development in rural areas of Latin America.

For full job description and instructions on how to apply, click here.

For more information about Root Capital, please visit: http://www.rootcapital.org

U.S. Program Director - Atlas Service Corps

Wed, 27 May 2009 20:30:22 +0000

Organization: Atlas Service Corps

Location: Washington, D.C., US

Atlas Service Corps, Inc. (Atlas Corps) is an international nonprofit that organizes a two-way exchange of nonprofit leaders. The mission of Atlas Corps is to train leaders, strengthen organizations and promote innovation in the nonprofit sector through an international fellowship/network of mid-career professionals addressing critical global issues. Atlas Corps pursues this mission through building an international network of the best nonprofit leaders and organizations that promotes innovation, cooperation, and solutions to address the world’s most intractable challenges. Please see http://www.atlascorps.org/intro.html for more information.

Atlas Corps is seeking an energetic, organized individual with inter-cultural experience and sensitivity to help manage all aspects of the Atlas Corps fellowship training program for nonprofit leaders from the global south. Atlas Corps is an international fellowship program that trains leaders, strengthens organizations and promotes innovation in the nonprofit sector through an international network of mid-career professionals addressing critical global issues. The U.S. Program Director has primary responsibility for the logistical operations of the fellowship program. The Program Director’s activities are carried out in consultation with and approval of the CEO. For more information about Atlas Corps, please visit: http://www.atlascorps.org.

For full job description and instructions on how to apply, click here.

Lending Manager

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:53:55 +0000

Organization: RSF Social Finance

Location: San Francisco, CA, US

About RSF Social Finance:

RSF is a social enterprise dedicated to using the tools of business to bring about positive, real-world change. Our goal is not just to make money available to progressive and innovative projects; it's to fundamentally change the way the world works with money.

For more information about this opportunity, please follow this link.

Application deadline: May 31, 2009

Consultant / Report Lead Author: Growing Inclusive Markets in Eastern Europe and the CIS

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:42:35 +0000

Organization: UNDP - Growing Inclusive Markets for Eastern Europe and the CIS

Location: SK

For more information about this opportunity, please follow this link.

Application deadline: June 1st, 2009.

Consultant / Report Co-Author: Growing Inclusive Markets in Eastern Europe and the CIS

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:41:08 +0000

Organization: UNDP - Growing Inclusive Markets for Eastern Europe and the CIS

Location: SK

For more information about this opportunity, please follow this link.

Application deadline: June 1st, 2009.

Consultant for the Development of Case Studies on Inclusive Business Models

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:32:57 +0000

Organization: UNDP - Growing Inclusive Markets for Eastern Europe and the CIS

Location: SK

Background

The Global Growing Inclusive Markets initiative (GIM), led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is a platform to facilitate the engagement of all actors for more inclusive business models so that the pursuits of profit and human progress can work to mutual advantage. More inclusive business models include the poor on the demand side as clients and customers, and on the supply side as employees, producers and business owners at various points in the value chain. They recognize the poor as partners for growth and wealth creation. And when markets include more poor people, we all win. Doing business with the poor brings them into the marketplace- a critical step on the path out of poverty- and for entrepreneurs and firms it drives innovation, builds markets and creates new spaces for growth. Inclusive business models both produce and reap the benefits of human development.

The first and ground breaking report from the GIM initiative, Creating Value for All: Strategies for Doing Business with the Poor, launched in July 2008, highlighted portraits of successful simultaneous pursuits of revenues and social impact.
The report draws from 50 specifically commissioned case studies, from researchers and academics in predominantly developing countries from Peru to Kenya to the Philippines. It provided successful strategies that have been used by local and international small and medium-sized companies, as well as multinational corporations to overcome common constraints to doing business in a developing region.

Drawing from these studies, the five main constraints to creating inclusive markets, both for the businesses and for the poor themselves, were identified: limited market information; ineffective regulatory environments; inadequate physical infrastructure; missing knowledge and skills; and restricted access to financial products and services. To overcome these constraints takes creativity and cooperation between many actors.

In the report, five of the most consistent and effective strategies were noted: adapt products and processes; invest in training or infrastructure to remove constraints; leverage the strengths of the poor to increase labour and management pools and to expand local knowledge; work with similarly-minded businesses, non-profit organizations or public service providers; and engage in policy dialogues with governments. By using a more inclusive business model, businesses can drive innovation, develop new markets, enlarge the labour pool and strengthen supply chains, while empowering the poor and helping meet basic needs.

The Growing Inclusive Markets (GIM) Initiative for Eastern Europe and CIS aims to promote more inclusive markets in the region by localizing the global GIM initiative at regional and country level.

This regional multi-stakeholder initiative, conceived in partnership with a broad range of institutions, (including business organizations, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and development agencies), will produce a landmark publication that will seek to occupy a unique niche within the current regional landscape by capturing leading edge examples and business models of how businesses can include the poor and contribute to the MDGs through their core competencies.

The objective of such a report is to serve as a strategic regional advocacy tool on the important role of the private sector in achieving the MDGs, to spur local action by inspiring small and big businesses in the region to develop more pro-poor business models, and to create space for dialogue with other local stakeholders to improve the enabling environment for inclusive markets development.

The analytical backbone to the Report will be the authoring of case studies sourced across geographies and sectors. To achieve this objective, a network of case writers from the following sub-regions will be set up: New EU member States and Candidates, Western Balkans, Western CIS, Caucasus and Central Asia . The network will be led by UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (BRC). BRC in collaboration with reviewers will coordinate the network of case study writers, and will also be responsible for case study quality assurance, which includes consistency across all case studies, incorporating comments from third parties, etc.

For more information about this opportunity, please follow this link.

Application deadline: June 6, 2009.