Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen Fund invests patient capital to strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor and champions this approach as an effective complement to traditional aid. Acumen Fund currently manages nearly $40 million in investments in South Asia and East Africa, all focused on delivering affordable healthcare, water, housing and energy to the poor.
Jacqueline’s recent best-selling memoir, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, which will be released in paperback in February 2010, chronicles her quest to understand poverty and challenges readers to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink their engagement with the world.

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Global Water Challenge (GWC) is a diverse coalition of leading organizations providing creative and sustainable solutions for universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Our mission is to create a global movement to meet the urgent need for safe water and sanitation by spurring collective awareness and investment in innovation by corporate, public, and nongovernmental actors. Our challenge is provide tools and education to empower people to find their own solutions.

We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Program as “the Father of Economic Ecology” and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, past Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987.

Professor Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the U S National Academy of Sciences. He has received 58 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai (Madras), India.
We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Program as “the Father of Economic Ecology” and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, past Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987.

Professor Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the U S National Academy of Sciences. He has received 58 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai (Madras), India.
We would like to thank our podcast sponsors who make this free podcast possible:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Program as “the Father of Economic Ecology” and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, past Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987.

Professor Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the U S National Academy of Sciences. He has received 58 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai (Madras), India.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Professor M. S. Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Program as “the Father of Economic Ecology” and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, past Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”.

A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan’s contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security. The International Association of Women and Development conferred on him the first international award for significant contributions to promoting the knowledge, skill, and technological empowerment of women in agriculture and for his pioneering role in mainstreaming gender considerations in agriculture and rural development. Professor Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987.

Professor Swaminathan is a Fellow of many of the leading scientific academies of India and the world, including the Royal Society of London and the U S National Academy of Sciences. He has received 58 honorary doctorate degrees from universities around the world. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Ecotechnology at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai (Madras), India.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Muriel chats with DJ Louis founder and organizer of STARFEST and Mr. Charles Fisher of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council (HHSYC).

STARFEST Multi-Cultural Music Festival is Series of events that will take place throughout the Caribbean Community from December 2009 through2010.

STARFEST will launch at Henfrasa Stadium in Haiti on Saturday, December 5th, 2009. The festival was created to entertain Caribbean residents and citizens worldwide through concerts from some of the Top Artists in the world performing Hip-Hop, R&B, Compa, Reggae, Jazz and Zouk music. There will also be parties, food, drinks, art, talent shows, cultural and educational events. In addition to having “tons of fun”, STARFEST will bring awareness to the world about the needs of the Caribbean Community and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email

Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

Arun shares these lessons all around the world. For the past five years, he has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. This year, some of his engagements included speaking at the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Women’s Justice Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also delivered talks at the Young President’s Organization in Mexico, the Trade Union Leaders’ Meeting in Milan, Italy, as well as the Peace and Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Sometimes, his journeys take him even further. Arun has spoken in Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, Nicaragua, China, Scotland and Japan. Also, he is a very popular speaker on college campuses. In the past year, he spoke at, North Dakota State University, Concordia College, Baker University, Morehouse College, Marquette University, and the University of San Diego.

Arun is very involved in social programs and writing, as well. Shortly after Arun married his wife Sunanda, they were informed the South African government would not allow her to accompany him there. Sunanda and Arun decided to live in India, and Arun worked for 30 years as a journalist for The Times of India. Together, Arun and Sunanda started projects for the social and economic uplifting of the oppressed using constructive programs, the backbone of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. The programs changed the lives of more than half a million people in over 300 villages and they still continue to grow. Sunanda died in February of 2007 and the family is working to establish a school in poorest rural India in her name.

Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa; then, he wrote two books on poverty and politics in India; followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi’s Wit & Wisdom. He also edited a book of essays on World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? And, more recently, wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, jointly with his late wife Sunanda.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

Arun shares these lessons all around the world. For the past five years, he has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. This year, some of his engagements included speaking at the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Women’s Justice Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also delivered talks at the Young President’s Organization in Mexico, the Trade Union Leaders’ Meeting in Milan, Italy, as well as the Peace and Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Sometimes, his journeys take him even further. Arun has spoken in Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, Nicaragua, China, Scotland and Japan. Also, he is a very popular speaker on college campuses. In the past year, he spoke at, North Dakota State University, Concordia College, Baker University, Morehouse College, Marquette University, and the University of San Diego.

Arun is very involved in social programs and writing, as well. Shortly after Arun married his wife Sunanda, they were informed the South African government would not allow her to accompany him there. Sunanda and Arun decided to live in India, and Arun worked for 30 years as a journalist for The Times of India. Together, Arun and Sunanda started projects for the social and economic uplifting of the oppressed using constructive programs, the backbone of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. The programs changed the lives of more than half a million people in over 300 villages and they still continue to grow. Sunanda died in February of 2007 and the family is working to establish a school in poorest rural India in her name.

Arun is the author of several books. The first, A Patch of White (1949), is about life in prejudiced South Africa; then, he wrote two books on poverty and politics in India; followed by a compilation of M.K. Gandhi’s Wit & Wisdom. He also edited a book of essays on World Without Violence: Can Gandhi’s Vision Become Reality? And, more recently, wrote The Forgotten Woman: The Untold Story of Kastur, the Wife of Mahatma Gandhi, jointly with his late wife Sunanda.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.

Steven M. Hilton has worked in the field of philanthropy for more than 25 years. He joined the Foundation in 1983 and has held numerous positions over the years, including program assistant, program associate, and vice president, programs. He was named president in 1998 and in 2005 the Board of Directors also appointed him CEO.

Prior to joining the foundation begun by his grandfather, Mr. Hilton worked for five years in hotel management with Hilton Hotels Corporation in Alabama, Georgia and California. He was also involved in aquaculture (fish farming) businesses in California and Hawaii. A graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, he earned his Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Mr. Hilton serves on the board of directors of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Fund for Sisters.

We wish to thank the following sponsors for this podcast:

Lauren Solomon Associates: “Your image is the key to your ultimate success”, says Lauren, and she delivers. To purchase your very own copy of Lauren’s book, “Image Matters”. Visit LSImage to purchase this book.

AND:

ConnectingPointe is a company dedicated to whole person wellness by supporting you in Body, Mind & Spirit. The experiential coaching method involves the active participation of coach and client, addressing the whole person and emphasizing action leading to a more effective process for living. It is a unique coaching relationship that consistently offers an extraordinary level of support and encouragement. Our goal is to set up a coaching relationship with you that is an alliance between two equals. Focused on you, on what you want in life and on what will support you to achieve a life of ease, grace and abundance.

ConnectingPointe is also dedicated to supporting those people who are ready to make a difference in their own lives while making a difference on a global basis. Contact ConnectingPointe by email ConnectingPointe@earthlink.net or by calling 1-888-427-4638. Visit our website at www.ConnectingPointe.com.