Posted on March 25, 2010 by Raj Melville
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion at Continuum, the design consultancy, on “Building Leadership in the Microfinace Sector”. The presentation and discussion centered around some very preliminary findings based on an initial field trip and set the stage for more detailed field research to be conducted later this year. I have outlined some of their observations at the meeting and my reaction to what I heard. Read the details at http://blog.ambientengines.com
Filed under: Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation | Tagged: BOP, Center for Creative Leadership, Continuum, Grameen Foundation, Human resources, micro-finance, microfinance, mid-level managers, Shorecap Exchange, Social Business, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, talent, yunus | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 20, 2009 by Raj Melville
The latest Time Magazine has a great article about social entrepreneur Reed Paget and his startup Belu that has grown from $13,000 in 2004 to nearly $4 million in 2008 while providing water in corn based bottles that can be composted and redeploying its profits to projects that bring clean water to deserving regions of [...]
Filed under: Investment, Recycle, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Water, environment, social Innovation | Tagged: Belu, Greenpeace, Reed Paget, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy, yunus | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 3, 2009 by Raj Melville
Clayton Christensen recently opined in The Huffington Post about the role the White House Office of Social Innovation could play. He suggests “Bottom up ” initiatives are needed. However I think the real issue is not “bottom up” initiatives but a complete lack of a supporting social ecosystem to encourage radical innovation and nurture young social entrepreneurs.
Filed under: Investment, Philanthropy, Politics, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, social Innovation, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Clayton Christensen, Echoing Green, New Profit, non-profit, Office of Social Innovation, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Social Investment, Vanessa Kirsch, venture philanthropy, White House, yunus | 10 Comments »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Raj Melville
Couple of months ago we had the privilege to host Mr. N. Srinivasan in Boston. Mr. Srinivasan is the author of the ‘Microfinance in India: State of the Sector Report 2008’, was Chief General Manager of India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) where he served for 25 years. Here are excerpts from an interview and Mr Srinivasan’s open letter to the Indian Government.
Filed under: Investment, Micro-enterprises, Social Ecosystem, micro-finance, microfinance, sustainable development | Tagged: microfinance, micro-finance, sustainable development, yunus, India, microcredit, savings, NABARD | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 9, 2009 by Raj Melville
Bala Vishwanath, an IIT and IIM alum, saw an opportunity to multiply the social impact of every dollar, quit his job and worked to setup www.UnitedProsperity.org United Prosperity helps provide loan guarantees that enable poor entrepreneurs to borrow from Microfinance Institutions to build their enterprises in developing countries.
Filed under: India, Micro-enterprises, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, international development, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, microfinance, micro-finance, sustainable development, yunus, Social Business, Social Impact, Philanthropy, Social Investment, India, microcredit, Kiva, United Prosperity | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 4, 2009 by Raj Melville
The opening keynote to the 10th annual HBS Social Enterprise Conference was a truly inspirational presentation by Linda Rottenberg from Endeavor, Inc. Linda traced the arc of social entrepreneurship as it accelerated over the past decade from an idea to formally becoming a key movement.
Filed under: Conference, Micro-enterprises, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, international development, non-profit, social Innovation, sustainability, venture philanthropy | Tagged: Social Entrepreneur, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, Conference, international development, ecosystem, yunus, Social Business, sustainability, Social Impact, Philanthropy, Social Investment, social entrepreneurship, non-profit, Sustainable ventures, Linda Rottenberg, Endeavor, Bono, Bill Gates | 5 Comments »
Posted on September 20, 2008 by Raj Melville
Microfinance, as demonstrated by Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus, provides disadvantaged entrepreneurs with small loans to run their businesses and eventually help lift them out of poverty. This has become a wide spread phenomenon all over the world encouraging millions of families out of poverty. What’s next? There is a huge business opportunity for both, investment in the MFIs and providing other business services to these micro-enterprises at the bottom of the pyramid.
Filed under: BOP, Conference, Education, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, bottom of the pyramid, micro-finance, microfinance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: Boston, Conference, ecosystem, Education, ForSE 2008, microfinance, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, yunus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 30, 2008 by Raj Melville
Prof. Yunus continued to speak about his vision of creating social businesses to help address some of the pressing issues facing us. He challenged the youth to start social businesses by saying. “I would like to say that while we at Grameen have done a few things, there are many causes that are waiting for you to take up”
Filed under: Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: bangladesh, Boston, business models, grameen, micro-finance, microcredit, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, womens issues, yunus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 27, 2008 by Raj Melville
Follow up to my post on “Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”. The Boston Globe published an interesting interview with Prof. Yunus while he was in Boston to speak at the MIT commencement. I have excerpted one of the questions below.
Filed under: Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, micro-finance, social Innovation, sustainable development | Tagged: capitalism, grameen, microcredit, MIT, Nobel Prize, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability, sustainable development, womens issues, yunus | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 11, 2008 by Raj Melville
Mainstream politics in India is picking up on themes of key social entrepreneurial thinkers as the two major parties prepare for elections.
Filed under: BOP, Politics, Poverty, Social Ecosystem | Tagged: Acumen Fund, BJP, BOP, Chidambaram, Congress Party, India, LK Advani, prahalad, yunus | Leave a Comment »
