Tag Archives: social Innovation

The New Philanthropy – New models for Social Impact

Posted on July 27, 2008 | Leave a comment

I had a great time attending the conference to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of my alma mater, IIT Bombay. The event was well attended with over 800 attendees and very well organized. It was fun catching up with some of my classmates after 30 plus years!

I had the pleasure of moderating a wonderful panel on “The New Philanthropy – New models for Social Impact” with four great speakers presenting a wide range of activities that their different organizations pursue in the social sector.  The panelists were

  • Shari Berenbach, Executive Director, Calvert Foundation
  • Omer Imtiazuddin, Health Portfolio Manager, Acumen Fund
  • Lisa Nitze, Vice President, Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur Program, Ashoka Global
  • Linda Segre, Managing Director, Operations & Initiatives, Google.org

I have written a more in-depth article for Lokvani, but some of the key points were: Continue reading →

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Posted in Conference, Health, Information Technology, micro-finance, non-profit, Philanthropy, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy

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Boston Globe interview with Prof. Yunus

Posted on July 27, 2008 | 1 comment

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. You can find the rest of the interview in their article online at A really unconventional lender

You have a different view of how capitalism should work. How do you think capitalism should be reformed?

Capitalism is very narrowly defined in the way we practice it. You ignore everything else but money making. And by ignoring the other parts of human beings – concern for other people, concern about the planet, willingness to make a difference in the world – we’ve created a distortion. So I’m suggesting there’s not one type of business model, but two types. One takes care of making money, which can lead to happiness. The other happiness comes from the other type of business, which is to do good to other people. You cover your costs – it’s not charity. Charity money has only one life – once you use it, it goes. Use the money in a social business, then it has an endless life. It’s recycled. It never disappears.

Read the rest of the interview here.

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Posted in micro-finance, Poverty, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

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Motomen make Wireless Internet happen

Posted on July 12, 2008 | Leave a comment

A couple of years ago, I met with Amir Hasson Alexander, an enterprising young man from MIT with a vision of bringing internet connectivity to the 2 Billion underserved in the farthest regions of the world. Using buses equipped with WiFi. Amir’s company, United Villages  (www.unitedvillages.com)  and his enterprising band of ‘Motomen, provides web content to computers with no internet connection. A small box, with an antenna, onboard the buses or motorcycles, communicates with the rural computers. Every time a WiFi bus/motorcycle rolls by the village, the web content on the village kiosk computer is updated and email delivered. In remote locations with no wired connections, villagers can communicate – albeit asynchronously – with their cousins in faraway lands, order parts, lodge complaints, or review the status of their claims. With every kiosk Hasson’s company makes the world a smaller place.

Click here to see a CNN video of Amir’s Cambodian Motomen scooting around on their bikes

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Posted in BOP, Information Technology, international development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

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Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

Posted on July 11, 2008 | 2 comments

Earlier this year, Nobel laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus was the invited guest speaker at MIT’s 142nd commencement. In his prepared remarks to the students he outlined how he started microcredit thirty plus years ago from a simple desire to free villagers near his university in Chittagong from the penalizing interest that they paid to moneylenders.

Today his organization, Grameen Bank, has grown to cover 7.5 million borrowers in Bangladesh, 97 percent of them women. From this beginning he has expanded to provide services and products in a number of areas ranging from health insurance, to affordable cell phone service with Grameen Phone to renewable energy solutions through Grameen Shakti.

Drawing from his successes with these businesses, Prof. Yunus has refined an overarching social business philosophy that he recently published in his latest book “Creating a World Without Poverty – Social Business and the Future of Capitalism“. Continue reading →

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Posted in micro-finance, non-profit, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

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Designing for the bottom of the pyramid

Posted on July 6, 2008 | Leave a comment

A few months ago I wrote an article on the new focus on the “Bottom of the Pyramid”. The BOP as it is known is loosely defined as the 2 to 2.5 Billion people around the world who manage on less than $2 per day. The affluent tip of the pyramid in contrast consists of less than 100 million people who make over $20,000 a year.

Recently, there has been an increasing focus by organizations to address this segment with products and services tailored to their needs. The trend was popularized in C.K. Prahalad‘s book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid“.  I tried to extract some of the core approaches used to address this market. Here is the short version. You can see my entire article on Lokvani by clicking here.

  • Reengineering Organizational Processes:  Reduce process costs by reexamining every step. By focusing on improved delivery models, new systems are able to provide services to thousands who would otherwise not be able to afford it.
  • Building Affordable Financing Models: Match small scale loan payments to meet customer needs and cash flows. Leverage local support systems and peer pressure to encourage timely repayment.
  • Leveraging Rural Networks: Tap into existing informal networks and make them work to support the product or service.
  • Designing Local Solutions: Tailor indigenous materials and processes to provide similar functionality. Use local talent to iterate design solutions.

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Posted in BOP, micro-finance, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation

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