Screenshot from The New Recruits website
Yasmina Zaidman, Acumen Fund’s Director of Communications, posted a discussion to Acumen’s community site about the film and I took a few minutes to reply. You can read the whole conversation here but since the tone of the questions was on the thoughtful/serious side, I didn’t get a chance to say how awesome and hilarious Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight Schrute from The Office) was as the narrator. Perhaps my favorite line of the whole documentary was, “Joel has a secret weapon: A spreadsheet!” Just go to minute 36 of the film and listen for Rainn Wilson’s impeccable delivery.
Of course, the irony is that while a spreadsheet might make Joel feel confident, it remains to be seen how effective it will be in convincing illiterate, rural farmers to buy drip irrigation systems. But this was a perfect example of the Fellows’ optimism and can-do spirit bumping up against the realities on the ground, and I really admired Joel’s upbeat attitude in spite of it all. I just wish the film were longer so that I could better track the successes and challenges of the Fellows over the full year and learn more from their experiences.
Tags: Acumen Fund, Agriculture, Business, Discussion, India, Irrigation, Kenya, Pakistan, PBS, Social Enterprise, The Office
