Social Enterprise Follow-Up

I love the Google Docs version of PowerPoint

Two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of participating in Urekaweekend (although, to be honest, I mostly lived vicariously through Dan and his project).

I spoke about a few social enterprises on the Friday night and I just wanted to put them in one place in case anyone is interested in doing more research on their own. My selection process involved thinking about programs that would be accessible and inspiring for people trying to go from idea to action in one weekend. I also wanted to make sure that there were some clear take-aways that participants could apply to their work. Here’s a run-down of who I mentioned plus related links:

Ashoka & Ashoka’s Changemakers: An obvious choice but incredibly relevant. While the Ashoka Fellows Program may be for established social entrepreneurs, I love that Changemakers competitions are accessible to entry-level entrepreneurs and anyone with an interest in innovative ways of addressing social issues.
Links: Ashoka & Changemakers

Dowser: I mentioned Dowser during the presentation since I had just read an interesting interview with Kyle Berner of Feelgoodz, a flip-flop company that takes its triple bottom line (concern about the social and environmental impact in addition to profits) very seriously.
Links: Dowser & Interview with Kyle Berner

Jezebel: Not a social enterprise by any stretch of the imagination but they recently posted about how most products that are labeled “green” aren’t really “green” but that’s what sells. Social enterprises go beyond green-washing or token CSR – the social mission is the core of their work.
Link: Jezebel post

Souktel: I love Souktel’s business model and the value their service provides to their customers. Job-seekers pay a modest SMS fee to search job ads or post their mini-CVs; employers pay higher fees to post jobs and search CVs. And the best part is that they pretty much cover their expenses through the fees. In thinking about Souktel’s model, I suggested Urekaweekend participants ask themselves, “What existing platforms can I use for my project? What low-cost resources are already at my disposal? Who is my target audience or consumer? Is there potential for the idea to be financially self-sustaining?”
Links: Souktel & their Changemakers entry

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE): SHE uses design, local materials, and local buy-in to increase access to sanitary pads for girls and women. This is a noble enterprise in and of itself but SHE’s business model has multiple positive impacts at each stage of production and distribution. In one product, SHE recycles banana leaf fiber, creates jobs in sanitary pad production and distribution, introduces a product that will enable women to go to school or work even when they are menstruating, enhances sanitation, and reduces stigma, among other things. I asked Urekaweekenders to think about the ways their products can be more sustainable environmentally and financially and how they might take something that has negative value – for example, discarded banana leaves – and turn it into something with positive value. In other words, what are innovative ways to keep your expenses low while maximizing profit?
Link: Sustainable Health Enterprises

A to Z Textile Mills: A to Z Textile Mills is addressing the negative impact of malaria through the production and distribution of specially-treated bednets. There’s a lot of information available about them on Acumen Fund’s website but they’re a solid example of how innovation can come from enhancing existing products or systems. As I told Urekaweekenders, think about how you can build on other people’s ideas by creating something more effective, less expensive, or more targeted.
Links: A to Z Textile Mills on AcumenFund.org plus slideshow

MicroDrip: One of the most effective aspects of MicroDrip’s model is that you don’t have to buy their entire micro-drip irrigation system at once. You can buy what you can afford now, use it on a small section of your land, and see the results for yourself. For Urekaweekenders, is there a way that you can demonstrate impact and efficacy for your new product or service? And are you setting an affordable price-point for your intended consumer?
Link: MicroDrip

BEN Namibia: Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia (BEN Namibia) won a recent Changemakers competition with their program for training and equipping women to run community-based bicycle workshops. To give you a little background, they started out distributing bicycles but soon realized that people lacked training on basic repairs and maintenance. So they developed a new bike distribution model that involves delivering 350 second-hand bicycles, tools, spare parts, paint, roofing materials, and workbenches to grassroots organizations that then run a community-based bicycle shop. I asked Urekaweekenders to think about the distribution model for their ideas. How are you going to get your product to your consumer? Is there sufficient infrastructure on the ground to support it? If not, what can you do to help build the network and systems necessary for your product to thrive?
Links: BEN Bikes & Changemakers entry

Amul: I was only recently introduced to Amul so I’m not an expert in their work but they are a very successful Indian dairy company. Their three-tier cooperative structure encourages many positive social impacts, including job creation, rural development, and poverty alleviation, and their company has increased the accessibility of affordable and nutritious products. At the same, their place at the cornerstone of India’s “White Revolution” (India is now one of the top milk producers in the world) has demonstrated the importance of taking a commercial/business approach to development.
Links: Amul & Amul on Wikipedia (don’t judge!)

EcoMovement: EcoMovement is a New Hampshire-based company that picks up food waste at a lower cost than trash pick-up, turns the waste into compost, and then sells it to local landscapers. This is another excellent example of taking something with negative value and turning it into multiple things with positive value: compost you can sell, less waste at restaurants, and lower costs for businesses that use the service. Some additional things I asked the Urekaweekenders to think about: if the idea you’re working on has an element of behavior change, for example, encouraging people to recycle, what are ways that you can make recycling easier, cheaper, more convenient, and even more fun than just using the trash can? What are the typical barriers to addressing recycling behavior and how might you need to shift cultural norms in favor of the use of your product or service?
Links: NPR story & SeacoastOnline story

Twitter: While not a social enterprise, twitter is a valuable aggregator and a great way to learn more about the fields that interest you from a variety of perspectives. Do your research, read up on the competition, and stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments. Once you have a lay of the land, think about what you do best. Where is your competitive advantage? And how is what you’re developing making the most of your unique experiences and abilities? As I say ad nauseam, “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel!” If someone does it better than you, outsource or use their platform.
Links: Twitter (with social enterprise hashtag)

Good luck and happy social enterprising!

My Social Enterprise

Lightbulbs

Without really trying, I came up with an idea for a social enterprise while preparing a presentation for Urekaweekend.

Before I get to my idea, I want to give a quick plug for Urekaweekend, an idea incubation event in KL that pushes you from idea to action on an accelerated schedule. Since this month’s theme was “social enterprises”, I focused on a few interesting organizations that I learned about through Changemakers, Acumen Fund, and general research (I’ll include a list and links in my next post). Thinking about one of the companies I profiled led me to consider the sorry state of recycling in Malaysia and how a social enterprise might go about addressing it.

My idea starts with creating an app/website/mobile website. Yes, this doesn’t sound particularly innovative and it’s pretty much everyone’s answer for everything these days BUT I have a few reasons for choosing this format.

First off, there seems to be a high rate of smart phone ownership here and a very poor to non-existent recycling culture. On a personal note, the number one barrier I have to recycling in KL is a lack of information about where I can take my recycling or if there are any services I can call. As I potential recycler, I know that I would appreciate a simple site that lists/geotags locations/restaurants/businesses where I could go. To hearken back to my days doing harm reduction health outreach, one of the first steps to behavior change is exposure to accurate information. Making recycling information accessible and actionable would be one goal of the site/app, something made that much easier by the prevalence of smart phones and the likelihood that this information would be very relevant while people are out and about.

Next up, recyclers can easily broadcast when they recycle or identify/geotag a new recycling site to their friends via facebook/twitter/etc. The goal of this, in addition to sharing information, is to start creating a culture of recycling by shifting peer norms and expectations. (Another idea I owe to health outreach.) People might start thinking to themselves, “Maybe it’s more ‘normal’ to drop my recycling off on Saturday on the way to the gym instead of just dumping it in the trash.” “My friends are doing it – I want to get on this bandwagon.” Or, maybe, someone just wants to brag about how environmentally friendly they are just like people brag about all the cool places they visit using foursquare or how many miles they’ve run with Nike Running. That’s fine, too!

After some research and a weekend of geotagging with a group of friends to start populating information, the site can beta-launch. Some next steps could include:
- Personal email/social media campaigns
- Reaching out to local press
- Working with businesses that recycle to make sure they are geotagged and that they start to think about recycling as a new marketing angle
- Encouraging new businesses to start recycling as good PR/CSR
- Getting a chain store to participate for a trial period (for example, Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are all over the place and it could provide great publicity for them while bringing their target consumers right to their front door)
- Selling advertising space to companies that are promoting niche products like organic juice/eco-tourism trips/etc who are interested in targeting people who probably have smart phones, definitely have Internet, care about recycling, and have the time and resources to make special recycling trips or arrangements (i.e. socially conscious folks with disposable income)
- Once the demand for recycling services is established, perhaps the government or more likely private business will step in and provide more organized, more convenient services at a compelling price

The initial site infrastructure could probably be developed in a weekend since it builds on existing platforms (including Google maps and foursquare), connects to other platforms (such as facebook and twitter), and will be simple, simple, simple. Expenses are low, beta-implementation is pretty straight-forward, and it’s really a behavior change marketing campaign after the site launches. I’m hoping to get this rolling ASAP and that one of my AWESOME developer friends will be game (once he wakes up in New York and reads his email). If not, I can always tap into the talented pool of Urekaweekenders. Wish me luck!

It’s Our Turn to Eat

Read this book

I just finished Michela Wrong’s It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower and it’s a must-read for anyone interested in international aid, corruption, and recent Kenyan history. Plus, it reads like a political thriller so chances are you’ll have trouble putting it down.

The book addressed a number of topics that I’ve been contemplating recently, particularly the broken international aid structure that seems more focused on dispersing money than evaluating the impact of its projects. One point that really resonated with me was how the vast amounts of foreign aid in Kenya provided a smoke screen as the government scammed over one billion dollars out of the treasury during the Anglo Leasing scandal. As long as a few basic services were still being delivered, the expectation was that regular Kenyans wouldn’t notice the money pouring out of the treasury for sham projects just to be re-routed into government officials’ pockets and slush funds for the next election.

Foreign donors’ inattention to corruption and its implicit racism emerged as another important theme by the end of the book. In addition to being condescending and not up to the standard that the West would expect of itself, “There could have been few more lurid illustrations of the fact that government corruption, far from being a detail of history, really does matter, than Kenya’s post-election crisis.” Yet this political, social, and financial distortion is exactly what donors support when they turn a blind eye to rampant malfeasance. I have a lot of respect for organizations like Acumen Fund that take a firm line against bribes and sweeteners to the short-term detriment of their goals but which hopefully send a message that taking advantage of customers, citizens, and investors is an unacceptable way of doing business.

While It’s Our Turn to Eat was jarring and upsetting, I was still energized by the way it clearly outlined why and how international aid isn’t working. It also reminded me that I need to read Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, another one of those books I can’t believe I haven’t picked up yet. But I suppose that’s what summer vacations are for – catching up on reading and preparing oneself for the year ahead.

Boston TweetUp

Image via Kingston Station by Liz Curtis

Looking forward to a little get-together that Ashoka’s Changemakers is hosting tonight in Boston. I’m hoping that it will be a convergence of my local social enterprise worlds: Changemakers and the Revelation to Action competition, Boston for Acumen, and Net Impact Boston. Here are the details:

Ashoka’s Changemakers is hosting a TweetUp today at Kingston Station where they’ll have free hors d’œuvres, a cash bar, and plenty of great conversation. Plus, it’s an open event – the more the merrier.

What: Changemakers TweetUp
When: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 from 6-8pm
Where: Kingston Station (25 Kingston Street, Boston)
Cost: Free!
RSVP: http://changemakerstweetupbos.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!

The New Recruits

Screenshot from The New Recruits website

Last week, I watched The New Recruits, a short documentary on PBS about three Acumen Fund Fellows trying to apply their business experiences to social enterprises in Pakistan, India, and Kenya.

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.

Blogging and Family Pics

Well, it’s up! Check out the Acumen Fund Blog to read about how three generations of women connected to Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater. Plus, you can see a funny picture of my family on a stagecoach in Utah circa 1991.

In honor of that picture, I’m going to post a few pics from a family vacation to Hungary and Romania in 2007 that are hopefully a little less embarrassing. Enjoy!

JP and Adam in Viscri, Romania

Adam at the airport

My mom and Adam in Budapest

The parents

Three long lost relatives. Just kidding. Those are creepy dolls.

I think there's a reflection of me in here somewhere

Lack of Imagination

Where we crashed this weekend. Thanks, Neil!

I’m not sure what this says about my imagination or my life right now but I want to title just about every post “Catching Up”.

While my blogging has been a little slow here, my post for Changemakers about computer literacy classes for new Americans went up on Friday and I should have a post going up some time this week for the Acumen Fund blog about how my mom, my grandma, and I read and connected to Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater. You’ll definitely want to check it out because it features a ridiculous family photo on a stagecoach circa 1991.

So the big news from Friday is that I’m going to be a Kiva Fellow! I will most likely be placed in their Anglophone Portfolio but I won’t know any details for a while. Fine by me and my husband – this is definitely part of the adventure. And since we’re planning to do at least two placements, I’m happy to leave things up to the experts.

Next up: Applying for grants. Just like old times (aka college).

Interview with James Wu from Acumen Fund

James Wu, world traveler (by JenLamBrooklyn)

My friend and former colleague James Wu has generously agreed to be interviewed about his work with Acumen Fund, an organization whose philosophy has helped shape the way I think about aid, enterprise, and the developing world. He’s been incredibly busy lately (always?) – check out the amazing event he’s been working on here – so I particularly appreciate the time he took to reply to my questions. Without further adieu, James Wu:

Give us your “elevator pitch” for Acumen Fund. Go!
At Acumen Fund, we’re trying to change the way the world is tackling poverty. It’s our belief that poverty will continue to exist as long as it’s positioned in terms of income and wealth. But, once you embrace the principle that dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth, you can begin to imagine what a world looks like beyond poverty and start to build solutions that are founded on this principle. Dignity begins when individuals have an opportunity to make choices that will improve their own lives, rather than having to depend on charity or handouts. So, Acumen Fund finds innovative entrepreneurs who are building sustainable businesses in East Africa and South Asia that provide access to critical goods and services like health, housing, water, energy, and agriculture.

What are Acumen Fund’s biggest digital media challenges?
Our biggest challenge is creating a platform that allows our supporters to become long-term stakeholders invested in our mission and true ambassadors of our brand in a sustainable and scalable way. I’d argue that our current user experience is fragmented and does not reflect the ambitions or aspirations of our organization or our community as a whole.

Talk us through the production of one of your recent Acumen Fund videos. Where did the idea originate? Did you have any difficulty executing the concept? How do you feel about the final product?
Good…Better…Even Better was the video that we produced for our end-of-the-year holiday campaign. We’ve been struggling for years to explain Acumen Fund’s model and what makes it unique in simple memorable terms that could be easily understood by a broad audience. This video was our first strategic attempt at doing so and originated from a challenge posed by one of our advisers. The script and treatment for the video went through a dozen iterations. In editing the script, we tried cutting out as much jargon and cliche as possible. We knew we wanted to have several members of our community on camera saying different lines, so had to write a script that could be delivered by non-actors. In developing the treatment, we wanted to use animations to bring the message to life and prevent the piece from becoming just another talking-head video. At the same time, we insisted on custom hand-drawn illustrations over traditional type-based motion graphics to avoid the off-the-shelf feel that had become the standard in the non-profit space, popularized by the Girl Effect. We found Seth Brau by simply scouring YouTube and Vimeo for animated videos and felt that he had the versatility and creativity to deliver what we were imagining but couldn’t quite articulate. We were thrilled with the final result and for the most part, the response from our community was overwhelmingly positive. To date, the video’s been viewed nearly 150,000 times and helped contribute to our biggest holiday fundraising season in Acumen Fund’s history. Most importantly, it continues to serve as a great way to introduce people to the principles behind our work.

If you have any questions for James, leave them in the comments and I’ll see if he’d be willing to make an encore performance.

Herding Cats

I drew this in Berlin not Austin but that's a guy at a turntable so it seemed appropriate

Well, it’s not that bad but I’m very fond of the expression. There are so many projects in the works right now that it’s hard to keep track of everything. A few should be coming together very soon, though. Maybe even tomorrow!

In the meantime, I wanted to tell all you SXSW-goers about The Good Capitalist Party. Some of my very favorite organizations (Acumen Fund, Changemakers, Good, Kiva) are hosting it and I wish I could airlift myself to Austin for the night (or, you know, the entire festival).

Motivation Statement: Kiva

Massachusetts State Flag (Detail)

Social enterprise changed my life. Okay, maybe not in the way micro-loans change a farmer’s life in Cambodia or direct investment in a mosquito net company changes thousands of lives in Kenya but when I first started digging into social enterprise as a volunteer with New York for Acumen Fund, I knew that this was the direction I needed to go next. My nagging feelings about non-profit and international aid finally had a voice: it’s not enough to try to do good. You need return on investment, social impact, scalability, and sustainability, and more often than not, the actions and ideas need to come from within not without.

Kiva, for me, succeeds in its ability to connect with people on all ends of the aid/investment spectrum while fostering a sense of community both online and across the globe. In my current position as Marketing Outreach Coordinator at Ashoka’s Changemakers, I’ve seen first-hand how effective online networks can be at addressing social problems. Organizations like Changemakers and Kiva are taking crowd-sourcing for social good to an epic scale and it’s thrilling to be a part of the next wave of development.

I think experiences like these at Changemakers and my background in online networking, digital marketing, and social media will enable me to jump right into many of the Kiva Fellow’s roles. I am also very interested in learning more about how Kiva cultivates partners on the ground and how it provides appropriate (but not stifling) support and encouragement. Kiva’s respect for people’s autonomy and dignity, and its desire for Fellows to work in a hands-on, collaborative way is particularly compelling to me and it’s one of the many reasons I would love to support Kiva’s work as a Fellow.

Looking to the future, I think that what I learn from Kiva about building relationships in the developing world, fostering enterprise, and telling high-impact stories in the digital realm will make me a more effective leader, partner, and MBA student. It will also provide me with a grounding in the reality that so many of the world’s entrepreneurs face: having dreams but lacking the resources to achieve them. And if my husband and I ever become un-delayed with the Peace Corps, my experience with Kiva will provide the cornerstone for how to facilitate success while keeping the credit squarely in the arms of the entrepreneur.