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Review: Out of Poverty
By Paul Hudnut OUT OF POVERTY: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail Paul Polak 240 pages (Berrett-Koehler, 2008) Until now, the social enterprise bookshelf contained mostly two types of books?studies of what works, and studies of what?s broken. David Bornstein?s How to Change the World, which chronicles the inspiring work of Ashoka Fellows, best represents the first type. The writings of Jeffrey Sachs, Hernando De Soto, and William Eas...
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One Laptop Meets Big Business
The fate of OLPC is uncertain, and it’s too early to judge the effectiveness of the computers. Still, it’s possible to draw lessons about the difficulties of such grand-scale social innovation. The group’s struggles show how hard it is for a nonprofit made up largely of academics to operate like a business and compete with powerful companies. They also show what happens when differing philosophies of education and beliefs in how software should be created go head-to-head. Values the ...
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Misguided Calls for Business Thinking
?Philanthrocapitalism? is all the rage these days ? the use of business thinking to strengthen philanthropy and the not-for-profit world, which is the world I have been working in since 1982. If I had a dollar for every time I?ve been told to ?behave more like a business? I would be a successful philanthrocapitalist myself. The problem is that these calls are misguided and possibly even dangerous. They threaten to erode the distinctive values and independence of the not-for-profit sec...
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Investments in People
The next few years could see a shift in emphasis in the non-profit world ? at least, if the work of organisations supporting entrepreneurs is an indication of the direction the sector is taking. ?Philanthropy is one of those wonderfully antique words that we will stop using in 10 to 15 years,? says Bill Drayton, who founded Ashoka and pioneered the idea of identifying and investing in entrepreneurs. ?The business/social boundaries are simply collapsing.? As models such as venture phil...
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Microfinance Unlocks Potential of the Poor
Drawn by their corporate responsibility agendas and the promise of profitability, commercial banks have been entering the microfinance market, with Credit Agricole and JPMorgan among recent entrants. But when it comes to serving the 4bn people living on less than $2 a day, traditional microfinance models are not the only means of expanding access to financial services. In Ghana, for example, Barclaysoffers deposit accounts to traditional Susu collectors, who form part of a...
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The Big Trouble In Small Loans
Rafael Llosa’s company has been lending money to some of the poorest people in Peru for 30 years. It used to be a fairly lonely endeavor. Giving tiny loans to impoverished women to make ceramics or to farmers to buy milk cows was hardly seen as a great business. Except that it was. In 1998 the organization Llosa runs, now called Mibanco, converted from a nonprofit into a bank, demonstrating what other microfinance institutions around the world knew too: that the poor ar...
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Commencement Address by Muhammad Yunus
Below is the prepared text of the Commencement address by Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, for MIT’s 142nd Commencement held June 6, 2008. Good Morning: It as a very special privilege for me to speak at the commencement ceremony of this prestigious institution. What a wonderful feeling to be here today. To be with all of you, some of the brightest minds in t...
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Citibank offers $10m credit facility to ASA
Citibank, NA Bangladesh and ASA yesterday signed a credit facility agreement for microfinance portfolio expansion in rural Bangladesh, says a press release. As per the agreement, Citibank will provide US$ 10 million in equivalent local currency to ASA, one of the world’s leading Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). Md Shafiqual Haque Choudhury, founder and president of ASA, and Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citi country officer, Bangladesh, signed the agreement on...
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