Francisco Noguera's blog

Before Taking Off, A Sneak at Next Week's NextBillion.net Content

Francisco Noguera — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:09:20 -0500

Although I will miss my first 4th of July weekend living in the United States, I’m thrilled to be able to join my country’s own national celebration this weekend. I’m sitting right now at a gate at Dulles waiting for my flight to Bogota to start boarding, and I cannot wait to get over there and talk to my taxi driver to feel the optimism that must be ramping up all over the country because of yesterday’s extraordinary news. I wanted to share this feeling with you before leaving and invite you to follow the coverage through your network of preference -- CNN, BBC, Economist, Globovision or El Tiempo, just to name a few. Today a country is feeling that extraordinary things are achievable, which is something always worth sharing and celebrating.

So farewell until next Monday, when I’ll be back in Washington and rejoin the NextBillion conversation. Next week will be an exciting one for us at WRI and here at NextBillion. Our New Ventures Country Directors (from Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and our new partner in Colombia) will be in Washington for a week-long meeting to shape the program’s future and share experiences about the landscape for investment in sustainable SMEs in their countries.

Those of you in the east coast are welcome to join us next Wednesday in an open panel with our directors, so make sure to check for all the details here first thing Monday. In addition, NextBillion Staff Writers will feature a series commenting on Just Another Emperor?, Michael Edwards’ thought provoking book, and we will tackle the Compartamos debate featured in the latest Economist as well as the bank’s letter to its peers concerning its commercial strategy.

Well, last call for my flight, so off I go. Have a great weekend!

Roundup: Expo Zaragoza '08 and Other Reasons to Join the Water Conversation

Francisco Noguera — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:12:44 -0500

If there was ever a good summer to be in Spain, 2008 was it. Not only because of the great celebrations that surely followed Torres' match-winning goal last Sunday, but also because of the remarkable Expo Zaragoza 08.

Titled "Water and Sustainable Development", the Expo will be a three-month long venue --already underway through mid-September-- full of movies, shows, live performances, talks, and discussions among experts from all over the globe to celebrate water and raise awareness about its role in our planet.

The venue is timely in its purpose of "radically changing the way human beings think about and relate to this resource". Hence the following roundup of upcoming events at the Expo and recent discussions that tend to affect the way we relate to and talk about water, regardless of where in the economic pyramid we happen to live.

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Job: Interns/ Volunteers for the Question Box Project

Francisco Noguera — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:56:19 -0500

Rose Shuman, founder of Open Mind and the innovative Question Box project, shared with us the following work opportunity. Please read on if you are interested in working with the venture that is making the 'Digital Alladin's Lamp' a reality.

Position: Interns/ Volunteers

Location: Anywhere with connectivity

Description: Want to really make a difference in the life of an organization? Smart, enthusiastic interns & volunteers needed for Question Box Project!

Open Mind, a start-up nonprofit, is building capacity and momentum with our Question Box project. We are at a critical moment, and need interns and volunteers to help us scale and develop.

Question Box brings the power of the Internet to people in the developing world using voice and a mobile phone. The idea is a very simple - Question Box is a phone or intercom box people can use to call a local-language Operator. The Operator answers most any question searchable on the Internet for the caller.

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“Harnessing the World’s Untapped Talent through Responsible Outsourcing”: An interview with Leila Chirayath (Part 2)

Francisco Noguera — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:59:11 -0500

This second part of my conversation with Leila Chirayath covers her vision Samasource, its business model and the pilot project currently under way in Kenya. Make sure to read the first part of this interview to have thorough vision of Leila's background and the beginnings of Samasource.

Before reading, I encourage you to watch the video below to get a grasp of the circumstances that inspired this social enterprise.

Francisco Noguera: What is your vision for Samasource?

Leila Chirayath: Our vision is harnessing the world's untapped talent through socially responsible outsourcing...

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“Harnessing the World’s Untapped Talent through Responsible Outsourcing”: An interview with Leila Chirayath (Part 1)

Francisco Noguera — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:06:26 -0500

I recently had the pleasure of spending some time speaking to Leila Chirayath, founder and CEO of Samasource (previously Market for Change), an organization that promotes socially responsible outsourcing to fight "the waste of talent" around the world.

This first part covers Leila's background, the experiences that led her to become an entrepreneur and identify outsourcing as a vehicle for positive social change. The second part of the interview explores Samasource's business model, and its perspectives in more detail.

I hope you enjoy learning about this story, as I very much did.

Francisco Noguera: Leila, what is your background and how did you become a social entrepreneur?

Leila Chirayath: I'll start with a story on why I care about development to begin with, and why I think that waste of talent is the biggest challenge in development that we have yet to tackle.

In my senior year of high school I got a scholarship to go and volunteer in Ghana; I graduated early and went there for six months to volunteer as an English teacher in a small province north of the Capital, which had no electricity, no running water and one telephone for a whole village.

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"Fixing Failed States" and "Enlightened Self Interest"

Francisco Noguera — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:51:41 -0500

A dear friend recently brought up an interesting point when commenting a book we had both read about Afghanistan. She pointed out to me, with some disappointment, a passage that read "the reconstruction of this country has more to do with the fear of the west than with solidarity to our own species."

My father has a similar point of view. I remember him talking to his friends and students saying that "the Colombian society, not just its government, must think seriously about ways to fight poverty, and must do it for whatever reason is most appealing. Even if you don't care about the poor, roll up your sleeves and help them, out of selfishness if you like... because any business will be at peril unless they see that there are ways different than holding weapons to claim their rights."

Their words came to mind when I listened to Paul Collier's talk on the 2008 TED Conference. Along the same lines, says Mr. Collier:

"How can we provide credible hope to the billion people living at the bottom? ... I'm going to offer you a combination of the two forces that change the world for good, which is the alliance of compassion and enlightened self interest ... We need compassion to get ourselves started and enlightened self interest to get ourselves serious."

So what does it take to actually get serious and end the strife of the bottom billion? Collier's thesis lies on four pillars (aid, trade liberalization, sound security policies and good governance) which are explained in depth in his book. His TED talk, however, focuses on recommendations to tackle the governance issue.

The talk was timely, as I have been reading "Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World" by Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart. I found myself thinking a bit about the parallels between Collier's arguments and those presented by the authors.

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Los Siguientes 4 Mil Millones: Tamaño del Mercado y Estrategia de Negocios en la Base de la Pirámide

Francisco Noguera — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:04:35 -0500

I am glad to announce the release of "Los Siguientes 4 Mil Millones: Tamaño de Mercado y Estrategia de Negocios en la Base de la Pirámide", the Spanish language version of WRI and IFC's milestone report "The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Busines Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid". This report was made possible by the Network for Inclusive Markets, formed by WRI, Avina and Fundes, strong regional players in the BoP space.

With 360 million people living at the Base of the Pyramid, Latin America presents itself with a vibrant market with enormous opportunities for market-based approaches to economic development. Los Siguientes 4 Mil Millones will hopefully serve as a tool for the Latin American business community to design creative business models that enable economic opportunity for the region's BoP.

The strong analytical scope of this report will present this community with a concrete sense of opportunity, thus multiplying the outreach and impact of already successful initiatives like those set into motion by IDB's Opportunities for the Majority initiative, among others.

The full version of the report may be downloded here. We look forward to hearing reactions to the report and learning about new ventures and lessons learned as the Latin American BoP space continues to unfold.

Guest Post: Platform Strategies for Scaling

Francisco Noguera — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:04:29 -0500

Guest blogger Francisco Mejía is a Principal in the Opportunities for the Majority Office at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), based in Washington DC. He currently leads the preparation of various transactions involving the financing of BoP projects in leading and innovative companies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining the Bank, Francisco was the Director of the Center for Economic Development at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, the leading economic think tank and research institution in Colombia, and consulted for various international organizations.

Autor's note: The views expressed in this blog contribution do not necessarily reflect those of the IADB.

In this post, Mejía responds to Allen Hammond's series on taking Base of the Pyramid models to scale. This week, NextBillion.net will publish responses from a number of BoP experts and practitioners, followed by a concluding post from Hammond.

By Francisco Mejía

The "sector approach to scale" that Al Hammond is advocating is entirely consistent with the fact that needs are "sector specific": we all have housing, health or education needs. And it is also consistent with the idea that scale can be achieved by taking advantage of the notion that similarities in sector specific market conditions and industry structures might validate "easy" translation of business models from one place to another.

But this approach has shortcomings, one of which we could dub the "lost in translation" challenge. If one tried to replicate the CEMEX Patrimonio Hoy self-construction model from Mexico to Chile or Argentina, one would find that in those markets, self construction is virtually non existent.

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Video: Making the Case for Inclusive Business in Latin America

Francisco Noguera — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:32:24 -0500

The WBCSD-SNV Alliance recently released a fantastic video introducing their work in the promotion of inclusive business models across Latin America.

Besides profiling interesting models that bridge the interests of MNCs and the base of the pyramid, the video highlights the role Governments are playing in promoting market-based approaches to poverty alleviation. It is indeed a sign of promising trends to hear about Ecuador's transition from a "Ministry of Welfare" to a "Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion".

Kudos to the alliance and the work being done in Latin America!
I hope you enjoy watching this, as I very much did.

Job: Gray Matters Capital Foundation, Program Officer

Francisco Noguera — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:17:19 -0500

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Organization: Gray Matters Capital Foundation is a charitable arm of Gray Ghost Ventures, a social investment company that seeks to invest in visionary people, with an emphasis on microfinance and education. Since 1996, Gray Ghost Ventures has worked to foster strategic innovation by incubating and investing in enterprises and tools to provide market-based solutions to social issues.

Through the initiatives of its charitable foundations, The Rockdale Foundation and Gray Matters Capital Foundation and through its investment activities Gray Ghost Ventures has improved capacity of the microfinance industry in the Arab world, supported successful reform efforts in the Atlanta Public Schools, created the first privately-held global microfinance investment portfolio and social venture capital fund, offering both financial and social returns. Gray Ghost Ventures seeks to expand the mission of its charitable foundations and its social investing in the area of expanding the access and quality of primary and secondary education to the poor in developing countries.

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