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Imagine that you're a 13 year old, the oldest of seven kids, growing up in Pakistan in a poor family.  As you try to fall asleep each night, you wonder whether you'll have something to eat the next day and your back hurts because you spent the last week lifting and pushing wheelbarrows to help your mother and father with their work.

Rather than dream about one day becoming a professional athlete or a world famous musician, you look ahead and expect that you'll be doing back breaking work like your mother and father for the rest of your life.  Life isn't terrible though; you have a very loving, happy family and wonderful friends.  Despite that, you know that your parents are fighting a daily battle to make ends meet and you have a growing sense of responsibility to help provide for your younger siblings.  If you're struggling to picture the desperate scenario I've described, just think of young people in gangs across the U.S.; this situation is not so different from what a lot of poor people in America face.

In their 2009 publication, 'Emerging Markets, Emerging Models', Monitor describes how many children find themselves in a condition of poverty across the developing world.  The report goes on to portray an economic environment that would be very challenging for poor families to navigate: "...current low-end markets are informal, inefficient, exploitative, and often dominated by monopolists, quacks, or crooks."  As you would expect, parents in situations like this want nothing more than to offer their children a life better than their own.  In fact, Monitor reports that parents are willing to spend a large portion of income on education for their children:

Even in one of India's poorest states, Bihar, parents earning over Rs. 3,000 ($60) per month (or $2 per day) are willing to pay more than 10% of monthly income to send at least one or more children to private school.  

Unfortunately, families in desperate situations are prime breeding grounds for the next generation of terrorists.  Al-Qaeda, FARC, Hezbollah and others that have been labeled as terrorist organizations are generally among the most influential and powerful groups in their local geographies. 

As noted recently in the Washington Post, terrorists are often recruited from poor families trying to break out of the cycle of poverty: "For poor people in countries where economic prospects are bleak, jihad can be one of the few jobs available...Of the 25,000 insurgents and terrorism suspects detained by U.S. forces in Iraq as of 2007, nearly all were previously underemployed."  For instance, many in the Arab world perceive Hezbollah to be an organization focused on social development.  Similarly, in Pakistan, the Taliban often offers parents the best chance for their children to receive a decent education.  In Colombia, the FARC recruit fighters from a very young age. 

These groups have so much money (The Middle East Forum reported that, "the Saudi government has admitted to spending more than $87 billion over the last decade in an effort to spread Wahhabism") in areas where many people are struggling to get by, that they can recruit members by offering them a better life.  Families that face desperation and degradation are willing to make difficult choices in order to end their despondency. 

The situation is further aggravated in countries and regions that have been torn apart by wars and natural disasters, which may add to the financial and emotional desperation that some families face when trying to get by. In his book, Capitalism at the Crossroads, Stuart Hart describes what drives individuals to join terrorist organizations:

It takes a lifetime of neglect, despair, dashed hopes, thwarted opportunities, or worse-intimidation, exploitation and humiliation-to drive most people to such extremes.

Individuals facing severe poverty often feel an intense sense of desperation and are therefore willing to do almost anything to escape their scenario.  Though terrorist organizations are usually led by religious fanatics and fundamentalists, their member base generally comes from disenfranchised poor families who seek a better life.  Hart, who is known to be a thought leader on this subject, goes on to say, "Terrorism, in short, is a symptom; the underlying problem is unsustainable development."

The Solution

It is clear that in the long run, the solution to terrorism is to deconstruct the life circumstances that encourage members to join organizations like the Taliban.  This is not an easy task, but social entrepreneurs are working diligently to help.  In the same way that social businesses are just a part of the solution to global poverty, they cannot fix terrorism in isolation.  Social enterprise, while critical, is only a piece of the puzzle; the severity of the problem requires solutions to a number of challenges, including social, government and economic reform.  Still, the work of innovative change makers is crucial and important.  As an industry, we are working to create solutions for those who don't have all the tools they need to help themselves.  We are providing access to proper education, health care, sanitation, energy, water, financial tools, and so on.

Though nearly everything social entrepreneurs do is meant to contribute to more sustainable development, two sectors of work stand out especially in terms of their ability to combat the seeds of desperation that lead to terrorism: education and financial tools.  Education expands the potential of young people to improve their family's life and financial tools help families to better manage their money, thus alleviating situations of financial desperation.  

Education

Providing one's children with an education is a desire shared across nearly all cultures and it is crucial for bettering the world and opening new doors of opportunity.  As Monitor reports, "Parents generally prefer to send children to private schools [which are perceived as higher quality than public schools]: between 1993 and 2002, 80 percent of new enrollments in urban India were in the private sector."  Anyone who has read Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin's 'Three Cups of Tea' knows about the inspirational work being done by the Central Asia Institute.  The institute is building schools in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan to promote education, especially for girls.  Doing so in the heart of the territory occupied by the Taliban and other extremists, the CAI is directly influencing the life opportunities available to those whom it reaches. 

Another social venture, Vittana, is enabling person-to-person micro student loans over the internet, which makes it possible for the poor to receive quality education and pay off the loan with their earnings later on.  Through two vastly different approaches, the Central Asia Institute and Vittana are providing education opportunities for those at the BoP.

Financial Tools

As is clearly demonstrated in the book Portfolios of the Poor, the world's poorest are always coping with uncertainty, especially with regard to cash flows and the timing of when they receive income.  Financial instability can make life very difficult and can certainly force families to make difficult decisions. 

The work of Grameen Bank and the microfinance industry have provided some of the tools required for families to manage their finances, but more work is necessary.  Currently, M-PESA and FrontlineSMS are building the capability for the poor to store money on their mobile phones and make payments via text message. 

As Rob Katz described recently, M-PESA can be extremely useful for both rich and poor to manage their money and cash flows.  Not only will this enable users to make digital payments and have another way of moving cash, it will allow them to keep more of their money safe rather than stashed at home or with money guards.  For those living in tiny huts in the middle of urban slums, you can imagine how difficult it is to store money safely at home.  Financial security provides stability, which helps enable the poor to avoid the degree of desperation that leads them to join forces with terrorist groups.

Though this post has only touched on social businesses in the education and financial services industries, unsustainable development can only be cured through the collective impact of solutions across all types of needs.  Ultimately, social businesses and entrepreneurs will help local communities rise out of poverty.  When this occurs, terrorist organizations as we know them may cease to exist.

If you haven't read Outliers, or Malcom Gladwell's previous books The Tipping Point and Blink, you are missing out on some of the most insightful, entertaining and mind opening dissection of human behavior. In Outliers, Gladwell explains what makes someone extraordinary successful. The Cliff Notes version of why Bill Gates is Bill Gates is:

• You need a minimum level of smarts, but it does not have to be an "off-the-chart" IQ.
• You have to put at least 10,000 hours of practice into your area of talent or expertise.
• You have to be lucky, meaning born at the right place and the right time.

The last point is what I found most fascinating. It is made of up several dynamics. When you are born is crucial. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the mid-50's, allowing them to be at the right age when information technology was in its nascent stage of development. But the "where were you born" dynamic that was most interesting was Gladwell's findings on the impact of culture.

Culture is something that most of us take for granted, unless you are in a field like sociology or anthropology.

Culture is like breathing: we have no idea how it impacts what we do. When we were developing the Classmate PC at Intel, we had folks that did ethnographic research in developing countries to understand how people living at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) used or could use technology in their lives. Culture was obviously one thing that was key to understanding these behaviors. VitalWave Consulting recently posted a short article called Lost in Translation: Emerging Markets Success Hinges on Understanding Culture talking about the importance of "localized management investment."

When I did an expat assignment for Intel in China, they gave you "cultural" training in order to help us adjust to a new culture. It helped give us a deeper understand of cultural differences. What may seem weird, offensive or different on the surface often has an underlying meaning. If you understand that meaning, you can accept that difference more readily.

They used the analogy of an iceberg, with what you perceive on the surface as the tip of the iceberg. For example, my wife used to find it offensive that the Chinese would spit publicly. Growing up in America, that can come across as very impolite on the surface. But the underlying reason for the spitting is their a long-held belief that it is healthy habit to clear the respiratory passages (to put it politely) frequently.

Why are Asians so good at math?

According to Gladwell, there are two main reasons: their number-naming system, and rice paddies.

Having learned how to count in Chinese, I can tell you how much easier it is to count to a 100 in Chinese then in English. It is as logical as the decimal system. You just need to be able to memorize 1-9, 10, and 100. 11 is ten-one, 12 is ten-two, and so on. 20 is two-ten, 21 is two-ten-one, 30 is three-ten, and so on. 1-9 are also short, single syllable words, compared to their English counterparts (for example, 7 is "si" in Chinese and "seven" in English. "Si" can be pronounced in 1/3rd of a second. This system allows Chinese children to recall numbers much more quickly than American children.)

But the impact of a cultural legacy of working on rice paddies is really the underlying factor. The chapter starts with the Chinese proverb:

No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.

Simply put, the harder and smarter you work on a rice paddy, the greater the output. In Western agriculture, you increase output by purchasing more land, or replacing labor with technology. Growing/harvesting seasons are short, whereas rice paddies are grown/harvested for most of the year.

A peasant farmer in eighteenth-century Europe worked about twelve hundred hours per year. A peasant in Southern China worked an average of three thousand hours a year.

Gladwell summarizes the benefits of rice farming this way: the work was meaningful, complex, autonomous and exacting. He shared proverbs from peasants in Europe and China.

A Russian proverb:

If God does not bring it, the earth will not give it.

Chinese proverb:

Don't depend on heaven for food, but on your own two hands carrying the load.

You can see the connection between the cultural legacy of working on rice paddies and today's much-talked about work ethic of Asian students and workers.

But what does that have to do with math? Math is hard work, especially for those that don't have a natural talent for it. My son is currently learning 7th grade algebra. A typical problem can take many minutes to solve, sometimes with a lot of trial and error which is normal. He often gets frustrated and would give up after a few minutes if not pressed. As such, I'd argue that American students probably give up quicker than their Asian counterparts.

What about "family" culture?

Gladwell shows that the main culprit in the gap between grades and test scores of students from wealthier families versus poorer families is summer vacation. Students from low-income and high-income families have comparable scores on the California Achievement test at the beginning and end of the school year. But after summer vacation, the score gap increases significantly.

This implies that if you keep kids in schools longer, and out of the family home, you can minimize the achievement gap. They reference a charter system called the KIPP academy. Students are in school from 7:30am to 7:00pm every weekday. Saturdays they are in school 9am to 1pm. In the summer, they come in from 8am to 2pm. Any kid's nightmare, right? But the improved results are significant. For example, in 7th grade, KIPP students are doing high school algebra.

Fixing education

I have participated in many discussions on the role of technology in improving education standards in emerging markets. Gladwell has helped me realize that it may be a few other changes completely unrelated to technology that could make the biggest difference.

Closer to home, there has been much talk about reforming education in America. Thomas Friedman talks about how we are falling behind our Asian counterparts by not investing and putting a bigger focus on education. But based on Gladwell's findings, a solution to improving education and America's long-term competitivenes could be addressed by simply getting rid of summer vacations and implementing a rice paddy-like KIPP system. Unfortunately, we in the West are culturally conditioned to shorter school days and summer vacations.

If you are based in or around New York - or have plans to travel there in the coming months - you may be interested in two upcoming events that feature base of the pyramid subjects and experts.

The first is tomorrow night, 20 January, at the Demos Institute.  The event, "Can Market-Based Models Save the World?" is a debate between two heavyweight authors.  Taking the "yes" position will be Matthew Bishop, US Editor of The Economist and co-author of Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World.  The "no" position will be argued by Michael Edwards, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and author of the newly published Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World.

There have been few public debates on the subject of market-based approaches to poverty, and these two thoughtful authors will each undoubtedly bring a data-driven, thoughtful perspective.  I will be attending, and hope to see some NextBillion readers there.  If you are unable to attend, I plan to write about the event after the fact.

The second must-see event is a book talk featuring BoP education expert James Tooley on Feburary 11.  Sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, the reception and book talk will center on Tooley's 2009 book, The Beautiful Tree.  While researching private schools in India for the World Bank, and worried that he was doing little to help the poor, Tooley wandered into the slums of Hyderabad's Old City. Shocked to find it overflowing with tiny, parent-funded schools filled with energized students, he set out to discover if schools like these could help achieve universal education.

Tooley will be joined by The Atlantic's Clive Crook, whose research and writing I have come to count on for mainstream coverage of BoP and development related topics.

These events are among many others posted on the Take Action page of NextBillion - I encourage you to take a look and see if events are happening in your area soon.  And if you are planning an event that should be listed, please let us know via e-mail or comment below.

It's now official.  The William Davidson Institute, my employer, is now officially a Managing-Partner of NextBillion. For me, this is a very exciting partnership with unlimited possibilities.

For the past couples of years, the WDI has been a big supporter of the NextBillion community.  Grace Augustine (formerly at WDI) and I have contributed to the community as Staff Writers, sharing insights from our work writing cases and research notes on BoP ventures and topics.  Ted London's work on impact assessment has been featured and discussed heavily here. Many Ross School of Business students have highlighted their internships or school projects. 

And most recently, the WDI has sponsored The Next: 2010 Case Writing Competition.  I have already received a number of entries, from schools in New York to Toronto to New Delhi. Rob, Francisco, and I are thrilled at the response so far and can't wait to read the final cases. And as a reminder, if you want to enter the competition, the intention to compete forms are due this Friday, January 15^th.

In the coming weeks, you will read more about our work at WDI from our Executive Director, Bob Kennedy, and the Director of the BoP Initiative, Ted London.  There will also be a more active voice from the students at the Ross School of Business and at the University of Michigan as a whole.  I will also include more on the social venture creation course that I am running here at the University of Michigan at the Center for Entrepreneurship. In the meantime, you can check out what we're doing in class, the student projects, and our partners on this blog.

In addition, we are looking to hire someone to help us co-manage the NextBillion website.  The job description is on the WDI web site and NextBillion. We look forward to continue building the BoP movement and sharing with you our insights, lessons learned, and our network.  We believe greatly that market-based solutions can help alleviate poverty, and are convinced that NextBillion is a powerful catalyst to making this happen. 

We are pleased to announce that the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI) has agreed to join the NextBillion community as a Managing Partner of the website.  WDI joins the World Resources Institute and Acumen Fund as co-Managing Partners.  The three groups will set strategy, fund enhancements to the site, manage the site, and help grow the NextBillion community.

WDI has a long history in the BoP space and with the NextBillion community.  WDI was involved in C.K. Prahalad's original work on the BoP starting in 1999.  Ted London currently leads the BoP research initiative at WDI (working with Heather Esper).  Their recent work has focused on impact assessment for BoP ventures.  Ted is also editing a book on the BoP sector, which will be published by Wharton Press and is due out later in 2010.  In addition, WDI has a well-received collection of BoP teaching cases, and is the leading source of teaching materials in this space. 

In the past few years, WDI has been involved in NextBillion in many ways.  Moses Lee has been a NextBillion staff writer since 2008.  He is also the primary organizer behind the NextBillion casewriting competition.  Executive Director Bob Kennedy engages with Acumen Fund on a variety of issues (Fellows training, student projects, summer internships, etc), and recently joined the NextBillion Advisory Board. 

We look forward to developing this partnership in the coming months.  NextBillion has come a long way, and we believe this thriving community has a bright future.  We welcome WDI as a partner and look forward to growing this community in the years ahead. 

Microfinance is widely touted as a major private sector success in tackling development. According to the State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2009, microfinance now reaches more than 100 million people through more than 3,500 organizations. Nonetheless, like many forms of financing, microfinance is a coarse tool to lift people out of poverty insofar as it usually lends to people who may be willing to invest in the development of fixed assets, traditionally in farming or small businesses. More recently, microfinance products have tried to sharpen their focus to stimulate investment in particular assets such housing or healthcare.

However, one of the most glaring omissions in the 30-year development of the microfinance industry has been the lack of attention paid to possible synergies between microfinance products and education. Although there are already some mechanisms to promote basic education in low-income communities through Conditional Cash Transfer programs, there are few microfinance institutions (MFIs) offering micro-loans for students who may want to take their education beyond the secondary level. With the exception of a handful of avant-garde MFIs working independently or in partnership with Vittana, MFIs have yet to figure out the right approach to profitably offer student loans directed to those wanting to enter into tertiary education. Furthermore, investors are reluctant about risking their money in exploring possible venues to develop these business models. After all, the benefits of doing so would not be captured only by the investors themselves but by the whole microfinance industry, while the exploration costs would be accrued by the investors alone. This results in a “vicious circle” by which no organization has yet developed a suitable business model.

Such a lack of private sector solutions is an important market failure. Studies show that tertiary education, while often neglected in favor of primary and secondary schooling, can be an equally effective poverty alleviation tool. Private returns to tertiary education in low-income countries seem to be frequently on par with the returns from primary education. For example, at the country level, in Sub-Saharan Africa, a one-year increase in average tertiary education levels is estimated to raise annual GDP growth by 0.39 percentage points (World Bank, 2008). At the individual level, each additional year of education can yield 10% to 15% returns in the form of higher wages (World Bank, 2008). The private benefits for individuals are well established and include better employment prospects, higher salaries, and a greater ability to save and invest (Bloom, Canning and Chan, 2005). These benefits may in turn result in better health and improved quality of life (Bloom, Canning and Chan, 2005).

Stimulating tertiary education also seems to make business sense.  MFIs estimate that the market for student micro-loans will amount to between 10% (Peru) to 40% (India) of their future portfolio (Source: internal market studies from MFIs and Vittana). Time appears to be ripe for a profitable microfinance product that enables prospective borrowers to further their education.

Vittana is a young, non-profit start-up founded 18 months ago that is aiming to fill this market failure. It was founded by Kushal Chakrabarti (at left), who used to run the personalized recommendations team at Amazon.com, along with Brett Witt. Vittana’s stated mission is to break the vicious cycle mentioned above by which big investors are not willing to start offering student micro-loans until they see a significant track record of student micro-loans being profitable and having a positive social impact. To this effect it has developed a business model to offer student micro-loans based on two pillars.

First, Vittana makes use of its extensive field experience to share best practices with MFIs and to co-develop a micro-loan product adapted to local markets. Many of the ingredients required to develop student micro-loans are not as similar to standard microfinance practices as one could expect. For example, instead of lending to groups of individuals, Vittana suggests that mothers of prospective borrowers should co-sign the loan. Moreover, the ideal student-borrower is a high school graduate wanting to enroll in a vocational school to acquire a set of skills that will allow him or her to find formal employment. The majority of the “best” student-borrowers are often the children of successful previous microfinance borrowers, to whom MFIs have easy access and about whom they have good financial information. Therefore, finding successful and efficient MFIs is crucial in order to gain scale and fine-tune the loan product to specific regional circumstances. MFIs are fully responsible for marketing the loan, finding suitable borrowers and managing the customer relationship. Moreover, Vittana is engaged in random audits of their partners to ensure that the individual lenders’ money is well spent.

However, this first pillar alone is not enough to break the vicious circle because the business model remains to be conclusively proven. This need gives rise to the second pillar, Vittana’s search engine. Following Kiva’s footprint, Vittana has developed a person-to-person microlending website. Since there are no big investors willing or able to step in, Vittana’s solution is to make it possible for potentially millions of small investors to fill in the financing gap. Their website allows individual lenders to browse through possible student-borrowers and select an individual to receive the loan. You can view, for instance, the profiles of several of their current student-borrowers here: 1, 2 and 3. Vittana has no capital of its own to disburse, so it exclusively depends on individual lenders to generate cash for their loans. According to Vittana’s strategy, these two pillars will enable them to develop and provide a source of finance to a healthy portfolio of student micro-loan products.

Given their innovative model and the importance of the gap they are trying to address, it is no wonder that the Huffington Post has named Vittana number one of the top 10 “game changers” in philanthropy. Vittana makes no secret of its huge ambition and its early success in its promotional video and in its public figures. After Vittana’s first agreement  with a Paraguayan MFI one year ago, people around the world (mostly the United States, but also Sweden, Germany, and The Netherlands) have been disbursing more than $10,000 in loans every month. Loan volumes are experiencing double digit monthly percentage growth rates with nearly perfect (97%) repayment rates. Vittana now supports about 50 students and is adding 10 students per month to its portfolio.

Even though it currently operates exclusively in Paraguay, Nicaragua, Peru and Mongolia, Vittana is looking forward to expanding into other countries very soon. In the long term, it aims to jump-start a broad, global system in student micro-loans and become a focal point for MFIs interested in figuring out how to add this type of loans to their array of services. In fact, there are already indications of this: Vittana is emerging as the “go-to” organization for interested MFIs eager to find a way of increasing their bottom line as microfinance products such as business loans, home loans and other credit lines become increasingly standard.

Those of our readers interested in lending money to Vittana should know that the full amount of their money will go towards the loan. After the disbursement they can also make small donations to Vittana as well (there is a short video explanation online about how the loan process works). As in Kiva, many individual lenders are needed to reach the total amount of money required by the borrower to enroll in further studies (usually between $500 and $1,500). The typical loan recipient is between 18 to 25 years of age and takes 6 to 24 months to fully repay the loan.

Neither Vittana nor Vittana lenders receive any interest on the loans, although MFIs do charge some interest to cover their operating costs. These rates are usually much lower (10-15% per year) than those of traditional microfinance (40-60% per year). Vittana's daily activities are maintained by optional donations made by its lenders, as well as generous support from its lead funders including the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, several Unitus board members and alumni (including its founder, Mike Murray), the Peery Foundation, and a number of top-level Amazon executives.  Additionally, they count as advisors a number of top-level executives and founders from technology and microfinance companies like Amazon, Real Networks, Kiva, Unitus and Apple.

With such a sharp and well-defined business model and powerful supporters, this organization may be well on its way to making a significant impact in the world of microfinance. It may also represent a way forward for the next generation in microfinance in which networked MFIs jointly develop particular learning hubs devoted to specific products as a way of tackling more pervasive social ills (MFIs representatives interested in hearing more about what Vittana may have to offer are welcome to contact the organization through questions@vittana.org). Additionally, the partnership blueprint developed between Vittana and other MFIs represents an interesting model for other knowledge centers in developed countries, such as research institutions or public/private investors, for gaining access and leveraging their skills in the field. I advise our readers to keep a close watch on Vittana – I am sure we will hear more about them in the near future.

I recently sat in on a webinar hosted by the Aspen Institute entitled "Sustainability Trends in MBA Education."  The seminar was rich in insights and highlighted the increasing demands by business students and faculty for coursework on the topic of environmental sustainability and social impact.  One of the challenges in launching sustainability electives or adding sustainability modules to existing courses in business schools, however, is a lack of available teaching materials or well developed pedagogical tools and frameworks.

Here at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan we have decided to do our part in addressing this "market failure."  Professor Gautam Kaul, the John C. and Sally S. Morley Professor of Finance at the Ross School of Business, has agreed to put his course entitled, "Finance and the Sustainable Enterprise," online for faculty at other schools to use.  The course is unique in that it looks at the issue of environmental and social sustainability through an economics and finance perspective. The course has already been taught five times at Michigan and has received rave reviews.   

The online resource will include access to teaching cases and notes, the course syllabus, commentary on class sessions, a community forum, and video (forthcoming).  I will also be working with Professor Kaul to keep a blog on the course and develop new knowledge pieces to further advance the field.

Professor Kaul has been at the Ross School of Business since 1984 and received his Ph.D in economics from the University of Chicago. He recently won the MBA Teaching Excellence Award at the Ross School of Business.   

Note: To access the website, you must be an educator. 

Course Description

The past decade has witnessed the emergence of the notion of "sustainable" business in both corporate and academic circles. Although still nebulous, a reasonable characterization of a sustainable enterprise is emerging. In its broadest sense, a sustainable business is one that achieves an optimal balance between profit and shareholder value, on the one hand, and broader economic, social, and environmental values, on the other.

So, why is there this need for studying a "sustainable" enterprise? This relatively recent, though increasingly visible and important, trend seems to imply that most (or at least a significant fraction of) current businesses are not sustainable. As a result, some business schools offer courses that deal with the strategic, marketing, and policy aspects of sustainable business. This course goes a step further and explores the financial issues unique to sustainability issues confronted by businesses. 

In this course, we will address the financial and valuation issues from the perspective of a typical firm, whose objective is to maximize shareholder value, but recognizes and confronts a whole slew of environmental issues with dire real effects. We will critically evaluate the viability of the assumptions and institutions necessary to ensure the success of any modern firm in achieving its objective of maximizing shareholder, without adversely affecting broader economic and societal values. More importantly, we will modify existing economic and financial frameworks in an attempt to evaluate the effects of new and emerging regulatory and strategic environmental issues on the value of projects and firms.

This process will make us realize that "business as usual," at least as we have known it for the past several decades, cannot lead to a sustainable world. We hopefully will also emerge through this experience equipped with a framework and a set of tools that can help us create and manage businesses that can deal with the complex and uncertain world confronting us today. Ultimately, our goal is to evaluate not only the private benefit, but also the social value, created or destroyed by a project and therefore the firm.

Infodev and UNESCO have developed a new discussion and debate forum to explore the role of ICT in learning in developing countries. Called the Educational Technology Debate, it promotes a multi-week discussion over one month with two participants debating two sides of an argument, and additional user comments supporting or refuting either side. Check out the latest debate between myself and Walter Bender, CEO of Sugar Labs, the non-profit organization that provides the software for the XO laptop of One Laptop Per Child, and recently, the "Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry" which allows users to experience Sugar on any computer through a USB flash device.

I started the debate with a position that supports shared access computing as a more economically feasible approach than 1:1 computing (1 computer per 1 student), the premise being  that with very limited resources available to governments, it is better to get more students access to a shared computing device part time than it is to significantly fewer students access all the time.  

Over the next few weeks we will post additional responses and potentially evolve our position.  So join the debate and comment on the current discussion at 1:1 Saturations and Computer Labs: Can Their Benefits Bring a New Model?

For those of you who read the print version of BusinessWeek, you know that Jack and Susan Welch write a weekly column on the last page. This week's article is "Corporate Social Responsibility in a Recession" or his edgier online title "Giving in Unforgiving Times." It's a good primer on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which they categorize nto three types:

• Donating money, products or services
• Community involvement
• CSR as a corporate strategy

Its conclusion essentially states the obvious: in tough times companies will likely have to cut back their CSR activities, just as they will have to streamline other areas of business.

But what caught my eye is the calling out of CSR as a specific corporate strategy. The cynical view of CSR is that large corporations do it just to make themselves look good, or to help in some way to improve revenue growth or the bottom line. The opposite is what you read on the company CSR reports or web pages, like this one:

"By working with others, we are finding opportunities to apply our technology and expertise to help tackle some of the world's greatest challenges-from climate change and water conservation to education quality and the digital divide. Paul Otellini, CEO letter, Corporate Responsibility Report 2008. Growing a profitable business AND doing good in the world do not have to be mutually exclusive. I learned this by experience: by starting a business group that developed products that will help bridge the digital divide."

CSR has to be part of a larger corporate strategy that will support the core business (creating and delivering products and services that will bring tremendous growth and profitability). Many large, successful technology companies do that today. About a week ago, this announcement went over the wires:

"The Intel Foundation today announced top winners of the world's largest pre- college science fair, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), a program of Society for Science & the Public. Tara Adiseshan, 14, of Charlottesville, Va.; Li Boynton, 17, of Houston; and Olivia Schwob, 16, of Boston were selected from 1,563 young scientists from 56 countries, regions and territories for their commitment to innovation and science. Each received a $50,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation. This year, a record number of 1,563 high school students from over 50 countries representing 1,226 projects will be competing for nearly $4 million in awards and scholarships. Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Finalists are selected annually from more than 550 affiliated fairs around the world."

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The mission pursued by Ziqitza Education is to ensure that the innovative, participative and efficient teaching methods used in some elite schools in India and internationally are made accessible to all schools and children. Ziqitza pursues its mission through two activities: managing private schools and distributing e-learning tools.

Working at the education startup has been a tough, yet very rewarding experience. Few other jobs would give me opportunity to work in as many different functions and understand how each specific area works. Working at Ziqitza Education helped me realize my hidden potential in building processes, managing resources and getting help from all possible sources. We were even incubated in the office of Dial 1298 for Ambulance - another startup - so my startup experience was enhanced by working side by side with another social enterprise that is growing and ready to scale.

As an Indian who grew up in the United States, being exposed to the cultural differences across states in India, and working directly with a team from Kerala, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra was a refreshing break from the homogeneity of corporate America.

Traveling through Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi - being in the "rural India" that I have seen, heard and read about was real eye opener.  After meeting with school principals, teachers, students, and parents, I saw examples of how the education system worked and how it failed, met people from many different organizations who are trying to improve education in India, and those who are already making it happen. It helped me realize the opportunity and challenge that Ziqitza Education has to make a difference.

Recently, Ziqitza Education became a finalist at the Sankalp Social Enterprise & Investment Forum in the Emerging Growth Education for All category. This award was exciting, but more importantly the conference introduced me to a whole new world of organizations and people who believe in social enterprises and its impact. Many of the people I had a chance to meet where supportive and encouraging to the mission of Ziqitza Education.

The past three months has made me realize that the future of India lies in educating rural India. More children are enrolled in Indian schools today than at any previous time in the country’s history, but results are poor in terms of student drop-out rates and their ability to read and write. Surprisingly, it’s the younger generation that is recognizing the need and placing an importance on it. At Bhartiya Public School in Pilani, a small town in Rajasthan, we met with 3 students who shared their thoughts on education:

“Before we move to the big cities for work, we need to think about educating the kids from the villages” said a 2^nd Grader. “I wish we had mentors in our local area who have pursued different types of careers” said an 8^th Grader. “I want to improve my English and find people who can give me language training” said another.

Kids like these deserve a chance and hearing it firsthand from them has been the real motivating factor for me to be part of an organization that is trying to make a difference.

It has been a unique, tough & exhilarating experience, one that has made me a better human being and also open doors to new relationships, friendships and collaboration to whole set of people that I would never have otherwise had the pleasure to meet, greet and work with