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This post is the second part of a two-part series on thought leadership for computer makers in emerging markets. Part 1 focused on the companies striving for thought leadership over the last several years ... OLPC, Intel, Microsoft and AMD. Part 2 discusses the characteristics companies will need to develop if they want to become a "thought leader.

What is a thought leader?

There is a great quote from an unknown author that I believe is a perfect definition of thought leadership:

Thought leadership is recognition from the outside world that a company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates. Thought leadership is built on what others say about you. When you have it, companies look to you for insight & vision, journalists quote you, analysts call you.

So you can't grant yourself thought leadership status. Others must seek you out due to your perceived expertise and credibility in a specific niche. Was Negroponte, Intel, Microsoft, or AMD ever a "thought leader" based on this definition? I think so. Negroponte got Koffi Anan, the UN Secretary General at the time, to endorse his effort. Craig Barrett of Intel, shortly after World Ahead, got invited to chair the UN's Global Alliance on Information Society Development (UN GAID).

The deeper question I have is: did coming up with a fancy name with supporting pillars and proof point make a difference? Probably. Whether one has expertise or not, creating awareness of this expertise is key to establish credibility, one needs a "messaging platform" and a communication strategy. This is really marketing 101. What's your message and how do you communicate it?

OLPC had a very simple messaging platform. "One Laptop per Child." Every child in the world has a laptop. As you peel back the onion, you find it is not just a cheap laptop, but a laptop with content and learning tools tailored for the unique needs of school children. Then one needs to get that message out through a massive marketing communications campaign, including PR, events, and direct engagement with key influencers worldwide. OLPC did this through Negroponte's "celebrity" status in the industry and his relentless global travels.It was harder for Intel. Because we did so many things in emerging markets, we were lost in the complexity and comprehensiveness of what was already being done. Intel needed to:

1. Simplify and put more focus on specific areas that supported the goal of accelerating computer access to those that couldn't afford it (e.g. training teachers).
2. Develop the proof points to support these focus areas, and fill in the gaps of what Intel wasn't doing enough of (e.g. not training enough teachers)
3. Communicate this focused and simplified story more effectively. (e.g. improving a student's education by training more teachers and getting more computers into classroms)
4. Say it over and over again. (e.g. after the initial global launch, we re-launched World Ahead country-by-country and announced PC donations to schools and a specific number of teachers we would train).

Simple, right? It would seem so on the surface, but it took many man-hours over many months to get this right.

The leadership void

I think a leadership void currently exists in this space. I also think this void will only get bigger. Thought leadership is not based on market share. It is based on perception. Perception can be short-lived and fickle. The emerging market initiatives from Intel, AMD, OLPC, and Microsoft have been around for several years. Time will erode the luster of these initiatives because:

1. Hype always fades away (applies to all)
2. Excessive public scrutiny heightens missteps (OLPC)
3. The program loses its initial focus and evolves and becomes more complex (Intel)

On point #3, when intel turned World Ahead into a sales division, the World Ahead charter was expanded to encompass "all-things emerging markets" at Intel. (e.g. selling high-end processors in emerging markets while also pushing affordable computing.) In addition, as companies come under increased financial pressure from plummeting computer demand and shrinking IT budgets, these programs will come under increased scrutiny. When AMD's business began struggling against its rival Intel in late 2006, it had to cut back significantly on 50x15. Ultimately, AMD spun AMD off as an independent foundation. Will something similar happen at Intel and Microsoft? .Possibly. In tough times, companies' often put renewed focus on their "core" or mainstream business, Strategic, long-term initiatives often get left on the cutting room floor.

Who will fill the leadership void?

I think the time is right for somebody to fill this void. I mentioned in a previous post on my blog on this "mother of all disruptions" (the economic crisis) will create new losers and winners, Emerging markets are definitely struggling, especially those that are over-reliant on exports. Budgets are being cut. But stimulus investments could offset those cuts. Technology is still perceived as an important component of economic development. Thus, I believe the opportunity is still there. But I think governments, development banks and NGO's will be receptive for something new and different. All the "thought leaders" I have mentioned thus far have done a tremendous job convincing the world that computing is an important part of education and economic development. In my recent travels, every Ministry of Education I have visited has an ICT department. Large bids for computers are still being tendered. I believe the following criteria must be met for somebody to become a candidate for thought leadership.

• The technology or product/solution from the candidate must be a "disruptive innovation." Something that truly changes the game for computers in terms of technology, business model, affordability and unique value add.
• The potential candidate can't do it alone. It will need to create or lead a consortium of private and public entities that is build around a common purpose or goal.
• Any new thought leader must show tangible results. OLPC, Microsoft, Intel and AMD all had grand stories and goals. But have they truly delivered to these goals? A thought leader built on press announcements vs. results will be heavily scrutinized. The negative attention in the press and blogosphere on Negroponte is a great example of this.
• They will need to follow the four steps outlined above in creating a thought leadership platform, specifically: 1) a simple and focused messaging platform, 2) tangible and real supporting proof points, 3) an effective communications strategy, and 4) global and local communications. .

So who are your candidates for the next thought leader?

Four years ago, Nicholas Negroponte announced the One Laptop per Child initiative and the $100 laptop to much fan-fare at Davos in Switzerland. He captured the imaginations of world leaders with promises of ultra-affordable computing for school children around the world. He talked about changing the way children learn, improving their education and ultimately accelerating their access to the knowledge economy by deploying hundreds of millions of laptops. 

That same year, Intel's nemesis, AMD, launched the 50x15 program with the goal of increasing internet access to 50% of the world's population by the year 2015. Unlike with Negroponte's announcement, AMD launched their program with an actual existing product, the Personal Internet Communicator (PIC).

These announcements put Intel, my employer at the time, on notice. The press from these two initiatives got under the skin of the the company's executives. The typical complaint was "We invest millions in emerging markets, and ship millions of low-cost PC's, but we we get no recognition from it." Intel's "thought leadership" effort was thus born. I was asked to pull a strategy and plan together to help Intel gain the perceived leadership position in bringing computing and internet access to under-served markets that currently don't have access.

We launched the World Ahead program in 2006 with the stated goal of giving one billion new users access to affordable, broadband computing. The three supporting pillars were accessibility (affordable computers), connectivity (broadband access), and education (training and digital content). These pillars were supported by the introduction of the unique computing platforms (e.g. the Classmate PC), broadband initiatives (Wimax deployments) and an expansion of Intel's Teach to the Future training program to an additional 8 million teachers emerging markets. The press we recieved from the launch was tremendous. Parallel speeches by Hector Ruiz of AMD and Steve Ballmer at the same event (the World Congress of IT) paled in comparison to Paul Otellini's speech about World Ahead. Later that year, Intel reorganized their emerging market sales for into an official "World Ahead" organization.

Then Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon with the launch of Unlimited Potential in mid-2007 with similar goals but an arguably more comprehensive initiative encompassing new of unique software solutions, marketing initiatives and sales programs.

The leaders lose their "luster"

As of this writing in March 2009, all of these programs still exist. OLPC, 50x15, World Ahead and Unlimited Potential are all still functioning. Some are struggling ... recent announcements by OLPC that their were cutting their staff by 50% and relying more on volunteers is just one example. Yet all of these organizations are still very active in the effort to increase computer access to under-served markets. On a trip this week to three countries in South America, both OLPC and the Classmate PC have been deployed, or are about to be deployed. Awareness and preference is very high for notebooks and netbooks. But none of these efforts could be called a stand-out "thought leader" today. A combination of time (hype can only last so long), previous challenges, and the capacity to continue to fund these projects all challenge their ability to lead. All of this is leading to what I believe will be a leadership void in the effort to bring affordable internet and computer access to emerging markets. But before I talk about this void and who could possibly fill it, I think it would help to explain what thought leadership is, and how a company can become one.

This post is the first part of a two-part series on thought leadership for computer makers in emerging markets. Part 2 will discuss the characteristics companies will need to develop if they want to become a "thought leader.

Folks, here is my final piece from the Skoll World Forum 2009 in Oxford. Being there last few days was a humbling, inspiring, overwhelming, connecting and a fulfilling experience. Two high points during the venue were the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship and the Skoll Forum Closing Ceremony.

Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship

Words deceive me to express how inspired the space was at the Skoll awards ceremony last Thursday evening. Set at the magnificent Sheldonian, the awards were a tribute to the indomitable courage and energy that takes a social entrepreneur in any part of the world to be a catalyst and bring about change.

The evening began to foot tapping performance by KT Tunstall , a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. In introducing her Sally Osberg, President and CEO of Skoll Foundation said that KT has been contributing to the cause of Climate Change by taking buses on tours that run on bio-diesel. I knew little about her but thanks to Wikipedia I am now enlightened on this amazing performer.

Sally Osberg rightly said that the Skoll Forum was convening in exceptional circumstances when the old order was collapsing and the challenge to create and morally justifiable and sustainable world was in front of us. She likened Social Entrepreneurs to 'scouts' in ant communities that go out in search of new sites. "Social Entrepreneurs are humanities scouts. - signally there is something out there that is hopeful. Skoll amplifies such signals." Follow her address were three short films on healthcare and IT footprint, Root Capital and their transformative work with Tanzanian farmers and one on the use of IT education to bridge the digital divide in marginalized youth communities in Brazil. Titled Uncommon Heroes, the film series clearly resonated with the topic of the Winning Hearts and Minds I wrote about before.

R.K.Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  delivered the keynote address. He praised Social Entrepreneurs as missionaries of a fair and just society who are today fashioning a new development paradigm in tune with grassroots realities. "Social Entrepreneurs also provide a form of powerful governance." He shared an anecdote of Mahatma Gandhi while stressing the importance of sustainable use of natural resources. I paraphrase it here: Once, a British friend of Gandhi asked him if he did not want India to proposer like Britain. Gandhi paused and said that if Britain needed half the resources in the world to be what it was, then imagine what would happen if India wanted to be as prosperous as Britain.

Climate change, he said, is only a subset of the dangers of unsustainable development and the most affected in any catastrophes are the poorest of the poor. This is an inequitable impact. In addition, while giving the shocking statistic that there are 1.6 billion homes without access to electricity in the world, he shared his dream of lighting a billion homes.

This was followed by the Skoll Award distribution to 9 awardees including Root Capital, one of the undisputable leaders and pioneers in the Development through Enterprise space. The audience was inspired and were on their feet applauding the significant impact each of these awardees had on their communities. More than $5 million was given as grants to these people.  The evening concluded with a few more songs by KT and a reception at the Examination Schools at High Street.

In all, an enthralling evening, great fellowship, bright ideas, uncommon heroes and common good!

Skoll Forum Closing Ceremony

A morning full of equally engaging sessions separated the Awards ceremony from the Skoll World Forum closing ceremony, which focused on the role of education in the social entrepreneurship space.

Pamela Hartigan, the Director of Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Said Business School was the hostess of the closing plenary. She began by telling us that the Skoll World Forum was 6^th most twittered event in the world in the last couple of days. Hosting it at Oxford University, the oldest university in the English speaking world was illustrating the importance of it. She said that her vision for the Skoll center was to have Social Entrepreneurship as a harbinger of future systems and practices in this space. Skoll center has been awarding scholarships for MBA students that have worked on transformational change.

So far, 25 Skollars (as the Skoll Scholars are called) are influencing ecosystems where they work and are the first line ambassadors of Skoll. This year there are more than 60 MBA students interested in this space and member of the Social Entrepreneurship OBN (Oxford Business Network). These students serve as infectious agents combining markets and meaning. She added that Skoll intends to contribute by convening researchers and practitioners. Skoll center is now actively pursuing the teaching fraternity at the B-school to introduce case studies on SE in subjects of Finance, Strategy etc. developing a business culture with a passion for social change.

Lord David Puttnam who spoke on "Citizens, Institutions and Shifting Power", is a filmmaker and politician and a member of the House of Lords. He has spent recent years in the field of education that he says are the building blocks for children's lives. Known for producing Oscar award winning movies like 'Chariots of Fire' he was drawing upon his rich know-how in various sectors. Quoting HG Well he said "History is a race between education and catastrophe." He hopes in future Education triumphs. He said there was a need for a movie like Inconvenient Truth to stress on education. He held the world premiere of his new work by showing a 7-minute clip on education to the audience.

The present threat to our planet is inaction in the face of global challenges. This inaction will precipitate matters. He was glad that there was hope, however, and said that he was confident to see that social entrepreneurs in the gathering were well equipped to deliver on that hope.

Soraya Salti, Senior Vice President, MENA, INJAZ al-Arab, spoke of the golden age of Islam and the current state of the education system, and said this had created unprecedented rates of unemployment in the Arab world. She spoke of the need to invest in education for prospering. She quoted Khalil Gibran on Work: "You work so that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons and to step out of life's processions that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite...when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream assigned to you when that dream was born". She also said she'd come from the land of prophets and wanted to present a book to the 'modern day prophet' Jeff Skoll. The audience gave a standing ovation to Jeff Skoll as they witnessed this gesture.  

Jeff Skoll, summed up what a great forum we had. Referring again to urgency and hope, the two issues of today he said "Both are on an upward path". Charles Darwin, whose bicentenary Oxford is celebrating, had impact on science, religion and society. Not until the DNA double helix model was discovered to provide hard scientific evidence to the work he had done on the Beagles journey. Jeff said a similar process is in play in Social Entrepreneurship space. The Social Enterprise field has evolved, strengthened and been challenged over time. Now is the time for it to be on the mainstream.

Indeed, the economic crisis may solidify social entrepreneurship model to be the model for social and economic change. Referring to the SE community he said "You are a keystone species in the social change architecture. Your role is strengthened by the economic crisis. We leave Oxford with a renewed sense of what is possible. Last year we said Social Entrepreneurs had arrived; now I say they are to take lead and show the way to the rest of the world. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste."

Colin Mayer, Dean of Said Business School gave the concluding remarks. Referring to the evolution of Kaizen in Japan in post World War II period, he said that institutional innovation was the need of this decade of the 21^st century. Skoll Forum was a contrast to the gloom and doom in other conferences he has attended in recent times. Forum is an enduring innovation in its own right he added.

Pamela concluded with an Irish blessing:

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand."

The closing plenary was followed by a networking event called "Conversations - Leaders for the Future". Current MBA students spend time speaking to practitioners and delegates discussing ideas revolving on various themes from Human Rights, Education to Youth empowerment and media.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

A connecting thread between everything I saw at the Skoll World Forum was the enormous power of storytelling to advance the goals pursued by social entrepreneurs and those harnessing the power of markets and enterprise to address the challenges of poverty and inequality in our times.

Following are my notes from a session that built on this challenge: "Winning Hearts and Minds". In my last post I will refer to the stories I heard during the Skoll Social Entrepreneurship Awards and the Forum's Closing Ceremony.

"Winning Hearts and Minds" was moderated by Cara Mertes, Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute. The speakers during the session were:

• Amitabha Sadangi, CEO of International Development Enterprises, India,
• Greg Barker, Director of Silverbridge Productions, and
• Susan Collin marks, Senior Vice President of Search for Common Ground.

Story telling is a fundamental human expression and narrative a communication tool that all of us are able to connect with. It fascinated us as children and many times even today. That story telling is all the more important for social entrepreneurs and the goals they pursue was an opinion shared by everyone in this panel last week.

To kick off the session the panelists shared compelling stories of their own. Greg shared his appeal for stories that force him to think how he would have reacted in particular situations. Speaking of Rwanda's genocide and the crisis and weaving it to another narrative of a personal encounter with an interesting person from the Red Cross, Greg made the point of how stories usually begin in the unlikeliest of places.

Amitabha, from IDEI, told us how he was one of the few students from his village to even go to college . Thus he was asked to tell stories of movies he had seen in the city whenever he visited his home village. That's how his saga of 'story telling' began and it continues to be an inexpensive means to change lives. In effect, he spoke about how IDEI's short films have been instrumental in getting across messages to the populations they serve, through stories of love and romance sometimes in the inimitable Bollywood style. They use people from real life so that villagers can relate and connect to them, and adhere to the mission and tools promoted by the organization.

Susan told compelling stories of human emotions from the war torn Israel-Palestine region. As she passionately told these, she was 'shaking and crying'. She also described how on a community radio programme in Rwanda people were asked to share stories of generous acts of tribal communities saving each others' lives, although they were enemies. This, she said, was a catalyst to discover more stories from Congo and Rwanda and connect people through them.

Many film makers from Sundance that were willing to share expertise with the audience, and compelling clips from movies of Central Africa and Iraq enthralled the audience. Amitabha showed clips of movies from India and one of these was in Kannada (my mother tongue)! These were short song and dance clips used to convey powerful messages. The audience received copies of Sundance produced movies and IDEI's social change movies films.

The 'hope gap' that Jeff Skoll referred to in Day 1 can be filled by the power of stories, because they reach and resonate in our hearts. They also motivate listeners to tell their own stories. Everybody has one! The dilemma is in closing the circle of telling and listening. Indeed, social entrepreneurs have to do more than presenting compelling and creative solutions to social challenges. They need to change long-standing beliefs in favour of new ways of thinking and being. This session was a good example of how film and media can take positive messages to mass audience with the goal of influencing strongly-held attitudes and behaviours.

Finally, the distinction between sympathy and empathy is important when you 'listen' to a story - if the audience is sympathetic, they feel sad and move on. If they are empathetic, they are moved and move-in. The latter is more important to create a movement of social change.

Stay tuned for my last post about Skoll World Forum 2009, in which I will refer to two other powerful sessions that put the power of stories and communication at the center and served as a boost of motivation to all present in this venue.

The Skoll World Forum can be summed up as such: You can't pack more content into one day, nor could have more a enthusiastic crowd of social entrepreneurs, social investors, social researchers and decision makers in one place at one time.

My Skoll experience can be summed up in one word: rushed.  The temptation to attend more than one programme was too great to resist; I ended with running from one speech to another on more than one occasion.

I began my Skoll experience at "The Ripple Effect: Communities Empowered Through Individual Transformation." The panelists for the session were:

• Ian Goldin, Director, James Martin 21st Century School, University of Oxford
• Ron Grzywinski, Chairman, ShoreBank Corporation
• Marcia Odell, Director, WORTH, Pact Institute
• Jeremy Hockenstein, CEO & Co-Founder, Digital Divide Data

While the panel discussion itself was intellectually stimulating, the Q&A was more thought provoking. Asked about women's empowerment, Ron Grzywinski cited the excellent work being done by BRAC in Bangladesh and by Aga Khan Foundation in different parts of Asia. The session looked at proven models for empowerment from across the globe.

After a short break, I ran over to "Capital Markets in Crisis: Threat or Opportunity?" The panelists for the session were:

• Matthew Bishop, Chief Business Writer & New York Bureau Chief, The Economist
• Sir Ronald Cohen, Director, Social Finance Ltd.
• Sam Moss, President, Gray Matters Capital Management LLP
• Jan Piercy, Executive Vice President, ShoreBank Corporation

Anticipating a larger audience for the session, this thematic session was held at the biggest lecture theater at SBS, the Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre. On account of the financial crisis, an animated discussion took place, and every one had an opinion on the "how" and "why" of the capital market crisis.

By the end of the session, I was left with the impression that capital markets recovery will only be very gradual and the current scenario has provided an opportunity for social entrepreneurship and social finance to get activated. Will governments play the role of an enabler?  It's a big open question.

There was also a discussion about the correlation of return in the social sector with capital market return. Discussion also veered around how microfinance has moved from anecdote based opinions to more data-driven research and conclusions.  I wonder if that's a trend for the entire social space - I hope so.

In the evening, the famous Sheldonian Theatre was once again the venue for another very important event. The Skoll Awards were presented by Jeff Skoll to social entrepreneurs from all around the world. Prior to the Awards Ceremony, Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, addressed the gathering.

The problems facing our planet are too enormous to be left on their own. Dr. Pachauri - with a team of experts - took real, effective steps.  These individual visionaries worked together to tackle global problems and received global recognition of their efforts - just as it came to social entrepreneurs in the form of Skoll Awards.

It has been almost two years since I first blogged about design for affordability.  In July of 2007, I wrote a profile of d.light design.  As many of you know, d.light emerged in the spring of 2006 from a class at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford entitled, “Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability.”  The course assembles students from a variety of backgrounds including business, engineering and design, to tackle critical needs in the developing world.

I vividly remember the feelings of wistfulness and jealousy as I read the course description.  I thought to myself, “I wish Cornell had a class like that.”  Well, now we do!  Thanks to the vision, determination, (and yes, creativity), of two Johnson School MBA students, Jeff Gangemi and Charles Lo, Creative Design for Affordability (CDfA) was born.   As you’ll soon discover, this dynamic duo fought near misses and long odds to make their dream a reality. 

But despite their slightly “odd-couple-ish” pairing---Jeff is a former journalist that embodies laidback California cool (although he’s actually from Pennsylvania) and Charles, a scientist with a PhD in immunology,  is a bundle of kinetic energy---their partnership has yielded fantastic results.   Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed sitting down for a chat with these guys.

With no further ado, let’s learn about Creative Design for Affordability @ Cornell!

Tayo, NextBillion.net:  What prompted the creation of the class?  What was your inspiration?

Jeff:  Well, before business school I was a writer for Business Week covering management education and the emerging trends in the space.  During that time I learned about the Stanford design school and the course, Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability. 

I had the opportunity to speak to Jim Patell, one of the two professors who teach the course, on two different occasions.  His passion was palpable and the idea of getting one’s hands dirty and building something was inspiring.  I felt that the strengths of Cornell’s business school program and the university were similar to Stanford’s, so why not improve the MBA program with a hands-on design thinking experience?

Charles:   I was inspired by the screening of a video about IDEO’s creative process in my MLO (Managing and Leading in Organizations) class last summer.  Literally, everything “clicked” after watching the video.  Shortly afterward, I went to California to visit Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design as well as IDEO itself.  Upon returning to Cornell, I recognized that the raw material to create something similar was there, but we needed to break down the walls between departments.  I also started thinking about the possibility of having a design school here.

Tayo, NextBillion.net:   How did your fabulous partnership evolve?

Jeff:  It’s funny, I remember saying to wife, “Now that I’m in school, I’m going to bring that design class to Cornell.”  I can’t believe it actually happened. 

In any case, I started working on the class in January of last year.  I was trying to find a professor to take ownership of it, but by June I still hadn’t found anyone.  Incidentally, June was the deadline for finding a professor if I wanted to launch the class before I graduated.  When I returned to school in the fall, I knew that I had to do something. 

It was then that I received an email from Charles, who’s an Accelerated MBA*.  I was actually ready to let the idea die at that point.  Ironically, Charles had already formed an affinity group called Creative Design for Affordability to channel the energy of students interested in the space.  It is being run by a committed group of first year students, who have subsequently assumed leadership.  As part of that effort, he was assembling a panel entitled Creative Design for Affordability: Innovations for the World’s Biggest Challenges’ for Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration 2009. 

Long story short, his energy and enthusiasm carried me through the doldrums.   We continued to work on the class for almost five months before we found the current professor, Alan McAdams, to champion it. 

*Note from the author: For those of you who don’t know, the Johnson School has a one-year program for folks who already have advanced degrees and strong quantitative skills.  Additionally, Jeff is a Park Fellow and CdFA is his Park project.  The Park Fellowship is “a two year full-tuition plus stipend fellowship award for up to 25 Johnson students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership potential." As part of the Fellowship experience, each student is required to complete a service project.

Charles:  When I talked to Mark Milstein, Director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, about my idea for a design school, he was enthusiastic and told me about Jeff’s project.  I wasn’t sure about how to proceed, but I knew that the Stanford design school had a class.  I also thought that the affinity group would be a great way to generate interest.  That’s when I met Jeff.  He’d figured the class thing out and I thought “Perfect.” 

Tayo, NextBillion.net:  What were your toughest challenges in bringing the course to fruition?

Jeff:   As I mentioned before, we had to work really hard to find a professor willing to teach the course.  We’d had several meetings with Professor McAdams about the sustainability seminar that he co-teaches with the Department of Applied Economics & Management, but we were unable to reach common ground.  Finally, on January 10^th, we got an email from McAdams agreeing to teach a 7-week long, 1.5 credit course. 

It was also difficult to get the proposal approved by the curriculum committee.  What we’d prepared raised a few red flags.  However, in the final meeting I sold the concept as if my life depended on it.  Two or three days later, the course was approved.

Charles:  Passion drives excellence!

Tayo, NextBillion.net:  How is the class set up?

Charles:   It’s essentially a human-centered design course with a project component, i.e. a rapid, iterative prototyping design challenge.  The 36 class participants will be divided into two groups to complete projects for our clients, Compos Mentis and Comet Skateboards. 

Compos Mentis is an area non-profit farm that teaches life skills to adults with mental illnesses.  We’ll be developing a bicycle-powered corn grinder for them.  (Innovate or Die, anyone?)  Comet Skateboards is a local start-up that builds skateboards and apparel with eco-friendly materials.  We will work with Comet to create affordable protective gear for them. 

Although the class isn’t exclusively focused on the BoP, many of the basic design concepts are applicable, and there will be cost constraints applied to the prototyping process.  Additionally, we focus on human and needs centered design as well as sustainability.

For the classroom portion of the course, we’ve lined up 10 guest lecturers to discuss specific topics such as effective brainstorming, product development, design for customer appeal and usability, and of course, design for the base of the pyramid.  We’ve recruited professors from within and outside the Johnson School, as well as practioners.  In fact, last Wednesday Daniel Buchner, Vice President, Organizational Innovation and Gaurav Rohatgi, Principal, Mechanical Engineer from Design Continuum taught a 3-hour session on its design process.

Tayo, Nextbillion.net:  You’re both graduating in May so what’s next for Creative Design for Affordability @ Cornell?

Jeff:  Well, after emailing the engineering listserv, Charles met several passionate students working on the Solar Decathlon.  They introduced us to the Design and Planning Club, which is an interdisciplinary group of 150 undergraduate and graduate students that is dedicated to architecture and design at Cornell.  We’re hoping to tap their energy and leverage our business training to further the cause of Creative Design for Affordability on campus.

Charles:  In the long term, I’d like to see a design school established Cornell.  We want to create a shared partnership with a number of Cornell’s schools and departments so that all interested Cornellians will have access.  At Hasso Plattner, people from different schools teach; there are no specific appointments.  Someone has to take the lead, but it’ll be a joint effort. 

At this stage, we’re actively soliciting institutional support and funders for the design school.

Tayo, Nextbillion.net:  Well, there you have it---Creative Design for Affordability@Cornell! 

 As a member of the inaugural class, I have to say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience thus far.  Jeff’s unofficial motto is to “think outside the spreadsheet” and that is exactly what we’re doing.  During the Design Continuum’s workshop two weeks ago, I had more fun with modeling clay and paper clips than I thought possible. 

If you’d like to keep up with the goings on of the class and the design school, check out Jeff’s blog where he reports periodically on the class’s progress.

Editor's note: Guest Blogger Vinay Nagaraju sent us the following post from a session at the Skoll World Forum titled "Expansion Finance for Social Impact". It was moderated by John Goldstein, Managing Director, Imprint Capital Advisors. Speakers in the panel were George Overholser, Founder and Managing Director of NFF Capital Partners, Jean-Philippe De Schrevel, Founder of Bamboo Finance and Blue Orchard, and Ashish Karamchanndani, CEO of Monitor Group.      

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Philanthropy has too often remained trapped in the 'small is beautiful' world of social innovation - while for-profit-investors have striven to avoid any taint of compromising returns for social goals. A growing set of trailblazers is mobilizing significant pools of capital to deploy for social impact. In the process they are reinventing the way philanthropic and for-profit capital is used for social and environmental benefit.

While speaking of stages in fund raising, Jean-Philippe asked social entrepreneurs to look for angel investors that believe in the ideas and are willing to invest 'small sums' of money - use the initial successes and then leverage to make larger claims. He asked people to speak to private banks and private investors after reaching a scale that can attract investments - that is how you get access to large pools of capital. He said growth by franchising was an option to scale enterprises, a plausible business model social enterprises should consider.

George, from NFF Capital Partners, raises money from a for-profit pool for investments in the non-profit world. He resonated on the challenges social entrepreneurs face and asked the audience to look for funders that can stay for long term and incrementally support ventures. He emphasized that the scale of impact is more important than the scale of the organization. Social Entrepreneurs need to not just have a programme but an enterprise around it.

Ashish, from Monitor Group, said that helping organizations in the non-profit space was a challenge, and could not stress less that the fundamental element of social enterprises was the business model. That is, a model for revenue generation that can cover all the costs to begin with. Speaking of the benefits of micro-finance he said it was fundamentally a different business model to deliver the same product - a personal loan. Commercial viability, robustness  and replicatability were attributes of such a model. He also said that a paradox is that sometimes the organizations may need to be small to build viable models in the low income groups.

In recent times, there are growing number of investors who want to diversify their portfolios and be connected to projects that make grassroots impact. This change has come about with a sudden interest in the well-being of the world given the current financial crisis.

In summary John reminded the audience that there's often great payback for those who take on risks early, in the absence of clarity.

To paraphrase Frank Costanza, "finally, a trade association for the rest of us."  When you look at the official launch of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) - announced today at the Skoll World Forum - that's what it boils down to for the organizations working with small and medium enterprises in developing countries.  Or, as NextBillion.net ally Cat Laine notes (quoting from the Stanford Social Innovation Review):

high impact organizations help their peers succeed, building networks of nonprofit allies and devoting remarkable time and energy to advancing their fields. They freely share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with other nonprofits not because they are saints, but because it’s in their self-interest to do so.

Yes, it is in their self interest.  The development through enterprise idea is a young one, and a number of organizations have sprung up in recent years to support the development of small enterprises, each taking a slightly different approach and generally learning a lot from success and even more from failure.  Sharing those successes - and failures - along with portfolio data, talent and pipeline development, seems to make sense, but there needs to be an independent arbitrator.  Enter ANDE.

The Network brings 35 member organizations to the table, harnessing a collective pool of $750M in investment capital.  There's also a $1M innovation fund available to in-network members to incentivize collaboration.  We are excited to see Randall Kempner take the 'official' reins at ANDE and will keep a close eye on this new trade association for the missing middle.

ANDE founding members, in alphabetical order:

Acumen Fund
African Agricultural Capital
AIDG
The Aspen Institute
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Citi Foundation
Dalberg Global Development Advisors
E+Co.
Endeavor
Frontier Market Advisors
Google.org
Grassroots Business Fund
IGNIA Partners, LLC
InvesteQ Capital Ltd.
JCS Investments
The Lemelson Foundation
Lundin for Africa
McKinsey & Company
Mercy Corps
Omidyar Network
Rianta Capital
The Rockefeller Foundation
Root Capital
Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF)
Shared Interest
Shell Foundation
Skoll Foundation
SNV-Netherlands Development Organization
Social Equity Venture Fund (SE.VEN Fund)
TechnoServe Inc.
VisionSpring
William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan
World Resources Institute - New Ventures

See additional coverage in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Editor's note: NextBillion.net will cover the Skoll World Forum 2009 through a team of Guest Writers. Vinay Nagaraju, author of this post, comes from Bangalore in India. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangalore University and is currently pursuing his MBA at the Said Business School at Oxford University. 

By Vinay Nagaraju

The day I was waiting for finally arrived! As the opening plenary of the sixth edition of the Skoll World Forum unfolded yesterday evening at the magnificent Sheldonian Theatre at the heart of Oxford, I remembered the time when I chose to pursue my MBA at Saïd Business School. The opportunity to witness the forum and connect with people in the social entrepreneurship space was a primary reason behind my choice. Last night, the time had come to live those moments.

As I look forward to the next few days of intense conversations and possible crystallization of various ideas, I intend to share my experiences here on NextBillion.net. A brief account of today's ceremony will be a good preface to the ensuing write-ups.

Stephan Chambers in his opening remarks introduced this year's theme: "Shifting Power Dynamics". Invoking German philosopher Emmanuel Kant who had said that some day there will be a universal peace, and that it would come about by human insight or by catastrophe; he hoped it was the former. He set the stage for the forum at a time of global upheaval and the need for peace and change. In his speech, Jeff Skoll welcomed the 785 delegates hailing from 65 countries and said that there were burning issues facing the world populace. The big challenges of water scarcity, climate change, violence and the recent financial crisis were all staring at our face. He deemed that the conversations this year in comparison to the last have changed focus from creative capitalism to future of capitalism. He also said that social entrepreneurs had two gaps to fill for humanity - those of opportunity and hope that real change is possible. In his inimitable sense of humor, signifying the changing times (read global financial crisis) he presented the Said Business School, the co-hosts of the forum a piggy bank.

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