We?ve already profiled Aavishkaar, the Indian micro venture capital fund that works with entrepreneurs whose capital needs are between $50,000 and $500,000 ? too much for traditional microfinance but too small for commercial VCs. Now Aavishkaar has a counterpart in Nicaragua ? Agora Partnerships, an initiative of Columbia University MBA students. BusinessWeek mentioned the group in a good article on the group last year; the MicroCapital blog reminded me of them again last month.

At the risk of repeating myself, I want to emphasize why I think Aavishkaar and Agora are great projects. First, they address a key bottleneck ? entrepreneurs need more than the few thousand dollars that microfinance offers in order to effectively scale up, but often don?t have the collateral to secure a commercial loan (mesofinance). Second, both models are firmly rooted in profitable business practices ? Aavishkaar is run by experienced VCs, while Agora?s consultants are graduates of a top-25 MBA program. Finally, these models aren?t charity ? they generate profits for investors.These funds support a range of entrepreneurs: in India, Aavishkaar has funded the inventor of an irrigation rain gun and a dairy cooperative; Nicaragua?s Agora is working with everyone from a plastics recycler to a cigar manufacturer. Not all of the entrepreneurs these funds support are explicitly environmentally-friendly or socially responsible. Should this give investors pause? Should it give me pause?

I?m not sure. To run a profitable venture capital fund, you have to work with the best entrepreneurs. Sometimes that means working with a metal casting business ? but isn?t a locally-owned business that puts its profits back into the community better for the economy as a whole? There aren?t a lot of data to support this, but it?s my hunch ? and the salve to my conscience. What do you think ? should we be discussing BOP venture capital if the enterprises funded aren?t socially responsible or environmentally friendly?