Guest blogger Francesca van der Feltz is a graduating MS student with a focus in Asian Regional Business Environment at Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is the Net Impact president and Service Corps non-profit consulting leader on campus.

She earned a BA in journalism from Arizona State with focuses on political science, economics and law, and published front-page articles with the Arizona Republic's data team. She studied Dutch in the Netherlands and is learning Mandarin Chinese. She now focuses on sustainable trade and business practices in Asia.

By Francesca van der Feltz

Searching for amazing win-win solutions is a lofty goal, and my search at the Net Impact conference began with a session that explored the stake businesses have in supporting economic development and stable societies in the locations in which they operate. The panelists came from notable diplomatic and development organizations, and they each had a unique angle to discuss based on the programs they work in.

Business as a peacebuilder

The first panelist to present was Melissa Powell, head of strategy and partnerships for the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), where she leads the work on business and peace and UN-business partnerships. Powell articulated the UN's view of the private sector's role in conflict prevention and peace building, saying the private sector is a stakeholder in society and should therefore work actively to create a sustainable and fair global economy. Powell pointed out that business by nature has an interest in stable environments that allow for strategic decision-making.

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Like the year before, it was cold, it was early and it was at the Rubin Museum of Art. But that’s where the 2008 Acumen Fund Investor Gathering ceased to be like the 2007 version, at least on the surface.

On a personal, micro level, there were obvious differences: last year, I attended representing my then-boss, an Acumen Fund advisor; this year, I am an Acumen Fund employee. To be sure, the change in vantage point (from audience member to staff member) accounts for some of the differences I observed between IG 2007 and IG 2008.

With a little time and distance, however, I’ve decided that substantive changes – in Acumen Fund’s world and the global community at large – account for the bulk of year to year differences.

From November 2007 to November 2008:

• The global financial system experienced turmoil unlike any in our lifetimes, precipitating massive asset devaluations worldwide;
• Kenya went through a period of post-election violence that it is still working to recover from socially, politically and economically;
• Pakistan struggled to fight terrorism, saw its former president assassinated and watched as its military ruler peacefully ceded power to a democratically-elected government;
• India continued to boom, saw income inequality explode, and experienced its own 9/11 moment when terrorists attacked multiple sites in Mumbai;
• The United States’ housing market meltdown precipitated a global recession; amidst economic turmoil, the country elected a new president.

To be sure, the challenges facing Acumen Fund and our community are arguably as great as they have ever been. Fortunately, and if last year is any indication, it appears that we are prepared to face them head on.

How prepared? Here are some notes from the Investor Gathering, outlining how Acumen Fund has continued to invest in businesses serving low-income customers, and how we plan to ramp up our work again in 2009.

After breakfast – and a state-of-the-state address by Jacqueline Novogratz, which she covers in her autumn update – Brian Trelstad gave the audience a thorough update on Acumen Fund’s portfolio. Acumen now has 33 investments under management, as well as 5 exited investments, meaning we’re beginning to learn more and more about housing, drip irrigation, anti-malarial drugs, LED lights, health clinics, ambulance services, clean drinking water – the list goes on – and that’s Brian’s point.

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For those of us in the United States, tonight marks a tradition - the tradition of Thanksgiving traffic.  This is especially true on the eastern seaboard, where air and car traffic get particularly bad as families attempt to gather and celebrate the holiday.

So, since NextBillion.net is based in Washington DC, we're taking a few days off.  Who knows, we might just log on and do some blogging from the airport or while stuck in traffic - you never know.

See you Monday.

(Full disclosure: I wrote this post last year on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and am simply re-posting it today.  You might call me lazy, but I would characterize it as efficient...)

Interested in mobile technology applications for development?  Need $10,000?  If you answered "yes" to both of the above, then the Development 2.0 Challenge is made for you.

The Development 2.0 Challenge is an initiative of the Global Development Commons, which works to crowdsource solutions to pressing development problems.  What's interesting about this particular effort is (a) it's focus on mobile phone applications to development, (b) the $10,000 winner's prize - double that of the Changemakers collaborative competitions - and (c) the community voting process that will help determine the winner.

Applications to the Challenge close next Friday, December 5.  Be sure to check out both the Challenge as well as the Global Development Commons for more information.

(Via a press release - how web 1.0 of me!  Ah well, nobody's perfect...)

Guest blogger Bree Olivari is a second-year MBA candidate at Thunderbird Global School of Management and is a leader of the Net Impact chapter. At Thunderbird, Bree integrates her interest in sustainable business with her degree in supply chain leadership. Her projects include mapping best practices of supplier codes of ethics, organizing Thunderbird's Sustainable Innovation Summit and greening procurement practices on campus.

During a recent internship Bree helped design the distribution of micronutrient sachets to undernourished children in Mexico.

By Bree Olivari

As I bit into an apple provided in my Net Impact lunch box, my mind wandered to the farm it came from and how this juicy treat related to a growing and global food crisis. It is expected that such a thought cross my mind especially since the details from the session I attended at the Net Impact National Conference hours earlier entitled "The Global Food Crisis: Business-Led Solutions to Alleviate Food Insecurity and Malnutrition" were still fresh.

Back to my thoughts of the apple farm. Much unlike the farms described in the session, which the world's poorest communities depend on, the apple farm probably uses technology developed over the past fifty years, can afford to use fertilizer and may even receive a subsidy from the US government. Furthermore, the apple farmer clearly has access to a reliable transportation infrastructure which affords her access to markets where she can make well-informed decisions on price and value for the customer.  

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For all our readers who have been following the mobile phone banking debate, there is a great opportunity coming up to hear about first hand experiences of the implementation of  mobile banking solutions at scale in multiple markets.

CGAP - the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor - is organizing an online conference open to everyone interested on December 11th and has invited a great group of speakers to share their perspectives and insights about this budding industry. Please remember that your participation has to be confirmed by email before November 30th to technology@cgap.org with 'RSVP' in the subject line.

The conference - entitled "Mobile Banking for Poor People: Pioneer Perspectives" - welcomes the following panelists:

• Nick Hughes, Vodafone Group (UK/Worldwide)
  
• Rizza Maniego-Eala, Globe Telecom (Philippines)
• Sam Kamiti, Equity Bank (Kenya)
• Ali Abbas Sikander, Tameer Bank (Pakistan)
• Ganhuyag Ch. Hutagt, XacBank (Mongolia)
• Brian Richardson, Wizzit (South Africa)
• Maldives Monetary Authority (Maldives)

For additional details of the conference, please go to their original announcement here.

Although gender equality is a desirable aim in itself, there are also underlying economic reasons for female empowerment. In the words of the 2007 Global Monitoring Report (partially devoted to gender issues) from the World Bank: "Improving gender equality reduces poverty and stimulates growth directly through women’s greater labor force participation, productivity, and earnings, as well as indirectly through beneficial effects on child well-being."

Plainly speaking, improving the status of women has two effects. On the one hand there is a short term economic effect, since women seem to be better investors and bookkeepers than men – and there are many studies out there to prove it.

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Guest blogger Katherine Yue is a second-year MBA student at Thunderbird School of Global Management where she has assisted in research on business and capacity growth in microfinance and health microfranchises. She interned for FINCA Jordan in its founding year, strengthening business risk management disciplines.

Prior to Thunderbird, Katherine was a project manager at the largest health care organization in the US, leading process redesign and enterprise risk management systems. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in economics with a focus on society and technology.

By Katherine Yue

The second day of the 2008 Net Impact Conference took me from an interactive workshop on scaling enterprises at the base of pyramid to a session on strategic philanthropy.  Bringing it all home was a session called Social Entrepreneurship At Work, Moderated by Mark Milstein from Cornell University, with panelists Jordan Kassalow, Co-Founder and Chairman of Vision Spring, Christine Eibs Singer, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of E+Co, Nand Kishore Chaudhary, Founder of Jaipur Rugs Company and Jaipur Rugs Foundation.

In the audience, Jordan Kassalow pointed out Neil Blumenthal and Jocelyn Wyatt's attendance and their instrumental participation in the initial growth of VisionSpring.  Tal Dahtier, who started MBAs Without Borders, was also on hand to encourage MBAs to pursue their passion in social entrepreneurship.

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Back in April I posted news about the World Challenge competition, hosted by BBC and Newsweek. Well, I just got an e-mail from a friend reminding me about it so I went to the competition's website, only to find out that the final round is on and that votes for one of the finalists will be accepted until tomorrow.

So I encourage you to visit World Challenge, take a look at the twelve finalists and cast your vote! There are interesting projects coming from Latin America, Africa, East Europe and Asia.

Finally, a hat tip for the BBC/ Newsweek crew for the remarkable job they have done profiling these projects through video.   
 

Guest blogger Christi Huizenga is a second-year MBA student at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  Before Thunderbird, she spent five years in project management and business development for International Justice Mission, a human rights NGO.  Christi has a B.A. in Business Communications from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI.

Christi Huizenga

The days when development finance organizations were the only ones pouring capital into emerging markets are long gone. Private Equity firms are increasingly chasing returns into emerging markets.  A panel last weekend at the Net Impact North America Conference brought together both private equity firms and development finance organizations to discuss the trade-offs between profitable returns and the social impact of these investments. 

It was moderated by Graham Sinclair, of Sinclair and Co. and the first panelist was Peter Greenwood from OPIC (the Overseas Private Investment Corporation), a U.S. Government agency working to develop private sector opportunities overseas providing services to U.S. firms.  Services include insurance, financing assistance, and support for privately owned and managed investment funds.  OPIC private equity is essentially a fund of funds and they provide investment guarantees to their clients.  

While OPIC does not directly invest in emerging economies, they can choose to work with funds that will have a development impact.  OPIC rates investment opportunities based on factors such as environmental impact, workers rights, human rights and other development contributors. 

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(Editor's note: Today, November 19, is World Toilet Day, part of an awareness campaign led by Water Aid. This post is timely to stop for a second, think about and learn more a crisis that keeps 2.5 billion of the world's poorest citizens away from basic sanitation services)

Guest blogger Mike Pezone is a returned Peace Corps volunteer from the Philippines and a 2nd year MBA from The Johnson School at Cornell University.  He focuses on Base of the Pyramid business models at Cornell's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise.  This past summer he worked in Mexico conducting the BoP Protocol  to develop a water purification business model for an early stage startup.

By Mike Pezone

Water touches everything. This was reflected in the diverse backgrounds and interests of the panelists at the Saturday morning session about "innovative solutions to water and sanitation challenge".  Hailing from different corners of the water problem, panelists included Mikkel Vesterdaard - CEO of the company that created the Life Straw, Andra Tamburro - Program Director at Water Advocates (the first nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing American support for the global water problem), and Jeff Seabright - VP of Environment and Water Resources at the Coca-Cola Company.

Stan Laskowski, President of the Philadelphia Global Water Initiative Board moderated an engaging session between panelists and participants.  In my opinion the panel was less a discussion on innovative solutions and more of a call to action as each panelist cited statistics reminding us of the gargantuan scale of the current water crisis.

• 1,000,000,000 people lack access to safe drinking water
• 2,600,000,000 people lack access to proper sanitation
• 50% of the schools in developing countries lack access to clean water
• 75% of the schools in developing countries lack access to proper sanitation
• Every 15 seconds a child dies from a water related illness 

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Guest blogger Matt Austin is a second-year MBA student at Thunderbird School of Global Management focusing on the intersection of international development, entrepreneurship and venture capital. He spent this past summer advising a group of Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneurs in Turkey on their capital raising and expansion efforts.

Prior to Thunderbird, Matt was a private equity and M&A attorney for nearly seven years. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Iowa with a degree in Economics.

By Matt Austin

The buzz surrounding social enterprise in international development circles has been loud and growing louder.  Hybrid business models that blend private sector and non-profit approaches are becoming increasingly prevalent.  Development NGOs, multilateral institutions and government agencies are all looking for ways to incorporate more private sector approaches into their programs.  In response to this trend and growing demand from socially-minded students, business schools are adding many social entrepreneurship and BoP-focused courses. 

At the Net Impact Conference, a whole series of panels focused solely on social entrepreneurship and innovation.  The kick-off panel for this track asked an important question:  how much of this buzz surrounding the benefits and value of social enterprise is just hype and how much is reality?

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Guest blogger Kelly McCarthy is a Communications Manager and Research Analyst for the New Ventures Project at the World Resources Institute. Her current work focuses on developing impact metrics for the enterprise development community.

By Kelly McCarthy 

There was a lot of buzz about "impact" last weekend at the  Net Impact Conference. However, this year it wasn't just talk about creating impact, but most importantly how we consider, measure and prove it.  Perhaps the word was being used too liberally lately thus loosing a bit of its meaning. 

However, as I listened to many organizations whose work intends to generate positive environmental and social impact, it became apparent that a shift is occurring.  Rather than talking simply about impact in anecdotes and what was better than before, foundations, funds, design-for-impact, not-for-profit (and not-for-loss) organizations alike were talking about a "social capital market", as Jason Saul, CEO of Mission Measurement, summed it up during one of the panels. 

Following are a few thoughts that came to mind from the perspective of metrics and evaluation, while attending some of the sessions at the conference.

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Guest blogger Miguel Jardine is a first-year MBA student at Thunderbird School of Global Management where he focuses on Green Capital Allocation.  At Thunderbird, he has further developed his ideas on Triple Bottom Line value propositions and the leadership role of business in igniting meaningful progress in solving the environmental and socioeconomic challenges of our times. 

Miguel was born in Panama and traveled through Asia led by his fascination with intercultural collaboration.

By Miguel Jardine

I went to the 2008 Net Impact Conference in Philadelphia to try to answer the type of questions asked in the description of  one of the presentations titled "Measuring Impact:" "How do you define and measure the value of social impact?  How does this vary between public, private, and nonprofit organizations? What metrics forecast impact?"  Evidently I was not alone in my quest because I had to jockey for a good seat in the packed auditorium where Jason Saul, CEO of Mission Measurement, was moderating the panel discussion.

The presentation started by voicing the commonly held belief that the warm, selfless act of service seemingly defies the cold, calculated precision of measurement.  After all, how do you measure feelings of  compassion and happiness?  The answer, however, has become more and more significant as the business world wrestles with the new demands of integrating social responsibility into their operations. 

As they do, nonprofit organizations, who have dominated the social service marketplace, are being pushed to face the inevitable incumbent challenge: to reinvent themselves in order to remain competitive.  It is entirely possible, the panel empathized, for nonprofits to remain true to their missions with only a slight change in perspective.

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Guest blogger Karen Lynn Vincent, a serial social benefit entrepreneur, is the co-founder and current chief operating officer at Resdida, a hybrid social business distributing content via mobile devices to the rural poor. She also works with the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) in the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University.

She sent us the following post from Santa Clara, California, where the Transformative Changes through Science and Technology: The Role for Social Benefit Entrepreneurs conference took place last week.

By Karen Lynn Vincent

During his morning address, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank said that the integration of the many Grameen companies occurs not in structure or organization but with the woman in the village.  The Grameen companies are separate entities that converge in their compassion and empathy for the rural poor. 

Compassion and empathy were the recurrent themes of the day at the Transformative Changes through Science and Technology: The Role for Social Benefit Entrepreneurs conference, presented by the Center for Science, Technology and Society at Santa Clara University in on November 13, 2008.  This conference was held following and in conjunction with the Tech Awards Gala on the evening of November 12 at the Tech Museum in San Jose and brought the many sponsors and laureates together for a highly inspirational day.

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