Having shared personal lessons learned over the years in Part 1, while painting a realistic picture of a world in the midst of chaos in part 2, Part 3 focuses on the art of possibilities and further elaborates on why I share a sense of careful optimism for the world today.

In preparation for my talk, I returned to my roots of social entrepreneurship and social innovation as a means to lift millions of people out of poverty around the world. And in the process, I turned to the writings and works of two people whom I consider to be personal heroes, among many others of course, namely Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund, and Paul Polak, author of the book ‘Out of Poverty‘.

For the remainder of my talk, I highlighted four social enterprises impacting and improving the lives of millions of people in developing countries around the world, all within the context of showcasing opportunities that exist within the base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) market that many would-be entrepreneurs, especially those from developed countries, may not even be aware exist at all.

Base-of-the-Pyramid Market

Photo credit: World Economic Forum

When I refer to the BOP-market, I am referring to the estimated 4 billion people who live on less than $2/day in the developing world. Whereas we know everything there is to know about targeting affluent customers in the developed world, in a manner of speaking, it seems we know nothing of how to target the other 90% percent of customers in the rest of the world, representing an estimated market size of USD $5 trillion that is fairly rural and underserved, comprised mainly of an informal economy that is incredibly inefficient with very little competition.

If we are going to work towards lifting millions of people out of poverty, then the key to all of this begins with a shift in mindset where we see the 4 billion at the BOP not simply as passive recipients of aid and charity, but rather, as consumers, customers and clients, and more importantly, as people who want to take control and make decisions in their own lives.

Jacqueline Novogratz has an amazing TED Talk where she points out that when we think about large-scale solutions to poverty, we cannot deny humans their dignity–we need to give people the freedom of choice and opportunity because that is where dignity starts. Jacqueline also discusses some of these solutions within the context of patient capital alongside the work the Acumen Fund is supporting in East Africa and South Asia, where patient capital is capital that lies between the financial markets and aid/charity. This capital, which has, among its many characteristics, a high tolerance for risk as well as a long time horizon allowing the entrepreneur the opportunity to experiment, is invested in social entrepreneurs who know their communities and are building scalable solutions to address issues such as health care, water, housing and alternative energy.

The reality is, people in developing countries are already making transactions every day in cash markets, even if they are only living on less than $2/day. In fact, they are actually more market-oriented than most as they struggle to navigate their way through the informal, mainly cash-based economy when making decisions related to purchasing food, health care, education and other services.

That said however, given the characteristics of the BOP-market mentioned above, people at the BOP are paying more money for lower quality goods and services, relatively speaking, than we do in developed countries for similar goods and services.

If that is the case, what if there was a better way to serve people in the BOP-market and in the process lift them out of extreme poverty, while generating profits to ensure financial sustainability for the social enterprise in the long-run?

Paul Polak has pointed out that this can and has been achieved, where some of the common features of initiatives that have truly helped extremely poor people move out of poverty, include:

1. thoroughly listening to poor customers and thoroughly understanding the specific context of their lives;
2. designing and implementing ruthlessly affordable technologies or business models;
3. energizing private sector market forces that play a central role in their implementation;
4. radical decentralization that is integrated into economically viable last mile distribution;
5. and, designing for scale–a central focus of the enterprise from the very beginning.

As highlighted by some of the examples of social enterprises below, there is certainly a world of opportunity that exists out there in the BOP-market; given the right mindset and approach towards tackling poverty and coming up with innovative and scalable solutions that places human dignity right at the centre of it all.

When reflecting on the nature of the social enterprise ‘space’ and all the opportunities that exist, not only in the BOP-market but in the developed world as well, I often find myself returning to the following quote, attributed to Bill Drayton of Ashoka,

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime… Social entrepreneurs and changemakers will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

If you are interested in learning more about market-based solutions to the challenges of global poverty, although slightly dated, I would recommend reading the following:

• Emerging Markets, Emerging Models published by the Monitor Group in March 2009;
• The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid published by the World Resources Institute in March 2007.

c3 Conference – Connect. Collaborate. Create.

Micro Drip (Pakistan)

In Pakistan, 120 million people directly depend on agriculture to survive. Yet modern irrigation technologies cater to farmers with large fields, leaving smallholder farmers to rely on flood irrigation – an inefficient use of water resources that does not maximize crop yields – or on expensive and polluting diesel pumps.

To address this challenge, Micro Drip markets and distributes affordable drip irrigation technology in Pakistan, delivering water directly to the root of the plant–maximizing plant growth, ensuring major input cost and water savings, and improving farm yields. Its systems reduce the amount of water smallholder farmers need to cultivate an acre of land by 50 percent, improve yields by 40 percent, and lower input costs by 30 percent. And, because they allow for year-round farming, fewer farmers and their families are forced to migrate during the dry season. Micro Drip has already reached more than 3,000 farmers in 2009, and over the next five years has the potential to impact 20,000+ farmers.

The overall result: reduced dependence on flood irrigation and the opportunity for farmers to earn steadier incomes.

Source: Acumen Fund 

Aravind Eye Care System (India)

India has the largest population of blind people in the world. Of the 12 million blind Indians, 80 percent have been blinded as a result of complications from cataracts, including 300,000 children. A simple cataract operation could help seven million Indians regain their sight. Setting the eradication of blindness as its objective, Aravind Eye Care System has pioneered free surgery for poor people, and offers cataract operations costing between 50 and 200 US dollars. What is interesting about Aravind is that even though nearly 60 percent of their patients don’t pay a single rupee, Aravind still makes nearly US$8 million per annum, allowing it to operate the Aravind Eye Hospitals and to function as a research institute, providing international training in eye-care and producing eye-care products through Aurolab.

Aravind’s orientation toward patients and communities has determined its scale and its innovative approach. This patient-oriented philosophy has enabled Aravind to simplify its workflow and boost efficiency, where the secret to Aravind’s capacity for providing cataract surgery for US$50 and intraocular lenses for five dollars, is the hospital’s free clinics. Counterintuitively, Aravind does not lose money every time it performs an operation for free. In the medical business, overhead such as medical instruments and manpower accounts for the highest costs. So for Aravind, the more patients they see and the more operations they perform, the lower their average fixed cost per person becomes. So each time Aravind does an operation for free, they raise their profits ever so slightly.

Source: Commonwealth Magazine – Aravind: Efficiency in a Battle with Blindness

A Liter of Light (Philippines)

A Liter of Light is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Bulb to disprivileged communities across the Philippines. Designed and developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog (MIT), the Solar Bottle Bulb is based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies – a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.

Source: A Liter of Light website

$35 Aakash Android Tablet (India)

The Aakash Tablet,  distributed at a government subsidized price of $35 to anywhere between 10 to 12 million students across India by the end of 2012, is an example of a “leapfrog technology,” a concept where the latest innovations jump directly into areas where legacy technologies never penetrated. Tens of millions of people throughout India who never had access to a landline phone now walk around with cell phones in their pocket. Many of those likely to use or own the the Aakash Tablet will never have used a desktop computer, and it’s possible they never will.

Now imagine the educational potential of the world’s lowest-cost tablet being unleashed to hundreds of millions of Indians eager to join the world economy. At the heart of the Aakash tablet is an HD video co-processor that will connect viewers to one of the largest educational libraries ever assembled: YouTube. When the Aakash tablet reaches villages across India, an entire generation will have instant access to rich educational content such as the Khan Academy. And with the Aakash tablet in hand, students across India will be free to do what their global counterparts do — or should do — with their computers, including the educational basics such as creating documents and spreadsheets, and browsing the web for research materials.

Source: VentureBeat - Hands On: India’s $35 Aakash Android tablet lands in America

A World in Crisis

Given the headlines we are seeing in newspapers and publications all over the world, there is no doubt in my mind that the world is going through a monumental shift in the way we operate as humanity, in light of the complexities of the global challenges we face.

We only have to look at the Arab Spring Revolution from earlier this year as well as the Occupy movements right here in North America to get a sense that all is not right with the world today.

Europe currently finds itself in the midst of a euro zone debt crisis calling into question the very existence of the European Union as a political and economic entity. And in recent days, we have seen tens of thousands of people turn to the streets in Russia to protest alleged ballot-rigging in the recent parliamentary elections, demanding a re-run.

One headline that many people may not be aware of is the fact that rising food prices are currently adding pressure to already fragile political and economic systems, sparking food riots in many developing countries across the globe. We are also seeing an increasing frequency of natural disasters together with the further degradation of our environment  leading to unprecedented numbers of climate refugees worldwide.

Indeed, there is a lot of pent up frustration in society with more and more people recognizing that the systems we have in place, from the financial and housing markets to healthcare and education, don’t seem to be working.

Returning closer to home, in a recent op-ed piece to CNN, writer and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff points out that if you think the Occupy Wall Street movement is just a phase, you don’t get it.

That’s because, unlike a political campaign designed to get some person in office and then close up shop (as in the election of Obama), this is not a movement with a traditional narrative arc. As the product of the decentralized networked-era culture, it is less about victory than sustainability. It is not about one-pointedness, but inclusion and groping toward consensus. It is not like a book; it is like the Internet.

Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life that spreads through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken.

With all of this in mind, if you were to ask me whether I was optimistic or pessimistic about the future, I would say that I share a sense of careful optimism for the following reasons: the very powerful ideas of social enterprise and social innovation brought to life by changemakers and the incredible (often, youthful) idealism of people wanting demanding that there must be a better way to do things.

Of course, this is not to say that the systems keeping the status quo in place won’t give up without a fight. As JFK once said, those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. 

The world is changing, no doubt.

The question remains, what side of history do you want to be on and what role will you play?

Next: A Better World is Possible (Part 3) – Opportunities in the BOP-Market

I was invited to speak at the recent C3: Connect. Collaborate. Create. conference and in preparation for my talk, I was reminded why I became passionate about the field of social entrepreneurship in 2007 in the first place.

More importantly, I recalled why the concept of ‘doing good while making money’ –as social entrepreneurship was described to me back then– captured my imagination as an undergrad in my final year at the University of Waterloo, allowing me to make decisions that have led to where I am today.

As my parents have always taught me, we are defined by the choices we make.

Over the years, I have learned a lot from numerous successes as well as failures; from family, friends and yes, even relationships.

When I thought about the lessons that would prove most useful for the mainly student audience trying to figure out next steps beyond university, I came up with the following three lessons that proved key to where I am in my career right now, only a couple of years out of school and not much older than most people in the audience.

In the later part of my talk, I provided an overview of the huge market potential that social enterprise in the base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) market offers today, in the hopes of igniting the imaginations of audience members and showcasing the art of possibility. I will be covering this topic in two separate upcoming blog posts (A Better World is Possible Part 2 & Part 3).

Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.

I can’t stress this enough.

You are never going to find out what your ‘passion’ is and what keeps you awake at night (a nod to my good friend Kristina, currently in Tanzania pursuing her ‘heartwork’ in the mobile health space), if you don’t actively seek what you want/don’t want through a gradual process of experimentation and elimination.

You only get to know what it is that you are made of, what moves you, by experimenting with a number of different projects and working on different teams. As the saying goes, life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.

Where do you begin putting experimentation into practise you might ask?

As I have written in the past, JFDI.

In addition to experimenting, I would also encourage many of you to start a blog. On any topic. On whatever happens to capture your interest. It doesn’t matter.

Though this advice may seem trivial, not only is keeping a regular blog a great way to document your learning journey over time, in this day and age of uncertainty where our generation seeks full-time employability rather than full-time employment, a personal blog preferably with the url www.yournamehere.com, will go a long way towards establishing yourself as a thought leader in the space you want to work in.

I could go on and on about the merits of starting a blog. Instead, if you’re interested in learning more,  feel free to drop me a line, keeping in mind that I enjoy good sushi and a great cup of coffee!

Building on the notion of experimentation from lesson 1 above, you should not let the fear of failure paralyze you.

Instead, just like in the art of jujitsu, embrace the fear of failure and use it to drive you, using the principle of leveraging an attacker’s energy (in this case, fear) against them rather than directly opposing it.

On the topic of failure, the famous inventor Thomas Edison, once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

On this note, I will be the first to admit that many of the projects and initiatives that I have been a part of in the past, including the startup non-profit Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship that saw a brief period of success from 2007-2009 in the Waterloo Region, failed.

And that is perfectly ok.

There were certainly many lessons learned from the Laurel Centre and other similar experiences that I have taken to heart. I have kept many of these lessons learned in mind as I find myself continuing to experiment and work on other projects, including a number of community initiatives, most notably the Ignite Waterloo and TEDxWaterloo series, that have found a great deal of success these past few years; as well as the early stage tech startup that I am currently in the process of building with a great team right here in Waterloo.

On a side note, I have also begun laying the foundations for a writing project that I want to bring to life, aptly titled ‘The Failure Manifesto for the Aspiring Young Changemaker’, hoping to co-create it with other like-minded individuals who have gone through similar ‘failed’ experiences and are willing to share their lessons learned.

Interested?

Shoot me a message.

And finally, in the spirit of ‘walking the talk’ using the proposed ‘Failure Manifesto’ writing project mentioned above as an example, the third lesson that I have found key to my success thus far, is to simply ask for what you want.

Whether it is reaching out to your network of trusted friends and mentors for help, advice, or at times, a couch to crash on when you happen to be embarking on a solo road trip across Canada, or perhaps, requesting a meeting with the President of the Philippines when you happen to be visiting the country, the worst case scenario is that people say ‘no’ and don’t offer to help you out.

The best case scenario? People –family, friends and even complete strangers– actually say ‘yes’ and step forward to help you out, providing boundless opportunities and promises of experiences that you would never have imagined otherwise had you not asked.

When I visited the Philippines earlier this year, instead of meeting with President Aquino, I was put in touch with an incredible organization called the Philippine Centre for Islam & Democracy by way of my friend Alia and her connection with former Senator Santanina Rasul, that provided me with a more human perspective of the conflict taking place in southern Mindanao and the important work that organizations like PCID and the UN-based Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) were doing to bring lasting peace to the region.

Although I have yet to meet President Aquino in order to provide him with my perspective of how I would govern the country if I were president, this particular experience in the Philippines and other similar experiences where I have simply asked for what I want, has strengthened my belief in the notion that the moment you buy a one-way ticket to the world, possibilities abound and the universe works with you, never against you.

Next: A Better World is Possible (Part 2) – A Sense of Careful Optimism

If you’re in the San Francisco area this weekend and have an interest in the Philippines, check out this event being hosted by Ruby Veridiano.

The event is called Meeting of the Minds, San Francisco or #ManilaMinds on Twitter, and is co-sponsored by the Pilipino American Law Society (PALS) of UC Hastings & USF and Golden Gate University.

Details below:

What: Meeting of the Minds, San Francisco

When: Saturday, September 10, 2011 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Where: UC Hastings, Room A, 198 McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94012

After two successful events in Manila and NYC, Meeting of the Minds comes to San Francisco!

Meeting of the Minds Manila is a dot-connecting movement to galvanize the Global Filipino community together to heal our home country. Aiming to unite our community’s brightest minds, it is a forum that seeks to connect the most influential movers and shakers in order to build progress around focused causes that directly benefit the Philippines. Meeting of the Minds  builds a bridge between global Filipinos and local Filipinos, building conversations and action to impact positive social change in the Philippines.

After connecting with Ruby over the phone last night having gone back and forth on Twitter the other day, it looks like I’ll be joining the panel of other international guests on Saturday afternoon via Skype, who themselves are also located around the world in New York, London, Switzerland and Manila.

I will be sharing my experience as a ‘Filipino’ having grown up in the UAE and then spending a number of years living, studying and working in Canada and Hungary; hoping to spark a discussion around the notions of self-identity and global citizenship. However, as I have noted in previous blog posts, the question of where Im from as well my own notion of self-identity is not as simple and straightforward as being a ‘Filipino’ growing up and living in different parts of the world.

For those of you that have known me for a while or have been a long-time reader of this blog, you will note that I also often talk about the Philippines and the vision of Filipinos, both in the Philippines and around the world, coming together to lift the country out of poverty in order to create a decent standard of living for fellow kababayans.

Because if we don’t, then who will?

It seems that this movement has already begun. However, it is certainly not too late to sign up and join as the party is just getting started.

You can sign up to attend Meeting of the Minds, San Francisco here.

via Reddit.com

More than 150,000 Norwegians gathered in Oslo last night carrying red and white roses to show their support for the 76 people who were slain on Friday. Joining them in the ‘rose rally’ were Norway’s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, his wife Ingrid, and members of the country’s royal family – Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Martha Louise. Prince Haakon addressed the solemn crowd outside the city hall, saying that ‘tonight the streets are filled with love’. Rallies were also held in other cities around the nation.

More photos can be found on The Daily Mail website.

Via Reuters UK

In the slums of Manila, an innovative project is shedding light on the city’s dim and dreary shanties. Plastic bottles jut from the roofs, bringing light to the dark dwellings below. The technology is as simple as it could be. Each bottle contains water and bleach. When placed snugly into a purpose-built hole in the roof, the home-made bulb refracts and spreads sunlight, illuminating the room beneath. Eco-entrepreneur Illac Diaz is behind the project.

An interesting idea that not only provides a better quality of life for people in the slums of the Philippines, but also puts to good use the plastic bottles that are consumed en masse every single day.

We should be seeing more of these simple, yet effective ideas that help to improve the standard of living for the estimated 4 billion people that live on less than $2/day around the world.

Are you graduating from university this summer and not too sure where you’re off to next or what you want to do? Interested in traveling and want to discover and explore Europe?

Check out the graduate programmes being offered at the Institute for Social & European Studies (ISES)-Corvinus University of Budapest in Kőszeg, Hungary.

Applications are still being accepted for the MA International Economic Relations (deadline: 15 July 2011) and the postgraduate programme in Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development (deadline: 31 August 2011).

For more information, please visit www.ises.hu/en or see the programme descriptions below.

Masters Programme (MA), International Economic Relations with a special focus on European Integration Studies

Since 2005, the ISES-Corvinus Masters programme in International Economic Relations, with a special focus on European Integration Studies, has provided students from around the world with the opportunity to obtain theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of international relations and economics, regional and global studies, political science, sociology, European culture and history.

Upon completion of the programme, students will receive a unique degree that is recognized as being achieved at a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence institution, supported by Corvinus University of Budapest, one of the highest ranked universities in Central Europe. Obtaining an MA International Economic Relations degree from ISES-Corvinus will be highly advantageous in our current world system of global economics, business and political affairs.

For more information regarding this Masters programme, please contact Anett Horváth, Academic Coordinator of the programme at international.relations@ises.hu or via telephone: +36 94 563 055.

Application deadline: 15 July 2011

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Postgraduate Programme, Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development

The ISES-Corvinus Cultural Heritage Management & Sustainable Development postgraduate programme is unique and the first of its kind in Hungary. It offers students the opportunity to become trained professionals with the skills needed to preserve and protect cultural heritage for future generations.

The programme provides a solid, interdisciplinary foundation for specialization in cultural heritage, management and sustainable development. ISES-Corvinus, a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, was recently awarded a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage Management.

For more information regarding this postgraduate programme, please contact Izabella Szász, Academic Coordinator of the programme at cultural.heritage@ises.hu or via telephone:
+36 94 563 055.

Application deadline: 31 August 2011

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Disclaimer: I am currently enrolled as at graduate student in the MA International Economic Relations program and also work as a Marketing Assistant for ISES.

Prof. Kaldor was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Corvinus University of Budapest given her extensive work on the issues of globalisation, international relations and humanitarian intervention, global civil society and global governance, and her theory of new wars.

Mary Kaldor – April 18 2011 Corvinus University.pdf Download this file

The Leader as a Humble Servant

The first words that come to my mind when the words ‘leader’ or ‘leadership’ are mentioned, are ‘servant leadership’.

But what exactly is servant leadership?

To begin, I would like to make the distinction between leaders and those who lead. There is certainly a difference between the two.

And whether you are a CEO of a large company, a budding social entrepreneur with a bright idea to improve your community, or a high-school volunteer with a local non-profit organization, I truly believe that everyone has the capacity to be a servant leader one way or another.

Leaders, using the textbook definition of the word, are people or organizations that often hold formal positions of power and authority. These types of leaders are the ones who say, “I’m the boss and I’m in charge around here.” They also usually say, but not always, “It’s my way or the highway.”

On the other hand, those who lead, are people or organizations that do not necessarily hold any formal positions of power or authority but are able to inspire and motivate others because they are driven by firm beliefs and convictions. We follow them not because we have to, but because we want to. We ultimately believe in what they believe and stand for, and eventually, we take their cause as our own.

Inspired leaders–those who lead–are driven by a cause, a higher purpose or a strong belief that there is, and can be, a better way of doing things. On the other hand, similar to ‘Lucy‘ in a previous blog post by fellow blogger Theresa, the traditional model of leadership involves being in charge, holding a position of authority and power, and being served by others.

In the world we live in today and the complexity of the global challenges that we face as humanity, ranging from climate change, poverty and hunger, peace and global conflict, water and food scarcity, to name a few, we can certainly no longer afford to depend on the traditional model of leadership to inspire change–where one person sits at the top and makes decisions that affect us all.

The good news is, this traditional model of leadership is giving way to the evolving concept of Servant Leadership, first coined by Robert Greenleaf in his seminal 1970 essay entitled, “The Servant as a Leader.” In The Servant as a Leader, Greenleaf suggests that true leadership involves humbling yourself and serving others. Other characteristics of the servant leader include, being trustworthy, self-aware, a visionary, empowering, relational, competent, having good stewardship and being a community builder.

What other words come to your mind when you think of the words ‘leader’ or ‘leadership’?