I’m happy to share with you the good news that Acumen Fund investee Kashf was awarded Merit Recognition in CGAP’s 2006 Financial Transparency Awards. This means a lot for the microfinance organization as well as for Pakistan. We are proud to be working with Roshaneh, Sadaffe and their team. This award is also a step forward in the important move toward benchmarks for a sector balancing social returns with financial sustainability....
Acumen Fund investee Advanced Bio-Extracts Limited (ABE) is working hard to fight malaria by producing low-cost artemisinin in East Africa. Artemisinin is a key ingredient in the new malaria treatments (artemisinin-based combination therapies or ACTs) recommended by the World Health Organization to fight the increase in cases of drug-resistant malaria.
As this recent article in The New York Times explains, until recently, the high cost of ACTs significantly limited the drugsâ availability to the people most in need. The high cost was a result of many things, including limited availability of the raw material used to produce artemisinin. In the past few years, ABE has played a key role in scaling-up raw material production and pushing the cost of artemisinin down. Whereas ACTs...
Jacqueline Novogratz was recently in India along with Acumen Fund’s board, where they witnessed some of the developments in the Acumen Fund portfolio and pipeline. You can read about the learnings that are coming out of our work in India in the journal that Jacqueline kept....
I’ve been in India for two months now, but I thought I would share a story about the challenges in getting started in my work with Drishtee. It reminded me a lot of the exercise in “Everyday Barriers” that the fellows went through during our training in New York.
My business visa, which was issued in the U.S., notes that I am employed with Acumen Fund Advisory Services, Ind. Pvt, Ltd. in Hyderabad. It states ‘Registration Required Within 14 Days of Arrival in India’ although it does not say with what office or where. The Tuesday after I arrived in India, I went to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (with several documents) in New Delhi, but, unfortunately, it was closed by 3:00 and I got there too late.
On Wednesday, I went back to FRRO, and after...
It is hard to believe that our first class of fellows has been out in the field for two months, and we are now preparing to recruit the next class. As we reflect on the past four months, the fellows program has been an exciting way that we have been able to develop leadership – both professionally and personally – for our sector and provide on-the-ground support for our investees.
As you may have read in earlier blog posts from the fellows, the two months of training in New York was focused on discussing the variety of issues facing our work – from the perspective of entrepreneurs, development agencies, government as well as the private sector. The fellows were challenged by a variety of leaders to think about their impact as the next generation of leaders, as well as the legacies...
It was an incredible experience being at the opening of the first Sanjeevani store last Tuesday. The store and clinic looked wonderful (clean and simple), felt nice and cool in the warm Mumbai afternoon (the CEO of Medicine Shoppe India, Viraj Gandhi, made a note for me to thank Jacqueline for insisting on having the stores air conditioned), the Vision Shoppe had a long line for testing (I bought my first pair of prescription glasses after being tested as mildly myopic), and the line for the public clinic spilled out into the streets. I have also never seen Viraj as excited—he was just giddy about the possibilities that this new format holds for serving the poor. It also didn’t hurt that the Director of International Operations from Medicine Shoppe in the US was there at the launch....
Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz was in Pakistan last month and, as usual, kept a journal documenting her trip. Excerpts have previously appeared on the blog, but you can read the full journal here....
Yasmina Zaidman and Bhavika Vyas from Acumen Fund’s Water Portfolio are visiting East Africa to explore water and sanitation investment opportunities, starting their trip in Kenya…
During our three hour drive from Nairobi to Nakuru we witnessed an unexpected array of wildlife in patches of undeveloped land that still exists between growing towns in western Kenya. A few lone zebras look out of place outside a small but expanding settlement along the road, while Thompson’s gazelles and impala graze peacefully in a savannah in the rift valley. Bold baboons the size of German shepherds skirt the dusty semi-paved freeway between Naivasha and Nakuru, perhaps foraging for food in the garbage left behind by speeding cars. As we approach Nakuru, we pass Lake Elementia, a salt lake rimmed by...
On a Saturday, one year ago at precisely 8:50 A.M., I was in my bed, sleeping soundly. Suddenly, everything began vigorously swaying left and right. At first, the shock of the motion had me confused, but as I opened my eyes, I realized it was an earthquake. I got up to go stand beneath the beam of the bathroom door (Dad’s orders since we were kids – apparently the safest place to be) but I couldn’t walk more than four steps without losing my balance and falling to the ground. The house was a big bowl of Jell-O and I was somewhere in the middle of it all. This was the biggest quake I had ever experienced, and I was certain my house would collapse any minute.
Fortunately no serious damage occurred, although I was so scared after the six-minute quake passed that I didn’t move from...
Some days you can set out to change the world and you find that the world changes you.
So there I was at 11am, sitting in the New York Human Resources Administration (HRA) with everyone else waiting for an appointment about Medicaid, food stamps, drug rehabilitation support, housing and child care. I had been there about two and a half hours, and as I sifted through more than 100 pieces of application papers (so confusing for even this UC Berkeley/Oxford grad), I felt a tug at my ankle and discovered a happy face of a little girl crawling on the floor. Her mother was across the bright purple room from me talking about how her phone was disconnected so when HRA couldn’t get a hold of her, the food stamps were cancelled. A deep voice next to me was struggling to read the electronic...
Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz’s latest journal entry from Pakistan follows.
September 3, 2006 – Karachi, Pakistan
In the late afternoon, we visit Mir Ibrahim Rahman and Imran Aslam at GEO TV. The air at GEO crackles with the excitement of young people using the power of the media to change the world. I’m struck by the power of this partnership between the young and innovative Mir with the more seasoned, deeply insightful Imran. They are trying to change the nature of media between them and turning issues on their heads. Their most current programming focuses on Satan telling people what to do given their assumption that Pakistanis prefer doing things they are not supposed to do. The cartoon-like Satan at GEO will beg people to chew pan, a traditional mix of betel and...
Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz is traveling. Her latest journal entry from Pakistan follows.
September 3, 2006 – Karachi, Pakistan
I love the Karachi papers. For a country that jails many of its journalists, the press is surprisingly free and certainly outspoken. Most of the articles are critiquing the government’s handling of the death and burial of Nawab Bugti, the tribal leader from Balochistan, one of Pakistan’s poorest regions. Of course, adjacent to these articles are columns about cosmetic surgery’s rising popularity and the MTV awards. We live in a world where the rich are living in different worlds entirely than the poor, in their shared countries. Perhaps it has always been this way – it is just that today, the differences are not only so stark but so readily,...
Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz is currently in Pakistan, and, as usual, she is keeping a journal.
Karachi, Pakistan - September 1, 2006
After a day of meetings in London, I flew into the Karachi airport. This time has been a reflective one for me, as we’ve been working on Acumen Fund’s five-year report.
Our history will be forever tied to two significant moments in time. First, the 2000 dot.com implosion. We were incorporated a year later on April 1, 2001. I remember someone telling me I should look at the crash as a good thing, for if we weathered the tough fundraising environment, we would be in good shape when things improved. Second, September 11. We were scheduled to move into our offices near Ground Zero on that day. That proximity reaffirmed our feeling that it was the...
We are delighted that Acumen Fund investee Drishtee has been named one of Red Herring’s “100 Hottest Startups in Asia.” In Drishtee CEO Satyan Mishra’s words, “this award augurs well for the scalable growth of ‘Technology for Development’ in India and in all other developing economies. ” We would like to congratulate Satyan and everyone who has worked so hard with him to help Drishtee grow and strengthen its operations. The company is a powerful example of what is possible by combining strong heads and soft hearts, the commercial and the social, and we couldn’t be prouder to be working with the Drishtee team....
A New York Times article this week highlights the concerning scarcity of water that the world faces, noting water conservation strategies in agriculture as an innovative solution. Acumen Fund investment, IDE India, is focused one exactly this issue, developing useful and affordable water storage and irrigation technologies for small-scale farmers. We believe that organizations such as IDE India will help to minimize the adverse impacts of these increasing water deficits on low-income populations....
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled “Lacking urgency” that discussed the importance of waking up individuals to tough global issues - and presenting constructive solutions, not simply overwhelming. Roshaneh Zafar, President of Kashf Foundation and an Acumen Fund investee, recently sent out the following letter and study, demonstrating the kind of leadership that we need. This is an important paper - a frank accounting of lessons learned in delivering banking products to the poor. Roshaneh’s is also an important voice for encouraging open and honest knowledge sharing and we’re proud to be working with her.
Dear Colleague,
As you are aware, Kashf is always geared towards enhancing understanding and improving information in the microfinance sector in Pakistan....
Alexandra Christy, Executive Director of Acumen Fund Partner The Woodcock Foundation, recently traveled to India to see Acumen Fund’s work on the ground. She captured some of her insights in the following letter.
Greetings from the Woodcock Foundation where founding Acumen Fund investor Lindsay Shea and I are still basking in the powerful memories of our two weeks in India this past spring visiting three Acumen investments. As you might imagine, having the opportunity to see investees at three stages of involvement (Aravind past, Drishtee in process and Scojo about to sign) enabled us to “get” Acumen in a way that all the annual meetings, PowerPoint presentations, quarterly score cards, travel journals, and other excellent materials just cannot do.
What really grabbed...
This report focuses on how small-scale, decentralized, affordable and environmentally sustainable projects in water can reduce poverty more effectively than huge spending on large-scale irrigation systems, dams and canals. The report also showcases the success of Acumen Fund investee IDE India with drip irrigation systems, highlighting it as a good example of a low-tech, low-cost and high-reward solution.
Arguing that poverty in developing countries is neither due to low levels of water storage capacity in large reservoirs, nor to under-exploitation of their potential for large hydropower, the report condemns a resurgence of major “multipurpose” hydropower and water diversion projects as having unacceptable environmental and social impacts, not least because they will divert...
Following on from her previous blog post, Alexandra Christy expresses her thoughts on our growing Acumen Fund community.
As you may have read above, Acumen investor and Woodcock Board Member Lindsay Shea and I traveled to India to see Acumen on the ground, and one of the highlights of the trip was going to the Indian School of Business (ISB) and meeting four of the students who had volunteered to work with Acumen while students. This was quite a group, and indicative of the kind of talent Acumen is drawing as its reputation accrues.
One of the four, Vikram Raman, has just now been hired at Acumen as an India Country Associate; another, Ayeleen Ajanee, one of the first Pakistanis to be educated in India, was one of eight chosen from 600 applicants to be an Acumen Fellow; and yet another,...
The British metal firm BHP Billiton’s recent efforts to reduce malaria prevalance in Mozambique are a good example of a public-private partnership, driven through the efforts and innovation of a single company that saw the potential for doing something important and powerful. The world needs more such partnerships. I thought you would enjoy this article.
Acumen Fund would be very interested to know if our community has ideas for corporations that might be interested in following suit and doing something similar for their own employees and local communities. We would like to do a “road show” with A to Z to determine whether there are more such opportunities for local market distribution....
This past May, two members of the Water Portfolio Team visited Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, to explore investment opportunities and learn more about the major water challenges. During the trip, we gained important insights into the context for water and sanitation issues. On the one hand, in the face of significant unmet need, we constantly saw potential for entrepreneurial models. On the other, due to significant dependence on donor funds and systemic challenges such as corruption and lack of infrastructure, we witnessed major hurdles that could easily limit investment opportunities. Through a series of meetings with a cross-section of entrepreneurs, banks, not-for-profits or NGOs, foundations, donor organizations and community-based organizations (CBOs), it became increasingly clear...
Yasmina Zaidman, our Water Portfolio manager, was recently in Delhi during the bombings. Here she shares her immediate reaction and reflections…
Within the last few hours news began streaming in that seven bomb blasts had gone off in Mumbai, killing more than a hundred people and injuring many times that number. As I sit in the Delhi airport waiting for my flight home, the numbers are being updated. Now it’s eight bomb blasts and 146 killed. Some of my fellow travelers are glued to the screen, and trying to get calls through to loved ones or colleagues, while others seem indifferent, as though this is business as usual. As far as I know, this is the biggest bombing since a series of blasts in 1993. I have been reading about the previous attacks in a current bestseller,...
Our water portfolio team recently held a series of meetings in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and West Bengal to explore the role that microfinance organizations could play in providing credit for water products and services.
One group in West Bengal asked us why the poor in their state should pay to treat their own water, when in the developed world safe water is made available for free. This question underscored the misperception that water can be made available on a sustainable basis at no cost. The reality is that where water is managed most effectively is where there is a price associated with it - which promotes more judicious use of the resource and a revenue stream to assure that investments are made and maintained over time. These misperceptions have plagued efforts to introduce...
The Case Foundation is currently spotlighting the work of Acumen Fund investee IDE-India. The article, written by The Skoll Foundation, highlights the ethos - core to IDE-India and Acumen Fund’s work - of recognizing the poor as customers, who want affordable, effective products. Enjoy....
The Case Foundation is currently spotlighting the work of Acumen Fund investee IDE-India. The article highlights the ethos - core to IDE-India and Acumen Fund’s work - of recognizing the poor as customers, who want affordable, effective products. Enjoy....
Our water portfolio team recently held a series of meetings in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and West Bengal to explore the role that microfinance organizations could play in providing credit for water products and services.
One group in West Bengal asked us why the poor in their state should pay to treat their own water, when in the developed world safe water is made available for free. This question underscored the misperception that water can be made available on a sustainable basis at no cost. The reality is that where water is managed most effectively is where there is a price associated with it - which promotes more judicious use of the resource and a revenue stream to assure that investments are made and maintained over time. These misperceptions have plagued efforts to introduce...
Yasmina Zaidman, our Water Portfolio manager, was recently in Mumbai during the bombings. Here she shares her immediate reaction and reflections…
Within the last few hours news began streaming in that seven bomb blasts had gone off in Mumbai, killing more than a hundred people and injuring many times that number. As I sit in the Delhi airport waiting for my flight home, the numbers are being updated. Now it’s eight bomb blasts and 146 killed. Some of my fellow travelers are glued to the screen, and trying to get calls through to loved ones or colleagues, while others seem indifferent, as though this is business as usual. As far as I know, this is the biggest bombing since a series of blasts in 1993. I have been reading about the previous attacks in a current bestseller, Maximum...
This past May, two members of the Water Portfolio Team visited Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, to explore investment opportunities and learn more about the major water challenges. During the trip, we gained important insights into the context for water and sanitation issues. On the one hand, in the face of significant unmet need, we constantly saw potential for entrepreneurial models. On the other, due to significant dependence on donor funds and systemic challenges such as corruption and lack of infrastructure, we witnessed major hurdles that could easily limit investment opportunities. Through a series of meetings with a cross-section of entrepreneurs, banks, not-for-profits or NGOs, foundations, donor organizations and community-based organizations (CBOs), it became increasingly...
The British metal firm BHP Billiton’s recent efforts to reduce malaria prevalance in Mozambique are a good example of a public-private partnership, driven through the efforts and innovation of a single company that saw the potential for doing something important and powerful. The world needs more such partnerships. I thought you would enjoy this article.
Acumen Fund would be very interested to know if our community has ideas for corporations that might be interested in following suit and doing something similar for their own employees and local communities. We would like to do a “road show” with A to Z to determine whether there are more such opportunities for local market distribution....
Following on from her previous blog post, Alexandra Christy expresses her thoughts on our growing Acumen Fund community.
As you may have read above, Acumen investor and Woodcock Board Member Lindsay Shea and I traveled to India to see Acumen on the ground, and one of the highlights of the trip was going to the Indian School of Business (ISB) and meeting four of the students who had volunteered to work with Acumen while students. This was quite a group, and indicative of the kind of talent Acumen is drawing as its reputation accrues.
One of the four, Vikram Raman, has just now been hired at Acumen as an India Country Associate; another, Ayeleen Ajanee, one of the first Pakistanis to be educated in India, was one of eight chosen from 600 applicants to be an Acumen Fellow; and yet...