2011 Knight Foundation Challenge awardee: FrontlineSMS

FrontlineSMS developed by Digital Vision Fellow Ken Banks founder of The Kiwanja Foundation,  is one of 16 projects Knight Foundation has selected as winners of the fifth Knight News Challenge . Details:
Award: $250,000
Project Lead: Sean McDonald
Web link: www.frontlinesms.com
Twitter: @frontlinesms

FrontlineSMS: Media will create a new platform that allows journalists to more effectively use text messaging to inform and engage rural communities. The Frontline SMS platform already enables users in underserved areas to organize interactions with large numbers of people via text messages, a laptop and a mobile phone – without the need for the Internet. This grant will enable FrontlineSMS to expand its software platform and work with community radio stations and other rural journalists.

Full list here.
Congratulation to Ken and all the 2011 winners.

In-depth Interview: Dr. Madhav Chavan (June 10, 2011) | Opinion Blog | Stanford Social Innovation Review

Rahim Kanani interview: Quote "Dr. Madhav Chavan, co-founder, president, and CEO of Pratham, and a 2011 recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Pratham is the largest nongovernmental organization working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India. It was established in 1994 to provide education to the children in the slums of Mumbai city. Since then, the organization has grown both in scope and geographical coverage." Check out the interview:

In-depth Interview: Dr. Madhav Chavan (June 10, 2011) Opinion Blog Stanford Social Innovation Review

Women Creating Jobs, for Themselves and Others

3,818 jobs. That's right - that's the number of jobs created by entrepreneurs who graduated in 2010 from the Women's Initiative for Self Employment curriculum in the bay area. Women's Initiative, a non-profit, provides low-income, high-potential women with the training, funding and ongoing support to start their own businesses and become financially self-sufficient.  The women who go through the program significantly increase their income and assets while launching businesses, creating jobs and stimulating the local economy. The stories of Laura Leon and Reign Free I heard at the 2011 Gala as guest of HP Social Innovation, energised and helped celebrate the spirit of women leadership. It was also great to see how the Women's Initiative organisation has grown and is able to empower women to become income providers instead of charity seekers. What I find distinguishes Women's Initiative from others is that they provide a full service - which includes not just the initial training but also start-up funding and then helps them build connections (they call the 3 steps Train, Fund, Propel) thus creating a larger support system for its graduates that increases chances of success. Appropriately, reflecting this philosophy the 2011 Gala was called "Connecting Women on the Rise".
Get connected. Get Inspired.

Cross-cultural Management in the age of Cultural Flattening

After 35 years work experience in the US, I taught my first ever course in India on entrepreneurship, and realised that the notion of cross-cultural management, a mainstay of human resource professionals, is an idea past its prime. Superficially, dress, food preferences, language, art knowledge, there are differences, but fundamentally e.g. motivation, values, relationships, people are people.

The monumental change Internet and mobile digital information has wrought,  I would argue, is that the notion of "culture" is rendered obsolete; and this is a good thing. Today, its about being aware of yourself and of others;  its about individual choice more than the culture a person grew up in; focus on what is hard-wired vs. what is social (read culture) conditioning.

Globalization, social media and access to high quality visuals at  Internet speed have had a "flattening"  effect not just on business but also social mores. In  Art Kleiner's Strategy+Business  article A Long-Wave Theory on Today’s Digital Revolution, historian Elin Whitney-Smith observes: "in each new information revolution, decision rights have been pushed lower in the organization. One of the social innovations of the electric information revolution was the train conductor. He was a working-class individual, but he wore a suit and tie and carried a watch. He could say “all aboard!” to an aristocrat and the aristocrat would have to get on the train or get left behind. That was a huge social innovation." That metaphor now applies across countries and cultures. As long as an individual has a vested interest in ensuring long term success of the organisation, in this case keeping trains running on schedule for the greater benefit, decision making overlooks culture defined norms, be it hierarchy, race, and even religion. Information access, whether in a business, societal or personal context, means that culturally defined rights and wrongs just become data points and not defining criterion.

There is a rub though. More so than ever, "cultural flattening" underscore the need to understand practical considerations imposed by geography and economic circumstance because cultural cues that help awareness are now missing. The digital armchair traveller may intellectually understand poverty but cannot experience hunger. A false understanding can lead to wrong decisions.

We say that “cultural awareness does not focus on a specific region of the world, but instead requires general sensitivity to other cultures.” Overall I agree with this– just replace culture with “circumstance” (this is important because circumstance can be changed, culture not so easily). By and large though, from food to fashion, social class to religious custom, "unity in diversity" has changed from a slogan to reality.

Social E-Challenge: Final Round

The annual BASES Social E-Challenge, a student-run social entrepreneurship business plan competition, where I mentor, will be hosting its final round event Wednesday, May 18th at Stanford University. Our finalists are:

Foresight Medical is a low cost device for cervical cancer screening, a disease that kills 270,000 woman a year.
Culture Kitchen is a social enterprise that seeks to connect immigrant women in the U.S. with female American “foodies” interested in learning to cook authentic ethnic cuisine, by creating a culinary and cultural forum focused on empowerment.
1/2 PROJECT champions the idea of giving on a small scale through everyday common purchases, instead of large annual gifts that require more financial commitment.
Juntos Finanzas creates innovative personal finance tools that empower first generation Latino communities.

The finalists were chosen after multiple rounds from the following:
 
1/2 PROJECT
AquaNation
Axis
Biological Processing of Milk Wastewater
Culture Kitchen
D3W: Diagnostic Devices for the Developing World
DesiHaat
Foresight Medical
Gram Power
Juntos
Milaap.org
NextDrop
PLANT ELEMENTS
PublicVine
The College Gap
WorldMedSchool

India Calling? First Answer the Question WII-FM?

The "India Calling", themed SAMBAA event on May 9, where I was a panelist, drew an astonishingly accomplished, enthusiastic, energetic and diverse audience with a range of interests (renewable to retail, rural to lifestyle). However almost everyone I chatted with (before as well as after the panel) had one underlying question in common:  If I go to India, will it work out (be successful)?

Its easy and appropriate to answer this vaguely.. well it really depends on what you want .. depends on what your goals are ..etc. because that is the reality. But as I think about it I realise this question can be handled like a corporate re-organisation where the first question that pops into my head  is :What's In It For Me or WII-FM?

So, go ahead, if you are considering a move to India have some fun with the following questions:
Q1 - Is moving to India a major strategic career change for you?
Your answer is NO if there is no financial downside to you such as loss of a paycheck (e.g. if your company is opening office in India and will move you or its a paid internship etc etc) and my advice is move to India but don't burn any bridges in US and while in India keep up with your contacts.  A major career change often requires you to give up something or making an investment.
Q2 -  What is the benefit or why do you want to move to India?
Most common answers to this one are - I want my children to grow up in India or I want to be with aging parent. Both are good reasons and you may have others but if you cannot clearly articulate a benefit it means your answer is NO and you should shelve the idea till you figure this out. I phrase the question as a benefit to you because other common answers I get are : I want to give back or I want to do good and those are poor success predictors and indeed are good reasons for you to stay here and engage with India in other ways.
Q3 - With this pre work done you are ready to answer WII-FM? Create a statement, write it down - take the long term view (long depends on what industry you are in - average is 3 years) because while it is easy to move back and forth these days, still some preparation and field work can make your move more fun as well as a personal and career development activity. This question often has to do with what makes you happy - which is important in keeping your attitude positive when things look low. It helps you define boundary conditions.

With this under your belt - its time to talk specifics!

Other topic: Several people brought up spousal agreement. I do believe that if involved parties answer the above questions first individually and then move to a common ground things will go better. Also - if you haven't been to India in the last 2 years - make a trip - some things are just the same but others are radically new.

Most importantly - like other decisions this one too is a heart decision - follow your heart and your head will figure out what to do to make it work.

Mainstreaming Microfinance: Malegam Report and Artoo

Lately, the micro-finance industry reports have been squarely in two opposing camps: unconscionable profiteers or saviours for stimulating the economy for the poorest of poor. If nothing else, the Malegam report, as an official, publicly available document from India, shifts the conversation from sensationalist news items to promote informed debate. Additionally, having regulations (such as the 24% cap on interest rates, 25K rupee limit on loan size, max 2 lenders for 1 client etc) outlined in the report, mainstreams a  capital procurement instrument for the poor - a population not served by traditional capital markets.The debate is no longer whether micro-finance works or not- the debate is how to make it work better for the client as well as the lender. While many practitioners view the report favourably, some may argue otherwise; that the Malegam restrictions favor the bigger MFIs or that the industry will no longer be self-sustaining or that the restrictions are unenforceable. I think the report is a fantastic development irrespective of the specifics of the debate because it brings micro-finance into the mainstream.

In addition to all the analyses you can read for yourself (google or follow link above) I have another point to make- The report, with its concrete guidelines will spur technology innovation in bringing down the cost of transactions. IT hardware as well as software exits to bring transparency which reduces corruption and automation to reduce cost/transaction (of the large number of small loans MFI must deal with that raise their costs) but so far the MFI industry has been somewhat tech-averse - it increases risk to take a technology and market risk at the same time after all. With industry benchmarks to follow I believe entrepreneurs as well as established MFIs will be motivated to enlist technology to develop applications specif to the MFI industry.
For a specific example of "technology to the rescue" check out the initial results of start-up Artoo. Sameer Segal, founder of Artoo writes "we truly believe we can help MFIs bring their OER down to meet the new requirements".
Mainstreaming micro-finance will also allow the industry to open up new product offerings (e.g. savings accounts) that further benefit both client and lender.

BASES Bootcamp: Apps due Feb 1

Be part of one of the nation's most selective national entrepreneurship conferences, held in conjunction by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) and Princeton University's Business Today (BT).

The BASES - BT National Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is an all-expenses-paid trip to Stanford University, including food, lodging, and travel for 110 student delegates. We are committed to a conference focused on bringing together students with brilliant ideas from universities around the nation with founders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists for an intensive learning experience. We are looking for students with ideas in web/software, biotech, cleantech, social entrepreneurship, etc.
Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of the idea they would like to bring in to develop into reality throughout the conference, and on the potential we feel they have to become outstanding entrepreneurs (see application for more details). We welcome any highly motivated student to apply, regardless of prior experiences.
Held April 7-10, 2011 at Stanford University, this event will feature small-group workshops, keynote addresses, panels, and more — all hosted by the top entrepreneurially-minded people in Silicon Valley and beyond. At the end of the event, participants will have the opportunity to present their business idea in a competitive format. Because the focus of our conference is on applied entrepreneurship, we are looking for undergraduate and graduate students who have the potential to begin transforming their fantastic startup idea into a successful venture.
Applications close on February 1, 2011. Decisions will be emailed to applicants by March 1, 2011. Email all questions to ebootcamp@bases.stanford.edu. Apply now at bases.stanford.edu/e-bootcamp!
Best,
Ruby Lee & Brian Reiser
E-Bootcamp 2011 Co-Directors

Giving feels good: Message from Boond

Christmas and New Year are the most festive times of the year and the moments when we remember all our near and dear ones. It is a time to share the warmth and make others know that you care and remember.

This year we at Boond decided to make this sharing of warmth and happiness a little easier and inclusive through our `Boond with Christmas` webpage.
http://www.boond.net/boond_christmas.php

From this site you can send your friends and family anywhere in the world Christmas and New Year cards, 2011 calendars and nice ethnic gifts (made by rural artisans supported by our partners www.eyaas.com), and the best part is that all you have to do is choose and give us the recipients address since we will pack, ship and lick the envelopes for you. And better still is that all the proceeds from your order will go towards our Boond campaign for sending Boond Development Kits to Ladakh (rather than a big office building and a know all receptionist). So this means that you will not just share the happiness of the season with your friends and family who you send the gifts but also with those who are spending a dark and cold Christmas in a remote part of India.
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year
Russ (Cofounder Boond- a social enterprise with a powerful business model)

The Microfinance Debate: What would you do?

Minimum information and maximum media coverage has created the monster microfinance debate: greedy bloodsucking bankers or saviours of the world?.
I am particularly troubled by the fervor and timing of this debate because Diwali/Christmas/New Year is when, motivated by a spirit of thankfulness and/or spirit of saving on taxes, we do our annual bit of charitable giving. How will you give this year? The Financial Times (thank you FT) article Microfinance: small loan, big snag is a nuanced view with data from many countries. Microfinance is still about lending to people with no collateral; where traditional banking did not lend. That has not changed. What has changed is the desire to scale- more capital to benefit more poor people; while the majority of microfinance institutions, still led by dedicated entrepreneurs, stay true to the mission, different elements (in India, e.g. it is corrupt politicians worried about losing votes if the poor benefit from entrepreneurship who have garnered much media attention) have taken advantage of the situation. This does not mean that sustainability (double bottom line- do good and do well) is inherently impossible. Another FT article Perhaps microfinance isn’t such a big deal after all presents the strategy on how to deal with the pangs of going mainstream. fly under the radar- Just lets tone it down- lets not call microfinance the way to solve every problem - its just banking after all.
How will you donate this year? Whether it is Kiva or Microplace some other form of lending - I urge you to do your own homework - it is complicated and I personally do not know a single greedy bloodsucking banker in the microfinance realm.