GOOD Q&A: Jacqueline Novogratz
- Posted by: GOOD
- on November 27, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Here at GOOD, we’re fortunate to work with some amazing nonprofit partners. But, to borrow a line from the indelible Reading Rainbow, “don’t take our word for it.” We caught up with Acumen Fund Founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz to learn about Acumen, finding solutions to global poverty, and what keeps her inspired.
What does a $20 donation do for the Acumen Fund?
It makes you a stakeholder in creating real solutions that begin by looking at poor people as individuals. Think about buying shares of stock in solutions that aren’t just about giving things away but instead are about making tools and technologies affordable and accessible enough for people to change their own lives. Twenty dollars is an inexpensive share in a future that includes all of us. I could talk about reducing the price of malaria nets, but I think we need to get away from “$10 will save a life” and other slogans that fit on a T-shirt. Instead, we need to build lasting solutions that fundamentally change the system so that everyone can thrive without having to be dependent forever on charity. We’re building companies that will help the poor – and bring in far more resources in than we invest – long after we are gone. And we believe that is at the essence of leadership.
What’s the most innovative poverty solution you’ve come across with Acumen?
All of our investments are innovative but not necessarily in the way you might think. Take drip irrigation for example. You wouldn’t believe how simple a product this is – just tubing with little holes in it. The innovation was in the entrepreneur seeing poor farmers as potential customers. It’s designed specifically for the needs of the poor – it’s inexpensive, simple and infinitely expandable. So a subsistence farmer might start out with a system for his or her garden plot, and as the irrigation improves the crop yield (thus generating wealth), the farmer can scale up for larger plots and greater income. And she can thus change her own world and the lives of her children, too. Sell enough of them – and IDE India has already sold nearly 100,000 systems – and the world really does start to change for the poorest among us.
What is “patient capital”?
Capital whose purpose is to generate social and financial value that can be invested for long-term benefits; capital that is available to courageous entrepreneurs taking bigger risks on new ideas who cannot promise large short-term profits, but can offer the possibility of breakthrough business models that make our world more sustainable.
Can you describe what’s meant by “global marketplace for the poor”?
It’s time for the world to see the poor not just as passive recipients of charity but as full individuals with the desire and potential to participate. The world really does have the potential for one true global marketplace that extends its reach to everyone. Can you imagine the amazing entrepreneurs, inventors, artists that might be unleashed if that happened? A future we create together needs to include every single one of us in a global marketplace – for poor and rich alike actually!
What would it be like to try and live off $4 a day?
It wouldn’t be easy for any of us who lead such privileged lives – yet 4 billion people around the world do it, with grace and dignity and tremendous generosity, despite working 16-18 hours a day to eke out and improve their lives.
Aside from donating money, how can the average American get involved in this effort?
Given the interconnectedness of our world, the most important thing is learning about the issues. Poverty is complex. Solving lack of access to water, for example, requires more than just digging a well. The more we can understand about the growing issue of global inequality, the more we can work to find sustainable long-term solutions. Every American can learn more, get connected to efforts that are happening in malaria and agriculture, HIV/AIDS and delivering clean water – and help others understand the issues and what we need to do to change them. People can voice their opinions – contribute to a blog, engage in dialogue, educate friends and family on the issues that face entrepreneurs and consumers in the developing world, and share with them the success stories. Help unleash the talent and imagination of our nation on problems that deserve our attention. Acumen Fund starts with the marketplace, but there is often a policy solution (think of agricultural subsidies and the potential impact on the poor) that will make the market solutions work!
How do you measure your results?
Ultimately, our goal is to change the way people see the poor. Doing that means building organizations that serve millions of people and helping to channel talented people into this sector. So we start with the actual output of what our enterprises are doing – for instance, with A to Z, a malaria bednet manufacturer with whom Acumen Fund helped finance a technology transfer, jobs created exceed 6,000 and more than 20 million people a year now have access to long-lasting bednets. That’s a big deal. And our loan was fully repaid. But that’s not enough. We also measure what it costs to bring one bednet to one person and then we compare that number to how much it takes to bring a bednet through more traditional charitable approaches. Ultimately, we want to see that our capital – our money – is used for the greatest social impact possible while also generating some small financial return.
If you could have a cocktail with one person, living or dead, who would that be?
Gandhi (although a tea would probably be more appropriate than a cocktail). He, like so many of our heroes, understood the importance of human equality and human dignity. But what I would love to discuss with him is his brilliance as a marketer and communicator. Through symbolism and words, he was able to move a continent and then the world.
Do you have a personal hero in the world of entrepreneurship?
Henry Ford really saw the link between business and consumers – he understood that his workers were also his target market, and he created jobs that lifted wages and he built products that workers could afford.
What’s your personal definition of good?
Alive. Engaged. Empathetic. Honest. Curious. Sexy. Humble enough to listen. Giving your best to be part of the solution. Unwilling to accept the status quo. Beautiful. Fun.
Visit Acumen Fund’s Choose GOOD profile here.
DISCUSSION: 7 Comments
I work in a tiny obscure Emergency Room in rural AR. Poverty wanders through our doors daily. I have become cynical and skeptical. I don’t see the poor trying to get themselves out. They like it right where they are. figuring ways to cop some drugs from the ER, get disibility, smoke cigerettes and have more kids.
Two adorable little boys with chronic lung diseases and coughs and head colds constantly coming to our ER with fevers. Mom is pregnant. I have repeatedly educated these young parents that they and the grandparents need to stop smoking in the house. That four smoking adults in one small house is causing the boys to be sick all the time. They look at me and smile. They won’t change.
What is your solution to this. Dripping water or buy them an ox. Or slap the hell out of them, which is what I want to do. This is American poverty. What should we do?
Poverty in America can be the result of so many social, institutional, and personal problems. Just as Jacqueline Novogratz said, poverty is complex and what we need to do is educate ourselves and others about the issues. She was obviously talking about poverty in other countries, but the same goes for poverty in America.
As people with privilege it is not our place to become angry with those who are less fortunate. Instead we should do our best to be compassionate and culturally competent and educated about barriers that these people face. It is hard to put yourself in another’s shoes but those with low SES do not have the tools to better themselves. We cannot really know what someone goes through if we have not truly experienced it. So it is easy to get frustrated but we need to REALLY try understanding without prejudice.
Many in poverty are so down and out they have a defeatist attitude. This makes complacency easy. There are many barriers to getting out of poverty (too many to list) but I believe the most important barrier is lack of education – Both education of those less fortunate and maybe more importantly the education of those fortunate enough to help. We need to be educated about poverty and the people in poverty and ways we can start to act.
The educated/more fortunate should become less focused on the materials (fancy clothes, an expensive car, etc) and more focused on becoming an advocate for the less fortunate- helping to fight for equal education, equal healthcare, an equal chance. We need to take our education and put it into action, into REALLY trying to make a difference.
I don’t think all the “educated more/fortunate” have a focus on material stuff. Pulling myself out of poverty, with latch key kids and fear and pancakes for dinner. I have the good fortune of an unbiased view of poverty. It took longer than it should have in such a rich and powerful country as this. I wasn’t able to qualify for state aid because I worked two jobs. I guess I should have quit and gone on state aid so I could be home with my kids. (My kids are stable adults now, despite my quest for material comforts) But, would I have become complacent and used to checks in the mail without work. Two nurses I graduated with were not excited about graduation because “now I have to go to work”.
I truly believe in equal education, equal healthcare and rewarding people who figure a way to make their own way. Some people just aren’t smart, but they become successful anyway through perseverence and love and not feeding off of society. Others may be educated or not, but they drain society, they drain the system.
Whatever system we come up with next, it needs to stop rewarding corruption and drains
Not ALL of the educated/more fortunate are focused on materials things but many are and do not know how lucky they actually are. Many do not care to think about factors outside of being poor that may impede the process of getting out of poverty.
In my other post I focused on those with low SES status. This means being at a low income level and having low social status (usually due to race). Race plays a big part of being oppressed and feeling like there is not way out. I think there is definitely a prejudice against those with low SES and that there are less opportunities for those of color- because it’s true.
I am not attacking you personally, and it is great that you could overcome whatever you faced. I am just trying to address your question of what to do about poverty in America and I gave my opinion.
I am sorry that you may have some frustration or anger when it comes to people that come into your ER, I just wanted to defend those who try to get out of poverty but circumstances do not allow.
Facts about poverty
*By number (2006), of those that are poor in America 43% are White, 25% are Black, 25% are caucasian, the rest are Asian and Other.
*By number (2006), more whites than any other race received government aid.
*Poverty is a cycle. Based on patterns in previous years, 50% of those in poverty this year will be out of poverty in 2010.
*In a study done by Price, et al. :
-36% of Nurses perceived that the poor are in their situation becuase they are lazy.
-1 in 10 nurses think assisting the poor to become well was a waste of medical care.
And My last comment as I will not be writing on this topic again to stop argument is that….
I recently graduated with a Master’s degree and was not happy when I had to start work either…..so I don’t think it is fair to judge this instance of your classmates. It is not a crime to be unhappy to go to work. In fact most people are unhappy with their jobs and do not want to work.
Thanks for the conversation!
* the second 25% in the first fact should read hispanic.
Interesting facts. I too, was not making a personal attack. What you seem to be implying, is that, poverty will always cycle, nurses are haters of the poor, and we are arguing. I actually think we are agreeing. The current system bites. We need to help the working poor as well as the poor who are unable to work.
Companies who collect data can skew it to reveal whatever information they want it to reveal. Solutions are what is needed. Solutions might start with free dental care for the working poor and the self employed, bring the troops home and have them find and destroy meth labs, and build industry in poor areas.
Industries like making lumber from recycled plastic milk jugs, making jars from recycled glass, making photovoltaic charging stations for the EV’s that are coming. Can’t we take all that tobacco and make ethanol or something?
I am not aiming my comments at you. Please don’t take this as argument. I don’t hate the poor, or people who aren’t of my color or religion. I am angry at four adults smoking cigerettes in a small house with two little kids despite repeated education as to the harm caused.
You are right though, nothing is being solved here. I’ll move on.
Hi,
THE VERDICT – of the reader for the reader is a widely circulated English weekly tabloid from The Independent Media Of India, which is a non profit organisaiton promoted by journalists and professionals from different field.
Ms. Jacqueline Novogratz’s Acumen Fund in collaboration with Hindustan Latex Ltd a government owned company in India is promoting Lifespring Hospitals in India for the needy people. Is it possible for you to allow us to reprint this interview in our forthcoming issue of THE VERDICT and http://www.theverdictindia.com ? Please confirm: theverdict@sify.com