The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz is a gripping read for anyone interested in International Development. She is an extraordinary woman who has shown me the path I want to follow. I feel as though her book was written for me, it answered my questions about the development sector and explained away all inconsistency. She provided a solution for the conscipious problems of accountability and transperancy when working with NGOs. Her foundation, Acumen Fund, invests "patient capital" into the poorest regions of the world by providing local innovators, enterpreneurs, and visionaries with the means to expand their business and provide services to the poor. Her mandate is to treat poor people like consumers rather than giving them hand-outs. Her vision and that of her partners is to create a world where the rich and the poor are given equal opportunity and where everywhere lives with dignity and freedom.
She grew up in America with a loving family and worked her way through her undergrad. She worked for a year as an international banker and left her job to quench the thirst in her soul for meaningful work. She worked in Africa for a long time and then pursued her MBA at Stanford and said that it gave her confidence and the analytical skills necessary for her career. Her foundation, Acumen Fund, is now 10 years old and is getting global recognition for transforming philanthropy into a for-profit venture that caters to the needs of the ones less fortunate yet sustains its capital at the same time.
She has walked on unchatered teritory and left her trail. I hope one day I can follow in her footsteps and build on top of her learnings (her successes and failures).
No comments:
Post a Comment