“We are honored to be in the company of so many respected innovators and change agents, including investees d.light and VisionSpring. This is a milestone in bringing greater awareness of our work and approach to a mainstream business audience, and shows a real openness on the part of Forbes to highlighting regions of the world where positive stories of innovation and change are often underreported.” says Yasmina Zaidman, Director of Communications, Acumen Fund.
For the full article on Forbes.com: http://support.acumenfund.org/site/R?i=TO_N9pYLIl_5k60q9HIhkg
Jacqueline was one of the prime speakers at this years conference on Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship – with focus on Inclusion and Diversity, and we were very happy when she was one of the first to confirm that she’ll also speak at next years conference, where the topic is Dignity and Empowerment – with focus on Women.
CAN VENTURE CAPITAL SAVE THE WORLD?
(This article is the cover story of the December 19, 2011 issue of Forbes.)
Origial link here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/helencoster/2011/11/30/novogratz/
Bahawalpur in eastern Pakistan is known for magnificent palaces built during the British Raj, but in the dusty part of town where most of the 400,000 residents actually live, four dozen farmers have gathered in the decidedly unpalatial concrete building that houses the local branch of the National Rural Support Programme Bank. Their darkened, sun-creased faces testify to the toll of tilling soil in one of the hotter places on Earth (at 11 a.m. in mid-June it’s already heading toward 105 degrees); many twist their hair into head scarves, and all don cotton tunics known as kurta.
Suddenly the front door swings open and a tall woman with piercing blue eyes and brownish blonde hair struts in, dressed in a red tunic and baggy pants. Accompanied by the bank’s president, Rashid Bajwa, Jacqueline Novogratz whips out her red notebook and gets down to business. “What kind of livestock do you have?” she asks one client. “How many male calves? How much money are you saving at the bank? What do you do with that cash?” An hour later, the notebook now filled with minute details of how, exactly, the farmers intend to pay back their loans, as well as whether their daughters go to school and what they want their children to do when they grow up, Novogratz walks out of the bank, satisfied. “I’m feeling optimistic about rural Pakistan,” she tells me, as a pickup truck, loaded with field hands, rumbles past a mosque. “Farmers are making good money.”
Read the full article here!
