| JOHANNESBURG--Several
months ago, I was contacted by a Japanese photo
journalist. She wanted to do an article on social
entrepreneurs,
and having heard about the work of the Schwab Foundation,
felt we would be a likely contact point to identify
such individuals. The article she was preparing
was for PEN magazine, which seems to be the Japanese
equivalent of GQ or Esquire magazine in the USA.
PEN targets professional Japanese males, particularly
those who are young and up-and-coming. A quick
review
of its contents reveals a mix of features, including
fashion trends - modelled by Caucasian-looking
young men - brief articles of current interest,
and, as
with any such publication, lots and lots of ads.
"We
have just the candidates you can feature", I
responded enthusiastically when she first emailed
me. I sent her back a list of our accomplished network
members, indicating those whom I thought would be
particularly interesting to the Japanese, including
one Japanese social entrepreneur. She wrote back
politely but firmly. Her magazine wanted to feature
only "American" social entrepreneurs. I
was stunned and, admittedly, rather irritated. Were
not the Japanese interested in what was happening
in the developing world? I asked. This article could
be an excellent way of raising awareness as to how
social entrepreneurs have seized opportunities, taken
risks, and come up with practical, innovative ways
to address complex problems in the difficult circumstances
in third world countries.
She patiently explained the rationale.
Japanese, particularly the young, are
highly influenced by anything American
and are fascinated with finding out what
their American counterparts are up to.
With the economic downturn, things are
not looking as bright as they once did
for aspiring Japanese business professionals.
Depression is on the rise as are suicides
among the young. PEN wanted to show that
highly educated, young, ambitious American
men and women are using their entrepreneurial
skills not to make themselves rich, but
to improve and enrich the lives of others.
If Americans are doing this, then Japanese
are much more likely to be interested
in thinking about emulating them.
The
truth is, everyone watches Americans,
for
better or for worse. The United States
of America is a country of extremes,
and that makes it all the more interesting,
and at times, exasperating. Its annual
defence budget of US$369 billion (with
an additional recent allocation of US$48
billion to fight "terrorism")
is to many an obscenity given the social
and environmental plight of our world.
While the USA spends proportionately
the least on development assistance of
any of the OECD countries, it appears
to be the most philanthropic country
in the world. In 2001, Americans gave
US$212 billion dollars of philanthropic
support, of which 76% came from individuals,
12% from foundations and 4.3% from corporations.
Yet only about 1.5% of that total ever
left the USA. Most of the grants went
to support local or regional initiatives
in the most powerful, wealthiest, self-indulgent
country in the world. And we wonder why
others don't like us?
But
this is not an article castigating
America.
I happen to be an incurable
optimist, even about the United States,
and there are reasons for that. A recent
survey conducted by Gallup (Spring 2002)
indicates that US college students believe
there will be a shift towards careers
that benefit the public interest and
that their generation will be the "us" generation.
Two-thirds (67%) expressed strong interest
in careers such as education and public
health, a telling change from even a
decade ago when the focus was exclusively
on making money.
Certainly if one takes as a sample the
Americans in our network of outstanding
social entrepreneurs, one has reason
for optimism. There are fourteen of them,
almost a quarter of our current worldwide
community. Nine of them use their entrepreneurial
talents to support social enterprise
development abroad, outside the US. Four
of the five who have focused their initiatives
within the US only, have had their models
picked up by others and adapted to needs
in other countries. Only one of the fourteen,
, Paul Rice, the Founder of TransfairUSA,
adopted a model spawned outside the US:
that of the Fair Trade movement begun
in Europe. But Paul has gained traction
with it at a pace not seen by his older,
European counterparts.
The US social entrepreneurs chosen by
PEN for its review reveal the diversity,
creativity and sheer talent that can
inspire other young people, whether in
the US, Japan, or anywhere. Let's briefly
look at two of them.
David
Green is an avowed believer in "compassionate
capitalism", wherein profit and
production capacities are used to serve
the poor. He was dissatisfied with the
prevailing situation in which the developing
countries most in need of health care
technologies were the ones least able
to procure them. Beginning with intra-ocular
lenses for cataract sufferers and hearing
aids, Green's response was to create
a sustainable development model in which
developing countries themselves manufacture
and carefully control the pricing and
distribution of such needed health technologies..
Green started with cataract implant lenses
and surgical sutures. He helped to develop
the Lumbini Eye Hospital in Nepal and
Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India.
The latter, which performs 200,000 surgeries
per year, is the largest eye care program
in the world. Today, 60% of Aravind's
care is provided free of charge, yet
the hospital enjoys a 50% profit margin.
Green also established Aurolab in Madurai,
now one of the largest manufacturers
of intra-ocular lenses in the world,
selling lenses for US$8 that are priced
at US$150 in the United States.
He is now focusing on hearing. Out of
the six million hearing aids sold annually
around the world, only 12% reach people
in developing countries, where two thirds
of the estimated 400 million hearing
impaired live. Green and his developing
country colleagues are now designing,
manufacturing and distributing a low-cost,
digitally programmable analog hearing
aid with a rechargeable battery option.
They will manufacture the hearing aids,
which are priced at US$1,500, at an initial
cost of US$40 to $50, and make them widely
available to poor customers on a sliding
scale basis, with the very poor receiving
them free.
Another American, Linda Rottenberg,
also challenged traditional development
models . A firm believer in the power
of private enterprise as a driving force
for social and economic development,
she used her U.S. based non-profit organization
to spur entrepreneurial development,
beginning in Latin American countries.
But rather than do the usual NGO hat-in-hand
tour of USAID and the usual big US Foundations
seeking support for her idea, she got
on a plane, went to several Latin American
capitals and knocked on the doors of
wealthy businessmen and women in those
countries. Want to spur values-driven
economic development here? she asked
them. Start an Endeavor. Contrary to
anyone's expectations, the business community
responded. In the first four years of
its operations, Endeavor established
self-sustaining operations in Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico and
it now has begun in Turkey. Through a
rigorous search and selection process,
Endeavor identifies and certifies high-potential
entrepreneurs in these countries, and
connects them to global networks, events
and capacity-building programs that would
otherwise be out of their reach. To date,
Endeavor has screened more than 4,000
entrepreneurs and selected 100 candidates.
During 2000-2001, the companies of Endeavor
Entrepreneurs' in Latin America grew
46% in revenues and 18% in employment
- during one of the worst economic downturns
in the region. The Endeavor model operates
on a hub-and-spoke system. The core organization
is in New York. It is responsible for
setting up the networking opportunities,
among other things, for its selected
entrepreneurs. The irony is that while
Rottenberg has had no difficulty mobilizing
local funds in developing countries to
get Endeavor up and running in those
places, it has been a different story
trying to raise funds for Endeavor's
support operations in the USA. Perhaps
another expression of the inward orientation
of US philanthropy?
In the previous articles in this series,
I have made reference to some other outstanding
US social entrepreneurs: Millard and
Linda Fuller (Habitat for Humanity) and
Roy Prosterman (Rural Development Institute)
Were there more space here, inspiring
stories could be recounted about Wendy
Kopp (Teach for America), Jim Fruchterman
(Benetech), Rick Aubry (Rubicon), Sara
Horowitz (Working Today), Michael Brown
and Alan Khazei (City Year), Gillian
Caldwell (Witness) and Paul Rice (TransfairUSA).
Each one of them in their own niche is
transforming the United States of America.
At a time of justified frustration with
the USA, I console myself thinking that
if there is something to emulate about
it today, it is the long-term vision,
bravery and human spirit of its social
entrepreneurs.
(Note: Pamela Hartigan, Managing Director,
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship)
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