D.light Design recently announced the achievement of impacting 1 million lives through their production, distribution and sale of solar powered lanterns.  What does that actually mean?  A recent press release spells it out pretty clearly:

“The benefits of solar lighting for off-grid families have been well documented. The U.N. Development Program reports that bright, reliable lighting can increase productivity for families in developing countries, leading to household income gains of 15 to 30 percent. D.light customers have reported that children’s study time increases by a factor of 2 to 4 times after purchasing a solar lantern, resulting in improved test scores. In addition, each kerosene lantern that is no longer used removes 0.5 to 1 ton of carbon emissions from the world’s atmosphere.”

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Drink 1 Give 10 is a collaborative effort between Volvic and UNICEF that helps to bridge the connection between for- and non-profit organizations in a common quest towards helping the world’s poorest. For every one liter of water purchased in the United States and Canada, Volvic will donate money to a non-profit organization that will provide ten liters of clean drinking water to those in Ethiopia, Niger, and Mali. Read more »

I’m pleased to announce that Floating Doctors is launching as this post is being published!

We wrote about Floating Doctors previously in Rising Pyramid, but their launch was delayed.  Apparently, there  must have been a reason for their delay, because the disaster in Haiti occurred just as they wrapped up final preparations.  Floating Doctors has adjusted their course to stop at Haiti first and to provide general aide.  The majority of doctors providing support in Haiti require lodging and food, but Floating Doctors come with their own “house” as well as $3M of supplies.

Safe sails Floating Doctors, Rising Pyramid wishes you all the best!

-Bryan

Like all businesses, social businesses require funding and capital to get started and to scale up.  However, unlike typical businesses, social businesses aspire to more than just financial returns.  Often, their primary mission is to maximize the social and environmental benefits of their companies, sometimes at the expense of maximizing profit.  Whether or not social businesses should offer financial returns to investors that are on par or at a discount to typical businesses is a topic for future posts.   What is certainly true in the industry right now is that for-profit social businesses often return less to an investor than the stock market would.   Additionally, social businesses are generally a riskier investment, which leads investors to expect higher rewards.  Operating in developing countries with unique businesses models and distribution channels can lead to a lot of unknowns and unexpected bumps along the way.  Therefore, it takes a special kind of investor to put capital into social businesses.

I firmly believe that in the long run, it will be demonstrated that companies focused on consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) can be successful and will experience rapid growth.  In the meantime, investors are wary of BoP companies.  Therefore, bold and unreasonable investors must prove the benefits of investing in the BoP to the typical investor.   These unreasonable investors must care more about building the case for investing in the BoP than about receiving dramatic financial returns themselves.

The Acumen Fund is doing just that.  They are a pioneer in the social business industry with the innovative concept of patient capital.   Essentially, the Acumen Fund is a venture capital firm for social businesses; they invest money in early stage social start ups, with a goal of exiting the business after 5-7 years, or longer if necessary.

Along they way, they are accomplishing two  honorable goals:

1. In the immediate term, the fund is backing companies that are directly having an impact on the standard of living for those at the bottom of the pyramid.  The Acumen Fund portfolio of companies is helping to alleviate poverty across the world.
2. More importantly, in the long run the fund is making the case for other investors to put money into BoP focused companies.   By doing so, the fund will eventually make it easier for socially minded companies to access capital,  which is exactly what is needed to encourage rapid expansion of the industry.

- Bryan

I have written thus far about socially focused organizations that look to create innovative solutions and work to eliminate poverty through market-based products and services. Yet while much of the effort is focused on the actual innovation behind the products and the strategy surrounding how to create and market a cost-effective product, many times the focus on the local people is forgotten. Last week I wrote about how I believe it is possible and almost quite necessary for the community to be involved to ensure the acceptance, growth and success of the program or service. At the same time, it is crucial to provide a sense of comfort to the community that their traditions that have been passed down over the years will not be wiped away with the introduction of a product or service.

Global Team for Local Initiatives (GTLI) is an organization that strives to improve the welfare of the Bottom of the Pyramid while maintaining tribal traditions and culture. They are showing that it is possible to provide a valuable service to the BoP without infusing a Western mindset. Their four-phase model “ensures that [their] work with tribes is culturally appropriate, effective, and long-lasting.” From their website:

Phase 1: Ground Time: Before working with a tribe, GTLI representatives spend several months living with the people, learning the culture, forming relationships, assessing the tribe’s needs and desires, and building trust. We work only with communities that are committed to working with us to improve their situation.

Phase 2: Concept Testing: After assessing the tribe’s needs, we work with the elders to develop ideas for programs that can meet tribal needs. With the elders’ support and participation, we test those ideas with small groups of people.

Phase 3: Pilot Programs: After conducting our concept tests, we adjust the programs as necessary and then conduct the programs again, this time with larger groups of people. The pilot programs are monitored, assessed for effectiveness and fine-tuned.

Phase 4: Implementation: Once the pilot programs have been proven effective, we implement those programs on a large-scale basis, across entire communities or groups of communities.

The key takeaway from this is the involvement of the community not only in the development of the program initiatives but in the understanding of the problems and needs. All too often, organizations may try to develop a product out of the perceived needs of the community they aim to serve, but do not involve local communities in the development. Establishing trust between the tribe/community is essential to the success and wide-spread adoption of programs, and as GTLI is proving, an effective way to establish trust is to involve the community in the discussion, development, and piloting of different programs.

- Chris

As part of this blog, I plan to occasionally profile socially minded businesses and organizations that have inspired me or offer interesting lessons about how to serve the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).    A group that I’m personally very proud of is Floating Doctors.

Floating Doctors is exactly what it sounds like—a group of healers on a boat.  That is, a boat sailing from Florida down the coast of Central America and then on to the eastern Pacific, stopping in 15 different countries.  The team will visit rural villages and communities to provide free healthcare as well as basic health and hygiene education to the residents.  Sailing on the Southern Wind, the doctors aim to arrive at remote communities that are difficult to reach by land.  With plans to serve over 15,000 people in 12 months, the Floating Doctors have (unsurprisingly) gained a lot of attention.  Recently, the group was featured as the top story on the front page of CNN.com (you should absolutely watch their video).  There are two primary reasons I am inspired by Floating Doctors: their crew, and the innovative delivery model they’re testing.

The Crew
The crew consists of 15 very admirable people led by Dr. Ben LaBrot, a 33 year old who is both passionate about making a difference and extremely fun to be around.  Ben has a PhD from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and has already been on humanitarian missions to Africa and Southeast Asia. Ben comes from one of the most inspirational families I’ve ever met.  His mother, Paula LaBrot, was the drama director at my high school—where she taught every member of the drama family the importance of living life to make the world better for others.  Clearly, Ben took his mother’s message to heart.  A great friend of mine, Ryan McCormick, is in charge of planning the exact route and logistics.  An ’08 graduate from UCSF with two bachelor degrees (history, biology) ,  Ryan was also an RA in the dorms and a TA for human anatomy.  Ryan has shared updates with me on all the work they’ve put into preparing the boat for the journey and I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of the group.

The Model
Another reason to write about Floating Doctors in this blog is the fact that they are testing a unique distribution model for reaching the developing world.  Given the poor state of infrastructure in many countries, often communities in the most need cannot be reached.  Floating Doctors is attempting to reach those communities to deliver medical care via a boat.  By doing so, they will serve members of the BOP that just can’t be reached otherwise.  Given the time it takes to sail from location to location, this delivery model wouldn’t necessarily make sense for delivering consumer products, but there is a lot of potential for using boats to deliver high value add services such as health care, education and potentially to deliver connectivity through cell phones.   Can you imagine a floating Aravind Eye Care clinic, that simply went to hard to reach communities to provide cataract surgeries? Finally, the sail boat delivery method is about as green as you can get.  Here’s to environmentally friendly health care!

-Bryan