Push play to hear about the Stanford team of social entrepreneurs who recently won the International Impact Investing Challenge with a project to expand the electrical grid in Indonesia to rural areas, a country with 18,000 islands.
Worldwide, 1.3 billion people are without electricity, 84% of whom live in remote rural areas. Electricity is an important factor in improving education, health and much more. Access to electricity is directly connected to public health, education, family income and the overall quality of life. World Bank estimates annual welfare benefits of electrification at $600 per household. REwiRE seeks to provide power not only for light but refrigerators, medical care, cell phones, computers, and more.
REwiRE will finance locally co-owned renewable energy mini-grids in rural communities of Indonesia where 67 million citizens (28% of the population) still lack access to electricity. 23% of electricity in Indonesia is currently produced from oil, an expensive, polluting and unhealthy technology.
Micro hydro proves to be the least expensive and is a proven technology through IBEKA for Indonesia. Only about $.05 a kilowatt hour, it is much cheaper than any other technology. As REwiRE expands into other geographic areas, the most cost-effective and available technology, whether micro hydro, solar, wind or biomass, will be developed according to local resources.
A nonprofit relying solely on grants, IBEKA has 20 years of experience providing electricity to rural Indonesia through micro hydro facilities that are locally owned, community co-operatives. REwiRE intends to develop and provide the sustainable business model as a holding company for localized joint ventures with IBEKA and to expand the successful use of micro hydro power in Indonesia starting on the island of Sumba. The for-profit holding company will develop funding through institutional and impact investments as well as grants.
The team is comprised of four grad students with impressive backgrounds in both education and business. Jonathan Strahl, Maria Riaz, Himini Pahdke and Kelcie Abraham. Click here to read their impressive bios. To get greater detail about the REwiRE project, click here for the Power Point presentation. Visit the International Impact Investing Challenge website and interview for information about the Challenge, and for continuing information about REwiRE, visit the REwiRE Worldwide website which is currently in process of development.
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Push Play to hear about the International Impact Investing Challenge, the finalist social entrepreneurs and their projects.
The founder and Director of the International Impact Investing Challenge, Jamie N. Jones, shares the background and results of this exceptional competition focused on social entrepreneurship and that draws international contestants. As Assistant Director of the Social Enterprise at Kellogg (SEEK) Program, Jamie works with students, alumni and members of the community to apply business principles to affect social change.
Graduate students propose and defend their sustainable businesses and investment strategies to institutional and impact investors. The selection panel includes the current officers of Calvert Foundation, Impact Assets, and the US Pension Fund and other expert institutional investors. The final results on April 13 were:
First place:
Rural Electrification with Renewable Energy (REwiRE) from the School of International Policy Studies at Stanford University
Second place:
Upskill Capital from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Finalist teams:
Pacific Impact Bond Fund from the Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles
Residential Managed Energy Services Agreement (R-MESA)Fund from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago
This is the second year of the competition and the first time opened to students around the globe. The ideas varied from extending the electrical grid in rural areas of Indonesia to removing land mines.
REwire, the winner of the competition and $10,000, works with the utilization of new technology to extend the electrical grid into remote islands of Indonesia. Next week’s interview is with this Standford team.
The runner up who receives $5000, Upskill Capital, is based on a current training center in rural India that has been reliant on philanthropy and moving it into a sustainable business model. Each of the winning teams are planning to use the capital to get more on-the-ground preparation for launching the ventures.
Grain Depot was last year’s winner and focused on the loss and waste of food in storage in India due to rot. Since winning a year ago, they have been working hard to develop investors who will support the launch of this project within the year.
To support the growth of social entrepreneurship and the impact investing community, the International Impact Investment Challenge is looking to expand globally and expects to collaborate with social enterprise accelerators available to both students and social entrepreneurs, such as Impact Engine in Chicago and Hub Ventures in the San Francisco Bay area. The intent is for the event to be hosted in various areas of the world like Hong Kong, Sao Paolo, and other places. To make this possible, the Challenge is looking for strategic partners. If interested, please contact Jamie Jones through the International Impact Investing Challenge website.
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Push Play to hear Chid Liberty, co-founder of the first Fair Trade factory in Africa, share the impact social entrepreneurship has made on Western Africa’s economy.
Liberia has been a country torn by civil war until a group of women for peace ended it and helped put Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first woman head of State in Africa. Some of these same women are now busy at work building industry and more jobs with Chid Liberty and his partner Adam Butlein, social entrepreneurs and founders of Liberty and Justice, a textile, garment manufacturing company in Liberia.
This remarkable venture, the first and only Fair Trade factory in all of Africa, is now expanding into Ghana to satisfy growing international orders and MOUs. In addition to being Fair Trade, Liberty and Justice is 49% owned by its primarily women employees. As a result, jobs are not only growing, but the women play a primary role in lifting both their families and communities from extreme poverty. Within its 3 years of operation, schools have been built and churches that provide important social services have been funded by the women with support from Liberty and Justice.
According to Chid Liberty, the decision to make the factory employee owned in addition to being Fair Trade was a wise business decision. The women arrive to work early and take great pride in not only the quality of work but keeping operations efficient. It’s been key to the success of the venture from the beginning.
In addition to his work at Liberty and Justice, Chid Liberty lectures internationally including at such prestigious universities as Stanford, Princeton Universities and at IE in Madrid, Spain. Chid was recognized by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in her 2011 State of the Nation Address for his leadership in shaping trade policy and entrepreneurship. He is a recipient of the 2011 SVN Social Innovation Award and works as an advisor to leading organizations addressing global challenges including Fair Trade USA, GIIRS, and the Opportunity Collaboration.
Chid recommends the following books for those wishing to learn more about Africa, its economy, and becoming a social entrepreneur. The end of this interview also shares an exciting opportunity for those inspired and knowledgeable entrepreneurs motivated to work in Africa. Be sure to listen to the end of this interview. Also visit the Liberty and Justice press page to read the many interesting articles covering the path of this remarkable company.
Books to read:
- The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier
- The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan
- Growth of the Liberian State by Clarence E. Zamba Liberty
- Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo
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Push Play to hear Hassina Sherjan speak about education and creating jobs in Afghanistan to resolve war and its scars.
A native Afghan, Hassina Sherjan educates not only women in Afghanistan but also boys in order to help end terrorism, rebuild the economy and heal the country after 3 generations of conflict. With a 90% illiteracy rate, the challenge is great, yet she has built classrooms in 19 provinces for the marginalized women, girls and boys who otherwise would not have the opportunity of education. The current Afghanistan government has laws that still prevent people over 10 years old from joining school, and due to the war in Afghanistan many have not had access.
Hassina is actively looking to expand access to education by building more classrooms in more locations, recruiting and developing teachers. However, the aid she has been receiving through foreign governments must be diversified and expanded to address the depth of the problem. Although she currently has over 3000 students who are rapidly progressing and entering college, that is a small portion of the uneducated population of Afghanistan due to the years of conflict and outdated laws. Visit AidAfghanistan.org and AidAfghanistanforEducation.org to learn more about how you can help by spreading the word. Hassina’s email is also available to start a discussion about how you can help.
In addition to educating the people of Afghanistan, Hassina is a social entrepreneur having established a home decor business, Boumi.com, that provides jobs and preserves the Afghanistan culture and its rich embroidery. Recently, through a collaboration with Butterfly Works in Holland, she also is producing elegantly embroidered birds of peace, CraftingPeace.com. Her intent is to grow the business to include cotton production and to manufacture internationally distributed products.
To accomplish this, she is looking for support in design, cotton weaving and production, expansion of sales channels, manufacturing and more. Watch the video below and listen to the audio above to hear more detail and learn more about the conflict, terrorism, education and business in Afghanistan.
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Push play to hear how microfinance can help end extreme poverty, the greatest violence against mankind.
The Bottom Billion Fund provides money for micro loans through microfinance institutions (MFIs) located in countries where a large portion of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. 1.4 billion people live in conditions of extreme poverty, the source of 10 million deaths a year, primarily women and children.
Reaching the bottom billion helps fight other human inflicted crimes against humanity such as Joseph Kony. Those living in extreme poverty are not only vulnerable to hunger and disease contributing to issues of impaired intellect and lack of education but also face the evil of being recruited or taken into terrorism.
Microcredit for people, often women, wishing to fund a micro enterprise, such as a chicken farm or distributing solar LED lights as supported by Unite-to-Light provides the means for communities to improve their living conditions and leave extreme poverty.
Although there are 10,000 micro finance institutions around the world, many do not focus on people living in extreme poverty. According to Tom Coleman, founder of the Bottom Billion Fund, only the top 300 to 500 institutions provide services to 90% of the poor but do not always focus on micro-credit for the extreme poor.
The Bottom Billion Fund suggests that your investment can make the greatest impact in fighting extreme poverty by working with MFIs that:
- are large enough to make an impact
- are sustainable even if not profit maximizing
- are able to handle foreign investment
- specifically reach people living on less than $1.25 a day.
Learn more of the facts on GapMinder.org. Read the good news about Ghana and Africa. Learn from Mark Lange, an analyst and columnist who often writes about extreme poverty. Hear Tom Coleman speak about the progress reported on this important UN Millennium goal.
Watch the video below and visit the Bottom Billion Fund YouTube channel:
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Push play to hear how you can participate and how microfinance is reaching the bottom billion to help eradicate extreme poverty. See below for the 7 actions you, personally, can take.
In 2000, The United Nations set 8 Millennium Goals, the first of which is to end extreme poverty by 2015, with the participation of 189 world leaders. The World Bank research group has been tracking progress since 1990. Their data shows that between 1990 and 2008, both the number of people and the percentage of population living in extreme poverty has significantly decreased from 1.9 billion to 1.29 billion and from 43% to 22.4%. This across-the-board reduction is a first since the Bank began monitoring extreme poverty 21 years ago.
The reduction is particularly important because it gives real evidence that eradication is indeed possible. Tom Coleman, CEO and Founder of the Bottom Billion Fund, explains the importance of microfinance institutions (MFI) that focus on reaching people living on less than $1.25 a day.
Micro finance often supports the “growing middle class of developing countries,” those people who have reached $2 a day but are still making less than $10,000 annually, the US poverty level. Although this, too, is good work, to truly eradicate extreme poverty requires reaching the “bottom billion.”
10 million people, or 1000 an hour, die unnecessarily each year. Poverty is the cause of more deaths than any disease or political conflict in history. You can help by educating yourself about the facts and about the many ways in which you can participate. Talk with others. The Bottom Billion Fund suggests the following in your investigations:
- Investigate micro finance organizations located in countries with large numbers of the bottom billion.
- Determine whether they are truly reaching the bottom billion and can document it, and if so, with what types of programs. Do they have programs or partnerships that help deliver more than money in the form of education and health services?
- Providers will take adequate care in all phases of their credit process to determine that clients have the capacity to repay without becoming over-indebted and have systems that foster credit risk management.
- The MFI provides complete transparency and communicates clearly, in the language of its clients, all terms and conditions.
- The MFI has responsible and fair pricing without discrimination and with safeguards to detect corruption.
- Client data is kept private.
- There are mechanisms for complaint resolution and product improvement.
The Bottom Billion Fund is dedicated to reaching those living on less than $1.25 and is actively partnering with well-known microfinance organizations to assure that extreme poverty is completely eradicated within our lives. You can help by donating to the Bottom Billion Fund as well.
As Nelson Mandela shared, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”
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Listen to how Unite-to-Light is fighting extreme poverty with LED solar-powered light.
Unite-to-Light, an organization founded through the collaboration of Engineers without Borders and Nobel Prize Laureate at UCSB, manufactures and distributes a small ultra-bright LED solar-powered lamp worldwide to help fight extreme poverty. According to Economist Magazine, 1.6 billion people, or 1/5 of the world, do not have direct access to electricity and rely on kerosene, candles or firewood for lighting – all of which are relativity expensive and provide inferior light for reading. Another one billion only have intermittent and unreliable electricity.
Education is a key component to fighting extreme poverty, as is explained in the interview. Light is critical for education because of the need for families to work during the daylight hours. By lighting the dark, Unite-to-Light fights poverty and its associated disease, hunger and isolation:
- A mother reports that her children no longer cough and sneeze black mucus;
- A large family reports that the savings in kerosene expense are enough to feed them for a week out of every month;
- Children and adults can read with effective, safe, light;
- Medical procedures can be performed using clear, bright, reliable lighting;
- A home for children orphaned through genocide, or abandoned or abused can provide each child with a light and can sell lights in the surrounding area as a fund raising activity to allow them to expand services;
- Women of the community can support their families and help their communities by distributing the lights.
All of these are real examples of how Unite-to-Light is helping fight extreme poverty. A previous interview with Africa Schools of Kenya also describes the importance of education in helping women rise above the cultural ties that have often kept them in early marriage, young child birth and female genital mutilation.
It is widely accepted that women are another critical key to fighting poverty. By providing them with means to increase the daily income for their families, they also invest in their community to help others. Unite-to-Light has a distribution model that facilitates individuals to start their own business distributing lights. Already, in their first 2 years, Unite-to-Light has doubled its distribution and is on track to continue that rate of doubling each year.
To listen to the first interview with Claude Dorais in May of 2010, click here.
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Push Play to get great Spring cleaning tips using green, planet-friendly cleaning products
For this Spring clean up, take the step to use non-toxic, eco-friendly products that are equally or more effective than commonly used toxic chemicals. Planet People is one such green cleaning product company with truly amazing results in killing and preventing mold, non-toxic carpet cleaning, gloves off cleaning grout and other tough jobs, and safe disinfecting.
Commonly used cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that are toxic and harmful. Here are a few statistics:
- 17,000 petrochemicals, of which only 30 percent have been tested for exposure to human health and the environment, are available for home use.
- 63 synthetic chemical products, which translates to roughly 10 gallons of harmful chemicals, are found in the average American home.
- According to US EPA estimates, indoor air pollution levels can be 100 times higher than outdoor air pollution levels.
- Anti-microbials contain 275 active ingredients that the EPA classifies as pesticides because they are designed to kill microbes.
- 5 billion pounds of chemicals are used by the institutional cleaning industry each year.
- On average, 23 gallons of chemicals (87 liters), 25 percent of which are hazardous, are used by a janitor each year.
In addition to the toxic chemicals, over one billion plastic cleaning containers go into landfill each year. (Listen to our prior episode: Plastic Pollution Coalition.) The majority of household cleaners are 95 per cent water and only five per cent cleaning solution. These two facts prompted Planet People to design bottle-reuse packaging with their new brand iQ. By using small recyclable cartridges with highly concentrated green cleaning solutions and promoting bottle reuse, the iQ cleaning brand aims to reduce the plastic waste associated with traditional cleaners by 80 per cent. The recyclable plastic bottles are robust enough to be reused many times over.
For how to Spring clean with planet friendly products, get a Spring cleaning checklist and tips at Treehugger.com
Take two minutes to watch this video and think about what you can do today to help:
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Push Play to hear how your own backyard can become a place of your own desires while staying in balance with the surrounding ecology and costing you less time and energy.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) promotes sustainable land development and management practices that apply to sites both with and without buildings. Sustainable Sites will provide tools for those who influence land development and management practices and addresses increasingly urgent global concerns including climate change, loss of biodiversity, and resource depletion.
To bring it down to the importance for individuals, by viewing our own backyards, our own communities as our personal source for enjoyment, beauty and relaxation, wouldn’t you like the maintenance of that space be as simple as possible? By viewing our immediate surroundings as a slice of the larger ecology and understanding our own role within that ecology, we can reach a sustainable and balanced solution.
According to Margie Grace, founder of Grace Design Associates and award-winning landscape designer and contractor, sustainable landscape design addresses many of the larger issues that plague our cities and rural developed areas. Water pollution, water run-off, erosion, air pollution, biodiversity, energy, land fill, even crime, are all positively impacted by green design systems for both buildings and landscapes.
Margie gives an example of one of the SITES projects in action, a LEED certified Platinum development, Village Victoria, also called Victoria Garden Mews. This project combines personal living on a historical site originally for a single family and now for four families. The site was designed to allow the owners to age while continuing to enjoy their privacy. It is located close to town reducing the reliance on cars for transportation. They share garden and BBQ facilities along with 30 fruit trees, and due to the proximity of the four private homes, if health care ultimately becomes necessary, they can share those services.
Measurements of water run-off, water collection for irrigation, the number of returning species of flora and fauna, as well as other standards set by SITES will be analyzed to determine its overall success. This project, upon completion, will become a model for green residential building in southern California. It may even become the “greenest” residential development in the state of California and possibly the nation.
The American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden came together to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices, the Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES). Any landscape, whether the site of a large subdivision, a shopping mall, a park, an abandoned rail yard or a home, can be designed to improve and to regenerate the natural benefits and services provided by ecosystems in their undeveloped state.
The USBGC, US Green Building Council, is an important part of the initiative by supporting the integration of sustainable benchmarks for soils, hydrology, vegetation, human health and well-being and materials selection developed by SITES. Buildings use more energy than any other energy user as we discovered in our interview with Dennis Allen of Allen Associates. By integrating sustainable landscape design with green building, systems that are balanced with the surrounding ecology result in lower cost and simpler maintenance.
Our conversation with Ed Snodgrass of Emory Knolls Farm and Green Roof Plants covered some of these issues as well, as did our interview with Adam Hall of Earthkeeper Alliance and with permaculture expert Warren Brush.
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