On Social Enterprise at OSU

I would like to offer a recap and some thoughts about the event that Teddy and I organized at The Ohio State University to spread the message of TBS, and Acumen Fund more generally.

The idea sprung from a conversation about how to spread the message of both Acumen Fund and The Blue Sweater among college students around the United States. Teddy and I, as members of the first cohort of the Acumen Fund Student Leaders Workshop and co-leaders of The Blue Sweater online community, were together brainstorming how to more generally spread the ideas of social enterprise and patient capital. During our conversation, it occurred to us that Teddy had spent a significant amount of time this past summer traveling to different schools around the U.S. to speak about his own initiatives. We realized then that we could launch our plan to spread The Blue Sweater/Acumen Fund’s message at Ohio State University, where I go to school.

Soon thereafter I booked Teddy a flight, procured sponsorships from several different university organizations and student organizations on campus, marketed through fliers, emails, and phone calls, and arranged two separate speaking events for Teddy, along with meetings and meals with students and faculty. Three weeks later, with everything arranged, Teddy flew into Columbus, Ohio on the night of Thursday, November 19, 2009.

Teddy’s first presentation was early the next morning, at 10:30. I had planned for this talk to be more discussion based, and thus arranged for a maximum capacity of 30. We filled the capacity, and Teddy spoke, answered questions, and asked questions of the audience for an hour and half. The audience consisted not only of students, but also of community members and faculty from various departments on campus, including the Department of Economics and the Center for African Studies. Teddy’s talk covered his own story, having grown up in Kenya and witnessing many of the issues that he is now fighting to ameliorate, his work with Common Vocabulary, and the role of social enterprise in eradicating poverty. Teddy also involved everyone in the audience by asking them to fill out a short survey covering their knowledge and perceptions of poverty around the world, and then asking them pointed questions about what peaked their interests in the presentation and the survey.

After a lunch with more students and faculty, and meetings with various student organizations on campus, Teddy was ready to speak for his second engagement, a more lecture-based presentation. The room filled up quickly with over 100 students and faculty, and after introductions, Teddy began his presentation by first showing the audience the 3 minute video of the AF Student Leaders Workshop. He followed the video by speaking about Acumen Fund’s work and message, discussing the Blue Sweater, and then segueing into a discussion of the role of social enterprise in development in general. Questions from the audience were insightful, asking Teddy how as students we could be more involved in social enterprise and the role of government in development.

The best part of this event extended past the fact that Teddy and I were able to arrange everything to make the event happen. Actually, the best part of the event was the interest that the talks generated among students and faculty about not only Teddy’s own work, but also about social enterprise, especially in a forum where the audience was relatively unfamiliar with the concept. The event also highlighted the importance of personally talking to students to spread the message of The Blue Sweater, and further, it was a great way to spark some interest in the book to help move along the initiative to make TBS a common book for next year’s incoming freshmen. Both Teddy and I, along with the students and faculty in the audience, found value in the presentations. We both look forward to continuing to engage with the connections that we made throughout the event, helping to foster the message at OSU, and taking it further at different universities around the US.

Check out Acumen Fund's Community Website for more information and insight into their work and social enterprise in general. I will post a video from the event on the Community Website shortly as well.

"Alleviation"

The first day of the Acumen Student Leaders Workshop, we had an intensive discussion about development, what it means, and how to define it. During this discussion, we talked very briefly about the word "alleviation" itself.

Perhaps it is just semantics, but I've been thinking about the appropriateness of this word. Choosing specific words can have a powerful impact, and so I was thinking about what "alleviation" actually meant. It means to make something more bearable, or to mitigate.

But the goal is not to make poverty more bearable. If that was the case, we would simply continue doing what we've been doing for the past 50 years. We would continue to give the poor the impression that they should be dependent on the aid of the rich. But what Acumen does, and what I believe should be the ultimate goal of development, is to ERADICATE poverty, not simply make it more bearable.

"Alleviation" is used extensively in literature and discussions, and I am definitely guilty of using it myself. However, it is important to discern the specific meanings of specific words. In this case, the implications are subtle, but highly important. We should reassess how we use the word in this specific context.

While we want to alleviate poverty in the sense of mitigating it, ultimately, we want to eliminate it.

Let's Eradicate poverty.

Acumen Student Leaders Workshop 2009 Recap

Among 17 students from around the US and around the world, I was humbled to attend the Acumen Student Leaders Workshop 2009 in New York this past weekend. The experience was truly inspiring, both challenging my thoughts and leaving me with insightful ideas. The weekend began for me after a crazy trip to New York, in which my first flight got canceled, I missed my second flight, and I took the 6 AM straight to the Acumen office. Regardless, as promised, Acumen had caffeine ready for me, and my eyes didn't shutter the rest of the weekend.


Thursday:
Seth Godin launched the workshop in Seth-style, challenging our notions of leadership, and offering this simple, sagely advice: DECIDE. Having read his most recent book, Tribes, we asked Seth about building tribes in our own communities, overcoming our fear of failure, and taking ownership of our lives by leading and taking action. His message was simple and powerful, and it was a great start to the workshop.

The conversations and discussions that took place the rest of the day were greatly thought-provoking. They centered on the biggest questions in development and poverty eradication, Acumen's model and values, and an analysis of a social enterprise in which Acumen had already invested.

Bowling and pizza afterwards offered more time in a casual setting to really get to know the students attending the workshop. Hearing others' life stories, while bowling an embarassingly low score made for a great evening.

Friday:
It took me some time to figure out New York's subway system, as I took the wrong one and ended up walking a few extra blocks on Friday morning.
Friday allowed us to enter into more personal discussions about our leadership styles. Blair gave a great talk on leadership, in which we participated in an exercise on the intersection of what our skills are, what brings us joy, and what our needs are. We then heard from Sasha, Harry, Raj, and Ann, all of whom offered us their personal stories and provided advice on paths for changing the world. Conversations with Acumen staff and partners over wine and hors d'oeuvres concluded the evening.

Saturday:
Saturday morning began a bit more casually, although it was apparent that the intensity had not diminished. In small groups, presentations were made about ideas to engage our campuses once we returned to our schools. Ideas ranging from a viral video sparking interest in social enterprise to launching a website and organizing a summit on social enterprise were presented. Not only that, but steps for action were provided, a testament to the passion of the students attending the workshop. The conference concluded officially with a discussion on both staying engaged with each other, and engaging students at our own campuses. A delicious picnic at Chelsea's Pier awaited us, where the discussions continued to flow. Later in the night, we overwhelmed the Flea Market Restaurant in East Village, after which we talked and walked through the streets of New York.

We all had our own unique stories and backgrounds, but what united us was our passion for eradicating poverty and our vision for changing the world. While we all had different interests and paths for achieving our goals, our goals were indeed the same. The workshop was about co-optition, rather than competition. It was about coming together to discuss and take action on some of the most pressing issues of our generation. Everything from the endless list of books to the parking lot of ideas and the debate between Seth's and Teddy's notion of tribes marked the weekend.

While the notion of social enterprise is indeed highly attractive and effective, what makes it so is the dedication of individuals who work in organizations such as Acumen and Water Health International. What makes it so is the passion of the individuals launching the social enterprises to bring individuals around the world to a certain threshold of capabilities. Witnessing and being a member of a cadre of action-oriented individuals provides me with realistic hope about the future of our society. Thanks to the other members of the group, and the staff at Acumen, for providing this. I look forward to working with the community as we look to change the world together.