Unfortunately I got an e-mail recently from James at Dvelo.org telling me that due to SEC regulations on delivering returns on investments in the manner that they had attempted required complicated registration as a “brokerage”. Hopefully we can get a new interview with James explaining the situation, and how they have responded!

00:00 – 00:51 :: Introduction
00:51 – 01:24 :: Could You Provide A Quick Pitch of Dvelo.org?
01:24 – 02:25 :: How Does Dvelo.org Differ From Kiva?
02:25 – 04:53 :: What Inspired Dvelo.org?
04:53 – 07:06 :: Tell Us A Little About Your Pilot Launch!
07:06 – 08:13 :: Could You Tell Us More About Your Microfinance Partners?
08:13 – 09:10 :: Speaking of Due Diligence, How Do You Rate MFIs?
09:10 – 09:44 :: What Does the Future of Dvelo.org Look Like?

I had an opportunity to chat with James Beshara, founder of Dvelo.org — a new Kiva-style microfinance website designed to connect micro-lenders like you or I to poor communities around the world. Dvelo stands out on two key fronts:

1. They are a for-profit entity and seek to return interest to lenders — thus motivating self-interest to do good! And,
2. Rather than investing in particular entrepreneurs, Dvelo is community-focused. They’ve left the door open for opportunities to expand into micro-insurance, education, and healthcare!

My thanks to James and Dvelo.org for taking the time to provide a little insight into their business!

This video is available on the following platforms (please share and embed!)

• Vimeo
• YouTube
• blip.tv
• iTunes

Here’s your Daily Brief for October 16th:

New Approaches to New Markets: How C.K. Prahalad’s Bottom of the Pyramid Strategies Are Paying Off (via Knowledge@Wharton) – C.K. Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at The Bottom of the Pyramid, has been one of the most coveted books for those of us advocating business investment in BoP markets. It was one of the first pieces of literature that took an honest account of the world’s poorest populations, disproving many misconceptions of the poor and laying out a clear strategy on how to operate a business that serves this market. But importantly, he also showed how innovation that occurs in serving BoP markets can trickle up and ultimately serve developed markets as well!

Five years since the release of this book, C.K. Prahalad reflects on the impact it has had. You can download the podcast interview here.

Success for Social Enterprise in Africa (via Beyond Profit) – A few weeks ago was the African Social Enterprise Forum in New York. I was unfortunately unable to attend, but my friend Diana Skurka was there to help promote International Transparency Solutions.

I’m still sifting through all the notes from the conference, but Beyond Profit posted this article recapping some of the key points from keynote speakers. What stands out most to me in this brief is the point made by Jacob Lief, Founder and President of Ubuntu Education Fund:

Jacob spoke on the scaling up and due diligence panel, where he challenged the term “scaling up.” He explained that Ubuntu’s approach is to “scale down” – to go deeper into a community and focus on changing lives, rather than simply touching them.

Over the course of the last 10-15 years, innovation has focused on “scale” and going macro. This is a trend that I see quickly giving way to more micro/community-based penetration. As we seek greater “impact”, more localized approaches will be the way to go.

Step Inside the Laptop Bank – Introducing FrontlineSMS:Credit (via Ken Banks) – Ken Banks is the founder of FrontlineSMS, a free software that allows individuals and organizations to create and run SMS-based networks. The software has been used by Ushahidi to track and report post-election violence in Kenya and many other cases in the last few years. Josh Nesbit used the platform to introduce FrontlineSMS:Medic — creating a network of healthcare professionals in the developing world and providing them with the SMS-based tools to interconnect and operate effectively.

A few weeks ago while I was in DC, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Ben Lyon from CreditSMS. Well just recently, CreditSMS became FrontlineSMS:Credit. Ben is doing some very cool work building a platform for SMS-based microfinance and banking. The linked article was written by Ken Banks on what Ben is doing.

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of Acumen Fund, and in this TED Talk (which I really enjoyed!) she shares her experiences that led her to found Acumen and some of the lessons she has learned along the way.

Here’s your Daily Brief for September 14th:

Is Social Enterprise Over-Hyped? (via SocialEarth) – Mike poses an interesting question regarding the hype that surrounds the social enterprise space, and asks where we really are in terms of sector development. He correlates the hype that surrounded the IT movement to that which currently surrounds the social enterprise movement. The graphical representation is the Gartner Hype Cycle, which was introduced in 1995 to describe the evolution of the technology sector.

Hype cycles “characterize the over-enthusiasm or ‘hype’ and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the introduction of new technologies…Hype Cycles also show how and when technologies move beyond the hype, offer practical benefits and become widely accepted.”

While much of the discussion at SOCAP09 revolved around the excitement we have for developing a new high-impact social investment model (and its potential!), there was a lot of attention paid to the challenges that we face: The lack of social metrics, a mainstream understanding and acceptance of social investment, legal barriers in corporate structures, etc.

So I think we use the “Hype” to build energy around the sector and keep ourselves motivated, but most of us are attuned to the realities and challenges that we face.

Why Africa matters! – The economic crisis and Africa – This is an interesting document published by the “Foundation for European Progressive Studies”. It places Africa’s role in the global economy in the context of the current economic crisis, and makes a very good argument for Africa’s significance and why it should not be ignored.

An Awesome Look at the Informal Sector in Liberia – This is a really cool series of blog posts profiling the informal sector in Liberia. I like the detail the author goes into in describing the various jobs and risks/variables that go along with them.

The following is a cross-post from the International Transparency Solutions Blog

Also, visit The Chronicle of Philanthropy for more great audio interviews!

Charity Navigator is a non-profit watchdog that ranks 5,000+ of the top US charities in order to give donors and investors the tools they need to decide where to invest their money. Transparency Solutions is in the process of building a similar system that operates on a global scale and targets non-profits in the developing world — adding a new layer of transparency and global credibility to help them unlock their investment potential.

We really like the Charity Navigator site, in fact we use it regularly to do research on US nonprofits that may be interested in our investment oversight services. They have gotten some criticism for the simplicity of their “four star” rating system, and we’re paying close attention so that we can learn from their experiences! Recently Ken Berger, President of Charity Navigator, shared his thoughts and announced changes the organization was going to be making in how it ranks charities. Here’s the podcast interview from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

What Ken talks about really lines up with what we’ve talked about in the past regarding the importance of such a certification program and objective oversight. In the interview, Ken mentions how they currently base their ratings largely on financial indicators readily available in the IRS 990 form. But the system fails to account for measuring outcomes and program effectiveness as well as standards of transparency and accountability that I mentioned in my last post.

I can’t help but wonder what relationship Transparency Solutions and Charity Navigator can have in moving forward with creating a more thorough system for measuring charity effectiveness and encouraging responsible donations and investments.

The following is a cross-post from the International Transparency Solutions Blog:

I had a great conversation last week with Karim Harji, a Kenyan from Mombassa who now lives in Toronto doing social investment. We got on the topic of social investments and metrics vs. storytelling. Karim made the point that the nonprofit sector has relied heavily on storytelling as a means to advance their cause and raise funds. This morning I was reading this blog post, “Stories Can Change the World”, where the author writes, “Storytelling is the most important tool for any innovator. It is the best way to create emotional connections to your ideas and innovations.”

But the problem I see often in the nonprofit world, and to a degree in the social enterprise world, is that “emotional connections” are used to detract attention from important metrics such as Social Return on Investment (SROI), Real Return on Investment (ROI), and overall program effectiveness. Stories don’t tell you overhead costs or administrative salaries. They don’t tell you the associated costs (social, environmental, and financial).

So do we give our money to the best storytellers, or the most effective programs?

I think it’s obvious there needs to be a balance of both. While stories can elicit emotional connections and brand evangelism, storytelling needs to be authenticated and supported by some kind of standardized metrics system. This actually goes to the root of the discussions I’ve had on my blog about B-Corporations and Cause Marketing (Part 2). Authenticity matters!

This is one of the goals we’re trying to accomplish at International Transparency Solutions. We’re working towards creating a globally accepted set of “Standards of Transparency and Accountability.” Similar to programs in the US like Better Business Bureau and Charity Navigator, we’re creating a certification program that will span worldwide bringing “global credibility to the local level.”

We need your help, though! Our Standards of Transparency and Accountability have been published on our blog. They were built off of standards put forth by the Better Business Bureau, and we want to vet them through you! You can leave comments and suggestions and we will evaluate and integrate them into the document. Please help us by spreading the word about this to your friends and colleagues. Let’s generate some great discussion around this!

Here’s your Daily Brief for August 10th:

There is a real shift taking place in our world today: a shift toward sustainable, meaning-driven innovation. This shift, however, is without doubt across a generational divide. Our generation, the younger generation, is fed up with the irresponsible short-term driven actions of the 20th century. We continue to watch as our politicians talk-the-talk, and somehow spend trillions without getting anything done! We watch businesses acting in their short-term profit driven interests, satisfying the shareholders while ignoring the stakeholders. And we have begun to mobilize, to take action into our own hands — delivering sustainable meaning-driven innovation. We are what Umair Haque refers to as “Generation M”. I think today’s Daily Brief is inspirational, and serves as an indicator that tides are changing. Enjoy!

The Generation M Manifesto (via Umair Haque) – This is a MUST READ! Economist Umair Haque calls for a shift in generational leadership. Starting off, “Dear Old People Who Run the World, My generation would like to break up with you,” he points to the failures of older generations and the nimble desires of our younger meaning-driven generation.

What do the M’s in Generation M stand for? “The first is for a movement. It’s a little bit about age — but mostly about a growing number of people who are acting very differently. They are doing meaningful stuff that matters the most.”

Wanted: Chief Meaning Officer (via design mind) – Based off the growing understanding of a generational divide — a new way of doing things — illustrated in Umair Haque’s “The Generation M Manifesto”, Tim Leberecht delivers a strong post on the “new social power” of marketing.

He explains that business must adapt to this new socially conscious consumer base by negotiating a “new social contract between brands, their stakeholders, and society and large.”

A Movement for Meaning-Driven Business? (via Elektroniker) – Featured on today’s “Daily Entrepreneur”, Tim Leberecht introduces a series of upcoming essays on “Meaning-Driven Business”. I’m looking forward to this!

Contributers include CMO of GE, CTO and Head of Innovation at Werner Bauer, and Dev Patnaik from Jump Associates and author of “Wired to Care”.

Harvard Business School Offers Executive Education Program on Corporate Social Responsibility – Press Releases on CSRwire.com – This is great to see an education program on corporate social responsibility targeted at executives!

Here’s your Daily Brief for August 5th:

Paul Farmer out for USAID? (via Foreign Policy) – It appears as if Paul Farmer, the man recently rumored to be appointed head of USAID, is no longer in the running. The culprit seems to be the daunting vetting process itself, including a form requiring the candidate to list every foreign national he/she has come into contact with of the past several years.

How is AID-reform supposed to take place if nobody can get in to reform it???

In the works: Major social enterprise rating and reporting systems – It looks like some big changes to the social capital markets world may be in the works. The first is the “Impact Reporting and Investment Standards” — an initiative toward creating a common language for assessing social and environmental impact. The second is the “Global Impact Investment Rating System”, a B-Lab-like system for rating global private equity and investment portfolios. I could see the latter being a huge success — leading to increased private investment in such funds/portfolios.

Interview with Marie Konaté, CEO of a leading producer of fortified infant cereal products in Côte d’Ivoire – Protein Kisèe-La is a company delivering cereal-based foods designed to fight malnutrition while promoting the production of local food crops.

Quote of the Day:

Clinton Re-Affirms US Commitment to Africa Partnership (via VOA) – “Today, Africa counts for two percent of global trade,” she said. “If Sub-Saharan Africa were to increase that share by only one percent, it would generate additional export revenues each year greater than the total amount of annual assistance that Africa currently receives.” – Hillary Clinton

What do you think about the Daily Brief? Let me know!