Economic Development visualized

If you are remotely interested in Economic Development,visualization of statistics or funny Swedish professors, this one can't be missed.

Also check out where the data is coming from: gapminder.org.

Laotian for-profit Social Entrepreneur wins Ashden Award

I met Andy Schroeter, founder and CEO of the Laotian venture Sunlabob, at the TBLI conference in Bangkok, and I am happy that his determination and persistence increasingly pays off - now he has been awarded the reputable Ashden Award. Congratulations!

The Ashden Award is a UK-based foundation that awards outstanding solutions for sustainable energy. This year five first prizes were awarded. Among many entries Sunlabob received the first prize for Light and Power, sponsored by Climate Care in the UK.

Sunlabob had submitted the Solar Lamp solution. Thereby lamps with accumulators and charging electronics are distributed to households who each have to pay a deposit for the lamp. The deposit is refunded when they bring back the lamp. The lamps burn for 15 hours after which they switch off. The households then go to a central recharging station that is operated by a
village technician as a small enterprise. There they can exchange the spent lamp for a recharged one and only pay a recharging fee, ie. the deposit transfers to the recharged lamp which they take home. The recharging fees from all the lamps pay for the whole backup system: This is the state-of-the-art large solar array in the village that acts as the recharging station and which is rented by the village technician from Sunlabob. The rent covers all costs including amortizations, servicing, replacements and profit of Sunlabob. Our test-runs and calculations show that the recharging fees the households pay for regular lighting at home is comparable or even cheaper than what they spend for kerosene in the lamps they presently use. We are very proud to be able to achieve this without any direct subsidies, and we are proud that this solution has been developed in the field in Laos and is now internationally recognized as a breakthrough
for photovoltaics in remote rural areas anywhere on the planet.

Herb Wade, an independent renewable energy consultant with 30 years experience is quoted by Ashden Awards as having commented: "I personally have been directly involved in rural electrification through solar photovoltaics in more than 25 countries. The Sunlabob project is easily the one that stands out as the best at integrating PV based rural electrification, rural business development and lifestyle improvement for rural dwellers and, most remarkably, has done so with no support from the government and with the apparently achievable goal of full cost recovery."

An important criterion for the Ashden Awards was the potential for a large impact. Although our operations in Sunlabob require the development of a local skill base and the establishment of small enterprises to run the franchises, it was estimated by the jury that these obstacles can be surmounted. Now, after the pulbicity of the award, we are already being approached by companies and organizations from SE-Asia, East Africa, and South America for exploring how to get similar efforts to operate in their regions. We are of course looking forward to cooperate wherever we can.

A very interesting new aspect emerged because our solution directly replaces kerosene with electricity in a way that is easily calculated. For this reason we have now been approached by Carbon Trading organizations. It is also a reason why Climate Care sponsored the prize for our solution. This is a very interesting development and we intend to explore its potential to the
full. Again, we are proud that something developed in the Lao field conditions now has a chance to make a worldwide impact in a truly crucial area.

We will use the prize money of the Ashden Award to purchase further charging stations and solar lamps for villages in Laos. The demand is very high for them.

2008 Social Capitalist Awards will include For-Profit Businesses

Yes! Fast Company's Social Capitalist Awards 2008 will finally include for profit-businesses.

"This is our first stab at what will become a much broader effort in years to come. Our thinking: It's no longer realistic or credible to imply that non-profits are the only institutions that have meaningful social impact. As we wrote in last year's Social Capitalist Awards package, 'business changes the world at every moment, in myriad ways, for good and ill. Decisions in boardrooms or on factory floors set in motion both staggering progress and far-reaching disasters'"

The assumption that only not-for-profit initiatives can be social enterprises has always been a bad heuristic. Due to the fact that there are no easy and convenient indicators to assess social impact, the easiest way out used to be the simplification 'If they don't want to make money, then they're probably in the game for the social good'. That thinking has two fundamental flaws: Firstly, it overlooks that non-monetary goals may be decidedly different from social good (say foreign policy issues in development initiatives). Secondly and more importantly, it excludes for-profit initiatives not because of their (lack of) social impact, but for convenience: Just because not-for-profits are presumably in the game for the social good does not mean that for-profits are not in the game for social good and only after profits.

This year, Fastcompany puts the onus of proof on the companies themselves, and asks for quantifiable results, both not-for-profits and for-profits. They still seem to be a bit suspicious about their own courage to include for-profits:

... we're looking for are companies whose pursuit of positive social impact is explicit--who embrace their responsibility for constructive social change on equal terms as their responsibility for financial success; and who link social mission with business strategy. Companies should be able to articulate that mission and strategy, and be able to quantify the results.

But by and large, that is a big step ahead. Social Entrepreneurs have blurred the borders of the private sector and charities, and there is no stepping back. And we shouldn't be too sad.

PBS starts blog about social entrepreneurs

PBS, the network of Public TV channels in the US, has started its own blog about social entrepreneurs called US NOW Enterprising Ideas:

"Maybe the 'breaking news' teams at CNN or ABC don't pay much attention to people using innovative ideas for public benefit, but we do. And here is where you'll find the latest news about these 'social entrepreneurs'—people who think outside-of-the-box and devise solutions to daunting social problems. Notices of major grants awarded, competitions won, projects launched, debates fueled. And we want to hear from you, too. We'll read your comments and consider whatever tidbits you send our way. Thanks for reading—and for participating!"

Sounds like a great initiative, and it has already earned a spot in my RSS feeds.

The world's most popular blog reports about social entrepreneurship

Boing Boing, the world's most popular blog, has published a story about social entrepreneurship. That means that a lot of people will read about social entrepreneurship instead of being productive in their day jobs (because that is what Boing Boing readers do, ahem, at least what I do. Luckily, in this special case, reading Boing Boing equals being productive in my day job. Great.)

Global Social Venture Competition: 2007 Winners from Berkeley and Thammasat

The Global Social Venture Competition is a business plan competition aimed at MBA students who have the ultimate social enterprise idea. And now the winners for 2007 are in:

Haas Business school of the UC Berkeley - good to see you there, guys - won with "Revolution Foods", a company providing healthy school food in California. But I am also happy to see the Bangkokian Thammasat students finishing second with "Verdacure" - they have worked out a cross-subsidised business that provides dental care to rural villagers and rather affluent city dwellers. Congratulations!

(Disclaimer: There have been three 2nd places, apart from Thammasat also teams from Stanford and Babson College came in second. And their ideas are good. I am just a little bit biased towards teams from a university I attended and the city I currently live in. Hip-hip-hooray. Sorry.)

Got a BOP idea? Join the Business Plan Challenge

You got a business idea that improves living standards in developing countries? Then join the Challenge of the Business in Development Network and send in your business plan until May 31st 2007. There are no restrictions on nationality or age, everyone can participate. You could win counseling, prize money and investors. I am curious to see what great ideas will be generated in this initiative.

The Business in Development (BiD) Challenge is the first international business plan competition for entrepreneurship and development. The BiD Challenge offers entrepreneurs worldwide the opportunity to develop and execute business plans that improve living standards in developing countries at a profit. Join now and develop YOUR business plan for poverty reduction and profit.

Essay competition: Private Sector Development

The International Finance Corporation (IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank) and the Financial Times announce their second annual Essay Competition.

"The Competition is soliciting action-oriented essays that:

* Provide insight into current Private Sector Development (PSD) research
* Develop and support the implementation of leading-edge PSD initiatives
* Strike a balance between conceptual and practical considerations for private-sector involvement in developing countries, and the effect of that involvement on development
* Reflect innovative, data-supported research resulting from the author’s own professional or academic work
* Target economic & financial policymakers, the international financial community and/or international domestic investors"

Eligible participants: Everyone

Entries accepted: April 25 - September 30, 2007

Prizes: Winner: US$ 20,000; 2nd & 3rd: US$ 10,000 each; 4th-6th: US$ 5,000 each

Be sure to check out last year's winning essays.

More information and registration