Archive for December, 2009

Banco Compartamos led the way in the micorfinance world when it demonstrated that providing retail banking services to the poor could be done profitably and competitively (co-founder and co-CEO Carlos Danel visited Thunderbird in 2008).  Their successful, breakthrough IPO in 2006 in Mexico encouraged other groups to follow suit, which is helping bring down costs and increase the quality of financial services available to low-income individuals.

Compartamos has been recognized as one of the best quality employers in Mexico, one of the best places to work for women, one of the most transparent and governed.

Earlier this month they became the first organization in the Americas to have its board and senior management take the Global Business Oath formulated by a group of Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum (co-CEO Carlos Danel and board chairman Álvaro Rodríguez are both members, as am I).

The full version of the Compartamos Oath in Spanish is available here.

This is one very important step in the process of professionalizing management and adopting a universal code of conduct.

The US sees itself as less important as a world leader than 10 years ago (according to a survey by the Pew Research Center of the People and the Press and the Council on Foreign Relations).  The US is still seen as the world’s leading military power, but it is China that is seen as the world’s leading economic power.

U.S. experts in foreign relations see China and India as the most important future allies, while the importance of Europe, Japan and especially the UK is in decline.

By Gregory Unruh (Thunderbird Lincoln Center)

I admit I got caught up in all the climate optimism. In last year’s election the candidates of both parties were vocal climate policy advocates. President-elect Obama’s YouTube-blasted speech “A New Chapter on Climate Change” raised expectations that policy action would come at this month’s Copenhagen Climate Summit. But even if a face-saving, compromise agreement can be forged at the last minute, the reality is that Hopenhagen has become Nopenhagen. I, of all people, should have known to be skeptical.

(Prof. Unruh’s unfortunately accurate premonition was published by Forbes one week before the completion of the Copenhagen summit. Read the rest of his op-ed at  Why No Real Change Can Come Out Of Copenhagen – Forbes.com).

By Emilia K. Cabrera (5th grader)

Going green is an important thing that all of us should help out on. We could do small things and big things but everything counts. It might not affect us now but think about our next generations suffering for our mistakes. You might not notice but Climate Change is advancing.  All ready once enormous glaciers have changed to some ice on a mountain peak. It’s more than just “no more skiing there” the glaciers have watered crops and hydrated families all over the world!

Everyone can help our world be a better place. You don’t have to go “hug a tree” but buying a fuel-efficient car would help. A good place to start is teaching your children the basics. “Turn the faucet off while brushing, turn off the television, turn off the lights when you leave…” simple phrases like these could teach your kids to save our world. Solar energy is also a great new resource, it could save you money and save our world.

I want you to think about what your great grandchildren tell you when they see what you’ve done. They might say, ”Why did you make this land like this? Did you know that we would suffer because of you? You practically sowed toxic into the fields and through away our only source of water.” You would probably want to hear something more like this, “ You are so brave and smart for getting us out of this almost disaster. If I ever encounter a world crises like that I will follow into your footsteps and be a great leader like you.”

If we keep going like this we will never survive these next few centuries. You can start now by conserving water and stop using items that pollute our air. Would you want to look up and see a blue sky with cotton like clouds or a hard to breath in, gray, smog filled sky”. Think about the choices you make and think if it will help our earth recover and evolve into a better place for everyone and everything.

In addition to foreign troops and national security forces, Afghanistan, like any nation, can only rebuild when its citizens are given the possibility to create and grow businesses and other organizations.

The Washington Post asks today how to develop Afghan leaders.  Thunderbird’s answer?  Focus on its women, as we do through project Artemis and Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women Initiative.

2006 ought to go down in history as a turning point in the transformation of development and social action. Three symbolic events marked the start of a new era in development and social activism: the metamorphosis of Bill Gates from entrepreneur into philanthropist, the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Muhammad Yunus, and the publication of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad.

These three individuals are symbolic of the new era of social action and highlight the keys to the new models of economic development:

- The view of markets as potential solutions (not only as problems)

- Decision-making driven by analysis and science (not only personal conviction and passion)

- Decentralized solutions from the bottom up (not only centralized and from the top down)

- Reliance on personal inventiveness and entrepreneurship (as opposed to major policies and institutional decisions)

- Perception of the business enterprise as an essential tool for development (not as an outside, potentially detrimental agent)

- Perception of development as opportunity for business (not only as social responsibility or charity)

The Bankinter Foundation for Innovation unveiled yesterday in Madrid its latest publication on Social Innovation (English Version or Spanish Version), for which I was asked to write the introduction.  Several business and social leaders attended the presentation and confirmed that the Spanish social sector too is undergoing a similar transformation, although we’re still awaiting the emergence of a Spanish Bill Gates.

My co-presenter and head of the Spanish Accenture Foundation, Ana Millan, described how Accenture-Spain invests .5% of their billable hours providing consulting to Spanish non-profits free of charge with the objective of helping them improve their operations and re-assess their strategies.  I can only hope Ana will be able to persuade Accenture worldwide to follow suit.  This could be a fantastic initiative for both, the social sector and Accenture.