I've had the opportunity on a few occasions, and again this coming Tuesday in Toronto, to talk about what innovations I have seen in emerging markets from the Acumen Fund portfolio might have relevance in the United States. Since we largely got rid of malaria in the 60's, have large scale irrigation systems for agriculture, and we have an effective emergency services in most of our major urban areas, investments like A to Z, GEWP and 1298 do not seem so relevant.
Other companies, like Aravind Eye Hospital, with its high volume, high quality, affordable eye services (not to mention its growing telemedicine practice) in India, or Bridge International Academy, with its affordable private education model in Kenya, are certainly examples that we can learn from as we look into new health and education models in the United States. We even had one company in Acumen Fund portfolio, Voxiva, which has shifted its SMS based health information business from the global to the US, with its rapidly growing Text4Baby and Text2Quit programs.
But as I reflect on the companies that I have seen overseas, there are few replicable models that can port immediately back to the developed world. Sure, money transfer businesses like mPesa (in Kenya) may inform how mobile payment platforms are built or how remittances flow in the United States, but where I see the real reverse innovation coming from is in how those models emerged.
Unconstrained thinking about new ways of doing business. Radical design innovations that place customer need at the center of the product development process. Capital that is willing to take risks on blended financial and social returns. Entrepreneurs with the empathy and skills to merge mission and margin, while navigating with a widely unpredictable public sector to build real value. An impulse to start with a small amount of capital and adapt and build from the early prototypes.
It is the model of social innovation, rather than the specific business models, that I am eager to adapt the proliferation of social enterprises outside of the United States.
Other companies, like Aravind Eye Hospital, with its high volume, high quality, affordable eye services (not to mention its growing telemedicine practice) in India, or Bridge International Academy, with its affordable private education model in Kenya, are certainly examples that we can learn from as we look into new health and education models in the United States. We even had one company in Acumen Fund portfolio, Voxiva, which has shifted its SMS based health information business from the global to the US, with its rapidly growing Text4Baby and Text2Quit programs.
But as I reflect on the companies that I have seen overseas, there are few replicable models that can port immediately back to the developed world. Sure, money transfer businesses like mPesa (in Kenya) may inform how mobile payment platforms are built or how remittances flow in the United States, but where I see the real reverse innovation coming from is in how those models emerged.
Unconstrained thinking about new ways of doing business. Radical design innovations that place customer need at the center of the product development process. Capital that is willing to take risks on blended financial and social returns. Entrepreneurs with the empathy and skills to merge mission and margin, while navigating with a widely unpredictable public sector to build real value. An impulse to start with a small amount of capital and adapt and build from the early prototypes.
It is the model of social innovation, rather than the specific business models, that I am eager to adapt the proliferation of social enterprises outside of the United States.
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