the new global citizen - summer 2014

SUMMER 2014

ENTERPRISE IN AFRICA

A CELEBRATION OF INNOVATION AND

OPPORTUNITY

8 & 10 Comment TWO VIEWS ON “DOING BUSINESS IN AFRICA”

24 Impact & Innovation DEVELOPMENT NEEDS INNOVATION NOWDeirdre White

34 Global Pro Bono INTEL: VOLUNTEERING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS Luke F i lose

16 Excerpt

BESTSELLER PIKETTY, Capita l in the Twenty-F i rst Century

© 2014 EYG

M Lim

ited. All R

ights Reserved. ED none

At EY, we see a bright future ahead, with increased trust and con dence in business, sustainable growth, development of talent in all its forms, and greater collaboration.

Through our corporate responsibility efforts, thousands of EY people around the globe are using their skills to assist entrepreneurs, mentor students and reduce our environmental impact.

Visit ey.com/us/cr.

Change starts here

S p o n s o r e d C o n t e n t

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© 2014 EYG

M Lim

ited. All R

ights Reserved. ED none

At EY, we see a bright future ahead, with increased trust and con dence in business, sustainable growth, development of talent in all its forms, and greater collaboration.

Through our corporate responsibility efforts, thousands of EY people around the globe are using their skills to assist entrepreneurs, mentor students and reduce our environmental impact.

Visit ey.com/us/cr.

Change starts here

At PepsiCo, Performance with Purpose is our goal to deliver sustained value for our business, for the planet and the communities in which we live and work.

Performancewith Purpose

WeAre

www.pepsico.com

Empowering women and girls is a strategic imperative within PepsiCo’s Global Citizenship Vision. In addition to their project work aimed at advancing sustainable agriculture

practices, the PepsiCorps team mentored young girls living in rural South Africa o�ering advice and encouragement to continue their education and pursue their dreams.”

PepsiCorps is a one-month international

community volunteering and leadership development experience that enables PepsiCo employees to use their talents to enhance the

capacity of local community organizations, gain insight into global challenges, and

deliver sustainable social impact around the world.

Editor in ChiEfAlicia Bonner Ness

ExECutivE PublishErAmanda MacArthur

dEsign & PubliCation ManagEr

Melissa Mattoon

CoPy EditorMatt Clark

CovEr illustrationMatt Chase

PublishEd daily at: www.newglobalcitizen.com

ContaCt: [email protected]

(202) 719-0656

@BeNewGlobal

facebook.com/BeNewGlobal

Today’s world demands individuals and organizations prepared to thrive in a globally interconnected network of challenges and

opportunities. Greater social awareness and innovative approaches have allowed a growing number of individuals and organizations

to cross borders and cultural boundaries to create shared value and understanding. The New Global Citizen chronicles the stories,

strategies, and impact of innovative leadership and international engagement around the world. This publication seeks to capture

the ground-level impact of these approaches, providing an avenue through which beneficiaries and implementers alike can showcase

their impact.

Today’s transformed and increasingly interconnected world has spurred a revolution in our global culture, reinforcing collaborative

approaches to addressing complex challenges. The New Global Citizen elevates the ways in which individuals, corporations, and oth-

ers are championing a better future for our world.

THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE NEW GLOBAL CITIZEN.

THIS IS YOUR WORLD.

S u m m e r 2 0 1 4Contributors

Harry Pastuszek, Vice President, Enterprise and Community Development, PYXERA Global

Omo Igiehon, CEO, Portals LLC

Thomas Piketty, Professor of Economics, Paris School of Economics

Daniel Breneman, Program Manager, PYXERA Global

Deidre White, CEO, PYXERA Global

Guy Pfeffermann, CEO, Global Business School Network

Page Schindler Buchanan, Director of Operations, Global Business School Network

Laura Asiala, Senior Director of Public Affairs, PYXERA Global

Luke Filose, CSR Manager, Intel Corporation

Alice Korngold, Korngold Consulting & Author, A Better World, Inc.

Scott Beale, Founder and CEO, Atlas Corps

Matt Clark, Program Manager, The Center for Citizen Diplomacy

Rebecca Miller, Program Coordinator, PYXERA Global

Matt Clausen, Vice President, Partnerships and Programs, Partners of the Americas

Ann Oden, Country Director, Nigeria, PYXERA Global

CONTENTS

CAN ENTERPRISE END POVERTY IN AFRICA?Al ic ia Bonner Ness

DEVELOPMENT NEEDS INNOVATION NOWDeirdre White

MORE THAN DRUGS &

DOCTORSGuy Pfeffermann and Page

Schindler Buchanan

VOLUNTEERING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESSLuke F i lose

300 FUTURE LEADERS ARE ON A MISSION TO BUILD A BETTER WORLDScott Beale

Inside the IssueEDITOR’S LETTERAl ic ia Bonner Ness

CommentAFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRYHarry Pastuszek

BUSINESS ACCROSS BORDERSOmo Ig iehon

Book ExcerptCAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Thomas Piketty

Features

Happenings

6

12

24

THIS SUMMER’S GLOBAL POWER PLAY IS NOT ON THE SOCCER PITCHU.S. -Afr ica Leaders Summit

SIX THINGS EVERY SUCCESSFUL LEADER SHOULD KNOWATD Conference & Expo

CATALYZING GROWTH IN EMERGING MARKETSPYXERA Global 2014 Conference

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM OF THE WORLDCit izen Diplomacy Workshop

28

34

42

8

20

32

40

48 ETHIOPIA: POWER AFRICA IN FOCUSAmanda MacArthur

52 SAVING MOTHERS, GIVING LIFERebecca Mi l ler

56 STUDY ABROAD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINKMatt C lausen

10

Around the World

16

4660 NIGERIA SPOTLIGHT Ann Oden

T h e N e w G l o b a l C i t i z e n | S u m m e r 2 0 1 44NGC

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©2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. jpmorganchase.com

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation focuses on driving economic growth and strengthening communities across the globe by partnering with local efforts to advance skills-based training, help small businesses grow, and improve financial capability for underserved people. The Firm and its foundation give approximately $200 million annually to nonprofit organizations around the world and lead volunteer service activities for employees in local communities, utilizing its many resources, including access to capital, strength, global reach and expertise.

A commitment to the communities where we live and work

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Here’s to an End to ‘The West’ & ‘The Rest’

This issue

focuses on

enterprise in Africa,

and the many

opportunities that

exist for business to

become the driver

of progress in the

rapidly-growing

less-developed

corners of the

world.

nent will have the chance to develop

new relationships and opportunities

for partnership with American leaders

in government and the private sector.

In anticipation of this historic

event, this issue of the New Global Citizen attempts to set a new tone

for these conversations. Focused on

enterprise in Africa, and the many op-

portunities that exist for business to

become the driver of progress in the

rapidly-growing, less-developed cor-

ners of the world, this issue highlights

exciting progress combatting maternal

mortality in southern Africa, the need

for new language and new ideas in

international development, and the

ways in which electricity, enterprise,

and leadership in Ethiopia, Ghana,

Nigeria, Mozambique, and elsewhere

are changing the futures of those na-

tions.

Under the leadership of those curi-

ous and ambitious enough to begin, in

Africa, business can do extraordinary

things.

Alicia Bonner Ness

Editor in Chief

This summer has been rife

with conflict and debate

around the world. The Is-

raeli-Palestinian conflict has

reached a new fever pitch, a com-

mercial airliner has been shot out of

the sky, and revolution and civil war

rages on in Syria. This week, July 28,

marks the 100th anniversary of the

start of World War I, which began with

the assassination of Archduke Franz

Ferdinand of Austria.

In a world of bright spots, such

events cast a long shadow.

Nevertheless, there is reason for

hope and an opportunity for prog-

ress. This summer, for the first time

in history, the President of the United

States has invited leaders from across

Africa to be his guests in Washington,

D.C. While the agenda is still taking

shape, it seems an appropriate time

in which to set the tone for the events

to come.

For too long, business has been

dominated by a culture of ‘The West’

and ‘The Rest,’ but this summer pres-

ents a chance for leaders in all sectors

to set aside that view. At the U.S.-

Africa Global Leaders Summit, heads

of state from across the African conti-



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Harry Pastuszek

AS U.S. AND AFRICAN LEADERS PREPARE FOR THEIR FIRST JOINT SUMMIT, CULTURE AND CONTEXT WEIGH HEAVILY ON OPPORTUNITY

The invitation of Africa’s leadership to Washington, D.C.,

this August is an important signal that the Obama Admin-

istration intends to improve America’s standing in Africa.

And that’s good news—Africa represents a vast reserve

of untapped resources: mineral, fossil, biological, and human.

It is too easy to oversimplify the opportunity ahead as a great

race to prevent China from monopolizing Africa’s treasures. I am

personally motivated to see other companies and governments

A F R I C A IS NOT A C O U N T R Y

COMMENT


assume a greater role in Africa, not because I wish others to

monopolize Africa’s treasures in place of China, but because

my experience has shown that many U.S. and European entities

invest in Africa with some sense of obligation to deliver positive

social impact alongside business value.

Since 2008, I have logged close to 120 days in numerous

ports of call across sub-Saharan Africa. My travels have brought

me from Angola, Ghana, and Guinea, to Ethiopia, Mozambique,

South Africa and, most recently, to Sierra Leone. I fear I am

nothing more than another businessman on a quick turnaround

itinerary, but I have had the chance, in a relatively brief time, to

observe firsthand the dramatic changes taking shape in many

different corners of this vast continent.

I have relished this journey with some irony, as for many

years, I counted myself a Latin America and Asia expert—not

because of any linguistic capacity, but because I somehow

missed the Africa itch earlier in my career. I am so glad I have

matured with time.

The scale of the continent; the variety of landscapes, lan-

guages, and people; vitality and youth mix with tradition and

malaise. I quickly learned there is no better place in which to

facilitate balanced and inclusive private sector-led development—

nor really any better place in which to gain a new perspective

on your own place in the grand scheme of things.

Africa, the home of humanity and so much else, has been

a crossroads for millennia. And yet, most of the continent has

missed out on the progress other regions have enjoyed over

the past 100 years of remarkable technological innovation and

economic growth. Since the 18th century, more-powerful nations

have staged a global game, reliant on borders and stable gov-

ernments for success in trade. The modern map of sub-Saharan

Africa only began to take shape from 1950 onward, largely as

a result of colonial rule. People are only a few generations

into thinking of themselves as Sierra Leonean, or Angolan,

or Zambian, and most maintain a deep connection with their

tribal ethnic roots. Such dynamics are often subtle yet complex,

especially to the undiscerning American eye. What’s more, they

have significant implications for the business climate in sub-

Saharan African markets.

Where to Begin in Africa

In preparing American corporate leaders for a first experi-

ence in an African country, my primary focus is exactly this;

how little any of us know about African cultures. Traveling to

Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, and Kenya on a single

itinerary, for example, will require navigation of four or five

official languages, more than 50 regional dialects, and three

to four major religions. I quickly aim to disabuse my listeners

of the fear of the unknown, a rush to read all that Wikipedia

has to offer on the people in a given country, or a wish not to

offend the people they will meet. Going in curious, interested,

and reminded that we all have two ears and only one voice

box is the best recipe for success in any new locale. In Africa,

particularly when working across multiple countries, local tra-

ditions and customs require that we Westerners, who are so

used to being heard, speak more carefully, listen more often,

and, recognize that there’s much to be gained in demonstrat-

ing personal respect, no matter the differential in economic,

political, or military might.

Many cultural subtleties warrant curiosity—which in turn will

reveal fascinating aspects of human history. Ask a Sierra Leonean

about her country’s history and why the capital is called Free-

town. Try to understand how Ethiopia, mountainous to a fault

and south of deserts in Sudan and Egypt, is home to so many

Orthodox Christians, but be prepared to learn that the nation’s

nearly-majority Muslim population finds the notion of Christian

majority a bit overdone. Wonder aloud to Ghanaian hosts about

the plethora of Chinese restaurants in Accra, and ask whether

they have just arrived with the Chinese construction workers.

Do not hesitate to speculate why there are so many Lebanese

in West Africa and South Asians in East Africa. Do Liberians on

the one hand or Tanzanians on the other count these fourth-

generation immigrants as fellow citizens?

With our shared, if scarred, history, the United States and

Africa have a page to turn in the balance of the 21st century. If

anything can come of the Summit in Washington, I truly hope

U.S. leaders who are invited to participate will take note of

how much Americans have to learn from African nations and

their people. By arriving at that simple realization of our own

accord, I know Africa’s leaders can return home with a sense of

accomplishment. I only hope to be fortunate enough to witness

all that this new opportunity will have to offer.

If anything can come of

the Summit in Washington, I

truly hope U.S. leaders who

are invited to participate

will take note of how much

Americans have to learn

from African nations and

their people.

T h e N e w G l o b a l C i t i z e n | S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 NGC 9

I once had a wealthy foreign investor express concern as we

reviewed financials sent to us by a business owner of an in-

vestment opportunity in Africa. He said: “I don’t believe there’s

any African who possesses a net liquidity of up to one million

dollars through honest means.” On another occasion, a local Af-

rican entrepreneur with a one percent share of a company said

of his partner with a 99 percent majority share: “I’m older than

he is and have more experience in this field than he does—that

makes me the majority owner of the business!” My experience as

an investment advisor working in emerging and frontier countries,

including Africa and the Caribbean, is littered with examples of how

our perceptions and values powerfully shape our success as busi-

ness leaders in a global environment. Whether a foreign interest

is looking to invest in another country or a local entrepreneur is

partnering with a foreign entity, leadership in any business con-

text or in any region needs to be governed by certain attitudinal,

perceptual, and ethical imperatives that can overcome cultural

differences and create a higher common denominator and basis

for engagement.

When Cultural Mindsets Dominate Partnerships Negatively

In my work across multiple sectors, such as real estate, oil and

gas, healthcare, infrastructure, and logistics, I am responsible for

coordinating investment transactions for private and public-private

partnership projects. I also frequently conduct business mission

trips taking high-level investors and institutions for extensive

strategic engagements and exploratory trips into various countries

across Africa. In these exchanges, I sometimes see how bias and

misperceptions about countries and people make it difficult for

leaders to make real progress and have relevant impact. Many

inaccuracies exist on both sides—for both the foreign investor and

the local African businessperson or government official. Quite often,

the foreign investor explores partnerships with these assump-

tions: corruption only exists in Africa; Africans can’t be trusted;

as a foreigner I bring superior knowledge; or one-size-fits-all for

Africa. The local African businessperson is not immune to similar

attitudes: honesty often equates to a feeling of weakness; there

is a constant search for loopholes to abort due process; financial

profits are the only value that must be extracted from business

relationships; and many feel giving up control or ownership is a

loss. Such mistaken mindsets often lead to exaggeration of risk

from both sides and can derail potentially beneficial dealings and

partnerships.

The Need for Integrity Through Objectivity

Cross-border partnerships require a new approach based on a

more progressive mindset. When coordinating or participating in

these transactions, it is refreshing when both parties enter sin-

cerely with the intent for meaningful and sustainable engagement.

Africans need to see themselves as stewards for local develop-

ment, and foreign entities (institutions or investors) need to see

that when they invest in Africa, they are investing in a world of

equals—according to the Emerging Markets Private Equity Associa-

tion, African countries are expected to perform better than the

BRICs in coming years. To ensure the viability of investments and

the integrity of partnerships in Africa, all sides must challenge

their stereotypes. As I bring foreign institutions into Africa, I am

very aware of the connection between having accurate perceptions

and developing productive relationships. I encourage my foreign

partners to be more objective and insightful by looking beyond

portrayals in popular media and by learning from foreign and local

partners who are more in touch with local trends and values. My

team encourages these entities to research in the right places.

The same is true for local entities who sometimes may not fully

understand their own local contexts.

When we stare too closely at a thing, we often miss the obvi-

ous. I recall as an undergraduate, a fellow student asked me to

translate the word for love because he wanted to write a letter to

his girlfriend in my ethnic language. Growing up, I had been trained

in my tribal language by private tutors, and told him there was no

such word in our vocabulary. When I searched the books in my

college library, I discovered that the very name of my tribe meant

love, something I learned while living 300 miles away from home.

We sometimes need to step outside of our frame of reference to

COMMENT

Omo Igiehon

Authentic Leadership Is a Requirement for Long-term Success in Africa

BUSINESS ACROSS BORDERS


realize new approaches and perspectives. Those who can do this

effectively will take the lead in any region or leadership context.

Translating Powerful Personal Principles to Corporate Imperatives

Leadership starts fundamentally with internal motivation,

whether as an individual leader engaging with a business part-

ner or as a team working on a project with a client. What’s your

motive for doing business? What is the true driving force behind

your actions? I have found that authentic motives have a place in

profit-driven business. For most leaders, profit-seeking comes at

the expense of a higher good. As birds of a feather flock together,

greed attracts greed and will ultimately breed failure. But if leaders

consciously build an ethical culture that governs their company’s

decisions and interactions, then values such as transparency,

fairness, and integrity become objectives of their partnerships.

Having the right motives attracts the right people and the right

opportunities. Furthermore, being driven by principled motives in

a partnership can activate true creativity that brings sustainable

solutions for the partner. Business leaders who lead by their val-

ues empower others to embrace their convictions. Ethics, in this

context, has nothing to do with a chapter in an MBA textbook or a

public policy manual but your conviction and modus operandi. The

business agenda, therefore, begins with the heart of the leader.

An Ethical Platform is Safe and Predictable

In building this ethical framework for business relationships,

leaders create a necessary environment of trust, accountability,

and innovation. Beyond satisfying foreign and international laws,

operating with an ethical incentive guarantees peace of mind,

assuring others of a business’ standard of excellence. I once

expressed frustration for a particular international organization’s

lack of understanding of the African context, and the untarnished

explanation given to me was as follows: "Everyone knows that the

guy at the top doesn't really care about making real progress. He

just loves receiving his large paycheck and perks afforded to him

by living in Africa as an expat." Just as a leader’s lack of ethics

can produce cynicism and mistrust, a leader’s ethical consistency

can produce trust, security, and a willingness to serve.

Attitudinal Imperatives for Leaders

In leadership, a handful of people are empowered to make

decisions for the good of the whole. Leadership is, therefore, a

responsibility, not a privilege. Accurate leadership implies selfless-

ness and service, and creates a slipstream for others to follow.

The trickle-down effect of leadership is real—people become what

they see in their leaders. Leaders set the tone and have the power

to create an atmosphere for progress.

The leaders and institutions that will have a truly lasting impact

on Africa (and in other leadership contexts) are those who will:

1. Develop an Ethical Framework: Constantly examine and

adjust your motives and the associated incentives on a

personal and corporate level.

2. Pursue the Power of Accurate Sight: Seek new informa-

tion and perspectives that shape your relationships and

operations.

3. Build Relationships on the Right Values: Align yourself

with the right individuals and corporations of like-minded

mentalities and motives.

4. Learn to Learn: Approach partnerships with a willingness

to learn.

5. Embrace the Wider Scope of Your Responsibility as a Leader: Feel a great sense of responsibility and charge

beyond the desire to make profit.

The future of Africa depends on the leaders willing to rise to

the challenge and embrace authenticity as the new normal.

Omo Ig iehon, CEO, Porta ls LLC


Can Enterprise End Poverty in Africa?

F ishermen in Takoradi on Ghana’s coast .

ENTERPRISE


“AFRICA IS SAID TO BE THE NEXT FRONTIER.”

Ambassador Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye,

Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States,

stood before a room of close to 150 leaders

convened at the Africa Forum, a half-day

series of conversations designed to set the tone for

the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that would take place

in Washington, D.C., just four weeks later.

His Excellency Ambassador Adefuye was only one

of five African ambassadors who graced the dais; sub-

sequent panel discussions featured the opinions and

perspective of Their Excellencies Dr. Tebelelo Mazile

Seretse of Botswana, Faida Mitifu of the Democratic

Republic of Congo, Liberata Rutageruka Mulamula of

Tanzania, and Cheikh Niang of Senegal. Yet, in some

ways Ambassador Adefuye’s opening remarks spoke

for them all: “We in Africa don’t want aid any more.

We want trade, and access to markets…. Sometimes

we haven’t been able to get it right. But now we are

determined to get it right.”

While some leaders from the United States and

Europe have failed to hear it, in recent years, Africa’s

leaders have changed their tune. The long-held stereo-

type of African heads of state pleading for increases in

foreign aid has been replaced by requests for long-term

investments based on partnership and mutual gain.

“Give us the opportunity and we will prove our

worth,” the Ambassador declared.

But these requests appear to have fallen on deaf

ears in the United States, while other countries have

heeded the cry, and responded to fill the gaps. China,

India, and Brazil have quickly become major investors

in many of Africa’s most promising frontiers: infrastruc-

ture, oil, natural gas, and telecommunications in Ghana,

Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Kenya, among others.

America’s prominent absence in many of these

new markets has finally gained the attention of U.S.

government leaders. President Obama will welcome

private and public sector leaders from across the Af-

rican continent and the United States in early August

with two anchor agendas: good commerce and good

government. The Summit seeks to bring together heads

of state alongside U.S. cabinet members and American

and African CEOs for productive conversations that can

rectify America’s absence in these critical markets, fo-

cusing on trade and investment in Africa as well as its

security and democratic development. Yet, the Summit’s

optimal return lies a layer deeper, in conversations that

take policy to practical process with regards to long-

term lending, opening of markets, and the resulting

partnerships and opportunities they can deliver, all of

which are inextricably linked to a renewed emphasis at

the core of truly sustainable development: enterprise.

The Entrepreneur’s Fairytale (and Reality)

Since Mark Zuckerberg’s meteoric rise from Harvard

dropout to tech superstar, it can seem as though the

only requirements for a profitable business are a risk-

accepting spirit and a good idea, but it’s not quite that

simple. In subsequent years, many have sought to

discipline the mystery of startup success. Now, thanks

in part to people like Eric Ries and StartUp Weekend,

incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurs abound.

The idea has grown in popularity to such a degree that

it has even been used by large corporations, who seek

to empower and promote intrapreneurs, individuals

able to lead innovation and change within the context

of a larger organizational structure. What’s more, social

entrepreneurs insist that enterprise, not fundraising,

can also become the driving force behind effective

social impact solutions.

This trend has given rise to an industry of products

designed to support these new ventures. Impact inves-

tors and venture funds have grown in size, scope, and

reach. Every major metropolitan area in the United

States boasts a number of startup incubators that can

help new startups fail or succeed faster, creating link-

Alicia Bonner Ness

A GROWING CULTURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENT IS CHANGING THE FUTURE OF MANY

ENTERPRISE


ages between ideas, funders, and the tech

savvy.

In the United States and Europe, this

startup culture has typically been focused

on information technology; most recently,

on developing applications for mobile de-

vices. Innovation and its resulting products

and services have had a transformative

impact on individuals and industry around

the world and, in more developed markets,

entrepreneurs have come to be seen as

the purveyors of innovation. This mindset,

however, conflates entrepreneurship with

innovation, where the distinction is criti-

cal—not all entrepreneurs are innovators,

and not all innovators are entrepreneurs.

For the most part, the demand for the en-

terprise needed to spur growth in Africa

is of an entrepreneurial, not necessarily

innovative, nature.

In many other corners of the world,

being an entrepreneur is often an occupa-

tion of necessity. What national accounts

reflect as ‘the informal economy’ is in fact

an economy driven by entrepreneurs. In

the face of high unemployment and limited

schooling, those determined to feed their

families make their living wherever they

can, often in the world’s largest open-air

markets—traffic intersections and road-

ways. In imperfect markets where supply

struggles to meet demand, everything is

for sale.

For visitors to developing countries,

these impromptu markets are visible, risky,

and fluid. Yet, what remain largely invis-

ible are the poverty traps that underlie

them. Many international economic growth

pundits are quick to point out that enough

natural resources, food, and opportunities

exist to feed, clothe, and sustain the people

of the world, but market inefficiencies, lack

of capital, and inconsistent governance pre-

vent this outcome. Inherent in such market

gaps are poverty traps, whose physiological

underpinnings are simple, yet stark.

Many types of poverty traps exist and

have been chronicled in detail by the likes

of Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Collier, and others.

In the most basic poverty trap, an indi-

vidual faces a circumstance in which she

does not earn enough money to afford

to buy enough food calories to meet her

minimum daily caloric consumption, much

less enough calories to support an active

lifestyle. Under such circumstances, many

struggle to maintain even a subsistence

livelihood, and holding a manual labor job—

often the most available employment—is

completely out of the question. In such

cases, starting a small business selling a

hand-made product or a simple service is

the most efficient and feasible means by

which to earn a living.

Capital and the Promise of Enterprise

Leaders around the world proclaim the

power of small business to drive economic

growth, and there is good research to back

up the importance of small businesses to

provide communities with employment as

well as services, enabling their owners to

work as little or as much as they desire,

and reap the corresponding returns.

This trend towards entrepreneurship

has coincided with efforts to ease the credit

constraints the poor face. Starting a small

business without cash on hand is a chal-

lenging proposition. Since the mid-1980s,

Muhammad Yunus has sought to create

access to finance for the poor through

micro-financing mechanisms at the Gra-

meen Bank; in 2006, his years of effort

were recognized when he was awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, microcredit

has waxed and waned in perceptions of

its efficacy, but the imperative that even

the world’s poor require access to finance

is here to stay.

Tilman Ehrback, the CEO of CGAP, the

Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, in-

sists that the ability of small business to

lift the world’s poor out of poverty is over-

stated in the absence of reliable infrastruc-

ture. In the United States and Europe, many

small businesses operate in a preferential

environment, with tax breaks, protected

contracts, and extensive resources that in-

centivize small business. In emerging mar-

kets, access to financial services, including

bank accounts, credit, and insurance is

often unavailable.

The call for financial inclusion grows

stronger by the day, as leaders across Af-

Ghanaian women smoke f ish, preserv ing i t to br ing to market .


rica and around the world realize its criti-

cal implications for the ability of business

to shape the opportunities of tomorrow.

Yet neither access to financial services

nor the enterprise they enable is a pana-

cea, and much remains to be understood

about successful systems of sustainable

commerce. In one randomized study in

Malawi, only 33 percent of those offered

a loan with which to begin a new crop of

hybrid maize and groundseeds took the

loan. What’s more, when offered the loan

along with crop insurance, just more than

half as many—17.6 percent—took the loan.

Of course, the findings of this randomized

trial may not be relevant to every market,

but the implications are clear. In developed

markets, the benefits of financial services

are known and appreciated. Yet, in less

developed markets where scams are com-

mon, savings, insurance, and credit may

be met with skepticism, as too-good-to-be-

true. Overcoming these cultural obstacles

requires not only making these services

available, but also educating communities

about their value and reliability.

This spring, Thomas Piketty made head-

lines in the United States with the release

of the English translation of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty, whose book

quickly jumped to number one on The New York Times bestseller list, has compiled

extensive and compelling data with which

to more factually and accurately assess

the historical trends in the realm of eco-

nomic growth and inequality. His research

suggests that today, much like in the 19th

century, we confront a world in which the

rate of return to capital—infrastructure, in-

vestment, and savings—outpaces growth

in both economic output and individual

income. In such circumstances, “capitalism

automatically generates arbitrary and un-

sustainable inequalities that radically un-

dermine the meritocratic values on which

democratic societies are based.”

Piketty convincingly describes a global

economy of ‘supermanagers,’ in which the

top decile of earners grows richer, their

wealth compounded by the fact that they

reap the returns of both capital and income.

The unspoken corollary to Piketty’s conclu-

sion is that becoming an entrepreneur is

perhaps the only road to ‘supermanage-

ment’ for many of the world’s poor and

middle class. With limited opportunities for

employment and even scarcer chances for

professional development and promotion,

creating a small business—whether it be to

enable the sale of sausages, saris, soap,

or services—is the fastest path to accruing

capital in business infrastructure and sav-

ings… and income.

Back at the Africa Forum, Rick Angiuoni,

the Director for Africa at the U.S. Export-

Import Bank, eloquently framed the two

greatest challenges facing Africa today:

sustained economic growth, and poverty

reduction. Africa, a continent of 54 different

countries, each with a different historical

legacy, and each with multiple languages

and cultures, is a highly heterogeneous

place where barriers to progress abound,

and no solution is one-size-fits-all. “How do

you transform potential into opportunity?”

Angiuoni asked.

By empowering more entrepreneurs,

governments and investors alike can en-

able the creation of more capital-generating

entities that accrue wealth to more indi-

viduals, mitigating the effects of economic

inequality. What’s more, the financial sys-

temization that results from more pow-

erful enterprise only reinforces the fact

that business really can do extraordinary

things.

A banker discusses f inancing opt ions with a smal l business

owner in Mozambique.

In many other

corners of the

world, being an

entrepreneur is

often an occupation

of necessity. What

national accounts

reflect as ‘the

informal economy’

is in fact an

economy driven by

entrepreneurs.


BOOK EXCERPT

The distribution of wealth is one of today’s most widely

discussed and controversial issues. But what do we re-

ally know about its evolution over the long term? Do the

dynamics of private capital accumulation inevitably lead

to the concentration of wealth in ever fewer hands, as Karl Marx

believed in the nineteenth century? Or do the balancing forces

of growth, competition, and technological progress lead in later

stages of development to reduced inequality and greater harmony

among the classes, as Simon Kuznets thought in the twentieth

century? What do we really know about how wealth and income

have evolved since the eighteenth century, and what lessons can

we derive from that knowledge for the century now under way?

These are the questions I attempt to answer in this book. Let

me say at once that the answers contained herein are imperfect

and incomplete. But they are based on much more extensive

historical and comparative data than were available to previous

researchers, data covering three centuries and more than twenty

countries, as well as on a new theoretical framework that affords

a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Modern

economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have made it

possible to avoid the Marxist apocalypse but have not modified

the deep structures of capital and inequality—or in any case not

as much as one might have imagined in the optimistic decades

following World War II. When the rate of return on capital exceeds

the rate of growth of output and income, as it did in the nineteenth

century and seems quite likely to do again in the twenty-first,

capitalism automatically generates arbitrary and unsustainable

inequalities that radically undermine the meritocratic values on

which democratic societies are based. There are nevertheless

ways democracy can regain control over capitalism and ensure

that the general interest takes precedence over private interests,

while preserving economic openness and avoiding protectionist

and nationalist reactions. The policy recommendations I propose

later in the book tend in this direction. They are based on les-

sons derived from historical experience, of which what follows is

essentially a narrative.

A Debate Without Data?

Intellectual and political debate about the distribution of wealth

has long been based on an abundance of prejudice and a paucity

of fact.

To be sure, it would be a mistake to underestimate the im-

portance of the intuitive knowledge that everyone acquires about

contemporary wealth and income levels, even in the absence of

any theoretical framework or statistical analysis. Film and litera-

ture, nineteenth-century novels especially, are full of detailed

When it comes to global development, Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, has made quite a splash. Published in 2013 in French, its English translation, which is of superb quality, was released in April 2014. After only one month on the market, it quickly became Amazon’s number-one bestseller.

Its popularity is no accident. Piketty’s nearly 700-page tome is an historic attempt to chronicle the causes of inequality in the present day. Collaborating with a num-ber of scholars around the world, Piketty has compiled an astounding quantity of research that has allowed him to draw some provocative new conclusions that explain the impact of the accrual of capital on social development. His research, which focuses primarily on France, Britain, Germany, and the United States, extends the conclusions drawn from the large quantities of data available on these four countries to the rest of the world. His conclusions lay a clear foundation of the economic environment future leaders face in the world today.

At the InterAction Forum in June, World Bank President Jim Kim suggested this is one of the most important books of the decade, and likely of the century.

Excerpted from CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Thomas Piketty, published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


BOOK EXCERPT

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Inaugural Symantec Service Corps team: Arequipa, Peru

February – March, 2014

10 employees

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Learn more at www.symantecservicecorps.com

Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec logo, and Norton are U.S. registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation.

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At John Deere, we recognize that today’s children are tomorrow’s innovators and leaders. Providing inspiring, rewarding, and innovative educational opportunities is key to unlocking every child’s potential.

That’s why John Deere supports education programs that will improve the lives of children around the world, especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. By teaching and inspiring the next generation, we are helping ensure our children are successful in school, work, and life.

Investing in our Future

information about the relative wealth and living standards of

different social groups, and especially about the deep struc-

ture of inequality, the way it is justified, and its impact on

individual lives. Indeed, the novels of Jane Austen and Honoré

de Balzac paint striking portraits of the distribution of wealth

in Britain and France between 1790 and 1830. Both novelists

were intimately acquainted with the hierarchy of wealth in

their respective societies. They grasped the hidden contours of

wealth and its inevitable implications for the lives of men and

women, including their marital strategies and personal hopes

and disappointments. These and other novelists depicted the

effects of inequality with a verisimilitude and evocative power

that no statistical or theoretical analysis can match.

Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue

to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philoso-

phers. It is of interest to everyone, and that is a good thing.

The concrete, physical reality of inequality is visible to the

naked eye and naturally inspires sharp but contradictory politi-

cal judgments. Peasant and noble, worker and factory owner,

waiter and banker: each has his or her own unique vantage

point and sees important aspects of how other people live

and what relations of power and domination exist between

social groups, and these observations shape each person’s

judgment of what is and is not just. Hence there will always

be a fundamentally subjective and psychological dimension

to inequality, which inevitably gives rise to political conflict

that no purportedly scientific analysis can alleviate. Democracy

will never be supplanted by a republic of experts—and that is

a very good thing.

Nevertheless, the distribution question also deserves to

be studied in a systematic and methodical fashion. Without

precisely defined sources, methods, and concepts, it is pos-

sible to see everything and its opposite. Some people believe

that inequality is always increasing and that the world is by

definition always becoming more unjust. Others believe that

inequality is naturally decreasing, or that harmony comes about

automatically, and that in any case nothing should be done

that might risk disturbing this happy equilibrium. Given this

dialogue of the deaf, in which each camp justifies its own intel-

lectual laziness by pointing to the laziness of the other, there

is a role for research that is at least systematic and methodical

if not fully scientific. Expert analysis will never put an end to

the violent political conflict that inequality inevitably instigates.

Social scientific research is and always will be tentative and

imperfect. It does not claim to transform economics, sociology,

and history into exact sciences. But by patiently searching for

facts and patterns and calmly analyzing the economic, social,

and political mechanisms that might explain them, it can inform

democratic debate and focus attention on the right questions.

It can help to redefine the terms of debate, unmask certain

preconceived or fraudulent notions, and subject all positions

to constant critical scrutiny. In my view, this is the role that

intellectuals, including social scientists, should play, as citizens

like any other but with the good fortune to have more time

than others to devote themselves to study (and even to be

paid for it—a signal privilege).

There is no escaping the fact, however, that social science

research on the distribution of wealth was for a long time based

on a relatively limited set of firmly established facts together

with a wide variety of purely theoretical speculations.

Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers. It is of interest to everyone, and that is a good thing.

Excerpted from CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY by Thomas Piketty, published by Belknap Press of Harvard University

Press. Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Continue reading Capital in the Twenty-First Century at hup.harvard.edu.


HAPPENINGS

THIS SUMMER’S GLOBAL POWER PLAY IS NOT ON THE SOCCER PITCHDaniel Breneman

This summer, the world waited

anxiously for the outcome of the

World Cup in Brazil. During each

game, a combination of a team’s

individual skill, focus, and teamwork de-

termined whether they would succeed or

fail, going home early, or lifting the cup on

July 13 to become heroes.

In this year’s cup, teams from countries

not generally granted the same influence

on the global stage were demanding equal-

ity and respect on the playing field. Coun-

tries such as Costa Rica, Ghana, Algeria,

and Iran have shown the world that they

have what it takes to challenge the world

powers on the soccer pitch on equal terms.

Algeria and Nigeria were the only two

African nations that advanced to Round 16,

as the usual suspects—Germany, Argentina,

the Netherlands, and Brazil—moved into

the semi-finals stage. In the end, Germany

took home the gold, evidence of the power

asymmetry that still persists on the field.

With the world’s attention on the global

power plays unfolding in stadiums across

Brazil, such circumstances present a unique

opportunity to reflect on ways that sustain-

able approaches to global engagement can

mitigate this persistent asymmetry in the

global political and economic arena.

The Future of Effective Collaboration in Africa

This summer, the United States will host

the leaders of some 50 African nations at

the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a forum

that will facilitate strategic discussions on

the critical challenges and opportunities

ahead in development, trade, and interna-

tional security. The two-day event, sched-

uled for August 5 and 6, 2014 in Wash-

ington, D.C., will empower Africa’s leaders

to raise their voices and articulate a new

strategy for engagement on the continent.

Many experts have already begun

to offer their recommendations for how

American and African leaders alike can best

realize gains from the upcoming dialogue.

While the public and private sector are open

to a more collaborative approach moving

forward, advances will only be achieved if

African leaders arrive prepared to offer a

coherent plan and clear objectives that will

permit rapid and effective engagement by

interested parties within the U.S. govern-

ment and the corporate community.

One such collaborative way of strength-

ening the relationship between the United

States and Africa is through a greater em-

phasis on local content development poli-

cies and practice. Dr. Michael Warner of LCS

broadly defines local or national content

as “the participation and development of

national capital, labor, technology, goods

and services in the planning and execution

of oil, gas, and mineral exploration, de-

velopment, and production.” This increas-

ingly popular practice area seeks to deliver

greater local benefits from new resource

discovery and extraction by international


oil companies, by ensuring at least some contracts remain within

the local business community. Countries with significant petroleum

deposits, such as Ghana, Indonesia, and Brazil, have all made

strides to ensure that benefits are distributed locally, though their

good intentions typically result in strict legislation that responds

more to political initiatives than realistic expectations.

According to Harry Pastuszek, Vice President of Economic and

Community Development at PYXERA Global, finding the right bal-

ance can be difficult. “The tendency of international oil companies

(commonly known as IOCs), to work with foreign suppliers and

contractors is driven by more than a blind unwillingness to work

with locals—finding qualified and competent local suppliers is

more difficult than simply issuing an invitation to tender in the

local language,” said Pastuszek.

While remaining within the boundaries of regulatory trade

frameworks, the ability of countries with extensive natural re-

sources to develop their emerging industry base can go a long way

toward combating the natural resource curse. Further investment

in the development of national capital, labor, goods, and services is

essential to move nations beyond commodity exporting economies.

Natural Resource Blessing or Curse?

For decades, the development community has embraced the

expected de facto downside of natural resource discovery in

emerging markets, for the benefit of greater economic growth. A

combination of conflict, corruption, and weak public institutions

has often meant that the dividends accrue elsewhere.

WORLD CUP POWER DYNAMICS PREDICT OPPORTUNITY AT U.S.-AFRICA LEADERS SUMMIT


In Mozambique, one of the most natu-

ral resource rich countries in the world, this

has been the case for decades. A long line

of multinational corporations seeking coal,

bauxite, tin, as well as precious metals and

gemstones, have extracted a great deal of

natural wealth, leaving limited economic

gains in their wake. Over the past three

years, two international oil companies have

reported discoveries of massive deposits

of offshore gas, ensuring that Mozambique

will soon become one of the world’s top

natural gas exporting countries.

One IOC has embraced an innovative

and progressive view of the economic

growth and development gains they hope

the extraction project will enable. In part-

nership with our team at PYXERA Global,

the company is seeking to engage a grow-

ing supply chain of local vendors able to

meet the procurement demands of the

project, acknowledging that the greatest

game-changing opportunities often exist

in the early phases of the project.

At PYXERA Global, our team is engag-

ing the private sector and governments

throughout Africa, leading the way in na-

tional content development surrounding

the extractive industry. Partnerships forged

in the natural gas industry are a key way to

level the playing field and pave a path for

sustainable economic growth. By strength-

ening national industry, local enterprises

can become more competitive, enabling

them to provide better livelihoods for local

communities. These gains are already being

realized in Mozambique, but the opportuni-

ties for similar interventions in countries

across the African continent are almost

endless.

Bringing Home the Gold

On June 30 in Brasilia, Nigeria played

against France for the chance to proceed to

the World Cup Round of 8. The odds were

against them; in the tournament’s history,

only three African teams have moved on to

the Round of 8. Still, many in sub-Saharan

Africa sported their African pride and many

more around the world cheered for the

underdog. Although they lost, during that

game the team worked hard and showed

the world their quality of play.

Nigeria, a country rich in natural re-

sources—especially oil—has struggled for

decades to successfully establish local

content policies and programs that effec-

tively deliver financial returns to those who

need them most. When U.S. and African

leaders convene to discuss prospective

partnerships, the potentially significant

economic gains of effective local content

development should not be lost among

the many important topics that need to be

addressed. Nigeria is sure to be among the

delegations most actively engaged in the

August Summit, and their approach to local

content is worthy of scrutiny and reflection.

African leaders will come to Washington

expecting a new engagement strategy, one

in which they’re not simply reduced to sup-

plying commodities and receiving aid, but

instead, a strategy that values collaborative

partnerships on an equal playing field. With

the right planning, they can ensure that

nobody goes home with a loss, instead

emboldened by a message of hope, and a

clearly defined ground-breaking path to-

ward economic sustainability.

By strengthening

national industry,

local enterprises

will become more

competitive,

enabling them

to provide better

livelihoods to local

communities.

Over the past three years , d iscover ies of massive deposi ts of offshore

gas have ensured that Mozambique wi l l become one of the wor ld’s top

natura l gas export ing countr ies .

Photo: Tsuda| CC BY-SA 2.0


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NOWTHE DEVELOPMENT SECTOR NEEDS NEW WORDS, BETTER IDEAS, AND DRAMATIC INNOVATION TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD

DEVELOPMENT

NEEDSINNOVATION

Deirdre White


IMPACT & INNOVATION

19THE UNITED STATES PLACES NINETEENTH IN SPENDING ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORK AS A PERCENTAGE OF GNI.

is closer to 30 percent. The stark reality

is that that fraction of one percent places

America—the wealthiest country in the

world—in 19th place in spending on inter-

national development work as a percentage

of Gross National Income.

Today’s raging debate on illegal border

crossings provides further fodder for solid

arguments: the best way to secure our bor-

ders is to invest in economic opportunity

in the world’s most underserved countries.

Also worthy of consideration is the fact

that a large portion of aid dollars create

jobs here in the United States, supporting

tens of thousands of taxpaying individu-

als and private companies who provide

services around the world on behalf of

USAID or other U.S. government agencies.

And foreign assistance enhances America’s

global economic competitiveness, improves

national security through the reduction of

poverty and civil strife, and of course, am-

plifies the importance of American values.

Doesn’t it?

If Not Aid and Development, Then What?

With a list of good reasons and a rela-

tively low cost to this work, why then are

there still so many skeptics out there, in

the United States and other donor nations?

A new body of research, funded by the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, tries

to shed light on this disconnect. The Nar-

rative Project is a partnership of several

international NGOs and donor institutions

seeking to increase public support for for-

eign assistance by finding better ways to

coordinate and more compelling ways to

tell the stories of what works, and why the

general public should care.

The Narrative Project reviewed a couple

dozen studies produced over the past de-

cade, and held its own focus groups. They

learned that, while the moral argument

for development assistance is still strong,

people are highly skeptical that the ap-

proaches undertaken are effective; believ-

ing that, in fact, little has improved in 30

years. Not surprisingly, underpinning these

opinions was a finding that the general

public’s knowledge about development is

quite limited.

The Narrative Project is using this ini-

tial study as a foundation on which to

create new language and new narratives,

providing the most persuasive arguments

in favor of development, which is a good

thing. Innovation in the language we use

to describe this important work is badly

needed. As an experienced practitioner,

I can say definitively that ‘development-

speak’ leaves even the most knowledge-

able veteran cold, and certainly does not

attract support outside the field. But in

%1LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF THE U.S. BUDGET GOES TO INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE AND DEVELOPMENT.

Yesterday evening, thinking I’d

relax and catch up—at least

virtually—with some friends, I

opened my Facebook account. As

I scrolled through, I once again saw that

post that has become all too ubiquitous,

complaining about foreign aid. You know

the one—it says that in America our home-

less don’t eat, our mentally ill don’t get

care, our troops don’t have equipment,

yet we “donate billions to other countries

before helping our own.” I also noted the

number of Facebook friends who had liked

or shared it—people who are well-read and

at least somewhat aware of the fact that

they live in a globally-connected world.

When I saw this type of anti-foreign aid

post in the past, I inevitably got angry at

the poster’s ignorance and inability to see

simple realities surrounding the cost and

benefit of the U.S. investment in improving

lives abroad. This time, though, it occurred

to me that the ignorance is a direct result

of the poor ability of those who believe

strongly in foreign assistance to tell that

story.

Advocates almost always begin with the

go-to statistic: less than one percent of the

U.S. budget goes to international humani-

tarian response and development. This is

immediately followed by a condescending

shake of the head, and the revelation that

a majority of Americans think that number


many ways, The Narrative Project is just

the beginning.

By limiting the research to four donor

countries—the United States, the United

Kingdom, France, and Germany—the proj-

ect subtly implies that the views of those

countries that provide the largest amount

of foreign assistance in gross terms are

the most important. But this perspective

is incredibly shortsighted for at least two

reasons. First, it prioritizes an antiquated

construct of charity in which the wealthy

are counted on to supply those in need.

Second, it overlooks the views of the public

in the countries receiving assistance—ad-

ditional research that may also be en-

visioned, but was not evident from the

initial findings. If nomenclature counts in

the United States and Germany, surely it

must be at least as important in Malawi

and Bangladesh.

This oversight is critical as it risks sanc-

tifying language that effectively persuades

Americans, Brits, French, and Germans, but

offends or condescends to those individu-

als whom it directly seeks to serve. In the

enshrined ivory tower of wealthier coun-

tries, it is easy to overlook the implications

of even the friendliest of terms: develop-ment, beneficiaries, and empowerment, for

instance. Each implies an ongoing, pater-

nalistic relationship rather than a partner-

ship for mutual gain. Will a new develop-

ment vernacular continue this trend, or

is it possible to find better language that

is uniformly accessible, convincing, and

enriching for all?

Can Past Failures Drive Future Success?

It is also clear that The Narrative Project

is not enough. The Narrative Project states

that “the conversation focuses on what

doesn’t work and what is wasted.” It is true

that there is a lot of noise about wasted

funds and corruption, and perhaps not

enough lauding of wild successes, such as

the progress of PEPFAR or the contributions

to economic stability in post-Communist

Central and Eastern Europe. But develop-

ment also needs a complementary body

of research that takes a deep and critical

look at the lessons of the past 50 years

and offers innovative recommendations

on how to be more effective in the com-

ing decades. Not enough has been done

to examine why those efforts succeeded

and how to replicate that success in other

sectors or geographies. Equally important,

or perhaps more so, is that little to nothing

has been done to understand the failures—

even the colossal ones—of so many efforts,

both large and small.

Some might criticize this proposi-

tion, suggesting that such an undertak-

ing would only arm the opposition, pro-

viding the skeptics with further proof of

their righteousness. But such a study, I

believe, would serve the opposite end.

By actively embracing a deeper and more

nuanced understanding of the failures of

the past that have so successfully fortified

the skeptic’s view, advocates might better

convince those individuals that change is

truly upon us.

At PYXERA Global, our team has initiated

its own development insurgency, piloting

new and innovative ideals in partnership

with willing funders in many corners of the

world. Be it local supply chain development

in Mozambique, collaborative global pro

bono in Ethiopia, or innovative integrated

community development in India, we are

learning from almost 25 years of experience

in more than 90 countries how not to do

things and how to do them. Seeking to

forego the paternalistic implications of in-

ternational development, we instead work

under the umbrella of purposeful global engagement.

Yet our approach, too, is deserving of

scrutiny and we are committed to carefully

assessing our own work, as well as that of

the development sector at large. This analy-

sis should be done and shared broadly,

including an understanding of successes,

an admission of mistakes, and a roadmap

to ensure this sector institutionalizes what

works and avoids replicating the blunders

of the past.

The Best Ideas Start Small

This future project could also explore

some of the contributions to development

from non-traditional sources, particularly

those that focus on social innovation,

such at the Hult Prize and the MIT IDEAS

Challenge. Both of these programs foster

student-driven initiatives that have the po-

tential to dramatically effect change on a

global scale. The winners have the freedom

and the funding to explore their innova-

tions without the constraints typical of the

traditional development sector.

Last year’s Hult Prize winners from Mc-

By actively embracing a deeper and more complex understanding of the failures of the past that have so successfully fortified the skeptic’s view, advocates might better convince those individuals that change is truly upon us.

Photo: Mark von Holden


Gill University have already launched their

business, Aspire Food Group, focused on

sustainable farming of edible insects. This

year’s regional finalists from the University

of Pennsylvania are building their Sweet

Bites business around a simple solution

to oral disease and its complications with

a specially-formulated gum. Both projects

encompass elements of job creation and

income generation for local communities,

while simultaneously addressing a critical

development deficit.

At this year’s MIT IDEAS Challenge, top

prize winners included GridForm, a rural

planning software designed to facilitate the

creation of a power microgrid and renew-

able energy generation. Eagle Health takes

on the problem of diabetes management by

leaving blood sugar measurement, and the

associated costs and inconvenience, out of

the equation. Proprietary software moni-

tors other key data that is collected non-

invasively by wearing a specially-designed

and inexpensive ring.

As a judge for the Hult Prize for the past

three years, and for the MIT IDEAS Challenge

for the first time this year, I had the chance

to see firsthand the opportunities usually

missed by the traditional development

community. While the development sector

makes great fanfare about potential innova-

tion, the reality is that the donor-funded

development system is not well-designed

to innovate. It is currently configured to

spit out relatively short-term projects based

on oft-adjusted, narrow priorities. It cannot

afford to take many risks, in some part due

to the scrutiny and negative public percep-

tion being tackled by The Narrative Project.

While the traditional donors and im-

plementers may be hindered by history,

politics, policy, and caution, they have a

real advantage in size and presence. It is

fair to say that most of the highly impact-

ful and innovative programming in place

today is seen in small-size projects limited

to one or two geographies, and usually not

funded by the traditional donors. Imagine

how that picture could change if even a

portion of USAID, DfID, World Bank, and

private-foundation funding were dedicated

to identifying such innovations, fostering

their growth, and scaling their impact. Re-

inventing these agencies is admittedly a

herculean undertaking. Yet, if their core

purpose became making long-term, sub-

stantial, financial commitments to scale up

what works, then finding the right words to

describe this work would be easy, because

we would finally be moving the needle on

the biggest challenges facing the world

today. The narrative would almost write

itself.

Aspire Foods of McGi l l Univers i ty wins the Hult Pr ize for thei r innovat ive food secur i ty solut ion.


MORE THAN DRUGS & DOCTORSManagement Education is Crit ical for Effect ive Healthcare in Afr icaGuy Pfeffermann and Page Schindler Buchanan


Africa is rising. In the past decade, the world’s percep-

tion of the continent has become more hopeful, and

more nuanced. No longer seen from the outside as

simply the continent of blood diamonds and disease,

Africa boasts several rapidly growing economies, a rising middle

class, innovative entrepreneurs, and ambitious goals for im-

provements in health, industry, and governance. Governments

and corporations alike, from Europe, Asia, and the Americas, are

paying attention and making investments in critical areas such

as energy, water, infrastructure, small business, and education.

Despite this optimism in the business sector, and massive

health investments that are successfully addressing malaria,

cholera, and AIDS, recently polio and even Ebola have threatened

the future of the entire continent. Clean water, electricity, proper

sanitation, local clinics with skilled healthcare providers, and bet-

ter roads to help people reach them can enable the prevention

and treatment of these and other maladies that weaken Africa’s

ability to thrive. Yet, unlike pharmaceuticals and doctors, such re-

sources cannot be airlifted in; they must be built and maintained

by communities and their leaders. Good healthcare requires good

management, so that resources, people, and finances can be

managed and distributed appropriately. But good management

and effective organizational leadership often require skills not

regularly taught in school.

Unfortunately, in this critical area of higher education, in-

vestment has been scarce. Governments, multilateral funding

agencies, and private foundations have devoted few resources

to nurture African leadership through management training.

Investing in Management Yields the Best ROI

In 2003, the Global Business School Network (GBSN) was

founded as a vehicle to improve the business education land-

scape in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its inception, GBSN has in-

cluded health as a major area of focus for its work, due to

the significant impact that can be made on access to quality

healthcare when good management practices are introduced. A

speaker at one of the first GBSN conferences demonstrated this

point eloquently, both through her words and her career.

After working as a pediatrician in a large Nigerian hospital,

Dr. Lola Dare quit the profession she trained for to focus on

promoting healthcare management because, as she told the

GBSN audience, she couldn’t watch any more babies die of sheer

resource mismanagement. “When oxygen was needed, nobody

knew where it had been stored,” she said.

Dr. Dare went back to school to earn a certificate in Ad-

vanced Management and today she is the CEO of the Center for

Health Science, Training, Research and Development in Nigeria.

She facilitates health leadership development and management

programs and serves as a consultant for many regional and global

organizations in public health and social development, advocat-

ing for the increased application of management and business

tools to improve the performance of African health and social

development systems.

Effective, locally-relevant management education is a prudent

investment in the economic and social development of Africa.

Pockets of success in healthcare management education across

the African continent provide evidence that, with increased at-

tention to higher education in the next Millennium Development

Goals, and further investment by the international community

and African countries themselves, progress can be made in

building healthcare management capacity.

Healthcare Management Training is Expanding, But Not Quickly Enough

A number of key efforts are extraordinarily effective. In Kenya,

a laudable effort has been made through Strathmore Business

School’s Leading High-Performing Healthcare Organizations pro-

gram, launched with USAID funding in 2011 in partnership with

Management Sciences for Health (MSH). The following outcomes

demonstrate the power that programs such as these have to

transform healthcare in Africa.

LEADERSHIP

No longer seen from

the outside as simply

the continent of blood

diamonds and disease,

Africa boasts several rapidly

growing economies, a rising

middle class, innovative

entrepreneurs, and ambitious

goals for improvements

in health, industry, and

governance.


Management at the Pharmacy and Poi-

sons Board (PPB) aimed to automate regis-

tries, provide an online system for issuing

licenses, and create electronic systems that

would regulate clinical trials. The experi-

ence of the top three PPB managers in the

program led to changes that included in-

creased accountability to the public; publi-

cation of a list of establishments authorized

to stock and sell drugs; and a system to

identify pharmacists who practice without

licenses. Activities that used to take up

to several months to complete now take

only minutes.

The Strathmore program offered leaders

of various ‘silo organizations’—regulators,

policymakers, practitioners, and private

sector healthcare participants—the chance

to meet colleagues in a setting where they

could exchange ideas freely and build rela-

tionships that would support joint achieve-

ment of mandates.

Through a series of meetings, the man-

agement team at the Kenya Medical Sup-

plies Agency (KEMSA) was able to build an

environment where criticism became an

effective method for identifying areas of

improvement in their warehousing activi-

ties. They decided to focus on continuous

improvement as a method for improving

delivery time, and in the year following

the completion of the leadership program,

turnaround time had been reduced from

two weeks to less than two days.

A study1 by MSH documents the broader

impact of leadership training, showing sig-

nificant improvements in health outcomes

after health managers, doctors, and nurses

from 18 districts in Kenya went through

a leadership development program. The

number of fully-immunized children under

the age of one and the number of women

who delivered a child with a skilled birth at-

tendant increased sharply in the following

years, but did not increase in other districts

where the program was not offered.

Africa Needs More Management Training to Meet Demand

If management and leadership educa-

tion can have such positive development

impact, why is the supply of relevant edu-

cation so limited? The problem is not a lack

of higher education institutions. There are

hundreds of universities in sub-Saharan

Africa, many of which offer management

courses. Yet many suffer from overcrowd-

ing, due to a booming youth population,

poorly trained educators, and perhaps most

significantly, a disconnect between aca-

demia and the real world.

A few excellent management schools

are operating in Africa, many of which are

GBSN members. Most were established dur-

ing the past 20 years and are private non-

profit institutions like Strathmore. These

schools emphasize experiential learning,

local case studies, participant-centered

pedagogy, teamwork, networking, and in-

dependent thinking. They belong to inter-

national knowledge networks, which help

them marry global best practice with local

relevance. They forge close partnerships

with employers in the public and private

sectors, which maximize graduate employ-

ability and readiness for the realities out-

side of the classroom.

Access to world-class, locally-relevant

management education will be essential

for Africa’s growing healthcare sector. To

make such opportunities accessible, Africa

needs investment that looks beyond the

horizon to ensure there are sustainable

institutions embedded in its communities

and economies to provide that education.

GBSN is doing its part through programs

and events that bring together top inter-

national business schools around the globe

with development partners and industry

leaders. This November, GBSN will host its

9th annual conference at the Ghana Institute

of Management and Public Administration

(GIMPA) campus in Accra, in partnership

with EFMD, a Europe-based management

education accreditation organization. The

conference will focus on how business edu-

cation should be designed and delivered

to be effective in the context of emerg-

ing markets, with a focus on sectors like

healthcare and innovative programs that

are making a difference.

Ripe with natural resources, a young

and energetic population, and economic

momentum that could further change

how the world sees and interacts with the

continent, Africa is poised for an exciting

future. It would be unfortunate to squan-

der such promise because of short-sighted

investment and aid that fails to account for

the need for management and leadership

skills. GBSN will continue to work with our

global partners to enhance the manage-

ment talent needed to build a prosperous

world.

1 USAID and MSH, “The Kenya Leadership Development Program – Linking Manage-ment Training to Service Delivery Out-comes” (2010)

2 “Quality in Context: Management Educa-tion for the Developing World” November 3 – 5, 2014

Good healthcare requires good management, so that resources, people, and finances can be managed and distributed appropriately.


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The PULSE Volunteer Partnership is GSK’s skills-based volunteering programme. Through PULSE, motivated employees are matched to non-profit organisations for three or six months full-time, to solve healthcare challenges at home and abroad.

PULSE contributes to the GSK mission to do more, feel better and live longer by acting as a catalyst for change. Since its launch in 2009, PULSE has sent nearly 400 employees from 45 countries to serve 85 non-profit partners in 57 countries.

Change CommunitiesEmployees use their professional skills to create positive, sustainable change for non-profit partners and the communities they serve.

Change EmployeesEmployees are challenged to think differently about the world and as a result of the PULSE experience they develop their leadership skills.

Change GSKEmployees bring fresh ideas and new energy back to GSK to activate change in step with global health needs.

1 LEADERSHIP IS AN ACT OF SERVICE

At this year’s American Society for Train-

ing and Development Conference, servant

leadership was the most pressing mandate

issued by those sung and unsung heroes

who have dedicated their lives to develop-

ing leaders. During four full days of pro-

gramming, 9,000 learning professionals,

from over 80 countries, participated in more

than 250 educational sessions by industry

experts, many of which were devoted in

some way to leadership development. This

year was a momentous one for the asso-

ciation as it unveiled a new global brand,

transforming the organization from a U.S.-

centric body to one that is relevant for lead-

ers and coaches everywhere in the world:

the Association for Talent Development.

Over the course of the multi-day event,

these key lessons stood out from the rest,

each supporting the general thesis of ser-

vant leadership.

2 IT’S NOT ABOUT POWER

Dr. Debra France doesn’t mince any

words when it comes to describing the skills

required to drive innovation at W.L. Gore

Laura Asiala

THE ASSOCIATION FOR TALENT

DEVELOPMENT FOSTERS SERVANT

LEADERSHIP AT INTERNATIONAL EXPO

3 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU

Leadership that appropriately addresses

the context of the moment is at the heart of

Situational Leadership II, the foundation of

the work of Ken Blanchard, well known and

celebrated for his contributions to leader-

ship theory and practice over the last 35

years. Blanchard and his associates have

taken the long-standing view that leader-

ship is other-focused. Says Blanchard: “The

most effective leaders realize that leader-

ship is not about them and that they are

SIX THINGS EVERY SUCCESSFUL LEADER SHOULD KNOW

& Associates Inc. “Leadership abounds. It

doesn’t imply authority at Gore. Leader-

ship is available to all. Anyone can lead at

any moment. If you’re the knowledgeable

person, and you speak up at a moment of

need, you’re a leader.” This approach, still

considered radical even for a long-standing

industry leader such as Gore, stands leader-

ship on its head by explicitly starting with

the need of the group, not the authority of

the leader. Such an approach deemphasizes

power in favor of outcomes. “A primary act

of leadership is to know when to step away

and let someone else lead. The task in the

moment is indicative as to who should be

leading.”


HAPPENINGS

A leader is best when peop le bare l y know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

– Lao Tzu

4 IT’S ABOUT SHARED PURPOSE, IN SERVICE

Shared purpose is at the core of a suc-

cessful organization’s environment, but

creating such an environment requires

exceptional leadership work. For effective

managers, it never goes without saying,

and it’s a never-ending responsibility. So is

the accountability for developing the next

generation of leaders. Representatives from

both eBay and Samsung emphasized these

ongoing twin challenges.

Interestingly, both companies used

examples of action learning to build that

shared vision and further develop their

leaders. Diane White of Right Associates

spoke about eBay’s approach: “The greatest

impact on a leader’s development comes

from action-learning projects, simulations,

coaching or mentoring, rotational programs,

and international assignments, if they are

part of the strategy.”

Samsung, celebrating its 20-year anni-

versary of “Move on to Quality” has taken

that action learning one step further. Dur-

ing the company’s turn-around in the

early 1990s, Samsung leaders established

a program that would provide an on-going

pipeline of innovation and new ideas. Each

year, the company sends its most promis-

ing talent to a new region—a completely

new environment—for an entire year. The

result: a drastically different environment

yields new connections, new relationships,

new language skills, and overall, a deeply

personal cultural understanding, which in-

forms how the business can best serve the

people of the region. Angela Oh, reporting

this aspect of a strategy that contributed to

building one of the world’s most success-

ful companies explained, “The company

trusted that these people would surely con-

tribute to the global society. People have

deep pride; they continued to work and to

learn, reporting what they learned.”1

5 SOMETIMES, IT MEANS LEAVING YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Going cross-border is one of the most

challenging learning experiences, and Judith

Katz and Fred Miller of the Kaleel Jamison

Consulting Group, Inc. had four beautiful

pieces of advice for leaders seeking to fos-

ter a high-performing, highly-aligned en-

vironment:

• Lean into discomfort

• Listen as an ally

• Use common language to clarify

intent

• Embrace diversity of views

Learning and change never happen from

the comfort zone. By learning how to de-

liver results, even in the face of discom-

fort, leaders can effectively deliver business

only as good as the people they lead. These

kinds of leaders seek to be servant lead-

ers.” The first responsibility of a leader is

to assess the individual and situation and

then provide the appropriate level of direc-

tion and encouragement.

Blanchard & Company continues to

publish cutting-edge research alongside

recommendations for its practical appli-

cation. One of the more exciting sessions

featured Blanchard & Company associate

Susan Fowler explaining “Why motivating

people doesn’t work” as she summarized

her research that yielded a book by the

same name to be released in September.

“We are in a position to create an envi-

ronment where other people flourish and

thrive.” Fowler outlined the Optimal Motiva-

tion process, a scientifically-based approach

to creating the environment for success,

which, in turn, enables employees to in-

ternalize motivation and develop sustained

engagement.

outcomes, even in the face of adversity.

Listening is one of the most overlooked

leadership traits, and listening with a bias

toward collaboration can make an individual

and their team more accepting of other

ideas. Discerning a project’s essential intent

from its auxiliary details can often be the

difference between business success and

mission failure. Clarifying intent through

common language, especially in new cul-

tures when social nuance can be even more

foreign than language, is a critical leader-

ship capability.

Most importantly, leaders must share

‘street corners,’ accepting every person’s

perspective as true to them. If at the outset

a leader believes that she has identified all

views, she probably has a big blind spot.

The best way to ensure a complete per-

spective is to ensure all corners are clear,

all voices are heard. Leadership identifies

the differences, legitimizes dialogue, and

enables shared purpose, which leads to the

development of shared value.

6 AND, ALWAYS ENABLING FOLLOWERS

In the final analysis, leadership is really

about followership, about creating the kind

of environment in which those we lead can

excel in harmony with one another, moving

forward in service for something greater

than ourselves.

This leadership approach is further explored in the Harvard Business Review article July-August 2011 “The Paradox of Samsung’s Rise”


VOLUNTEERING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

Stacy Yee, IESC Swazi land,Inte l engineer


INTEL USES VOLUNTEERS TO ACHIEVE ITS CORPORATE VISION: EXTEND COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY TO EVERY PERSON ON EARTH

GLOBAL PRO BONO

Jane Kiambo remembers the mud brick school she attended when she

was growing up in Gachagi, a self-described slum one hour from Nairobi,

Kenya. “Sometimes when it would rain, parts of the building would be

swept away,” she recalled. “You would feel cold.”

Many years later, Jane is now a teacher at a preschool down the road

from Gachagi, and she has become one of her community’s experts on the

use of technology in the classroom. Her expertise has been developed in

large part through training from teams of Intel employees who have traveled

to Kenya as part of the Intel Education Service Corps, or IESC.

Five years ago, Intel’s employee volunteer program was widely respected

within the corporate citizenship community, with 40 percent participation

and one million hours contributed in a typical year. Intel had also just an-

nounced the third generation of its rugged Classmate PC, and its education

business was growing rapidly in emerging markets as a result. However,

Intel did not have a formal way to connect employee talent with users of

its technologies in emerging markets.

This is when Julie Clugage connected the dots. After college, Julie vol-

unteered in rural Guatemala and worked for The World Bank before get-

ting her MBA and joining Intel in 2002. After spending several years in our

corporate citizenship group, it was perhaps not surprising that a transfer

to the education team in 2009 gave Julie the idea that would lead to the

creation of IESC: leveraging Intel’s culture of volunteerism to deepen its

growing presence in emerging economies.

Taking a two-week paid hiatus from their day jobs, teams of socially-

minded Intel employees would travel to Latin America, Africa, or Asia to

support the installation of Intel education laptops. Later that year, the

first IESC teams—a total of 20 employees—deployed to Bangladesh, Egypt,

Vietnam, and Kenya, where one team worked with the staff at the Karibu

Centre. “This program had been a dream of mine for years,” said Julie. “It

really was an occasion to do a dance outside my grey cube when it was

approved.”

Today, IESC sends more than 100 employees each year on challenging,

customer-focused assignments in some of the fastest-growing markets in

the world. The program attracts employees at all levels of seniority from a

wide range of departments and geographies, and these individuals commit

to spending approximately eight weeks preparing for a few hours each week

before traveling to the field for two weeks of full-time work on the ground.

Volunteering for Shared Value

More than doubling the reach of Intel’s program in a five-year period

required exceptional partners. To reach local communities, Intel collaborates

with organizations like World Vision and Orphans Overseas, NGOs large and

small that are investing in technology to improve the delivery of services to

children and other beneficiaries. For tax reasons, companies cannot make

foundation grants to fund the purchase of their own products, so Intel

Luke Fi lose


seeks partners that are already investing

in technology, and see value in the training

IESC teams provide. In this respect, NGOs

that work with IESC are a special breed:

part customer, part strategic corporate citi-

zenship partner.

In 2009, Orphans Overseas became one

of the first IESC clients. Jorie Kincaid, the Ex-

ecutive Director of Orphans Overseas, met

Julie just as she was seeking organizations

that might receive IESC volunteers, and two

teams from the first cohort of volunteers

traveled to Kenya and Vietnam to work with

Orphans Overseas field projects. Orphans

Overseas was purchasing the Classmate

PC for their programs, and the IESC con-

tribution of skilled labor fit with what the

organization needed to make their program

successful.

Effective implementation and training

are often two of the greatest barriers to

successful technology uptake. By providing

these services pro bono to social impact

organizations purchasing Intel products,

Intel ensures that its devices are effectively

used by teachers. At the same time, the

company can discover important market

insights and possible adaptations to en-

hance the utility of its product for a growing

customer base.

IESC was launched and incubated from

Intel’s education business, so naturally

the program focused on supporting Intel’s

education products. When I took over the

day-to-day management of IESC in 2011, I

spent 18 months growing the program by

identifying internal business group partners

to fund additional projects. In 2013, we

moved the program to corporate affairs,

providing the flexibility to support other

Intel technologies in addition to education.

IESC’s business-driven model has al-

lowed Intel to harness the generosity of its

employees to pursue its corporate vision:

in this decade, Intel seeks to create and ex-

tend computing technology to connect and

enrich the life of every person on earth.

Unlike some global pro bono programs that

provide capacity building to social impact

organizations across a range of topics, IESC

focuses on support around a specific tech-

nology platform.

Some might question this approach,

given its narrow focus on leveraging Intel

technology. In fact, IESC teams respond to

multiple requests from our clients, many

of which are not directly related to an Intel

product. But the linkage to Intel’s core busi-

ness and vision helps focus resources on

areas related to employees’ core skills, and

makes the program sustainable.

Volunteering Is Adaptable, Not One-Size Fits All

For many companies, volunteering has

a local, philanthropic connotation; plant a

S ince 2009, Inte l Educat ion Serv ice Corps has sent 360 employees to 20 countr ies in Afr ica , As ia , and Lat in Amer ica. Pro jects pr imar i ly support non-prof i t partners that leverage inte l technology to provide educat ion to underserved communit ies .

Ahmed Dawson, IESC Tanzania, Inte l engineer


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Unleashing individual potential.Strengthening the community.Credit Suisse Global Citizens Program

The Global Citizens Program aims to promote the transfer of skills and knowledge through skills-based volunteering, and by immersion in local communities, to support the work of our partners in education and microfinance. We believe investing in these programs is one of the best investments we can make.

credit-suisse.com/responsibility/gcp

Doremus Credit Suisse 302215 Global Citizen 11x8.5 inches (279.4x215.9mm) Proof 05 26-02-2014


tree, read a book to a child, or feed the

homeless. This form of volunteerism is in-

credibly important and highly scalable, but

it does not meet some strategic needs of

community organizations or the desires of

today’s employees to use their core skills.

With the right preparation, a volunteer can

implement a program to build a teacher’s

skills instead of helping a teacher mind

their class. In some sense, IESC participants

are hardly volunteers at all, at least no

more than an employee might ‘volunteer’

to help her manager with a new project.

As IESC assignments get more complex and

involve new Intel technologies and initia-

tives, I expect the program will continue

to expand the meaning of employee vol-

unteerism.

Ultimately, a global pro bono program

is constrained or liberated by a company’s

corporate culture. At Intel, where employ-

ees get an eight-week paid sabbatical every

seven years, there’s a culture of “covering”

for colleagues; being out of the office for

a few weeks is not particularly unusual.

When Julie started IESC, she worried that

employees might not succeed in getting

their managers’ approval to participate,

but within a couple of weeks, 500 people

had applied for the first 20 slots.

The power of a global pro bono program

lies in its ability to provide shared value:

benefits to external organizations, a com-

pany’s employees, and multiple depart-

ments of the business. But this can com-

plicate the decision of who should manage

it. Some companies use their program to

focus on leadership development through

the human resources team, or social im-

pact via their corporate foundation. When

Julie created IESC, she didn’t have all the

answers, but she was confident in the de-

mand and was able to get her ‘minimum

viable product’ out the door quickly and

inexpensively. As IESC evolved, it became

clearer what the right ‘home’ was for the

program. This has allowed Intel to expand

the scope of its support while refining its

value proposition for long-time partners

such as Orphans Overseas.

Relationships with teachers like Jane

remain a key indicator of the program’s

on-going impact, as Intel provides no cash

support and continues its engagements

only at the invitation of its clients. “I so

look forward to every visit,” Jane told me.

Intel’s partnership with Orphans Overseas

began with the installation of Classmate

PCs in 2009. This year, a team worked with

Jane and her fellow teachers to introduce a

science-based after-school curriculum for

local girls, responding to a request from

Jorie and aligning with a new Intel initia-

tive to empower girls and women around

the world.

This decade is far from over, and Intel

has a long way to go to reach every person

on earth with technology. With the help of

programs like IESC, Intel can make faster

and more lasting progress, especially in

some of the hardest-to-reach communi-

ties. It’s not easy to design and imple-

ment global pro bono programs that make

a meaningful difference to a company’s

vision, but the end results are well worth

the effort.

IESC’s business-driven model has allowed Intel to harness the generosity of its employees to pursue its corporate vision... to create and extend computing technology to connect and enrich the life of every person on earth.

L inda Kenworthy, IESC Senegal


PYXERA Global ’s Annual Conference Highl ights Powerful Opportunit ies for Companies to Prof i t and Solve Global Problems

CATALYZING GROWTH IN EMERGING MARKETS

Alice Korngold

Global pro bono experience—or

“international corporate volun-

teering” (ICV)—prepares next-

generation leaders to maximize

corporate profits by solving vital problems

in emerging markets. The case for compa-

nies and the world to benefit from global

pro bono was made abundantly clear at

PYXERA Global’s Fifth Annual ICV Confer-

ence held in April in Washington, D.C.

Aptly named “Catalyzing Growth in Emerg-

ing Markets,” the event included a new

“Public-Private Partnership Forum,” and

was attended by hundreds of influential

experts from multinational corporations,

NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations

over the course of two days.

Speakers and panelists from dozens of

companies, including The Dow Chemical

Company, EY, Credit Suisse, IBM, SAP, and

Merck, testified to the experiences of more

than 8,000 employees who have worked in

pro bono across Asia, Africa, Latin America,

and Eastern Europe, to assist educational

institutions, social enterprises, NGOs, and

local governments to be successful. ICV

contributions help their local clients—par-

ticularly in emerging markets—to strength-

en their operations thereby building econo-

mies, providing jobs, expanding access to

healthcare and education, and improving

the quality of air, water, and arable land.

Global Pro Bono is Smart Business

The greatest opportunities for compa-

nies to profit in the next two decades are

in emerging markets, where three billion

people will enter the middle class. Accord-

ing to McKinsey & Company, in Africa alone,

consumer-facing industries will grow by

$400 billion. Women also represent an im-

portant emerging market for companies,

as they will control close to 75 percent of

discretionary spending worldwide in the

next five years.

By helping to develop economies, pre-

pare the workforce, and improve health,

companies are building the capabilities

and capacities of new markets and en-

gaging with valuable new stakeholders:

consumers, employees, and members of

communities where businesses seek to

establish roots.

In developing my recent book, A Bet-ter World, Inc.: How Companies Profit by Solving Global Problems ... Where Govern-ments Cannot (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014),

research revealed that companies are only

successful in profiting by advancing educa-

tion, healthcare, workforce development,

and other vital issues under three condi-

tions: they partner with nonprofits and

sometimes other companies; engage with

stakeholders (the community, employees,

investors, and others affected by the com-

pany’s strategic decisions); and ensure ef-

fective board governance.

The beauty of global pro bono is that

it fulfills all three conditions for compa-

nies to profit by solving global problems.

Through ICV, businesses collaborate with

NGOs, nonprofits, and sometimes other

companies in regions where they seek to

strengthen communities and engage with

stakeholders.

As demonstrated by dozens of speak-

ers from corporations at PYXERA Global’s

conference, global pro bono is uniquely

effective for leadership development. “The

IBM Corporate Service Corps provides an

unparalleled triple benefit: exceptional

leadership development, often touted as

‘life changing;’ outcome-driven, pro bono

problem-solving for communities across

the globe; and terrific insights and rela-

tionship building in emerging markets for

IBM’s business,” said Gina Tesla, Director,

Corporate Citizenship Initiatives, IBM.


HAPPENINGSI contend that ICV alumni possess the

on-the-ground experience that is needed to

lead their companies to become true inno-

vators, and eventually, to rebuild corporate

boards to maximize profit opportunities in

the new global marketplace.

Speakers From Companies Testify to the Benefits of Global Pro Bono

Deborah Holmes, Americas Director of

Corporate Responsibility at EY, who spoke

at the Public-Private Partnership Forum on

livelihoods and leadership, addressed the

question of human capital. “EY supports

entrepreneurs in emerging markets by

lending them our very best resources: our

most talented professionals,” said Holmes.

“We do this because, especially (though

by no means only) in emerging markets,

entrepreneurs create jobs, drive innova-

tion, and strengthen communities.” Holmes

continued to explain that “some of our

work has focused on women entrepreneurs

because we see them as an especially sig-

nificant engine of growth. In the next five

years, the global incomes of women will

grow from $13 trillion to $18 trillion. That

incremental $5 trillion is almost twice the

growth in GDP expected from China and

India combined.”

According to Bo Miller, Global Director of

Corporate Citizenship at Dow and President

of The Dow Chemical Company Foundation,

Dow views the engagement as a way to es-

tablish meaningful relationships and better

understand the economy in a region where

the company will be investing billions of

dollars in building manufacturing plants

that will have a life of 50 to 60 to 100 years.

Dow’s pro bono volunteers help to

advance social enterprises and nonprofit

organizations in East and West Africa that

provide water, sanitation, agriculture, and

energy services. Volunteers bring a variety

of problem-solving expertise and general

capacity-building consulting experience,

such as marketing, IT services, finance,

product design, product development,

business strategy, supply chain, impact

measurement, and market expansion in

new geographies. Not only does Dow’s pro

bono initiative promote promising organi-

zations, it also provides the infrastructure

to develop economies and improve lives

in entire communities.

Paul Tregidgo, Vice Chair and Managing

Director of Debt Capital Markets at Credit

Suisse, who spoke on powering new busi-

ness in new markets at the Forum, drew

an important parallel between employee

participation and local enterprise. “From

an enterprise perspective, global pro bono

brings together two important and inter-

locking pieces of business sustainability:

active engagement with employees and

active engagement with an enterprise’s

local, international and, indeed, virtual

communities.”

Eva Halper, Vice President of Corporate

Citizenship at Credit Suisse, also comment-

ed on the value of community relationships

and economic development. The company’s

volunteers have worked on microfinance

and education projects for five years in

twelve different countries. “For a global

firm, a stable social and economic environ-

ment is key to our long-term success as

a company,” stated Halper. “We see our-

selves as an integral part of society. We

want to work with our partners long term.

We want our relationships to grow and have

an impact.”

Through Merck’s Richard T. Clark Fel-

lowship for World Health, Fellows spend

three months embedded in a nonprofit or-

ganization working intensely on projects

designed to improve the efficiency of op-

erations, effectiveness, and reach of their

NPO partners. “The Fellows embody Merck’s

commitment to bringing greater access to

quality healthcare to people throughout

the world. In addition, the experience they

gain is integral to Merck’s future success

and ability to deliver innovative health so-

lutions to patients and customers around

the world,” said Theresa McCoy, Associate

Director, Corporate Responsibility, Merck

& Co., Inc.

Like others, Credit Suisse underscores

the value of pro bono for leadership devel-

opment. “Our volunteers work in unfamiliar

environments, without their home team for

support. They have to build rapport with

new people in a new culture in order to

problem-solve. This involves practicing, en-

hancing, and developing skills to deal with

change and uncertainty,” explained Halper.

PYXERA Global Has a Vision for the Future

The final word belonged to PYXERA

Global’s visionary CEO, Deirdre White.

“While we are seeing more and more mul-

tinational corporations getting involved in

ICV, this is just a start.” Not only does White

hope to see more companies establish ICV

programs, but her vision is bigger.

“If ICV is so powerful in developing

new styles of leadership at companies,

and building capacity in emerging markets

where companies seek to establish a seri-

ous presence, then ICV needs to scale up

in a more significant way.” White’s vision

is of companies partnering with each other

to help develop local supply chains that are

useful to their industries.

“The ultimate win-win is when com-

pany experts—as international corporate

volunteers—serve as advisors to help local

businesses in emerging markets to become

suppliers to multinational corporations,”

said White. “The experience for the ad-

visors will also help them to understand

the real challenges facing these local busi-

nesses and rethink how they work together,

including finding innovative ways to con-

tract with these businesses,” added White.

With this vision, ICV could help lift en-

tire regions out of poverty, while providing

opportunities for companies to profit and

increase their long-term value.


Mohammed boarded the plane with incredible an-

ticipation. After 10 years as a medical professional,

he was excited to put his training to work serving

overseas. He was at a point in his career where he

had a lot of experience he wanted to share with other people,

but also new skills he wanted to learn.

For much of his life, he had seen people around him serving

overseas and he never thought that he would get the chance. He

applied for the Atlas Corps Fellowship for his opportunity to serve

abroad, to meet leaders from around the world, and to develop

his skills. It seemed like an unlikely dream, with his background,

to be able to fly 7,000 miles from his home and serve overseas,

but now the day had come. His family all came to the airport with

him to say goodbye; they were all so proud that this Sudanese

doctor would serve in the United States for one year at the Susan

G. Komen Foundation, aiding the global fight against breast cancer.

For more than 50 years, Americans have served overseas

through the Peace Corps, educational programs, religious mis-

Atlas Corps Leverages Global Exchange to Redistr ibute Opportunity

Scott Beale

Photos: Atlas Corps

300 FUTURE LEADERS ARE ON A MISSION TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD


sions, voluntourism and more, often with

the desire to make the world a better place.

Outside the United States, there are many

talented, smart people who want to con-

tribute to a better world, but they do not

have the opportunities to develop their

skills in the same way that Americans do by

serving abroad. Talent is evenly distributed

in the world, but opportunity is not. Until

recently, they did not have the visas or

financing to cross borders in service. Atlas

Corps has changed all this by recruiting the

best social-sector professionals from all

over the world to serve in U.S. organiza-

tions—future leaders like Dr. Mohammad

Abdalla from Sudan.

Since 2006, Atlas Corps has supported

300 people from 60 different countries

serving across the United States. Each Fel-

low has between two and 10 years of ex-

perience, is proficient in English, and has

a college degree. These Fellows tend to be

professionals in their late 20s and early

30s. They spend six to 18 months serving

on the team of their host organization and

are simultaneously enrolled in a leadership

development program.

Atlas Corps has partnered with some of

the world’s best organizations to host these

Fellows, including American Red Cross, Acu-

men, Ashoka, CARE, Grameen Foundation,

Mercy Corps, NED, Operation Smile, PYXERA

Global, Save the Children, Special Olympics,

UN Foundation, UNICEF, World Wildlife Fund,

and many more. Atlas Corps’ partners are

usually nonprofits, but private-sector com-

panies, such as McKinsey & Co., Nike, and

American Express, as well as government

agencies, such as the Peace Corps, have

also hosted Atlas Corps Fellows.

By providing opportunities to serve with

these organizations, share best practices,

and form networks, Atlas Corps is invest-

ing in the next generation of social change

leaders.

Atlas Corps applauds President Obama’s

Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) be-

cause it focuses attention on the next

generation of men and women in Africa

ready to make a difference in their com-

munities. Nearly 50,000 people applied for

the YALI Washington Fellows in 2014, of

whom 500 have the chance to come to the

United States for six weeks, and another

100 to stay for an additional eight-week

internship.

This focus on next-generation leaders is

exactly what Africa, the United States, and

the world need, but the short-term nature

of this exchange has three major shortcom-

ings: such opportunities are too short, too

expensive, and too reliant on Americans

teaching Africans, with too little emphasis

on a reciprocal exchange of ideas. By pro-

viding more opportunities for one-sided

exchange, it is as if the U.S. government

has realized that opportunity is not evenly

distributed but has failed to see that talent

is. Bringing Africans to learn from Ameri-

cans without acknowledging what Ameri-

cans can learn from them is only slightly

better than sending Americans to Africa to

teach them skills in their own country. The

YALI program does not effectively leverage

the skills that the African fellows bring with

them to the United States.

Atlas Corps is built on a complementary,

but radically different, model that recogniz-

es how much Africans have to contribute to

their host organizations and proposes long-term service for sustainable, high-impact

leadership development. Atlas Corps has

also developed a public-private partnership

model that makes the experience afford-

able and desirable for host organizations

and Fellows alike. A one-year fellowship

costs $45,000; a host organization such as

Susan G. Komen pays $30,000 for the op-

portunity to host a Sudanese doctor for one

year, covering two thirds of the costs. Atlas

Corps’ generous donors make up the bal-

CITIZEN DIPLOMACY

Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.

FORMER PEACE CORPS

DIRECTOR, AARON

WILLIAMS WITH NIGERIAN

ATLAS CORPS FELLOW,

GBENGA OGUNJIMI


ance. With this innovative business model,

Atlas Corps is fundamentally altering the

status quo and future potential of interna-

tional exchange.

The talents of Atlas Corps Fellows are

unique and diverse; Mohammad is only

one of 300 colleagues with equally inspiring

stories of serving abroad. Kate, a human-

rights lawyer from Kenya, is currently serv-

ing at the Nike Foundation in Portland. She

brought her experience empowering teen-

age girls in Nairobi to Nike to help them im-

prove their girls’ leadership programs. Tom,

a Fellow from Uganda, served at the U.S.

Peace Corps headquarters, using his experi-

ence working for World Vision in Uganda to

strengthen the Peace Corps’ Africa office in

Washington, D.C. After his year of service,

he returned home to address environmen-

tal issues in Kampala. Zhirayr from Armenia

became an Atlas Corps Fellow to develop

his management skills and prepare him for

greater leadership roles. Four years after

returning to Armenia, he was hired as the

Country Director for World Vision Armenia—

the first Armenian to serve in a leading role

historically held by an expat.

The experiences of these Fellows prove

the founding concept of Atlas Corps: talent

is evenly distributed, but opportunity is

not. In Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Armenia—

indeed, everywhere in the world—there

are talented, smart people who want to

make the world a better place. The great-

est insight from Atlas Corps is that these

young leaders not only want to learn skills,

but they also want to share their insights,

experiences, and talents. These young lead-

ers are not asking to be recipients of aid,

but rather to be partners in development.

This requires a new mindset towards ex-

change that is closer to the way the private

sector leverages global talent to advance

profit margins. To achieve this goal, the

social sector must more effectively em-

power young professionals everywhere in

the world to gain the skills, knowledge,

and experience they need to advance the

common good.

The plethora of programs launched in

recent years to encourage youth exchange

are a boon for this mandate, but at Atlas

Corps, we believe that this is just the start.

To have the desired effect, a more com-

prehensive strategy must leverage public-

private partnerships, embrace long-term

exchange, and truly value the skills and

experiences these leaders already bring to

their term of service.

At the end of his 18-month fellowship,

Mohammed returned to Sudan as Susan G.

Komen’s Regional Manager, responsible for

leading the development and execution of

the foundation’s strategy in Africa. A young

African doctor now holds a prestigious post

in a U.S.-based organization. Empowered to

address women’s health on his continent

and equipped with international networks

and an understanding of American culture,

he can work with U.S. partners, not just for U.S. donors. African leaders with profes-

sional experience in the United States have

the ability to fortify the future of both Africa

and America. So begins a process of global

partnership that will create a network of

future leaders ready to address the world’s

most pressing challenges. By creating a

world in which talent and opportunity are

equality distributed, long-term, sustainable

social progress becomes inevitable in the

United States, Africa, and beyond.

By creating

a world in

which talent

and opportunity

are equality

distributed, long-

term, sustainable

social progress

becomes

inevitable in the

United States,

Africa, and

beyond. At las Corps fe l lows Maisoon Ibrahim from Sudan and Natasha Uppal f rom India.

Photo: Atlas Corps



A Signature Initiative of PYXERA Global

@MBAsWB

“This is my o�ce.”

#ThisIsMyO�ce

Jessica Custer, an MBAs Without Borders Advisor in Kerala, India, brainstorms with the Kara Weaves sta�s on ways to integrate the natural beauty of Kerala into the design of local artisans’ handwoven products to reach more consumers in new markets.

MBAs Without Borders sends business professionals into frontier markets to utilize and adapt the latest management tools and techniques to fuel economic growth.

Where will your next meeting be?

www.MBAsWithoutBorders.org

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

MBAs Without Borders_Jessica Custer.pdf 1 7/24/14 5:31 PM

HAPPENINGS

This spring, leaders in international education at Drake

University invited the Center for Citizen Diplomacy to give

an undergraduate workshop on the theory and practice

of citizen diplomacy. Afterward, one student evaluation

offered the following definition:

“Citizen diplomacy is the right and responsibility of all people

to engage in cross-cultural, person-to-person interactions that

create some greater shared understanding.” I was thrilled to read

this response because it so closely reflects how the Center talks

about citizen diplomacy as a tool for global engagement. It was

exciting to see undergraduate students at my alma mater not only

embrace the concept, but also feel empowered by it.

The workshop, designed for undergraduate students with

internationally-focused majors and held at Drake University in

Des Moines, Iowa, was called “Citizen Diplomacy: How to Be More

Relatable, Likeable, and Employable.” It sought to deliver big ideas

in engaging ways to university students in a single afternoon.

Learning objectives for the workshop were threefold: create an

understanding of citizen diplomacy and its value to personal

and professional development; connect students to resources,

particularly on campus, to be engaged global citizens; and inspire

a higher level of student empowerment to act with purpose as

globally fluent citizen diplomats.

Through ice breaker activities, story sharing, short lectures,

videos, and other interactive exercises, I spent four hours with

about two dozen students exploring what it means to be an en-

gaged citizen of the world, and how concepts like citizen diplomacy

and global fluency are powerful forces in building and sustaining

a secure, economically sound, and socially interconnected planet.

These ideas matter at both a macro and micro level. For exam-

ple, presenting statistics about how dependent the U.S. economy

is on global demand is all fine and good, but what soon-to-be

college graduates really want to know is how they are going to

get jobs after graduation. Young ears perk up when you mention

that employers like Google, Apple, and the State Department want

to hire globally fluent individuals who thrive when collaborating

with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and different ways of

operating.

When exploring concepts of engaged citizenship and citizen di-

plomacy, it’s vital to realize these aren’t just ‘nice ideas’ that make

the world a better place but have practical application in terms

of finding and retaining employment. That message resonates

By Laura Asiala

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM OF THE WORLD

Students Learn the Power of a Global Mindset

Matt Clark


with college students who want to know

how to succeed in the global marketplace.

These students want careers that are not

only personally satisfying, but that also

pay the bills and allow them to support

themselves while putting the skills they

learned in school to use. All soon-to-be

college graduates want to make sure the

walls on which they’ll hang those expen-

sive diplomas aren’t in a guestroom of their

parents’ basement.

Returning to the evaluation forms from

this pilot workshop, I again look at the

reflections of the student who summarized

her definition of citizen diplomacy so well.

That same participant rated her under-

standing of citizen diplomacy as a “2” on

a scale of one to five before the workshop

started. After the workshop, she rated both

her understanding of citizen diplomacy and

her feeling of empowerment to engage as

a global citizen at the “5” level.

Her responses—and those of the other

students from Drake—reinforce what we

believe to be true: college students can be

extraordinarily effective citizen diplomats.

With opportunities to study abroad

and interact with international students

on campus, as well as a nearly constant

use of social media platforms that connect

them to information and peers around the

world, college students have the poten-

tial to be globally engaged every day. We

simply need to show them the benefits of

operating in a globally fluent community,

and inspire them to act with purpose.

One of my favorite activities from the

workshop was the ‘speed dating’ session.

At each station, participants learned a tra-

ditional greeting from a different culture,

practiced a word or phrase in another lan-

guage, were invited to an event on campus

where they could continue to engage with

peers from other countries, and were pre-

sented with a small gift as a token of this

interaction.

In one session, we practiced the cor-

rect angle to bow to a new colleague in

Japan, learned how to say, “Nice to meet

you” in Japanese, were invited to a tea

ceremony, and were presented with a small

origami crane. Every few minutes the speed

dating bell rang and participants engaged

with new peers who taught them some-

thing about life in Malaysia, France, China,

Kenya, and elsewhere.

The point of the speed dating activity

was to connect students to resources avail-

able to them right on their own campus,

and also to demonstrate how easy it is to

engage with the world beyond our borders,

even in our own backyard. Not everyone

can spend a semester abroad, but there

are any number of ways to become a more

globally fluent individual at home.

During the fourth attempt of one stu-

dent to learn the polite way to say “thank

you” in Mongolian during a speed dating

round, her beaming peer from Mongolia

exclaimed, “There you go! You got it!” The

Drake student smiled back and said, “Yeah?

I got it!”

Yes, in that moment she did get it. She

learned a new word, true, but she also

learned how easy it is to make a genuine

connection with someone who has some-

thing new to teach you. She experienced

how good and empowering it feels to be

a part of the world beyond your own little

bubble.

She got it.

When exploring concepts of engaged citizenship and citizen diplomacy, it’s vital to realize these aren’t just ‘nice ideas’ that make the world a better place but have practical application in terms of finding and retaining

employment.


Power A f r i ca Takes Off and Africa’s Future Grows Brighter

ETHIOPIA: POWER AFRICA IN FOCUS

AROUND THE WORLD

Amanda MacArthur


Recently, I was sitting in a hotel boardroom in Addis

Ababa, Ethiopia, with a team of executives from a

major pharmaceutical company who were seeking to

gain a better understanding of local challenges and

opportunities. Over the course of 20 minutes, the power came

and went five times. Each time, a momentary pause and a

nervous chuckle would follow, and then the hotel generator

would quickly kick on and we would continue. The disruption,

while frustrating, was minimal. As we had spent much of the

day in parts of Addis where a generator is a major luxury

item, the stuttering lights made me think about the impact

this type of interruption has on daily life. From the student

who can’t finish her homework, to the entrepreneur unable to

generate product, to hospitals and clinics unable to maintain

life-saving drugs at a constant temperature, the challenges

associated with unreliable power have a ripple effect that

undermine economic growth.

When two-thirds of those living in sub-Saharan Africa,

including 85 percent of those living in rural areas, lack access

to power, the negative impact isn’t just a ripple effect; it’s a

tidal wave. As I sat in the flickering light, I wondered how a

country like Ethiopia, which has made dramatic development

gains over the past several years, can be expected to reach its

full potential until this critical issue is addressed. The answer

is simple—it can’t.

“Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in

this age. It’s the light that children study by, the energy that

allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It’s the

lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs, and it’s

the connection that is needed to plug Africa into the grid of

the global economy.”

With these words, President Barack Obama launched the

initiative to “Power Africa” in 2013 at Cape Town University,

with the intent to double access to power in sub-Saharan

Africa over the next five years.

To fulfill this commitment, the U.S. government has pledged

more than $7 billion in financial support through USAID, OPIC,

U.S. Export-Import Bank, The Millennium Challenge Corpora-

tion, The U.S. African Development Foundation, and the U.S.

Trade and Development Agency—a rare level of collaboration

and commitment across agencies. This pledge includes sig-

nificant funding for U.S. exports that will support the develop-

ment of power projects across Africa, as well as the financing,

insurance, and technical assistance needed to help African

governments attract additional private-sector investment.

Power Africa is, to date, one of the farthest reaching public-

private partnerships the United States has ever initiated. In “The Earth at Night” | NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

Seventy percent of the population o f s u b - S a h a r a n A f r i c a — 6 0 0 mi l l ion people , twice the U.S . populat ion—do not have access to e lectr ic i ty.

%70T h e N e w G l o b a l C i t i z e n | S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 NGC 49

addition to the $7 billion from the U.S. government, almost $15

billion in added private-sector funds have been secured, sup-

porting smaller or off-grid projects.

Less than 50 percent of Ethiopia’s population of over 90 mil-

lion has consistent access to electricity and just over 80 percent

live in rural areas. Yet, its economic growth rate hovers just

above seven percent per year and its government is hungry for

investment to drive much needed infrastructure growth. Within

these realities, it is no mystery why Ethiopia was so eager to

support the first Power Africa agreement, signed in September

of 2013. The project, which will cost an estimated $4 billion and

take eight to 10 years to reach completion, is the first indepen-

dent power project in Ethiopia’s history. Once complete, it will

be the largest geo-thermal plant in Africa.

Because so much of Ethiopia’s population lives in rural areas,

the opportunities for off-grid generation are equally significant;

the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association reports the market po-

tential at nearly $9 billion. A number of initiatives are seeking

to fill the market, including the construction of solar villages,

training for solar technicians, distribution of solar lanterns, and

the establishment of rural solar centers to support generation

unit installation, maintenance, and servicing. As of September

2013, Clean Technica reported that Ethiopia had funded the

installation of more than 13,000 off-grid solar power systems in

a 10-month period.

As more Power Africa projects get underway, investors and

governments can seize the opportunity to engineer such invest-

ment to deliver a parallel return: jobs. Power Africa has the

potential to not just turn on the lights, but ignite an engine of

much greater economic growth spurred by enterprise and em-

A NEIGHBORHOOD IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA MAKES DO WITHOUT ACCESS TO THE GRID


ployment. The private sector can and should play an equally active

role in building local capacity as do donors like USAID.

Such efforts can be modeled on the lessons learned by the extrac-

tive industry in engaging with and building the capacity of locally-

owned businesses in their supply chains. Too often, extractive op-

erators wait until a project has entered the operations phase before

considering local employment, missing an opportunity to employee

15,000 or more people in the construction phase. Determined not to

miss such an opportunity, one operator in Mozambique has taken

an innovative approach as it builds out its liquid natural gas plant,

investing in building the capacity of local firms before construction

even begins. A similar model is possible for the power generation

sector—ensuring local catering, transport, and engineering services

firms alike are all well-prepared to bid on, win, and successfully

implement power-related contracts.

While the above approach is probably most appropriate for more

traditional power generation sites with significant physical infrastruc-

ture, an enormous amount of electricity will need to be generated, at

least in the medium term, to meet the mostly rural needs of much of

the continent. Much of this off-grid power generation will be driven

by small-scale operators and social entrepreneurs—many of whom

could benefit from the skills and expertise of the global private sector.

Large corporations, whose product or industry may not in any

way relate to power, have the opportunity to support these efforts by

leveraging their greatest asset—their human capital—through global

pro bono programs, providing opportunities for employees to use their

skills and expertise to enhance the capacity of local power-generating

organizations through deliverable-driven assignments. Such programs

are a relatively low-cost way to support economic growth while also

discovering new insights into local markets.

Companies like The Dow Chemical Company and IBM—both of

which see significant investment opportunity in the country—are

already bringing their talent to bear, partnering to build the capacity

of organizations through their respective Leadership in Action and

Corporate Service Corps activities taking place in Ethiopia this summer.

Increasing access to and reliability of electricity will improve

learning conditions, modes of communication, and access to health-

care, while fostering greater productivity in essentially every pocket

of African industry. The Power Africa initiative is an important step

towards creating this type of meaningful and sustainable growth, but

it depends on a mutual commitment from governments of African

nations, the private sector, and international development organiza-

tions to be truly successful.

Back in the board room, the lights continued to flicker and the

generator continued to kick on and off, but glancing out the win-

dow, the energy and entrepreneurial spirit on the street below was

palpable. Ethiopia, as much of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, is a

country on the rise. Bridging the energy gap will only provide greater

momentum as it powers toward a brighter future.

Increasing access to and

reliability of electricity will

improve learning conditions,

modes of communication, and

access to health care, while

fostering greater productivity

in essentially every pocket of

African industry.


A COALITION OF DEDICATED PARTNERS FOSTERS MATERNAL SURVIVAL IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Rebecca Mil ler

SAVINGMOTHERS,

GIVING

Photos: Anne Jennings for

Saving Mothers, Giving Life

LIFE


A 19-year-old woman, five months pregnant, urgently

needed to see a doctor, but the nearest medical facility

was an hour-long drive away. Living in rural Zambia,

public transportation was non-existent and the obvious

solution—getting in a car—was also unavailable. The only acces-

sible form of transport was a bike or an ox-cart, both of which

were unmanageable in her condition. In Zambia, the patient-to-

physician ratio is 8,300 to one and one in 37 women is likely to

die from a pregnancy or childbirth complication during her life

time. The odds were already stacked against her; the chances of

her survival were slim.

Fortunately, in this rare instance, Jaron Link, one of Merck’s

Richard T. Clark Fellows, and a team from Boston University’s Center

for Global Health and Development, were nearby and available

to drive the woman and her mother to a clinic in the back of a

pick-up truck. Despite the scorching 90°F heat and the unpaved

and bumpy roads, they made it. Not the ideal situation for an

expectant mother in need of urgent healthcare, but ultimately

one that likely saved her life.

The Challenges of Childbirth in Rural Zambia

The Netherlands, Jaron’s home, has a maternal mortality ratio

of six in 100,000 live births resulting in death, making the dire

circumstances many Zambian mothers face even more striking.

Zambia ranks 156th in the world for maternal mortality due to high

birth rates and a lack of access to affordable and quality health

care. According to the WHO, in Africa the two leading causes of

death related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth are

post-partum hemorrhage and hypertensive disorders such as

preeclampsia—accounting for 33.9 percent and 9.1 percent of

maternal deaths respectively. The tragedy is that these deaths

can be prevented.

When a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, her baby is

twice as likely to die before the age of two and her other children

are 10 times more likely to leave school, suffer from poor health,

or die at an early age, creating grave implications for communities

that lack access to health services.

Adolescents are at particular risk for poor maternal health

outcomes. Girls aged 15 to 19 are far more likely to suffer from

complications from pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, this is the

leading cause of death for girls in the age bracket. Furthermore,

stillbirths and newborn deaths are twice as common in infants

born to adolescent mothers. Maternal mortality has an indelible

ripple effect that can undermine development and growth in

less-developed corners of the world. In countries like Zambia,

pregnancy and childbirth is often a life-changing event in more

ways than one.

Partners in Maternal Survival

In 2000, the United Nations Secretary General announced the

fifth Millennium Development Goal, pledging to reduce the mater-

nal mortality ratio by three quarters and later added an additional

goal: achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

While maternal mortality rates have declined by 47 percent since

1990, with one year remaining, achieving these goals remains

out of reach.

To reach these benchmarks, international leaders have enlisted

a broad commitment from both the public and private sector. Sav-

ing Mothers Giving Life is an ambitious five-year public-private

partnership to rapidly reduce maternal mortality in sub-Saharan

Africa. The partnership’s founding members include the U.S. Gov-

ernment, Merck for Mothers, The American College of Obstetri-

cians and Gynecologists, the Government of Norway, Every Mother

Counts, and Project C.U.R.E. The partnership’s interventions focus

specifically on the critical period of labor, delivery, and the first 48

hours post-partum, when most maternal deaths and approximately

half of newborn deaths occur.

With the active engagement and support of the governments of

Zambia and Uganda, Saving Mothers, Giving Life has been piloting

various approaches to strengthen health services, including equip-

ping facilities and improving the ability of healthcare providers

to manage obstetric emergencies, ensuring the availability of es-

sential supplies and drugs, and shoring up referral and transporta-

tion systems that enable women to reach a childbirth facility in

a timely manner. In just one year, maternal mortality fell sharply

(30 percent in target districts in Uganda and 35 percent in target

facilities in Zambia) and the proportion of women who gave birth

in a health care facility rose significantly (62 percent increase in

Uganda and 35 percent increase in Zambia). Another approach

It’s heartbreaking that in 2014 women continue to die during pregnancy and childbirth. Merck is committed to making childbirth a celebration, not a tragedy—as is too often the case in many areas around the world. - Dr. Naveen Rao, Merck for Mothers

AROUND THE WORLD


that proved to be highly effective was the

training of Safe Motherhood Action Groups

in the four pilot districts in Zambia. These

groups work with couples in their respec-

tive villages to encourage early antenatal

care and assist in developing birth plans.

The Human Capital Impact

Additionally, Merck has established a

10-year, $500 million initiative to reduce ma-

ternal mortality around the world through

Merck for Mothers. “It’s heartbreaking that

in 2014 women continue to die during preg-

nancy and childbirth,” says Dr. Naveen Rao,

the Lead for Merck for Mothers. “Merck is

committed to making childbirth a celebra-

tion, not a tragedy—as is too often the case

in many areas around the world.”

One area Merck for Mothers is exploring

to save women’s lives focuses on making it

easier for women to give birth in a facility.

Maternity homes, or mother shelters as

they are colloquially referred to in Zambia,

are residences near a healthcare facility

where women from remote areas can stay

in late stages of pregnancy until they go

into labor.

Merck for Mothers is collaborating

with Boston University, Africare, Jhpiego

and others in developing new models of

these waiting homes to make them finan-

cially and operationally sustainable. Jaron

used his expertise in finance and business

planning to help the team understand the

utility and feasibility of maternal waiting

homes as a sustainable solution to improve

maternal health.

Jaron is just one of 13 Richard T. Clark

Fellows Merck has deployed to countries

seeking to reduce their incidence of mater-

nal mortality for three-month assignments

with six organizations across India, Zambia,

and Uganda in 2013. “The Fellowship pro-

gram enables employees to meaningfully

contribute to Merck’s commitment to im-

prove global health outcomes,” says Brian

Grill, Executive Vice President of the Merck

Foundation. “It bolsters Merck for Mother’s

commitment to a world where no woman

dies while giving birth.”

Since returning to the Netherlands, Ja-

ron’s conviction in the power of mother

shelters still holds, but he believes this

approach should be complemented by

further investment in infrastructure and

transportation. Paving thousands of miles

is extremely costly and will take at least

another 20 years; in the meantime, it’s im-

portant to chip away at realizable achieve-

ments, like providing more mothers with

access to maternity homes.

Another cross-sector initiative, the Pub-

lic Health Institute’s Global Health Fellows-II

program, funded by USAID, is strengthening

health systems by engaging a diverse group

of global health experts at all levels in fel-

lowships and internships with USAID and

partner organizations. As of 2014, Merck

and other multinational corporations have

provided $2.17 million of in-kind support

through corporate volunteerism programs

like the Richard T. Clark Fellowship for World

Health. GHFP-II’s Global Health Champions

increase the expertise of their partners by

linking corporations to USAID’s strategy

with hopes of creating new synergies that

address complex global health challenges.

A coordinated effort among the public,

private, and social sectors to research and

understand the cycle of maternal and child

mortality, and collaboratively undertake the

implementation of proven interventions,

will be the driving force for sustainable

approaches that meet local needs.

IN JUST ONE

YEAR, MATERNAL

MORTALITY FELL

35 PERCENT

IN FACILITIES

IN ZAMBIA

TARGETED BY THE

PUBLIC-PRIVATE

PARTNERSHIP,

SAVING MOTHERS,

GIVING LIFE.


Sp

on

so

red

Co

nte

nt

For more than 150 years, a very special passion has driven the people of Merck. Our goal is to develop medicines, vaccines, consumer care and animal health innovations that will improve the lives of millions. Still, we know there is much more to be done. And we’re doing it, with a long-standing commitment to research and development. We’re just as committed to expanding access to healthcare and working with others who share our passion to create a healthier world. Together, we’ll meet that challenge. With all our heart.

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS MAY COME OUT OF THE LAB.BUT THEY BEGIN IN THE HEART.

For more information about getting Merck medicines and vaccines for free, visit merckhelps.com or call 800-727-5400. Copyright © 2012 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved. CORP-1060080-0002 12/12

MerckAd_Lab_Full_Clr.indd 1 12/20/12 12:44 PM

I landed in Accra, Ghana in early January 1992 amidst the dusty harmattan to start the spring

semester of my junior year. A dynamic and opinionated advisor from the now-defunct

United States Information Agency received me at the airport and I soon found myself at the

University of Ghana administrative offices, standing in line for my student ID photo and my

dormitory room assignment. I decided to study abroad early during a challenging sophomore

year at Swarthmore College, but because I had waited until late fall to make my decision to

apply for this spring program, I needed to wait until spring of my junior year to actually travel.

I could barely contain my excitement that the moment had finally arrived.

Over the course of the semester, I found myself repeatedly readying payment for my se-

mester abroad, only to find that nobody seemed to want my tuition money. Swarthmore didn’t

charge me for this semester abroad and, as it would turn out five months later, neither did

the University of Ghana.

The daughter of the Chancellor of the University of Ghana had recently studied at Swarth-

more. This personal connection gave birth to an informal arrangement only two years young

between the two schools to provide study abroad exchange for American and Ghanaian students

between the universities. This was a very informal arrangement.

The Bureaucratic Legacy of Education Partnerships

Do institutional partnerships always start so informally? Actually, they

often start—and end—too formally. Mounds of memoranda of understanding

ceremoniously signed and carefully archived gather dust at schools across

the globe. As one university president recently told me at a conference,

“An MOU is so often like getting engaged without getting married. People

keep hoping and hoping that something will happen, but going beyond

is expensive.”

This is especially true in the Americas. According to the most recent

Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, 526,000 students

from Asia study in the United States annually, compared with 67,000 from

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). There were more students from

South Korea studying in the United States (71,000) than from the entire LAC

region combined, and more students from Vietnam studying in the United

States (16,000) than from Mexico (14,000), the third-largest U.S. trading

AROUND THE WORLD

STUDY ABROAD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINKMatt Clausen

If we’re serious about building a 21st century workforce, then we’re going to have to build knowledge

and relationships that reach across borders. And that’s how we’re going

to create new jobs and develop new markets, explore new ideas,

and unleash the hemisphere’s

extraordinary opportunity.

- President Barack Obama


100,000 Strong in the Americas Partnership Transforms U.S.-Latin America Exchange

partner and the anchor of the now $1 trillion NAFTA trade pact.

These figures represent strong and commendable integration

of higher educational efforts between the United States and Asia,

but a poor base upon which to build increasingly integrated econo-

mies in the Americas. The LAC region, with 275 million people,

recently welcomed more than 50 million into the middle class;

these Western Hemispheric neighbors receive 40 percent of U.S.

trade, and the region is on track to become the world’s energy

hub. Yet, despite these statistics, of the few U.S. students who

study abroad, only one in six do so within Latin America.

Lessons from the Global Classroom

Unlike approximately 99 percent of U.S. four-year degree stu-

dents, I was fortunate enough to have and to take the opportunity

to study abroad in a non-traditional country. Currently, nearly

one-third of U.S. students who study abroad do so in the United

Kingdom, Italy, or Spain. I chose Ghana because there was a

casual, inadvertent relationship between two higher educational

institutions and because my school encouraged students to study

abroad; to this day, about 40 percent of Swarthmore students

choose to do so.

I learned more valuable life skills in one semester in Ghana

than in all of my college years up to that point. Yet, jumping into

a trimester system with little context for the learning environ-

ment, I learned much more outside the classroom than I did in

it. I distributed surveys to Ghanaian students about their views

of the United States and the Gulf War. I took drumming classes. I

wrote profusely—and not that well—about each. Later, I had to fight

for my credits in order to graduate because the credits from my

study abroad courses didn’t automatically transfer to my home

institution, though I ultimately received the credits I needed to

graduate on time.

In the long term, although I didn’t know it at the time, my

study abroad experience would set the foundation for my career

in international engagement.

“Educational exchange is increasingly a gateway for more

than cultural understanding—it also helps open doorways to new

opportunities for employment and economic growth,” notes Ben


Rhodes, Assistant to the President and

Deputy National Security Advisor for Stra-

tegic Communications and Speechwriting

at the White House.

One study even correlates students’

multicultural engagement with the number

of job offers they received following their

program and recent analysis by the Insti-

tute of International Education reveals a

promising trend that the greatest increase

in field of study for U.S. students studying

abroad is in engineering, agriculture and

health among others, fields in which stu-

dents are likely to more easily find greater

job prospects.

What prevents more long-term partner-

ships between colleges and universities in

the United States and their neighbors in

the Western Hemisphere? Why do students

and faculty so willingly travel the well-worn

paths between Western Europe and the

United States and venture so slowly, if at

all, into other regions?

Cracking the Education Partnership Code

NAFSA, the Association of Internation-

al Educators, has been researching and

wrestling with the challenges of intra-

hemisphere exchange for years. Partners

of the Americas has been quietly building

long-term partnerships for 50 years—a great

number of which are between colleges and

universities—sometimes without realizing

the incredible durability of these alliances.

Foreign governments such as Brazil, Mexi-

co, Ecuador, and many others in the region

have been investing heavily in recent years

in scholarship programs.

In 2011, President Obama announced

the 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative.

Two years later, and following more than a

year of partnership dialogue, Partners of

the Americas, NAFSA, and the U.S. Depart-

ment of State—implementing the initiative

at the request of the White House—signed

a partnership agreement to promote the

initiative and to create the 100,000 Strong

in the Americas Innovation Fund. The In-

novation Fund seeks to invest up to $10

million annually to deepen the relationship

between educational institutions across the

Western Hemisphere over the course of this

decade. The three institutions aim to work

together to build and rebuild the engines

of connectivity by inviting and rewarding

institutional innovation. This new synergy

will fuel and accelerate student flow by

re-wiring partnerships, reducing barriers,

and accelerating what works. Additional

programs and institutions will complement

the three-way partnership through a strate-

gic combination of scholarships and other

multi-sector approaches.

The Innovation Fund doesn’t make

large grants—most are between $20,000

and $60,000—but the incentive it provides

for institutions to articulate innovations

to increase study abroad in the Americas

has dramatically exceeded expectations,

and thus far every $1 invested has lever-

aged $1.70 of additional investment from

colleges and universities and their partners

across the Western Hemisphere.

Thus far, more than 875 institutions

have registered for the 100,000 Strong in

the Americas Innovation Network. Contri-

butions from Freeport McMoRan Copper &

Gold Foundation and Santander Universi-

ties, a division of Santander Bank, togeth-

er with initial capacity-building resources

from the U.S. Department of State, have

drawn 257 applications for only 22 available

innovation grants. Two more competitions

are scheduled for 2014—one supported by

the Exxon Mobil Corporation, and one by

the Coca-Cola Foundation.

Innovation Through Education in Action

For most schools, a modest outside

investment, strong institutional support,

and an innovative leader inside the school

can build a program in an impactful way.

A great example that has been funded by

the partnership is Northampton Commu-

nity College’s practical learning initiative

in Peru, which positions students to use

their skills for global community impact,

which also makes them more employable

upon their return.

“Implementing Sustainable Energy Sys-

tems in Developing Communities,” was the

brainchild of Northampton Community

College (NCC) Associate Professor Chris-

tine Armstrong, NCC’s first overseas class

project. As part of their project, a group

of 10 students and faculty helped Peru’s

Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (UNT) and

an NGO, WindAid, build a wind turbine.

Standing nearly 16,000 feet above sea level,

it was recognized by the Guinness Book of

World Records as the “highest altitude wind

turbine in the world.”

Long-term sustainability of the initiative

is based on the strong inter-institutional

We’re trying to create a synergy. A new synergy with sectors, charities, universities, and all the governments in the hemisphere, to invest in sending students to and from the United States, to lower the financial and logistical and language and informational barriers that now stand in the way.

- Vice President Joe Biden


partnership established with UNT. UNT faculty and administrators

will be going to NCC in October to deepen the partnership, leading

to a two-way exchange. Seven students and two NCC faculty mem-

bers left in May for the second year of the project. The students

come from a broad background: nursing, HVAC, construction man-

agement, electromechanical technology, and biological sciences.

“Our students come back with experience in project manage-

ment, problem-solving, teamwork and specific skills in sustainable

energy planning,” said Manny Gonzalez, NCC’s associate dean

and director of international studies. “Their weeks of study and

work have a lasting impact not only on their employability but

also empower in multiple ways a poor community high in the

Peruvian Andes.”

Every student learns about welding, metal fabrication, and

carbon fiber blade construction from NGO partner WindAid and

NCC’s own team. Beyond building and installing the wind turbine,

the NCC students are helping wire the town, teaching residents

how to maintain a small power plant.

“We have a decent international program as a community col-

lege but we see this grant as a way to bring sustainability to our

Peru program,” said Nathan Carpenter, the project’s coordinator.

“It appears as a model that works in all our grant applications

and we will be running it again next year without 100,000 Strong

in the Americas funds but with the strong support of NCC’s own

educational foundation.”

The NCC model will now become an example for other commu-

nity colleges, which now serve about half of the higher education

students in the United States. In order to expand the number of

those studying abroad in the Americas—or anywhere—the United

States must support initiatives that are accessible to community

college students.

Education Seeds Productivity and Economic Growth

Long-term partnerships often have serendipitous and informal

beginnings that should be celebrated on par with those that are

developed through formal proposals. Innovative arrangements that

show impactful results serve as shareable models with others,

increasing the likelihood of institutional tipping points in which

student mobility increases exponentially because the question

changes from “why would we?” to “why wouldn’t we?” Students

themselves will then be the best ambassadors of change and

integration, and with more students studying abroad and more

effectively entering the workforce because of it, more will want

to follow.

A relatively modest, yet extraordinarily strategic, private-sector

investment serves as a positive, disruptive force that allows in-

novative partnerships to emerge and scale, increasing educational

collaboration in the Americas. Through innovation, investment,

and a little bit of good luck, 100,000 Strong in the Americas is

preparing a more engaged and competitive workforce across the

Western Hemisphere.

STUDENTS FROM

NORTHAMPTON

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

WORK WITH PERU’S

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL

DE TRUJILLO AND

WINDAID TO BUILD THE

HIGHEST WIND TURBINE

IN THE WORLD.


AROUND THE WORLD

mostly because we don’t have something to counter it.

But in reality, the government, especially government at

the subnational level, has worked hard to try to overcome

the legislative challenges, eliminate the bottlenecks, and

ensure that it is easier to do business in Nigeria. By the

time the World Bank puts out its next report, I hope it will

reflect positively on this progress.

Security is an area where Nigeria has not made the prog-

ress needed for business to thrive. This is a critical challenge,

but there is a significant government commitment and many

resources are being directed at strengthening security. It is

also significant that for the first time, the Government of

Nigeria has sought assistance from other nations, including

Nigeria is now the largest economy in Africa—what are the opportunities ahead for partnership and growth?

Nigeria is a huge market. By size, it is five countries in

one, more or less, so for any business, the market is there.

And then there is our growing democracy. We certainly have

our challenges, but we have come a very long way from our

authoritarian past. Nigeria’s democracy is becoming more

mature—elected leaders coming from different backgrounds,

not just the elite. The last thing is that, like it or not, we have

the oil resources. We are the number-one producer of oil in

Africa and the fifth- or sixth-largest exporter to the United

States. In short, opportunities abound!

A lot of stereotypes prevail about the difficulties of doing business in Africa, and especially in Nigeria. To what extent are these true or not? What implications does this have?

That is a very interesting question. A World Bank report

several years ago laid out all the challenges around business

environment, taxation, land ownership, and other legisla-

tion as well as security challenges. That report drives most

people’s understanding of Nigeria’s business environment.

When the World Bank says something, we all tend to agree,

Nigeria Spotlight: An Interview with Ann Oden


AROUND THE WORLDthe United States, to bring resources, skills-transfer and

intelligence to help us resolve this challenge.

What guidance can you offer foreign businesses interested in doing business in Nigeria?

They need to come in with an open mind and not rely

on stereotypes presented in the international press. It might

be worthwhile for these foreign businesses to do early re-

connaissance on the opportunities that they wish to invest

in. One way I’ve seen this done well is through global pro

bono initiatives, such as IBM’s Corporate Service Corps and

Smarter Cities Challenge programs. These programs provide

excellent insights and help business leaders understand

how to be successful in Nigeria. At the same time, they

contributed real social value by advising local governments

and NGOs on how to solve some of their core challenges

in service delivery.

It’s critical for foreign businesses to find a good local

partner that can help them navigate the Nigerian context,

which is a critical part of a local security strategy, as these

partners have the best sense of risk and safety. These

local entities can be vetted through the Investment Promo-

tion Commission, which directs investors to credible local

partners.

How does Nigeria’s great wealth of natural resources figure into the country’s future? Is it a blessing or a curse?

Until recently, we were the only oil producer in our

neighborhood. Now the newer producers, like Ghana, are

saying, “Let’s look at Nigeria and learn from their mistakes.”

We would certainly prefer not to be held up as the negative

example, but that is certainly an understandable position.

While we cannot say that the oil has been exclusively a

curse since it has kept our economy afloat, there do seem

to be more curses than blessings to date. The oil has been

a curse, in no small part, because we had no one to learn

from, especially regarding environmental degradation, and

allocation of oil resources and revenues. There is a current

national dialogue afoot and resource allocation is a key issue

that is being discussed, though without consensus yet. All

of the security issues in the Niger Delta are rooted in the

inability to resolve this debate in the past, and that is clearly

a tough one to chew on. Nigeria has a key decision to make

in order for our future to be secured as a sovereign nation.

A ‘sharing formula’ needs to be worked out in a way that

works for generations to come—that would help to turn the

curse into a blessing.

With regards to the environment, everywhere in the

world, where natural resources such as oil are extracted,

reasonable resources are allocated to address the degrada-

tion that comes from extraction. It is important that Nigeria

addresses this issue quickly. Communities around the oil

producing areas must have adequate resources to alleviate

the impact the environment degradation and the necessary

infrastructure for sustainable development.

You’ve held influential posts in a variety of institutions, including USAID, DfID, and Cross River State Government. From such an informed vantage point, what have you seen that has the greatest promise?

Yes, we must be honest—we face some real challenges,

but I still think we are moving in the right direction and

there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are seeing new

types of investments across the country. There is growing

excitement for agribusiness among youth. This is a criti-

cal sector to create jobs and to feed the nation and the

region. The government is also investing in an Agriculture

Transformation Agenda. We are also starting to see the oil

and gas sector seek out new ways to ensure that more

Nigerian citizens benefit from that natural resource; for

instance, they are looking at ways to build the capacity of

local businesses to effectively supply the industry. While it

is true and unfortunate that we have not been blessed with

good leadership, as someone who has spent most of her

career in development, I strongly believe that there is real

momentum. We are seeing incremental change now, and

we will see enormous change a few years down the line.

Over the past five years, Ann Oden has served as PYXERA Global’s Country Director for Nigeria, where she manages

global pro bono programs and oversees PYXERA Global’s overall portfolio in Nigeria. Ann has over 20 years of experi-

ence in international development, most recently with USAID Nigeria where she served as Senior Program Management

Specialist for Education. Prior to that, Ann held posts with the Department for International Development and Cross

River State Government. Ann is also a renowned gender rights activist and advocate with a track record of successful

work with international development agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations in Nigeria, the United King-

dom, and the United States.



www.laCaixaFoundation.com

At ”la Caixa” Foundation we are fully committed to achieving a society with more opportunities for everyone by:

• Fighting to eliminate poverty and promote development.• Working to boost employment.• Promoting health and medical research.• Supporting education as the basis for social progress.• Encouraging art and culture.

Over 500 projects in 62 countries.

Standing by people

Spain’s number one foundation

www.laCaixaFoundation.com

At ”la Caixa” Foundation we are fully committed to achieving a society with more opportunities for everyone by:

• Fighting to eliminate poverty and promote development.• Working to boost employment.• Promoting health and medical research.• Supporting education as the basis for social progress.• Encouraging art and culture.

Over 500 projects in 62 countries.

Standing by people

Spain’s number one foundation

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