When you have 35 minutes to be inspired, please watch this “box of slides” with Bill Strickland. As I listened to his presentation, I felt invited to dream bigger and accomplish more than I’ve ever believed possible. The sheer scale and magnitude of impact this man has had – on the people in his school, on his funders, on his business partners, and on his friends in every town – convinces me I can do more with my own life too.

from www.ted.com posted with vodpod

Chris Jordan presents an evocative series of wall-sized prints that beautifully convey a tragic story. See more of this and other series at http://www.chrisjordan.com/

from www.frogdesign.com posted with vodpod

I recently read “Eva Luna” by Isabel Allende – a book that has become infinitely more moving after seeing Isabel in this live presentation. She illuminates the great power of storytelling for social change and inspiration. Interestingly, someone pointed out how devoid current political debates or the State of the Union address have been in good storytelling.

from www.ted.com posted with vodpod

The value creators in our new economy are providing exceptional experiences by outperforming their niche in an industry network or tying together the nodes of the network and packaging the whole thing in innovative ways.

As part of my recent course at Darden on Innovation and Integration in Services – The New Economy, I made observations on a number of innovations as examples of value creation in this flat, networked world. This is my submission on Miriam’s Kitchen.

THE SERVICE

This organization falls strongest in the “Make Their Day” and “Be There” categories of the Fish! Philosophy. Miriam’s Kitchen, a provider of meals and additional services to homeless people in Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC

HOW IS IT INNOVATIVE? WHY DID IT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION?

Miriam’s Kitchen is noteworthy for a number of characteristics. It has always used hot meals as a way to gather people who could benefit from the area’s social services and introduce those services in a non-threatening manner. In that sense, the dining room aggregates a target audience and makes additional, highly valuable services know. Second, Miriam’s Kitchen attracted a great New York chef to run the soup kitchen. His culinary smarts have helped form food partnerships with local distributors and restaurants who now provide unsold fruits, vegetables, and other delicious but perishable items. The chef then uses these ingredients to enhance otherwise mundane food offering at the kitchen, providing high quality food for the guests at this kitchen.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OR ISSUE ADDRESSED?

Serving food to homeless people can become a thankless job if you do not see progress in the guests’ lives. Miriam’s Kitchen infuses meals for homeless folk with caring and genuine support, attracting more volunteer and staff workers to the kitchen and more candidates for additional services to the dining room.

IS THERE A CHANGE, DEVELOPMENT, OR TREND THAT CREATED THE OPPORTUNITY? OR, IS IT JUST NEW THINKING?

The idea that homeless people deserve gourmet food preparation might be seen as impossible on limited budgets by some and socially or politically repugnant by others. Miriam’s Kitchen serves its guests with the dignity and respect of human equals, in a way that demonstrates the sincere desire to assist the guests without being demeaning.

WHAT ARE TRANSFERABLE QUALITIES TO OTHER CATEGORIES?

It takes just a simple creative step to turn ordinary into extraordinary. At Miriam’s Kitchen, that means transforming ordinary pancakes into extraordinary mixed berry pancakes bursting with fresh fruit. But people recognize extraordinary and they appreciate it so much.

DOES THIS SUPPLANT A PREVIOUS SOLUTION? WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS THIS DISPLACING?

For Miriam’s, the problem is how to connect beneficial social services with the clients who will benefit from them. By making a special breakfast each morning, the people of Miriam’s are already demonstrating they care about the people they are serving. This creates the opportunities to “market” additional services that can truly transform someone’s life, be it through addiction recovery, job training and placement, or referrals to health care or other needs.

ANY OTHER POINTS WORTH MAKING:

Social services is not often considered glamorous, and food at homeless kitchens is often forced to be economical before nutritious or pleasing. Miriam’s Kitchen has used some creative, passionate people to transform the purpose and execution of the soup kitchen.

Originally published May 30, 2007 at dolechester.mbablogs.businessweek.com.

Microfinance, venture philanthropy, and social entrepreneurship have been generating good buzz for several years now, and I’ve learned a fair amount about the topics in the halls of Darden. But it wasn’t until last week that I actually heard eyewitness accounts of the successes of a microlending organization and connected real stories and pictures with small business loans, business training, and community development efforts in foreign countries.

I attended a reception at the home of Phillip Merrick, an important Washington area businessman, to hear his account of a trip he made with his wife to Africa. The Merricks traveled explicitly to meet clients of Five Talents International, a microlending and business training organization with some roots in the Anglican church and office in Vienna, VA. While Philip’s heart is certainly big, the purpose of his trip was to assess the bottom line of loans made to Five Talents’ clients in Africa.

A Kenyan newspaper – what Philip called the domestic equivalent of a Wall Street Journal – captured his attention as soon as he arrived at the airport. “3.5 Million Lifted From Poverty” read a headline, touting the effects of small business investments made in the country. I got to hear stories of several of the special individuals who have been part of the rising tide.

One woman began a brick-making operation, taking out a loan of roughly $150 to buy brick molds and hire a few laborers. Her business is booming and she is now supplying bricks for her burgeoning town – which counts the bricks an improvement from previous building materials used widely.

A man took out a $150 loan (or thereabouts) to purchase two pigs, which went on to have piglets. He was able to sell several and raise the others, profiting from both decisions. He took out additional loans for a tilapia farm, cows, and goats, building “an integrated, diversified agricultural business” in Philip’s admiring words. Applying loans totaling less than $600, this man has built a sustaining, profitable business that is providing for himself and his family – including his 12 children which all are able to attend private school and gain greater hope for their own futures.

One of the statistics offered by Five Talents was that, for every individual they lend to, six people are provided for – providing real measurement of changed lives and impact of borrowed dollars on a bottom line of profound meaning.

Folks from Five Talents also described the opportunities they create to connect successful businesspeople from America with “business missions” in their lending markets – sending eager folks like you and me to provide training programs in marketing, entrepreneurship, management and administration to the clients of Five Talents.

If you’re excited about the prospects of microlending, I definitely recommend contacting the folks at Five Talents to find out how to become personally involved – whether through lending or by contributing your own time to train small business owners in good business practices. If you’re a business school student, you might invite them to speak at your school for a Net Impact, social entrepreneurship, microfinance, or angel investment group; I hope to have them speak at Darden this coming fall.

Originally published May 17, 2006.

Venture capital investors seem to have one major, common point of reference – the dot come bust of 2000-2001.  That bust followed a record year of VC fundraising – some $106 billion in 2000 among top benchmark firms – and preceded a major fallout of invested dollars across the economy.  The lessons learned all seem to point to greater discipline in VC investments, but that’s not holding back (re-)growth in VC fundraising.  The Associated Press reported in April that venture capital firms had raised some $6 billion in the first quarter of this year, more than 20% over last year’s figure for the same quarter, with projected annual fundraising around $30 billion.  (See the article as published in the Washington Post online: Venture Capital Fundraising Rises in 1Q.pdf.) [Update: The New YorkTimes ran an article suggesting that the renewed vigor in venture capital is not a sign of a new bubble: A Few Signs of Froth Do Not a Bubble Make]

The trends of last year indicated strong venture capital interest in “clean tech” and alternative energy as solar and wind technologies matured and new ventures generated profitable cash flows, buyouts, and IPOs.  In fact, three of the top IPOs of 2005 were solar power companies, as reported by the Wharton Private Equity Review.  [Update: See BW interview with Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and current partner at venture capital firm KPCB: Green: The Next Big Thing.  He thinks greentech is going to provide the next Google in terms of revolutionary wealth-creation.)

Now, the energy market is showing no signs of decreased demand despite continually high gas prices.  As Americans (and others around the world) effectively say “no” to conservation (see James Ellis’ op-ed piece in BW, No Sacrifices, Please), energy demand will continue to grow while limited stocks of fossil fuels (not to mention the political delicacies surrounding the international energy market) keeps a ceiling on supply.  With the proven returns in solar and wind power, and wide interest and policy incentives in ethanol, biomass, and energy storage technologies, the stage could be set for continued successful investment in clean tech industries.

And hopefully in two years the stage will be set to hire this Darden MBA into a successful and growing VC clean tech fund.

Originally published April 7, 2006.

From the glossy ads of IBM’s new Innovation business area to the whack jobs on American Inventor, it seems like everyone wants to be an innovator (or wants to hire one).  The emergence of Chief Innovation Officers and business school courses targeting innovation suggest that, in today’s tight market for large cap companies and healthy growth for small and mid-caps, innovation may be today’s killer app.  To my mind, this makes sense conceptually: as markets mature, the potential to exploit market openings diminishes and the need to create revolutionary new products, processes, and especially business models becomes a necessity.

In social entrepreneurship, innovation is never an option.  There are rarely opportunities to exploit; rather, whole new paradigms must be introduced, supported, and grown  – often outside the realm of traditional business.  (See The Economist’s article The hidden wealth of the poor (Nov 2005) in PDF.)

Its encouraging to see innovators finding successes in the realms of social entrepreneurship, such as the Washington Area Housing Partnership in Washington, DC, which is “re-branding” affordable housing initiatives as not just social support programs but prudent community development programs for working citizens.  Check out their story in the Washington Post, A Regional Campaign for Affordable Housing.

This innovation is also being cultivated in the young and passionate minds of academia.  As I head to The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, I’m especially interested in the innovation occurring within the University’s Engineering and Architecture schools.  I recently learned of an outstanding initiative in affordable housing at The University of Virginia’s School of Architecture: the ecoMOD program to prototype ecological modular housing.  For a heart-warming insight into the ecoMOD program in Gulf Coast restoration efforts supported by Charlottesville’s most famous author (Mississippi native and UVA parent John Grisham), take a look at this Habitat for Humanity Press Release (PDF).

Further interesting information on ecoMOD and other innovative architectural systems can be found at the Charlottesville Community Design Center’s  exhibition showcase and the Rural Studio, part of the Auburn University School of Architecture program of studies.

Originally published March 17, 2006.

Advanced energy technologies for clean and sustainable (financially and environmentally) power seem to be a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the United States.  While major corporations, such as Exxon, disavow any interest in trendy renewables, other large cap firms continue to celebrate their profitable ventures into next generation energy technologies.  BP Solar, a subsidiary of the more-recognized petroleum company, achieved profitability in the last two years, with continued prospects for high growth.  GE Energy, part of the venerable General Electric empire, recently announced a partnership with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to construct offshore wind turbines with 5-7 MW capacity – among the largest turbines ever built, and could result in extremely cost-competitive grid-tied wind energy at 5 cents per kWh (which would be at the lower end of US electricity prices).

The market for efficient and renewable energy technologies may be a matter of perception, but I’m excited to learn of increasing venture capital interest in the sector.  Nth Power, a prominent energy technology venture capital firm, “believes a classic venture capital environment exists in the energy sector. Experienced management teams are developing disruptive technologies aimed at underserved markets where value can be created in relatively short timeframes and where exits to public markets or acquirers are available and proven” (from Nth Power’s website).  Clean energy, which used to be squarely in the purview of environmental friendliness, is now holding prospects for widespread adoption as a high-growth industry (albeit still on a small- to mid-cap basis).

Nth Power, which receives roughly 500 business proposals each year (and funds 3-6, according to its website),  also released its annual energy-tech venture data report, showing some $917 million of venture capital flowing into 80 companies – a capital increase of 28% over 2004.  This energy tech venture capital represents perhaps 4% of the nearly $22 billion VC market, but that’s an increase from 1% in 1999, according to Nth Power publishing partner Clean Edge.

With the prospects of continued high growth in hydrogen creation and storage, more efficient solar PV modules and technologies, and large-scale, grid-tied wind power installations, efficient and renewable energy may continue to make in-roads as a viable and profitable high tech industry.  And with global business drivers like China and India aggressively pursuing rapid and sustainable energy expansion, the market demand only stands to increase.

Other energy tech and related venture capital links:

GE Energy

BP Renewable and Alternative Energy

Nth Power - Venture capitalEnerTech Capital - Venture capitalRenewable Ventures - Venture capitalKPCB - VC firm portfolio includes giants like Amazon.com and Google, as well as new “Green Technologies” portfolioFA Technology Ventures - Venture capitalThe Altire Group - Venture capital

Technology Partners VC - Venture capitalGreenlight Energy - Large scale wind developerIntrinergy - BIomass distributed generation, founded by Darden MBA graduates