Center for Social Innovation

Jessica Jackley Discusses Stories of Poverty and Entrepreneurship

[photo - Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva]

The cofounder of a microlending outfit says entrepreneurs need to "wake up each day and say, 'Now what?'"

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Economic Development, Human Rights, Leadership

Why Do Women Not Always Realize Their Workforce Potential?

A researcher says at least part of the answer is that people are more than their potential.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

A British Entrepreneur Builds a Music Business in Nigeria

Michael Ugwu explains the challenges, and opportunities, of building a company in Lagos.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Making the Business Case for Africa

The for-profit sector steps up to play its role in Africa's economic development.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

IBM's "Frugal Innovation" Takes Root in Africa

Combining high and low tech, IBM's famous R&D lab tackles the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing continent.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Jessica Jackley Discusses Stories of Poverty and Entrepreneurship

The cofounder of a microlending outfit says entrepreneurs need to "wake up each day and say, 'Now what?'"

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Economic Development, Human Rights, Leadership

Why Do Women Not Always Realize Their Workforce Potential?

A researcher says at least part of the answer is that people are more than their potential.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

A British Entrepreneur Builds a Music Business in Nigeria

Michael Ugwu explains the challenges, and opportunities, of building a company in Lagos.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Making the Business Case for Africa

The for-profit sector steps up to play its role in Africa's economic development.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

IBM's "Frugal Innovation" Takes Root in Africa

Combining high and low tech, IBM's famous R&D lab tackles the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing continent.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Economic Development, Education

What’s Next: Antipoverty Apps

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

mPowering has created an app that awards goods and services to individuals facing extreme poverty when they make beneficial choices, such as attending school or seeking prenatal care.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Research: From Graft to Golf

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Lobbying and bribery are both time-honored ways to seek influence. The most important difference between them…is not that one is legal and the other a crime. It’s that bribery doesn’t last as long.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

What’s Next: Mothers of Invention

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

There are hundreds of life saving innovations that have the potential to help women and children in developing countries. Maternova is getting them to the front lines using a new online platform.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Crowdsourcing Microfinance

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

The Grameen Foundation’s Bankers Without Borders initiative applies skills-based volunteering to poverty alleviation.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Building Bridges

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Ending poverty is beyond the reach of any single sector or actor

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Nonprofit Accounting Rules Not the Solution to For-Profit Accountability

Nonprofit accounting rules should not be forced on anyone.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Economic Development

Reviewing the Past, Predicting the Future

The author takes a crystal ball to the 2009 economic landscape.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Kiva Introduces Lending Team Feature

Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person microlending Web site, has facilitated nearly $40 million in loans to entrepreneurs worldwide.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Chinese Activity in Africa, Part 2: The Path of Least Resistance

Africa is finding Chinese investment less demanding than that of the West.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Chinese Activity in Africa, Part 2: The Path of Least Resistance

To what degree will Chinese investments in Africa add long-term value?

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Mobile and Branchless Banking

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Private Equity in Africa

Africa represents a promising frontier for many global entrepreneurs. In this university podcast, Thomas Gibian, chairman of Emerging Capital Partners, discusses his experiences developing a private equity business focused on Africa, and how it has changed over the years. Speaking at the Stanford Africa Forum, he points to areas of future growth for those interested in investing in the African continent.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Creating an Innovation Revolution

Given the United States' fundamental fiscal imbalances, how can we ensure a more positive future? In this university podcast, hosted by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, McKinsey partner Lenny Mendonca calls for nothing less than "an innovation and productivity revolution." He looks at what activity will be needed at the national level to stimulate our economy in the direction of growth.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Macroeconomic Perspective on the Budget Deficit

Where is the United States economy and budget going? How can the U.S. stop accumulating debt at the same accelerated rate that's been happening over the past few decades? In this audio lecture, Joe Minarik summarizes how the U.S. deficit has gotten to the state it's in, and outlines steps needed to solve the problem and help the economy grow. The event was hosted by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development, Education, Social Entrepreneurship

Developing Through Mobile Phones

"People can learn from mobile phones," says Sara Chamberlain, Head of Interactive for BBC World Trust and developer. She launched BBC Janala to "raise the language skills of 25 million people in Bangladesh by 2017". She speaks with host Sheela Sethuraman about how 3 million people already started learning English with in some cases the most basic handsets. According to Chamberlain, making English accessible affordably could be "a ticket out of poverty" for the people of Bangladesh.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Bill Gates Says Foreign Aid is Threatened, but Big Ideas Can Turn the Tide

Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives

Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”

Resource: Video

Topic:

Optimism for Developing Countries

"There is, perhaps for the first time in history, a reasonable chance of transforming the quality of life and the creative opportunities for the vast majority of humanity."

Resource: Video

Topic:

Enhancing Business Education for Rural Entrepreneurs

In 2006, Stanford's Graduate School of Business students Scott Raymond and Katherine Boas took a service learning trip to Thailand and Cambodia. The result? A program that helps to alleviate poverty in Thailand that is now being duplicated at microlending organizations around the world.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Fox Sees Bright Future for Mexico

Americans are mostly unaware of the enormous progress Mexico has enjoyed since a devastating collapse in the peso in 1994. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox highlights the opportunities, and also addresses the challenges, resulting from the collapse.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Mobile and Branchless Banking

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Bill Gates Says Foreign Aid is Threatened, but Big Ideas Can Turn the Tide

Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Private Equity in Africa

Africa represents a promising frontier for many global entrepreneurs. In this university podcast, Thomas Gibian, chairman of Emerging Capital Partners, discusses his experiences developing a private equity business focused on Africa, and how it has changed over the years. Speaking at the Stanford Africa Forum, he points to areas of future growth for those interested in investing in the African continent.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Creating an Innovation Revolution

Given the United States' fundamental fiscal imbalances, how can we ensure a more positive future? In this university podcast, hosted by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, McKinsey partner Lenny Mendonca calls for nothing less than "an innovation and productivity revolution." He looks at what activity will be needed at the national level to stimulate our economy in the direction of growth.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Macroeconomic Perspective on the Budget Deficit

Where is the United States economy and budget going? How can the U.S. stop accumulating debt at the same accelerated rate that's been happening over the past few decades? In this audio lecture, Joe Minarik summarizes how the U.S. deficit has gotten to the state it's in, and outlines steps needed to solve the problem and help the economy grow. The event was hosted by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

No Results Found

Topics:

Health Care, Economic Development

Can Oil Filters Improve Health Care?

For millions of people across Africa, motorcycles can be a key to effective health care. A well-maintained fleet of vehicles and motorcycles to connect patients, medical expertise, and medicine is sometimes the most vital link in the health delivery supply chain. A new case written for the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum describes one successful program.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Social Entrepreneurship: Kiva

Inspired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Jessica and Matt Flannery experimented with micro-lending connecting Ugandan entrepreneurs to friends and family through a pilot internet trial. Kiva, the first person-to- person microlending organization was born.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Endeavor

Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Kiva

By 2007, Kiva had gone through a rapid growth phase. The case recounts the debut of the first online person-to-person microfinance organization and looks at the founders' plan for future development.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Social Entrepreneurship: Banco Compartamos

Banco Compartamos has been providing microloans to the poor in rural areas of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, since 1990. It became one of Mexico’s most successful banks. Critics, however, claim that Compartamos departed from the true spirit of microfinance.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Equity Bank, a microfinance service

Equity Bank, a microfinance services provider, experienced a remarkable turnaround in the early 1990s. What strategy did the CEO pursue to accomplish such a feat?

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (A): The Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This first part of the case describes the organization's initial considerations.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (B): Implementing the Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This second part of the case explores the company’s experience with a distribution program.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Riders for Health: Health Care Distribution Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Riders for Health is a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to the improvement of transportation systems for health workers in Africa. In 2007, after 11 years in existence, the organization was at a critical point and had to decide what strategies were necessary to expand.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Health Care, Economic Development

Can Oil Filters Improve Health Care?

For millions of people across Africa, motorcycles can be a key to effective health care. A well-maintained fleet of vehicles and motorcycles to connect patients, medical expertise, and medicine is sometimes the most vital link in the health delivery supply chain. A new case written for the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum describes one successful program.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Social Entrepreneurship: Kiva

Inspired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Jessica and Matt Flannery experimented with micro-lending connecting Ugandan entrepreneurs to friends and family through a pilot internet trial. Kiva, the first person-to- person microlending organization was born.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Endeavor

Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Kiva

By 2007, Kiva had gone through a rapid growth phase. The case recounts the debut of the first online person-to-person microfinance organization and looks at the founders' plan for future development.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

Topics:

Intermediate Goods and Weak Links in the Theory of Economic Development

What explains the enormous differences in incomes across countries? This paper returns to two old ideas: linkages and complementarity. These forces considerably amplify distortions to the allocation of resources, bringing us closer to understanding large income differences across countries.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Understand Young Companies in Your Own Backyard, Report Urges Global Leaders

Policy makers need to understand how early-stage companies in their own area work, rather than try to create another Silicon Valley, says Stanford management professor George Foster. He is coauthor of a new report published by the World Economic Forum.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Why Do Firms in Developing Countries Have Low Productivity?

In summary, we find evidence that firms in developing countries are often badly managed, which substantially reduces their productivity.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Firms in Corrupt Countries Pay a Price in Market Value

Virtue seems to pay according to Professor Charles M.C. Lee whose research shows that publicly-held firms in countries perceived as less corrupt trade at bigger market premiums than those in places deemed more corrupt.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Why Bank Equity Is Not Expensive

Since the 2008 market crash, banking interests and economists have clashed over how much of their operations banks should fund with equity as opposed to debt. Bankers and others often say that, "equity is expensive." A recent paper, coauthored by three faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, argues: "Quite simply, bank equity is not expensive from a social perspective, and high leverage is not required in order for banks to perform all their socially valuable functions."

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

Topic :

Strategic Thinking in Action - In Business and Beyond: STRAMGT 373

This seminar helps participants develop strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring, and workable in highly dynamic environments. Through informed debate and the writing and presentation of position papers, participants evaluate and hone their views on the seminar's critical themes.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Design for Extreme Affordability: OIT 333/4

Students apply engineering and business skills to design product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures in developing countries. The aim is to address challenges faced by the world's poor.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

The International Economy: Policies and Theory: MGTECON 334

This course gives students an understanding of international trade economics, and analyzes the political processes by which international trade policy is determined. It combines lecture and mini-case studies.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Growth and Stabilization in the Global Economy: MGTECON 300

This course gives students the background they need to understand the broad movements in the global economy. Key topics include long-run economic growth, technological change, wage inequality, international trade, interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and monetary policy.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

Topic :

Farm to Cup Merger Emphasizes Partnership & Economic Empowerment

[photo - Farm to Cup - Root Capital Lending]

A grassroots student effort led by Caroline Mullen, MBA ’12, Catha Mullen, MBA ’13, and Monica Lewis, MBA ’12, now has even more impact through a merger with Pachamama Coffee Cooperative.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Healthcare

Cross-Sector Effort Helps People See Better

Vision care is something that is practically taken for granted in the United States, but that’s not the case throughout much of the world. Some 300 million around the globe suffer from correctable vision loss, leading, as Ashanthi Mathai, MBA '04, says, “to people accepting their vision impairment and adjusting their lives around it.” The result? A lower quality of life, restricted job options, and even further economic distress.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Environment

How Growth Can Be Green

A Stanford GSB student looks at the value of renewable energy in the developing world.

Resource: Student

Topic :

Economic Development, Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship

Creating Peace, One Entrepreneur at a Time

It was the suicide of a young man that turned Vivek Garg toward using business as a means of fostering peace and reconciliation.

Resource: Student

Topic :

Economic Development, Government, Social Entrepreneurship

Mark Conroe (MBA '85)

Mark Conroe is leveraging his real estate experience and decades of volunteer work to help build the San Francisco House of Hope, a supportive housing project for the homeless.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Bank on It

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2003

Financial advisors pull people out of poverty, one deposit at a time.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Bridging the Cultures of Business and Poverty

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2003

Welfare to career at Cascade Engineering, Inc.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Economic Development, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Bright Lights, Big Culture

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2003

Cities are building museums and symphony halls to spur growth.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Economic Development, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Helping the Poor to Help Themselves: Debt Relief or Aid?

This paper argues that the principal obstacle to investment and growth in the world’s poorest countries is a lack of institutions to provide a foundation for profitable economic activity. If the goal is to help poor countries build the institutions that best suit their development needs, then direct foreign aid, rather than debt relief, is the answer.

Resource: Research Paper

Topic :

Review: Going Global

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2003

Marc Lindenberg and Coralie Bryant interview humanitarian organizational leaders about their management struggles. Review by David Suarez