| Please register to receive the benefits of our network-wide features. |
Register (free) |
Log In
|
| Please register to receive the benefits of our network-wide features. |
Register (free) |
Log In
|
What do the new models of social innovation have to include to be the "next big things" in effective social change? This final panel discussion from the 2007 Skoll World Forum summarizes the ideas that have risen to the top of this conference, and looks forward to envision how passionate, creative, and clever social entrepreneurs can take their ideas to the next level of broad effectiveness.
Martin Fisher, co-founder of Kickstart International, explains that these models must have proven and measurable impacts; they must be cost-effective, scalable, and replicable; and must enable us to tell the powerful individual stories of success.
Mindy Lubber of Ceres, promotes that governments must be part of these future solutions, as they bring huge resources to the table. Social entrepreneurs must learn to deliver on their passions, take successful projects to scale, and work with governments to get there.
Taddy Blecher, director of CIDA City Campus in Johannesburg, reminds us to never bet against human beings and their boundless potential for greatness. We can turn the frightening prospects of things like global warming into the motivation to love like there is no tomorrow. We must help being find their courage, to be braver than what they fear, and to blur the lines that divide us as individuals within one world.
Roshaneh Zafar, founder of the Kashf Foundation, celebrates the story of Sureya, a powerful success story of microfinance in Pakistan. Zafar addresses the importance of creating effective ways to measure the impact of our efforts as we scale to broaden social equity. She also promotes the use of technology in replication and reducing costs.
Roger Martin is Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and Director of AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship. A Canadian from Wallenstein, Ontario, Roger was formerly a director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his 13 years with Monitor, he founded and chaired Monitor University, the firm's educational arm, served as co-head of the firm for two years, and founded the Canadian office. His research interests lie in the areas of global competitiveness, integrative thinking, business design and corporate citizenship.
Martin Fisher is co-founder of Kickstart, a philanthropic capital organization working to end poverty in Africa. He was born in London, England, and grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., where his father was a physics professor at Cornell University. Martin received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell in 1979, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University in 1980, and a Ph.D. from Stanford in theoretical and applied mechanics in 1985. In 1985-86 Martin was a Fulbright Scholar in Kenya, where he studied the connection between technology and development. He then joined ActionAid-Kenya, a British nonprofit, where he established a large rural water program, developed and promoted low-cost farming and building equipment, and co-established and ran the Appropriate Technology Unit. Martin left ActionAid in 1991 and co-founded KickStart (formerly ApproTEC) with Nick Moon.
Mindy Lubber, JD, is President and a founding board member of Ceres, a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. She is also founder of two environmental investment funds, former regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office, a leading environmental attorney in New England and a strategic advisor on Ceres' Sustainable Governance Project.
Taddy Blecher, is a director of CIDA City Campus, a non-profit, private higher education institution founded in Johannesburg in 1999 to contribute to the social and economic development of South Africa by providing access to quality higher education and skills development for financially disadvantaged students. Blecher went to Wits University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Actuarial Science and Statistics. He was awarded the Liberty Life Gold Medal as the top actuarial science honours student countrywide. He won several awards and scholarships including the Liberty Life Gold Medal for top Actuarial Student in South Africa, and the Standard Bank Scholarship. After graduation, he worked first as an actuary and later for international management consulting firm Monitor Company. He became a senior project leader and was voted consultant of the year, in the firm, three years in a row, and was rated in the top 1% of the firm's consultants. In 2002 he received the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award from the World Economic Forum, convened in New York. He was recognised as one of 100 young leaders round the world, under the age of 37, making an exceptional contribution toward making a better world.
Roshaneh Zafar is pioneering the development of a women-centered and women-managed initiative that combines a micro-level lending and savings operation with related training and support activities at the community level. The formula is currently being tested and refined in two Pakistani villages and is expected to serve as a model for similar undertakings in other parts of the country. In 1995, Zafar founded a new organization, the Kashf Foundation, to spearhead the development of a new model for a “full-service organization,” managed by and for women, that combines in-house, micro-scale banking and lending operations with closely integrated training and support services. The Foundation has obtained start-up funding from outside sources and is now implementing, testing, and refining programs with those characteristics in two pilot settings in rural Pakistan.
Resources:
This free podcast is from our Skoll World Forum series.
For The Conversations Network:
Play