Sunday, April 2, 2023

 Impact investing — any progress?

Sunday, April 19, 2015

If you want to know more about the role of ICT in agriculture then I recommend you join the Ag MOOC community at IIT Kanpur. I know that it a lot of acronyms, but I hope you can find your way by going here. The course is near the end, but maybe you can find the lectures on youtube or join the next course.

Farmers still meet under the mango tree to share and learn. But they are also gaining an advantage through the use of information communication technology. Let's help them.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Paul Polak

Today, it was good to discover a world with Paul Polak in it. Thanks to the BFP I could enjoy Paul's video interview. I liked the way he emphasised, scale, efficiency and profit. The conversation was honest enough to admit that whilst there is a lot of talk about impact investing and its other incarnates, there are only a few successful models to admire.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

What happened to our heroes ?

It is hard to keep one's heroes for ever: one grows up and sees them in new light. But the re-assessment is not a pleasant experience. I was recently shocked out of one particular hero relationship when I heard Paul Collier diagnose and then prescribe a simplistic solution for Nigeria's chronic social and economic ailment. I'm still recovering from the shock. After all, he's my hero: the teacher who assertively put data and politics together showing what could be. In those days he inspired me!

At a recent event, Paul Collier outlined a 5 step investment chain that would put Nigeria back on the course of riches:

1. Discover natural assets
2. Capture public revenue for public and private legal use
3. Avoid Niger Delta situation of grievance in asset areas
4. Save and invest the revenue
5. Invest in investing......for the future.

That was the presription; and his idea for getting the chain to hold together was to create a 'critical mass of informed citizens'.

Oh dear !!! Is that it?

No mention of: power in the social change process; of the fact that plenty of Nigerians have for long been well-informed, but still powerless to bring about change; of men's exclusion of women from decion-making; of allocation and equitable access and use of assets. Instead, just a sort of accountant's guide to making value from natural riches. No nod to the fact that resources are limited and need conservation and regeneration rather than continued consumption.

What of the how to, and the role of markets in organising competing powers for optimal efficient maximum good. Or was that just assumed.

My hero is an accountant. :-(



Saturday, November 13, 2010

Worth the candle?

I appreciated the FT’s Undercover Economist, Tim Harford’s 15/Oct/10 piece  on Jeff Sachs and measuring the impact of Millennium Villages. Harford was spot on. If you want to learn more about this topic, then take yourself here to see the gold standard in measuring results.

UN Women

Rejoice, rejoice women of the world, for the Nations That Wish to Be United have decided to amalgamate previous efforts in your name and create UN Women. And now Michelle Bachelet has been appointed to lead the synergistic combo. You can judge her for yourself by listening to her interview (22/Oct/10) with the BBC. I came away disappointed: she had to abruptly dash off half-way through the interview to attend to her male boss (Ban Ki-moon) leaving listeners and interviewer hanging (the 2nd half of the interview  was later spliced in over the phone from Vietnam); she did not introduce us to her strategy for results; and her answers were just too mincing and tempered. Yes, a coagulator and harmoniser will be needed to create UN Women from its precedent parts, but a leader who'll get results is also required. Come on Michelle, suppressed women deserve someone who’ll kick ass on their behalf. So, let's see more of you in the role of Over-Secretary-General.