Social Venture Capitalism

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2014/03/31/how-philanthropists-and-investors-can-work-together-to-create-social-change/

Currently there is a strong likelihood that my PE will not be in microfinance as originally anticipated.  As worrisome as that is for the impending literature review I may have the chance to work in a place much more interesting.  This article describes the approach of many new social ventures.  The article provides the example of Aravind Eye Hospitals - a group of hospitals around India providing low cost yet profitable eye-care to the rural poor in India.   The Hospitals got their start when a philanthropy donated the seed money to the founder much in the same way a venture capital firm would provide seed funding for a start-up.  UnLtd. India -the organization I might be interning at- describes itself as a social venture incubator and occupies a role similar to a social venture capital firm.  One of the problems for Aravind was that he had to rely on funding from philanthropists because profit margins were too low for traditional venture capital firms.  If he did go to a venture capital firm he would have to focus on distribution models that centered around profit margins where as by getting a donation he could focus on a distribution model that focused on distribution. This is where UnLtd. India comes in.  They are a non-profit themselves donating the profits from an endowment that is held in trust for them.  This consistent source of funding allows the organization to give  seed funding to social ventures in the same way Aravind got his funding but at the same time providing many of the services and networks that venture capital firms often provide to their investees.  This model is so cool because it uses the tried and true structures of capitalism for social ventures.  It lets the ideas and the know-how emerge organically from the places it operates in then finds them and gives those ideas funding.   Usually in the development world the funding and ideas originate from the same space which has often left the combination wanting.  Either the ideas aren't perfectly situated to a developing country given that they were developed elsewhere or the idea is local but the funding is hard to come by. Basically its a model that has combined the strengths of Easterly's searchers with the funding from developed nations.

Incomplete Book Review: Stitched Up The Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion

I recently purchased the above title, written by Tansy E. Hoskins. As a fashion lover and an amateur designer, I am consciously aware that both the fashion and retail industries, just like any other industry, should constantly be questioned on their role as profit making companies and the welfare that they may or may not bring to society. 

This book pretty much sums up what I am interested in: fashion, economics, philosophy and everything else. I just bought this book yesterday, and thus I will only review a few of its chapters and incorporate some of my personal opinions and provocations that are imperative to the subject of discussion. I am really interested in the politics of naming and labelling in the fashion industry; that those outside a certain demographic (Paris/Milan/London/New York – the main fashion capitals) do not do “fashion,” but rather only produce “clothing” or “apparel”. However, the processes of creating the garments for the “fashion” industry are mostly being outsourced to China, India, Nicaragua, Columbia, etc. I question, what really makes the difference? 

A dress is not just a “structure of meaning,” but it is a commodity produced by a corporation and sold on the market for a profit at a huge environmental cost, targeting poor vulnerable workers. This book discusses the issue between Karl Marx and Karl Lagerfeld (symbolically) as it delves into the lavish world of fashion, exploring issue of class, consumerism, beneficiaries of exploitation, the race factor in fashion, and much more. Personally my favorite quote from this book comes from the feminist academic Audre Lorde, who stated that “there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we don’t live single issue lives.” Please feel free to approach me to borrow this book when I am done with it - I will share more in the comment sections if I do so!