The Takeaway

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Investing in an interconnected world

From a secondhand sweater to a global venture capital fund

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

By now, we’re all aware of the dark side of the world of finance. But there’s another side to finance that starts with a youthful impulse to save the world and evolves into something both savvy and humane. After a funny encounter with a child wearing her cast-off sweater in Rwanda, Jacqueline Novogratz realized how interconnected the world really is. Novogratz has been at the front of a movement that combines social investing and social entrepreneurship in some of the poorest countries in the world. She is founder of The Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital firm that supports small businesses in developing countries, and author of the book The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.

"I do see, in slums, unbelievable potential, but without the opportunity to access affordable goods and services people are going to stay there."
—Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of the Acumen Fund, on the importance of social entrepreneurship
  • Contributors:
  • Noel King (Associate Producer)

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