Jacqueline Novogratz: Investing in Africa's own solutions

Translator: Jacob Buch Petersen Reviewer: Niels Justus

I want to start with a story, a la Seth Godin,

Jeg vil begynde en historie, a la Seth Godin,

from when I was 12 years old.

fra da jeg var 12 år gammel.

My uncle Ed gave me a beautiful blue sweater --

Min onkel Ed gav mig en smuk blå sweater --

at least I thought it was beautiful.

jeg synes i det mindste den var smuk.

And it had fuzzy zebras walking across the stomach,

Og den havde lodne zebraer gående langs maven,

and Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru were kind of

og bjergene Kilimanjaro og Meru var på en måde

right across the chest, that were also fuzzy.

på tværs af brystet, det var også loddent.

And I wore it whenever I could,

Og jeg havde den på når som helst,

thinking it was the most fabulous thing I owned.

og jeg synes det var den mest fantastiske ting jeg ejede.

Until one day in ninth grade,

Indtil en dag i niende klasse,

when I was standing with a number of the football players.

hvor jeg stod med nogle amr. fodboldspillere.

And my body had clearly changed, and Matt,

Og min krop havde tydeligvis forandret sig, og Matt Mussolina,

who was undeniably my nemesis in high school,

som unægteligt var min nemesis i gymnasiet,

said in a booming voice that

sagde med en rungende stemme,

we no longer had to go far away to go on ski trips,

at vi ikke længere behøvede at tage langt væk for at komme på skiferie,

but we could all ski on Mount Novogratz.

men i stedet kunne vi stå på ski på Bjerg Novogratz.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I was so humiliated and mortified

Jeg var så ydmyget og krænket,

that I immediately ran home to my mother and chastised her

at jeg med det samme løb hjem til min mor og skældte hende ud

for ever letting me wear the hideous sweater.

for at lade mig bære mig den hæslige sweater.

We drove to the Goodwill and we threw the sweater away

Vi kørte af sted og gav sweateren til velgørenhed.

somewhat ceremoniously,

nærmest højtideligt,

my idea being that I would never have to think about the sweater

min tanke var, at jeg aldrig mere skulle tænke på den sweater,

nor see it ever again.

eller heller se den igen.

Fast forward -- 11 years later, I'm a 25-year-old kid.

Spol frem i tiden -- 11 år senere, jeg er 25 år gammel.

I'm working in Kigali, Rwanda, jogging through the steep slopes,

Jeg arbejder i Kigali, Rwanda, joggende gennem de stejle skråninger,

when I see, 10 feet in front of me, a little boy -- 11 years old --

da ser jeg, 3 meter foran mig, en lille dreng -- 11 år gammel --

running toward me, wearing my sweater.

løbende imod mig, iklædt min sweater.

And I'm thinking, no, this is not possible.

Og jeg tænker, nej, det er ikke muligt.

But so, curious, I run up to the child -- of course

Men så, nysgerrig, løber jeg op til barnet,

scaring the living bejesus out of him --

skræmte selvfølgelig livet af ham,

grab him by the collar, turn it over, and there is my name

greb ham i kraven, vendte den op, og der var mit navn

written on the collar of this sweater.

skrevet i kraven på den her sweater.

I tell that story, because it has served and continues to serve

Jeg fortæller den historie, fordi den har tjent og bliver ved med at tjene

as a metaphor to me about the level of connectedness

som en metafor for den grad af forbundethed

that we all have on this Earth.

som vi har her på Jorden.

We so often don't realize what our action and our inaction

Ofte indser vi ikke hvad vores handlinger eller ikke-handlinger

does to people we think we will never see and never know.

gør ved folk, som vi tror, vi aldrig kommer til at se eller kende.

I also tell it because it tells a larger contextual story

Jeg fortæller den også fordi den fortæller en større sammenhængende historie

of what aid is and can be.

om hvad nødhjælp er og kan være.

That this traveled into the Goodwill in Virginia,

At den rejste fra velgørenheden i Virginia,

and moved its way into the larger industry,

og bevægede sig af sted i den store industri,

which at that point was giving millions of tons of secondhand clothing to Africa and Asia.

hvilket dengang gav millioner tons brugt tøj til Afrika og Asien.

Which was a very good thing, providing low cost clothing.

Hvilket var en meget god ting, som skaffede billigt tøj.

And at the same time, certainly in Rwanda,

Og på samme tid, især i Rwanda,

it destroyed the local retailing industry.

ødelagde det den lokale detailhandel.

Not to say that it shouldn't have,

Ikke for at sige, at det ikke burde have gjort det,

but that we have to get better at answering the questions

men vi er nødt til at blive bedre til at besvare de spørgsmål,

that need to be considered when we think about consequences

der skal overvejes, når vi tænker på konsekvenserne

and responses.

og reaktionerne.

So, I'm going to stick in Rwanda, circa 1985, 1986,

Jeg bliver ved Rwanda, omkring 1985, 1986,

where I was doing two things.

hvor jeg lavede to ting.

I had started a bakery with 20 unwed mothers.

Jeg havde startet et bageri med 20 ugifte mødre.

We were called the "Bad News Bears," and our notion was

Vi blev kaldt De-Dårlige-Nyheder-Bjørne, og vores idé var

we were going to corner the snack food business in Kigali,

at vi ville styre snack branchen i Kigali,

which was not hard because there were no snacks before us.

hvilket ikke var svært, fordi der ikke var nogen snacks før os.

And because we had a good business model, we actually did it,

Og fordi vi havde en god forretningsmodel, lykkedes det faktisk,

and I watched these women transform on a micro-level.

og jeg så kvinderne forandre sig på et mikro niveau.

But at the same time, I started a micro-finance bank,

Men på samme tid, startede jeg en mikro-finans bank,

and tomorrow Iqbal Quadir is going to talk about Grameen,

og i morgen vil Iqbal Quadir snakke om Grameen,

which is the grandfather of all micro-finance banks,

som er er bedstefaderen til alle mikro-finans banker,

which now is a worldwide movement -- you talk about a meme --

hvilket nu er en verdensomspændende bevægelse -- man snakker om et meme --

but then it was quite new, especially in an economy

men det var ret nyt dengang, specielt i en økonomi,

that was moving from barter into trade.

der var på vej fra byttehandel til pengehandel.

We got a lot of things right.

Vi gjorde en masse ting rigtigt.

We focused on a business model; we insisted on skin in the game.

Vi fokuserede på en forretningsmodel, vi insisterede på at være selvbestaltede.

The women made their own decisions at the end of the day

Kvinderne besluttede i sidste ende selv,

as to how they would use this access to credit

hvordan de kunne bruge denne adgang til kredit,

to build their little businesses, earn more income

til at opbygge deres lille forretning, få en højere indkomst,

so they could take care of their families better.

så de kunne forsørge deres familier bedre.

What we didn't understand, what was happening all around us,

Hvad vi ikke forstod, var, hvad der skete rundt omkring os,

with the confluence of fear, ethnic strife

med sammenfaldet af frygt, etnisk strid

and certainly an aid game, if you will, that was playing into

og bestemt et nødhjælps spil, om du vil, der spillede ind på

this invisible but certainly palpable movement inside Rwanda,

den her usynlige, men meget håndgribelige bevægelse i Rwanda,

that at that time, 30 percent of the budget was all foreign aid.

På det tidspunkt var 30 procent af budgettet ulandshjælp.

The genocide happened in 1994,

Folkedrabet skete i 1994,

seven years after these women all worked together

syv år efter at disse kvinder alle arbejdede sammen

to build this dream.

om at bygge denne drøm.

And the good news was that the institution,

Og de gode nyheder var at institutionen,

the banking institution, lasted.

bank institutionen, overlevede.

In fact, it became the largest rehabilitation lender in the country.

Faktisk blev det den største rehabiliterings udlåner i landet.

The bakery was completely wiped out,

Bageriet blev udslettet,

but the lessons for me were that accountability counts --

men lektionerne for mig var, at ansvarlighed betaler sig --

got to build things with people on the ground,

jeg fik muligheden for skabe ting med folk fra bunden,

using business models where, as Steven Levitt would say,

ved at bruge forretningsmodeller, hvor - som Steven Levitt ville sige det -

the incentives matter.

incitamenterne betyder en hel del.

Understand, however complex we may be, incentives matter.

Forstå, ligegyldig hvor komplekse vi end måtte være, incitamenter betyder noget.

So when Chris raised to me how wonderful everything

Så, når Chris fortalte mig hvor vidunderligt alt

that was happening in the world,

der skete i verden,

that we were seeing a shift in zeitgeist,

at vi oplevede et skift i tidsånd,

on the one hand I absolutely agree with him,

på den ene side jeg er totalt enig med ham,

and I was so thrilled to see what happened with the G8 --

og jeg var så begejstret for at se, hvad der skete med G8 --

that the world, because of people like Tony Blair and Bono

at verden, på grund af folk som Tony Blair og Bono

and Bob Geldof -- the world is talking about global poverty;

og Bob Geldof -- snakker verden om global fattigdom,

the world is talking about Africa

verden snakker om Afrika,

in ways I have never seen in my life.

på måder jeg aldrig har set før i mit liv.

It's thrilling.

Det er betagende.

And at the same time, what keeps me up at night

Og på samme tid, hvad der holder mig vågen

is a fear that we'll look at the victories of the G8 --

er frygten for, at vi ser på sejrene af G8 --

50 billion dollars in increased aid to Africa,

50 milliarder dollars øget nødhjælp i Afrika,

40 billion in reduced debt -- as the victory,

40 milliarder dollars i reduceret gæld -- som sejren,

as more than chapter one, as our moral absolution.

som mere end kapitel 1, som vores moralske syndsforladelse.

And in fact, what we need to do is see that as chapter one,

I virkeligheden bør vi at se det som kapitel et,

celebrate it, close it, and recognize that we need a chapter two

fejre der, lukke det, og indse at vi behøver et kapitel to,

that is all about execution, all about the how-to.

det handler alt sammen om at få ting gjort -- alt sammen om hvordan.

And if you remember one thing from what I want to talk about today,

Og hvis du husker en ting fra hvad jeg ville tale om i dag,

it's that the only way to end poverty, to make it history,

er det, at den eneste måde at ende fattigdom, at gøre det til historie,

is to build viable systems on the ground

er at bygge bæredygtige systemer fra bunden

that deliver critical and affordable goods and services to the poor,

der giver kritiske og billige varer og ydelser til de fattige,

in ways that are financially sustainable and scaleable.

på måder, der er finansielt bæredygtige og skalerbare.

If we do that, we really can make poverty history.

Hvis vi gør det, kan vi virkelig gøre fattigdom til historie.

And it was that -- that whole philosophy --

Og det var den -- den helhedsfilosofi --

that encouraged me to start my current endeavor

der opmuntrede mig til at starte min nuværende bestræbelse

called "Acumen Fund,"

kaldet Acumen Fond,

which is trying to build some mini-blueprints

som prøver at bygge nogle mini planer

for how we might do that in water, health and housing

for hvordan vi kan gøre dette med vand, helbred og boliger

in Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Egypt.

i Pakitstan, Indien, Kenya, Tanzania og Egypten.

And I want to talk a little bit about that, and some of the examples,

Og jeg vil snakke en lille smule om det, og ok nogle eksempler

so you can see what it is that we're doing.

så du kan se, hvad det er vi laver.

But before I do this -- and this is another one of my pet peeves --

Men før jeg gør dette -- og det er en anden af mine yndlings ærgrelser --

I want to talk a little bit about who the poor are.

Jeg vil snakke en smule om hvor fattige folk er.

Because we too often talk about them as these

Fordi vi alt for ofte snakker om dem som de her

strong, huge masses of people yearning to be free,

stærke, enorme masser af mennesker der ønsker at blive frie,

when in fact, it's quite an amazing story.

når det faktisk er en ret utrolig historie.

On a macro level, four billion people on Earth make less than four dollars a day.

På makro niveau, fire milliarder mennesker på Jorden tjener mindre end 4 dollars om dagen

That's who we talk about when we think about "the poor."

Det er dem vi snakker om, når vi snakker om de fattige.

If you aggregate it, it's the third largest economy on Earth,

Hvis du opsummere det, er det den tredje største økonomi på Jorden,

and yet most of these people go invisible.

og alligevel er de fleste af disse mennesker usynlige.

Where we typically work, there's people making between

Hvor vi typisk arbejder, er der folk der tjener mellem

one and three dollars a day.

en og tre dollars om dagen.

Who are these people?

Hvem er disse mennesker?

They are farmers and factory workers.

De er landmænd og fabriksarbejdere.

They work in government offices. They're drivers.

De arbejder i regeringskontorer. De er chauffører.

They are domestics.

De er lokale beboere.

They typically pay for critical goods and services like water,

De betaler typisk for nødvendige varer og ydelse som vand,

like healthcare, like housing, and they pay 30 to 40 times

såsom sundhed og beboelse, og de betaler 30 til 40 gange

what their middleclass counterparts pay --

hvad deres middelklasse modparter betaler --

certainly where we work in Karachi and Nairobi.

især hvor vi arbejder i Karachi og Nairobi.

The poor also are willing to make, and do make, smart decisions,

De fattige vil også gerne tage, og tager, kloge beslutninger,

if you give them that opportunity.

hvis du giver dem muligheden.

So, two examples.

Så, to eksempler.

One is in India, where there are 240 million farmers,

Et er i Indien, hvor der er 240 millioner landmænd,

most of whom make less than two dollars a day.

hvor de fleste tjener mindre end to dollars om dagen.

Where we work in Aurangabad, the land is extraordinarily parched.

Hvor vi arbejder i Aurangabad, er jorden ekstraodinært udtørret.

You see people on average making 60 cents to a dollar.

Du ser folk som i gennemsnit tjener 60 cents til en dollar.

This guy in pink is a social entrepreneur named Ami Tabar.

Denne fyr i pink er en social entreprenør ved navn Ami Tabar.

What he did was see what was happening in Israel, larger approaches,

Det han gjorde var, at se hvad der skete i Israel,

and figure out how to do a drip irrigation,

og finde ud af hvordan man laver dryp-vanding,

which is a way of bringing water directly to the plant stock.

som er en måde at lede vand direkte til planterne.

But previously it's only been created for large-scale farms,

Men tidligere er det kun blevet gjort på større gårde,

so Ami Tabar took this and modularized it down to an eighth of an acre.

så Ami Tabar tog det og skalerede det ned til en ottendedel af en hektar.

A couple of principles:

Et par principper --

build small.

Byg småt.

Make it infinitely expandable and affordable to the poor.

Gør det uendeligt udvideligt og betalbar for fattige.

This family, Sarita and her husband, bought a 15-dollar unit

Denne familie, Sarita og hendes mand, købte en 15 dollar enhed,

when they were living in a -- literally a three-walled lean-to

da de boede i et -- bogstavelig talt et tre-vægs udhus

with a corrugated iron roof.

med et tag af bølgeblik.

After one harvest, they had increased their income enough

Efter een høst, havde de øget deres indkomst nok

to buy a second system to do their full quarter-acre.

til at købe endnu et system til hele deres kvarte hektar.

A couple of years later, I meet them.

Et par år senere, mødte jeg dem.

They now make four dollars a day, which is pretty much middle class for India,

De laver nu fire dollars om dagen, hvilket er ret meget for mellemklassen i Indien,

and they showed me the concrete foundation they had just laid

og de viste mig det betonfundamentet, de lige havde lagt

to build their house.

til at bygge deres hus på.

And I swear, you could see the future in that woman's eyes.

Og jeg sværger, at du kunne se fremtiden i kvindens øjne.

Something I truly believe.

Noget jeg virkelig tror på.

You can't talk about poverty today without talking about malaria bed nets,

Du kan ikke snakke om fattigdom i dag uden at snakke om malaria-sengenet,

and I again give Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard

og igen giver jeg Jeffrey Sachs fra Harvard

huge kudos for bringing to the world

kæmpe ros, for at bringe dette til verden,

this notion of his rage -- for five dollars you can save a life.

denne måde han raser -- for fem dollars kan du redde et liv.

Malaria is a disease that kills one to three million people a year.

Malaria er en sygdom, der dræber en til tre millioner mennesker om året.

300 to 500 million cases are reported.

300 til 500 millioner tilfælde er rapporteret.

It's estimated that Africa loses

Det er estimeret, at Afrika taber

about 13 billion dollars a year to the disease.

omkring 13 milliarder dollar om året til sygdommen.

Five dollars can save a life.

Fem dollar kan redde et liv.

We can send people to the moon; we can see if there's life on Mars --

Vi kan sende folk til månen, vi kan se om der er liv på Mars --

why can't we get five-dollar nets to 500 million people?

hvorfor kan vi ikke give fem-dollar net til 500 millioner mennesker?

The question, though, is not "Why can't we?"

Spørgsmålet er dog ikke, hvorfor kan vi ikke,

The question is how can we help Africans do this for themselves?

spørgsmålet er, hvordan kan vi hjælpe Afrika med at gøre det for dem selv?

A lot of hurdles.

Mange forhindringer.

One: production is too low. Two: price is too high.

Et: produktionen er for lav. To: prisen er for høj.

Three: this is a good road in -- right near where our factory is located.

Tre: dette er god vej ind -- tæt på hvor vores fabrik er lokaliseret.

Distribution is a nightmare, but not impossible.

Distribution er et mareridt, men ikke umuligt.

We started by making a 350,000-dollar loan

Vi startede med at få et 350.000 dollar lån

to the largest traditional bed net manufacturer in Africa

til den største traditionelle sengenet fabrikant i Afrika,

so that they could transfer technology from Japan

så de kunne overføre teknologi fra Japan

and build these long-lasting, five-year nets.

og lave disse langtidsholdbare, fem-års net.

Here are just some pictures of the factory.

Her er nogle billeder af fabrikken.

Today, three years later, the company has employed

I dag, tre år senere, har firmaet ansat

another thousand women.

tusind kvinder mere.

It contributes about 600,000 dollars in wages to the economy of Tanzania.

Den bidrager med omkring 600.000 dollars i løn til økonomien i Tanzania.

It's the largest company in Tanzania.

Det er den største virksomhed i Tanzania.

The throughput rate right now is 1.5 million nets,

Gennemstrømningsraten er lige nu 1,5 millioner net,

three million by the end of the year.

tre millioner ved årets slutning.

We hope to have seven million at the end of next year.

Vi håber at have syv millioner ved næste års slutning.

So the production side is working.

Så produktions-siden virker.

On the distribution side, though,

På distributions siden,

as a world, we have a lot of work to do.

har vi dog meget arbejde at lave.

Right now, 95 percent of these nets are being bought by the U.N.,

Lige nu, bliver 95 procent af disse net købt af FN,

and then given primarily to people around Africa.

og så uddelt primært til folk i Afrika.

We're looking at building

Vi bygger på

on some of the most precious resources of Africa: people.

nogle af de mest værdifulde ressourcer i Afrika -- mennesker.

Their women.

Deres kvinder.

And so I want you to meet Jacqueline,

Og nu vil jeg have jer til at møde Jacqueline,

my namesake, 21 years old.

min navnesøster, 21 år gammel.

If she were born anywhere else but Tanzania,

Hvis hun var født alle andre steder end i Tanzania,

I'm telling you, she could run Wall Street.

så kunne hun styre Wall Street.

She runs two of the lines, and has already saved enough money

Hun kører to af de linier, og har allerede opsparet nok penge

to put a down payment on her house.

til udbetalingen til hendes hus.

She makes about two dollars a day, is creating an education fund,

Hun tjener omkring to dollars om dagen, opbygger et uddannelsesfond,

and told me she is not marrying nor having children

og har fortalt mig, at hun ikke gifter sig eller får børn

until these things are completed.

før det er gennemført.

And so, when I told her about our idea --

Og så, da jeg fortalte hende om vores idé --

that maybe we could take a Tupperware model from the United States,

at vi måske kunne tage Tupperware modellen fra USA,

and find a way for the women themselves to go out

og finde en måde for kvinderne selv at gå ud

and sell these nets to others --

og sælge disse net til andre --

she quickly started calculating what she herself could make

regnede hun hurtigt ud hvad hun selv kunne tjene

and signed up.

og skrev sig op.

We took a lesson from IDEO, one of our favorite companies,

Vi lærte en lektie fra IDEO, et af vores favorit firmaer,

and quickly did a prototyping on this,

og hurtigt lavede vi en prototype baseret på dette,

and took Jacqueline into the area where she lives.

og tog Jaqueline ind til området, hvor hun bor.

She brought 10 of the women with whom she interacts

Hun samlede 10 af de kvinder som hun snakker med

together to see if she could sell these nets, five dollars apiece,

for at se om hun kunne sælge de her net, fem dollar stykket,

despite the fact that people say nobody will buy one,

på trods af det faktum, at folk sagde, at ingen ville købe noget,

and we learned a lot about how you sell things.

og vi lærte en masse om hvordan man sælger ting.

Not coming in with our own notions,

Uden at komme ind med vores egne forestillinger,

because she didn't even talk about malaria until the very end.

fordi hun snakkede ikke om malaria før til allersidst.

First, she talked about comfort, status, beauty.

Først, snakkede hun om komfort, status, smukhed.

These nets, she said, you put them on the floor, bugs leave your house.

Disse net, sagde hun, du putter dem på gulvet, insekterne forlader dit hus.

Children can sleep through the night;

Børn kan sove natten igennem,

the house looks beautiful; you hang them in the window.

husene ser godt ud, når man hænger dem i vinduet.

And we've started making curtains,

Og vi er begyndt med at lave gardiner,

and not only is it beautiful, but people can see status --

og det er ikke kun smukt, men folk kan se status --

that you care about your children.

at du tager dig af dine børn.

Only then did she talk about saving your children's lives.

Først da, snakkede hun om at redde deres børns liv.

A lot of lessons to be learned in terms of how we sell

Der skal læres mange lektier om hvordan vi sælger

goods and services to the poor.

varer og ydelser til fattige.

I want to end just by saying that there's enormous opportunity

Jeg vil slutte af med bare at sige, at der er en enorm mulighed

to make poverty history.

for at gøre fattigdom til historie.

To do it right, we have to build business models that matter,

For at gøre det rigtigt, skal vi at lave forretningsmodeller der betyder noget,

that are scaleable and that work with Africans, Indians,

der er skalérbare og som virker med afrikanere, indere,

people all over the developing world

folk i hele den udviklende verden,

who fit in this category, to do it themselves.

som passer i denne kategori, få dem til at gøre det selv.

Because at the end of the day, it's about engagement.

Fordi, i sidste ende, handler det om engagement.

It's about understanding that people really don't want handouts,

Det handler om at forstå, at folk ikke vil have almisser,

that they want to make their own decisions;

de vil tage deres egne beslutninger,

they want to solve their own problems;

de vil løse deres egne problemer,

and that by engaging with them,

og at det er ved at engagere sig med dem,

not only do we create much more dignity for them,

at vi ikke bare skaber meget mere værdighed for dem,

but for us as well.

men også for os selv.

And so I urge all of you to think next time

Og derfor opfordrer jeg jer alle til næste gang at tænke på

as to how to engage with this notion and this opportunity

hvordan I engagerer jer med denne opfattelse og denne mulighed

that we all have -- to make poverty history --

som vi alle har -- at gøre fattigdom til historie --

by really becoming part of the process

ved virkelig at blive en del af processen

and moving away from an us-and-them world,

og bevæge os væk fra en os-og-dem verden,

and realizing that it's about all of us,

og indse at det er om os allesammen,

and the kind of world that we, together, want to live in and share.

og den verden som vi, sammen, vil leve i og dele.

Thank you.

Mange Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)