Facilitating the exchange of ideas and collaboration to make a difference.
This section highlights the work they do to shape the world we live in.
Featured KIN Community Members:
+ Novartis, Drishtee & Kellogg—A New Business Model to Provide Better Healthcare to Rural India
+ Youth Action International – Training West African Women to be Entrepreneurs
+ Kellogg Venture Community – Turning Innovators into Entrepreneurs
+ Health is Wealth - The World Health Imaging Alliance (WHIA)
+ (RED) and KIN Global Partner for Global Prosperity
+ The Global Brain, A Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World
+ Growing Prosperity One Acre at a Time
+ An Interview with Judy Estrin on Closing the Innovation Gap
+ Transforming Education through Problem Based Learning
Social Business in India
Novartis, Drishtee and KelloggA business, a non-profit and an academic institution team up to create an innovative business model to deliver health education and treatment in rural India.
At the 2010 KIN Global Summit, three Kellogg students, Kasey Smith (KSM ’11), Nikita Mody-Patel (KSM ’11), and Surbhi Martin (KSM ’10), presented their KIN Global Scholar project on the role micro-franchising can play in creating sustainable economic growth in rural India. During the summit, the students met with Nancy Barry, Founder and CEO of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty (ESP), to discuss ways to continue their project with a partner organization. Together with ESP, the students subsequently began work with Drishtee, a social enterprise with 14,000 micro-franchise kiosks across rural India, and Novartis, the pharmaceutical firm, to develop partnership strategies aimed at building healthcare infrastructure in rural India.
This past summer, Nancy Barry, Surbhi Martin, and Emily Rasmussen, an associate at ESP, traveled to India to conduct fieldwork in rural Uttar Pradesh, site of the first joint Novartis-Drishtee pilot, to develop a strategy for a large-scale pilot and roll-out. The Novartis-Drishtee initiative is a unique model
leveraging the strength of Drishtee’s rural distribution footprint and of Novartis’ healthcare expertise to deliver improved access to healthcare. The initiative builds on Novartis’ existing social business in India, Arogya Parivar, which combines raising awareness of prevalent diseases through community health meetings with designing and delivering affordable treatments. Already a profitable and sustainable social business, Arogya Parivar will continue expanding its model into healthcare infrastructure through 2011 with support from ESP and a Kellogg student team.
With a large-scale pilot launch planned for early 2011, more details and an update of the project are planned for the 2011 KIN Global Summit. Kellogg students Kasey Smith and Nikita Mody-Patel will be joined by Pablo Varela (KSM ’11) and Mihir Naware (KSM ’11) to continue the project during the 2010-2011 academic year under the supervision of Kellogg faculty Kara Palamountain (KSM ‘04).
Building Prosperity in West Africa
Youth Action InternationalKIN Global Supports Women's Empowerment Centers in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
+ Learn more about Youth Action InternationalAt KIN Global 2009, delegates pledged to support Youth Action International (YAI), a non profit dedicated to redeveloping economies in post-war countries. With a grant of $50,000, YAI was able to fund another year of training and expansion at women's empowerment centers in both Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The women's centers offer a unique model that provides both training and micro-loans to start small businesses. Each center is market driven, providing several career tracks for prospective students based upon local demand: catering, tailoring, textiles, computer literacy and cosmetology to name a few.
YAI realizes that it is not wise to flood the market and thus, swaps out old training modules with new career tracks as the market demands. Once a woman graduates from her chosen field, she is given a small loan to help her business get started.
YAI constantly looks for gaps in the marketplace and recently developed a training program to produce products for the tourism industry and also for the fair trade marketplace abroad. In the future, YAI hopes to add a robust hospitality training to meet the needs of Liberia's growing hotel industry. They also hope to train women to open daycare facilities near marketplaces where mothers come to sell their produce.
YAI is dedicated to reclaiming and maintaining traditional culture lost during times of war. In Liberia, they offer a training program to produce traditional fabric and the catering training includes traditional Liberian recipes.
YAI is a perfect example of KIN Global's mission of supporting prosperous, culturally diverse and sustainable societies around the world.
KELLOGG VENTURE COMMUNITY
KVC Co-Chair, David Schonthal, opens the KVC strategic planning meeting in August of 2009.The Kellogg Venture Community was founded to ensure that entrepreneurs have access to the constructive feedback, input and support they need to develop their ideas into successful ventures.
+ Visit the KVC website.Kellogg Venture Community – Turning Innovators into Entrepreneurs
The KIN is based on a belief that entrepreneurship is an important key to economic prosperity, which is why the KIN is happy to partner with organizations like the Kellogg Venture Community (KVC), an organization dedicated to “turning innovators into entrepreneurs.”The KVC offers a network of support for Kellogg entrepreneurs who want to get great ideas to market. KVC Business Concept Review meetings provide a platform for entrepreneurs to pitch new business ideas to a room of experienced Kellogg alumni, professors and students. The KVC then builds a core team of supporters/coaches for each start-up based upon specific needs and challenges identified.
“We created KVC to build actionable, long-term partnerships. This is what differentiates us,” says Patrick Smith, Co-Chair of the KVC Strategic Partnerships Committee.
Some entrepreneurs need coaching on presentation skills, others need subject matter expertise, or connections or funding. KVC connects the dots for them. In some areas where the challenge is too big for one company, the KVC will help form a coalition.
“Creating thriving economies is a social mission in and of itself, however, many of our entrepreneurs are specifically working to solve environmental and social issues. These issues are a signal that unmet customer needs exist and indicate the potential for brand new markets to develop,” explains Kenneth Jones, Executive Director and Co-Chair of the KVC.
Currently, the KVC is providing business strategy and support to mission-driven companies such as Savannah Health, Inc., creator of a systemic approach to addressing the root causes of diabetes in India; FireBlocks, a producer of eco-friendly firewood; and GreenChoice, the Midwest’s first green community bank.
KVC’s goal is to provide relevant teams and relevant services that enable entrepreneurs to build successful businesses that meet the growing needs of the world.
Health is Wealth:
World Health Imaging AllianceFamily at the Salud y Bienstar Municipal Clinic in Guatemala City
The World Health Imaging Alliance (WHIA), founded at Northwestern University, innovates to bring better diagnostic imaging to resource poor communities.
+ Visit WHIA’s websiteHealth is Wealth - The World Health Imaging Alliance (WHIA)
The World Health Imaging Alliance (WHIA) is a non-profit organization that is working to improve the health status and quality of health care received by people in resource poor areas worldwide. The organization has a goal to facilitate the deployment of 20,000 digital medical imaging solutions around the world, providing 1 billion people with better diagnostic care. “Global prosperity starts with health. A person’s health status plays a significant role in their quality of life and their ability to earn a living,” notes Ivy Walker (Kellogg ’98), CEO of WHIA. “Medical imaging is an important part of primary health care. Doctors need it in order to accurately diagnose and treat many kinds of medical conditions including trauma, respiratory ailments and cancer.”According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 4 billion people lack access to basic x-ray services. WHIA is on a path to change this. The organization is leading a public/private partnership that offers complete, low-cost, sustainable digital imaging solutions to low-resource communities around the world.
Another key to sustainability: WHIA’s complete system of services including site assessment for all candidate sites, fundraising assistance for the purchase of the equipment and ongoing services, support and maintenance.
The World Health Imaging Alliance was born at Northwestern University, based upon a study done by biomedical engineering students. The study found that a digital solution would improve healthcare if supported by a sustainable business model.
WHIA is currently conducting a pilot project in Guatemala with thirteen additional sites under assessment. Dozens of countries have expressed interest in starting their own pilot program.
(RED) is Vision Partner for KIN Global
Susan Smith-Ellis, CEO (RED)"We are pleased to join the KIN and one of the world’s leading business schools to advance the dialogue about new models and new ideas to help build global prosperity."
+ Read Susan's blog on KIN Global 2009+ Learn more about (RED)
The Global Brain
Mohanbir Sawhney, Co-author"A must read book on network-centric innovation."
– Prof. Vijay Govindarajan, Tuck School, Dartmouth
"A systematic and incisive analysis of the diverse opportunities available to companies to tap into the Global Brain."
– Denis Browne, Senior Vice President, SAP Labs
+ Purchase the book
One Acre Fund
Interview with Andrew Youn, FounderKellogg is a nurturing incubator for social entrepreneurs like Andrew Youn and the One Acre Fund. Watch a recent interview with Andrew to see how KIN Global supports innovations that drive social change.
+ Watch the video+ Visit One Acre Fund
+ Read an Article from Kellogg
Growing Prosperity, One Acre at a Time
Andrew Youn uses market forces to pull people out of poverty. Originally supported by the Kellogg School's Larry and Carol Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice, Andrew started the One Acre Fund, an organization that gives Kenyan farmers the tools, training and access to markets that allow them to earn a living from their small plots of land. These ‘market bundles’ close the loop for farmers, providing support and collective buying and selling power for farmers at each junction from planting to selling their crops. Andrew employs business principles at every level of his operation, including rigorous baseline and success metrics. He isn’t interested in just increasing crop yield, he wants to make sure his model is making a difference in improving child nutrition and health – that is why one of his success metrics is child height. The One Acre Fund operates transparently, providing timely progress updates via a twice-yearly census of all OAF members.Stat Box:
One in six of rural Kenyan children dies before age five, and 40% are physically stunted from severe hunger – One Acre Fund Study Hunger is the number one killer of African children – World Health Report 2002 Hunger plays a 78% contributing factor to diarrheal disease, 65% to lower respiratory infection, 82% to malaria, and 50% to measles – 2004 World Food Security Report, Food and Agriculture Organization
Closing The Innovation Gap
Judith L. Estrin, AuthorFormer CTO, CISCO Systems, Inc., Silicon Valley
Entrepreneur and KIN Global member, Judy Estrin, released her book in September 2008 "Closing the Innovation Gap: reigniting the spark of creativity in a global economy."
+ View content from the book+ Learn more about the author
Interview with Judy:
Question:
Let’s start at the top. What advice would you give to our new president elect?Question:
What is the role of business schools?Question:
What is the connection between Research, Development and Application?Answer:
1. Balance focus on short-term crisis management with longer-term fundamental issues.Look at the economy. There is a whole set of fires we need to put out so we don’t fall deeper into a hole. However, we must keep in mind things that need to be done for the long-term health of the economy. We need to lay the groundwork for improved healthcare, energy independence and climate change. Above all, we need to make commitments to behavioral changes that will prevent future crisis.
2. Be careful how you measure success – measure progress instead of quick fixes
Everyone is so fixed on the notion of what happens in the first 100 days. When it comes to these longer-term problems, we can’t expect results in the first 100 days. If we do, we will end up with compromises. Like any disruptive innovation, we should expect to see the right talent put in place, the right needs and questions framed correctly AND those needs and questions prioritized correctly. It will take longer to come up with the actual answers. If we put too much pressure on expecting results, we’ll wind up back in the short term with incremental innovation instead of the real change that we need for the long term.
3. Reignite innovation in science and technology.
Innovation is the key to long-term economic growth. It is incumbent upon government to provide a vision and inspire the nation using increased investment in research, better policies supportive of innovation and improved education policies to encourage the next generation of innovators and leaders.
We must also restate a commitment to science and evidence-based decision making and critical thinking into the process of government that has completely disappeared over the last eight years. This includes naming a science advisor sooner rather than later, raising the Office of Science and Technology Policy to a level where it has influence and supporting the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
4. Rethink the paradigm of government, business, academic and non-profit collaboration
Historically built around large companies lobbying government. We want to get away from that, but be careful that government has the resources to be educated and informed. We need to find a way to include the voice of small business, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and two-way collaboration based upon the interest of the whole.
Answer:
1. Become a translator between groupsCollaboration is impossible when entities don’t even use the same language. My friend, Ellen Levy, posed a unique ROI model while she was Director of Media X at Stanford. As we know, it’s all about ROI, but ROI can mean different things to each group. When you map a problem onto each group’s ROI, that’s when you get magical collaboration.
Business schools can play a role by teaching a class in collaboration across the spectrum so that future leaders develop an understanding and empathy for non-corporate entities such as government and non-profit.
2. Conduct collaboration research
Research the changing dynamics of collaboration. How does the internet influence collaboration? What are the new trends and forms? What is the value of open collaboration? What works and what doesn’t?
3. Act as an independent convening entity
Universities have the unique ability to become an independent platform for collaboration. They can become a safe haven to bring differing groups together on neutral ground to share ideas and work toward a more systemic ROI.
4. Stop contributing to the problem
Business schools have contributed to short sightedness by churning out students to meet the quarterly return demands of the marketplace. Business schools need to teach students how to balance short-term gain with long-term value creation.
Answer:
Innovation is not a line—it’s a circle. Sometimes it’s something in the application space that triggers something in research. Perhaps users drive development to build a product that does a better job.
It’s a biological eco-system, nutrients are passed amongst communities of the innovation eco-system, nutrients are needs and questions. This sharing between research, development and application provokes the right type of collaboration.
Stephanie Pace Marshall
Founding President and President Emerita of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA)Transforming Education: “We are developing the next generation of leaders in STEM innovation not because we have to compete to win, but because we need the most ethical and creative thinking to solve global problems. We want our students to be first for the world, not first in the world.”
+ Learn more about Marshall+ Learn more about the InvenTeam Grant
+ Read about reinventing education
This is just the sort of real-world learning project Stephanie Pace Marshall, Founding President and President Emerita, envisioned when she launched the IMSA over two decades ago. IMSA’s mission is to ignite and nurture ethical and creative scientific minds to advance the human condition. IMSA provides a unique educational landscape that allows students to learn how to be innovators and change-makers by finding solutions to current problems.
IMSA is an internationally recognized leader in developing the methodology for problem-based learning, or PBL. “PBL is a framework where students are learning critical and creative thinking, complex problem-solving collaboration across networks, entrepreneurship and how to analyze data and communicate it,” says Marshall. “It’s a model to build the intellectual and creative capacity we need to address current and future global issues.”
During her visit, Marshall saw that the girls were unable to attend school because the nearest clean water source was a river nearly two miles away. Making this trip three times a day made attending school impossible.
“You can build a school, but unless you connect to the community and provide safe water, micro-financing, and other necessities, you don’t change anything,” says Marshall. “It’s all connected.”
The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant will help the students create an affordable water filtration system and immerse themselves in a powerful project that just might develop a new technology that can be used by communities like the one in Kenya.
Photo:
IMSA student Frederick Damen (left) meets with faculty member Dr. Mark
Carlson, Dr. Stephanie Pace Marshall, and students Alexander Drummond,
Sharada Dharmasankar and Melissa Tao to discuss their InvenTeam project,
a low-cost, durable water filtration system for use in developing
countries.
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