Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 18, 2013

Following Abed's twist on Schumacher — "small may be beautiful, but big is necessary" — it now touches the lives of an estimated 126 million people with healthcare, education, enterprise development, microfinance and a slew of other programs. In short, by following the mantra "pilot, perfect, scale up.".

Microfinance 8

Microfinance Follow-up Bureaucracy Self-aware 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 21, 2013

One way to tell the story of mothers2mothers' growth is as follows: since 2001, the organization has expanded its operations to nine countries with an approximately $20 million operating budget. Yet, if scaling impact is the goal, these skills are essential. Scaling Up Without Losing Your Edge. In what settings? For-profit?

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Mentor Microfinance NGO 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 20, 2012

Most companies trying to do business with the 4 billion people who make up the world's poor follow a formula long touted by bottom-of-the-pyramid experts: Offer products at extremely low prices and margins, and hope to generate decent profits by selling enormous quantities of them. Offer an enabling service.

Bottom-up 10

Bottom-up Microfinance Price Banking 10

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

And we are often happy to review these start-up plans — which include the typical elements such as a product description, competitive analysis, estimate of market size, and projected financials. Like the vast majority of start-ups, most new social enterprises are bootstrapping efforts. In short, the business plan is overrated.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Planning Taylorism Taylor 8