Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz was twenty-five years old and living in Kigali, Rawanda when she saw something that would form her philosophy of connectedness: a young boy walked down a dirt road in Africa wearing the blue sweater Novogratz had donated to a charity in America when she was just a teen. The idea that our actions (or inactions) may have an impact on others which we may never be aware of, was a powerful one for Novogratz who had come to Africa wanting to understand what stood between show more wealth and poverty. Educated as an international banker, her journey to bridge the global gap between the very poor and the very rich would eventually lead her to create The Acumen Fund – a nonprofit organization which raises charitable monies – not to give away, but for careful investment in entrepreneurs who have the vision to deliver essential services to the poor: a man who built a company which provides safe water to more than a quarter of a million of India’s rural poor, an agricultural products designer whose ability to sell drip irrigation systems to small-holder farmers has enabled them to double their yields and income, and a malaria bed net manufacturer in Africa whose business employs more than 7,000 people (mostly poor women) while providing bed nets to 16 million people a year.

The Blue Sweater is a memoir of sorts – a journey of one woman who believed she could make a difference in the lives of poor people which would be sustainable. Jacqueline Novogratz began her incredible journey at the age of twenty-five when she traveled to Africa under the auspices of a nonprofit microfinance organization for women. The years which followed allowed her to meet amazing individuals who had vision and strength of character, people who were eager to lift themselves out of poverty if only given the tools to do so. One of Novogratz’s first projects was to create a bank for women which would enable them to open savings accounts and get small loans to start and nurture businesses in Rawanda…not a simple process given a culture which had supported laws like the Rawanda Family Code – a law which was especially detrimental to women who had few rights and were the property of their husbands. Bride price was still in effect in the mid-80s when Novogratz arrived in Africa and it was a tradition which would prove difficult to change.

Novogratz shares the lessons she learned and the mistakes she made in her book with an honesty and warmth that is hard not to admire. The basic idea of dignity and self-worth being important to ALL people, is a strong theme in the book. Poverty steals an individual’s ability to make choices, and Novogratz demonstrates this idea over and over in The Blue Sweater.

Novogratz is an amazing writer. She brings to life the people, culture and geography of Africa, and shows her journey from a naive twenty-something into a woman with the wisdom and confidence to build a million dollar business tackling the issue of global poverty in ways which are revolutionary. I loved her descriptions of not only Africa, but also India and Pakistan. It is easy to see where an idealistic young woman would be drawn to these countries.

Novogratz brings to life the people she has met – the villagers, her mentors, the entrepreneurs who have impressed her, and those who have joined in her efforts to elevate people from poverty. She shares their wisdom and their philosophies in a seamless narrative that at times reads like a novel. The section of the book where she returns to Africa after the horrific Rawandan genocide, were riveting and moving.

The personal stories in the book are balanced with facts about poverty, finance, and economics which are written in such a way to be understandable to those without an economics background. For example, when Novogratz writes about the investment style of patient capital (‘not traditional charity, not traditional business investment, but something in-between‘), she takes the confusion away from the concept and pares it down in human terms.

I loved this book. I loved that I learned something about poverty I didn’t know. I loved that the book offered optimism and hope for a problem that far too often makes one want to turn away because of the vastness of it. The Blue Sweater is a captivating book written with passion and knowledge. It is a book which really is a must read…because, after all, we are all connected.

Highly recommended. show less

The economic gap between the rich and poor has increased in recent decades, yet the access to technology in many ways democratizes the world. Increasingly, many of the rich don’t find much meaning in just earning another dollar. Here, Jacqueline Novogratz shares her tale of receiving a business education but not aspiring to Wall Street. Instead, she went to Africa and saw the potential to introduce capitalistic motivations for the greater cause of human happiness.

Capitalism has gotten a show more bad name when individuals live for money alone. But Adam Smith originally wrote The Wealth of Nations as a natural account of how commerce actually happens and contributes to human happiness through accruing wealth. Novogratz digs deeply into Smith’s well to describe her life journey. After college, she started companies like microfinance ventures in central Africa to advance women’s well-being there. She returned to the US, but still kept an ideal of combining philanthropy and for-profit business in the same venture. She calls this “social entrepreneurship” and has applied these concepts globally in Africa and south Asia.

Along her path, she also had to reckon with a changed central Africa. Her efforts started with a focus on Rwanda just before the genocide. Then tragedy struck, and friends died. Other friends were jailed for committing atrocities. The entire country changed. She talks about navigating her relationships around this trauma. She seems to feel an uneasy peace about this event in a way that transcends logic. These reflections provide the most interesting human factors of her account.

I myself am not in business, economics, or philanthropy – clearly the main fields of this book. (I write software for medical research instead.) Nonetheless, this book reminds me of a large human search for meaning. Capitalism is just a tool for these ends, for individual happiness and for others’. Although its themes are clearly rooted in an optimism from the the 21st century’s first decade, anyone who wants to unite material benefits with universal human flourishing – in whatever field – can appreciate Novogratz’s account. show less

The author attempts to apply the feel-good theory of donating clothing on the larger NGO platform. Seeing that her donated blue sweater was being worn by someone in a developing country seemed to give her the naive belief that she can help people with her ideas, without taking into consideration their culture, desires, and motivations. A great lesson is understanding that your way is not necessarily the right way or the only way.

This is a wonderful book! I really encourage everyone to read it. I am sure you will find it inspiring. The title comes from an amazing story of a sweater the author was given as a child that she improbably enough finds years later being worn by a small boy in Africa. That interconnectedness is the theme she carries through the book. Essentially a memoir of her working life (so far) Novogratz has done an amazing job of relating her successes and failures in international aid work in a way show more that is enlightening and inspiring.

I especially enjoy her approach which is grounded in the belief that you must treat all people, no matter how poor, as capable, smart, determined, and interested in providing for themselves. Her work has been focused on injecting just the right help, usually a loan, at just the right place so that a poor person with an idea can make their own future, their own business. This is not another rich person coming in with her ideas--she has worked incredibly hard to get to the ideas of the poor person, and believe me, she has faced unbelievable resistance. I know most of us would have given up at just one of the obstacles and downright hostility she faced early on.

Novogratz hasn't given up though and lucky for us she's written this book so the rest of us can learn from her experiences. It was enjoyable to read and inspiring. I don't have plans to move to another country or take up this kind of work, but her work and her attitude can absolutely inform the way the rest of us live and treat each other, right here. show less