Praise for Sustainable Impact: How Women Are Key to Ending Poverty
"Pithy, pragmatic, heart-warming, shocking - this book tells personal stories of the bottom of the income pyramid. You will learn about social enterprises and how you can and why you should engage. Women are the key to the solution to poverty and this book will convince you of that." - Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer; “Father of the Internet”; Chief Internet Evangelist for Google
“Laina Greene is one of those rare entrepreneurs who has managed to steer their professional career in accordance with their personal values. Her work in stimulating the creation and nurturing of social enterprises is both a sound business initiative and a valuable social service. Her fund enables enterprising women to lift themselves and their partners up from a condition of hopelessness and material poverty, and become active participants in the business community and an inspiration to their peers. This approach has the immense merit of being sustainable, of not requiring bureaucratic government programs of income redistribution, and of empowering disenfranchised populations both materially and spiritually.”- Eric Benhamou, Founder and Partner, Benhamou General Ventures “In the last 100 years, there have been leapfrog developments in technology, transportation and medical facilities. The cliché is that humankind has developed, which is absolutely not true. The progress has benefitted a small percentage of the world’s population, leading to increased divisions between rich and poor. The imbalance is leading to increased social unrest in different parts of the world. The existing models of growth and consumption are not sustainable. But what are the other options? The answer lies in the book. It is a guiding force for the next generation of youth who can challenge the status quo and create sustainable models that perpetuate the concept of inclusive development. The book is a breath of fresh air and brings hope that pragmatic solutions are possible in a manner that is socially, financially and environmentally sustainable.” -Harish Hande, Co-Founder and Managing Director, SELCO India |
Women are BIG.
The authors highlight issues that women at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid face through narrative storytelling. The solution to these issues is tackling the feminisation of poverty--that entails empowering the people most affected by poverty, women.
Revolutionary transformation requires revitalized giving. Business models reliant on donations limit the potential of women and their ideas. In Sustainable Impact, Greene, Tan and Hakins argue for social enterprise as an alternative to charity and microfinance in tackling poverty. Sustainable Impact invites readers to engage in patient capital, where people are prioritized over profits. The pages are filled with conviction that together, we can tackle poverty and build a more equitable world in which women have equal opportunities to lift their communities from poverty and build positive futures. We were honoured to have Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet as our Chief Guest at our book launched, hosted by Bloomberg Singapore. We were also joined by 2 of our partner social enterprises Color Silk and Siam Organic, all the way from Cambodia and Thailand! A big thanks to all our partners who made the book launch event a great success! A shoutout to the team at Bloomberg’s Women Committee, Team from UN Global Compact Network, our wonderful Sponsors SAP, ASEAN Foundation, UN Women, our volunteers and all who made the book launch event possible! |