Patient Capital: A Different Approach to Solving the Problems of Poverty
with
Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and Founder, Acumen Fund
in conversation with
Akhil Gupta, Senior Managing Director and Chairman, Blackstone India
on
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Registration begins at 6:00 pm
at
Bombay Stock Exchange
Banquet Hall, 26th floor, Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, Dalal Street, M Samachar Marg, Fort, Mumbai
This is a FREE event, but RSVP REQUIRED: [email protected]
Join Jacqueline Novogratz in conversation with Akhil Gupta for a discussion on how to invest in enterprises that are building market-oriented approaches to the challenges of poverty. Novogratz is among the leading minds in shaping philanthropy today, with experience in banking, microfinance and both traditional and venture philanthropy. She founded Acumen Fund in 2001, a non-profit global venture fund that invests patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor. She champions this approach as an effective complement to traditional aid. Acumen Fund currently manages more than $60 million in investments in South Asia and East Africa, all focused on delivering affordable healthcare, water, housing and energy to the poor in Pakistan, India and Kenya. Novogratz will share her views on the unique challenges and opportunities she sees in alleviating poverty in the sub-continent, and explore how the patient capital approach can be distinguished from commercial investments in the private equity sector. Akhil Gupta, who deals extensively with private equity investments, will engage Novogratz for an exploration of these issues.
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund. Prior to Acumen Fund, she founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership programs at the Rockefeller Foundation. She also founded Duterimbere, a microfinance institution in Rwanda. She is currently on the advisory boards of Stanford Graduate School of Business, MIT’s Legatum Center, and Innovations Journal published by MIT Press. Jacqueline serves on the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees and the board of IDEO.org, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for Social Innovation. She was recently named to Foreign Policy’s list of Top 100 Global Thinkers and The Daily Beast’s 25 Smartest People of the Decade. She is a frequent speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and TED. Her best-selling memoir The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, chronicles her quest to understand poverty and challenges readers to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink their engagement with the world.
Akhil Gupta is a Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Blackstone India. Since joining Blackstone in 2005, Gupta’s primary role has been to manage private equity transactions in India. Before joining Blackstone, he served as CEO of Corporate Development for Reliance Industries Limited and Reliance Infocomm Limited. During his tenure, the Reliance group was India’s largest private sector business with diversified interests in petrochemicals, energy, power, telecom and financial services. Gupta serves as a Director of AllCargo Global Logistics, CMS Computers, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Gokaldas Exports, Intelenet Global Services, MTAR Technologies, Monnet, Moser Baer, Nagarjuna Construction Company and SKR BPO Services.
The Entrepreneurship Series is a forum for leading entrepreneurs to share insights from their journeys, reflecting on challenges, opportunities, and innovations in their line of work.
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