Scaling up social business in World Bank style
The World Bank is on a mission to scale up early stage development projects around the world. Pioneers Post's founder and editor Tim West talks to Drew von Glahn to find out how this can be done in practice at the Opportunity Collaboration – a gathering of some the world's leading thinkers in social change and poverty alleviation.
Drew von Glahn is team leader for the World Bank's Development Marketplace – the world's first competitive grant programme aimed at providing financial, capacity building and technological support to innovative projects tackling social issues such as unemployment and lack of access to public services among low income groups.
This summer the North East Diocesan Social Service Society was selected by the Development Marketplace team to be one of the beneficiaries of the grant programme. The project is bringing adequate healthcare to remote villages in India and has so far helped 22,000 families in 300 rural villages.
The grand vision is of a mass scaling up of sustainable businesses in developing economies. It's no easy task but if anyone is up for the job it is Drew – an expert in investment banking in developing economies and somebody who turned around the fortunes of a social enterprise which had just 60 days left of cash to keep it running into a successful business.
