If you are interested in social enterprises, impact investing, start-ups, Asia, empowerment, and stories of unreasonable people committed to make the world a better place, then you may decide to read on.


I will explore the intersection of many different worlds that typically don’t intersect. At this intersection where traditional finance meets non-profit, start-up meets government, Silicon Valley meets Dhaka, there is a new type of ecosystem being built. I have found beauty in such contrasts, where in one conference room, the lady to my left may be a Goldman Sachs executive, to my right, an Indian market weaver, across the table, a member of the Singapore ministry.


This all occurs in a city called Singapore, which I have found to be quite a surprising intersection of many different worlds itself. Often referred to as the “benevolent dictatorship”, one might wonder whether Singapore might just be the ideal place to build a “benevolent capital markets”, a capital markets organized for the purpose of doing good.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys…”


The Founder of Modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, famously said, “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,” meaning that only stupid people will work for you if you do not pay very much. Or in the words of HKS Jonah Evans, if you pay peanuts, you get unemployed grad students.

Well, sometimes when you inspire people to join you in something meaningful, peanuts are just fine.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
(The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho)
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