Last week in New York, over a thousand heads of state, corporate chieftains, community activists, social impact investors, movie stars and foundation executives convened at the Clinton Global Initiative to reconfirm their actionable commitments on behalf of a better world.
Invited as founder and chair of MicroCredit Enterprises, I was a Hollywood extra clapping on cue as this media megaphone for social, economic and environmental justice unfolded.
From amidst the double-tight security befitting an event at which an ex-President (Bill), a current President (Barack), a Secretary of State (Hilary), a First Lady (Michelle) and other noteworthies gathered, some images linger:
At the Global Citizen Awards ceremony, watching a gaggle of movie, music and media headliners lend their names and money to causes, small and large: Kevin Spacey, Ben Stiller, the Rolling Stones en masse, Barbara Streisand, Jesse Jackson, Mayor Bloomberg, the founder of Twitter, the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Avon and Proctor & Gamble, Nobel Laureates, journalists Katie Couric, Chris Mathews and Christiane Amanpour were among the cavalcade of celebrities who care.
From the stage, Clinton reminds the assembly that 900,000 Facebook followers are tracking the proceedings.
Two basketball superstars, both of African descent, stroll by wearing their tallness with grace and gentle affect. I couldn't help but wonder if their leadership might not take their causes to new heights!
Harvard School of Public Health Dean Dr. Julio Frenk eating late-night snacks with his scholar-wife, Felicia Knaul. Former Mexican Minister of Health, World Health Organization executive and my friend, Frenk is the architect of the first-ever evidence-based global health outcomes ranking.
Favorite session: "Profiting from the Poor?" with Vikram Akula, Founder, SKS Microfinance (India), Mary Ellen Iskenderian, Chief Executive Officer, Women's World Banking (New York), and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank (Bangladesh):
A warm greeting from Rangina Hamidi of Kandahar, Afghanistan, where she runs the largest female-owned business in the country, employing 300 women. Earlier this year, at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, she sold me a pink scarf as a holiday gift for my mother-in-law (whom I hope isn't reading this blog).
Wello's WaterWheel makes it possible to easily transport 175 pounds of water (20 gallons) over dirt roads. With this cleverly designed contraption, women and girls are freed from the health-damaging, time-consuming task of balancing 40+ pound jugs of water on their heads just to cook a meal or wash their faces.
In conversation with social impact investors from California, India, China, New York and Mexico, I realized for the first time the dubious value of social metrics for social investments serving the bottom of the economic pyramid. Do social investors really need data to demonstrate that selling packets of soap, aspirin or other basic necessities to impoverished consumers is a good thing? Whatever happened to common sense?
For one solid week, blissfully, I was not asked to explain why I call myself a global citizen -- or why the scourge of poverty degrades me -- or why MicroCredit Enterprises focuses on empowering women and girls with microloans -- or why I take economic justice personally.
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