ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.

Why you should listen

Jacqueline Novogratz writes: "I want to build a movement in which we define success based on the amount of human energy we release in the world.

"I started my career on Wall Street and soon discovered that markets are efficient, but by themselves they too often overlook or exploit the poor. So I moved to Rwanda in 1986 to help found the country’s first micro-finance bank. There I saw the humanitarian ethos of philanthropy, and also how often top-down solutions too often create dependency, the opposite of dignity. Through 30 years of working on solutions to poverty, I have come to redefine it for myself, seeing it not as how much income a person earns, but how free they are to make their own choices and decisions, how much agency they have over their own lives.

Acumen was founded to change the way the world tackles poverty in 2001. Our mission was simple – to raise philanthropy and invest it as patient capital – long-term investment in intrepid entrepreneurs willing to go where markets and government had failed the poor. We enable companies to experiment and fail, never wavering from a commitment to stand with the poor, yet understanding that profitability is necessary for sustainable solutions. We’ve invested more than $110M across South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, and have seen entire sectors disrupted and hundreds of millions served.

The work also taught that it was critical to invest in talent. To date, we’ve supported nearly 400 Acumen Fellows across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion and ideology. They are a beautiful group, full of vision and grit, and a determination to do what is right, not easy. The group itself enables individual leaders to endure the loneliness that is part of the work.

And then we measure what matters rather than just what we can count. Take this all together and you see our mission to do what it takes to build a world in which all of us have the chance to dream and to flourish, not from a place of easy sentimentality but through a commitment to using the tools of capitalism and the attributes of moral leadership to focus on doing what it takes, and no less.

More profile about the speaker
Jacqueline Novogratz | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Jacqueline Novogratz: An escape from poverty

Jacqueline Novogratz 谈脱离贫困

Filmed:
1,298,963 views

Jacqueline Novogratz讲述了她在内罗毕的贫民区遇到简的一次感人经历。简曾是一名妓女。她的梦想就是逃脱贫穷、成为医生、结婚生子。而这一切竟以一种意想不到的方式得以实现。
- Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I've been working加工 on issues问题 of poverty贫穷 for more than 20 years年份,
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我已经研究贫困问题二十多年了,
00:16
and so it's ironic具有讽刺意味 that the problem问题 that and question that I most grapple抓钩 with
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所以颇具讽刺意味的一件事就是我最多在挣扎的问题
00:21
is how you actually其实 define确定 poverty贫穷. What does it mean?
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是你到底上怎么定义贫困。贫困的意思是什么?
00:24
So often经常, we look at dollar美元 terms条款 --
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我们经常会看钱 --
00:26
people making制造 less than a dollar美元 or two or three a day.
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有的人每天挣的钱不到一美元或者两美元或者三美元。
00:28
And yet然而 the complexity复杂 of poverty贫穷 really has to look at
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但是对于贫困这个复杂的概念
00:33
income收入 as only one variable变量.
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收入确实只是其中的一个因素。
00:35
Because really, it's a condition条件 about choice选择,
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因为事实上,贫困是有关选择的状态,
00:37
and the lack缺乏 of freedom自由.
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和缺少自由的状态。
00:39
And I had an experience经验 that really deepened加深 and elucidated阐明 for me
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而我的一次经历则使我深刻而清晰地
00:42
the understanding理解 that I have.
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得到对贫困的理解。
00:44
It was in Kenya肯尼亚, and I want to share分享 it with you.
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那是在肯尼亚,我想要和你分享这个经历。
00:46
I was with my friend朋友 Susan苏珊 Meiselas梅塞拉斯, the photographer摄影师,
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那时我和我的摄影师朋友Susan Meiselas
00:48
in the Mathare玛萨瑞 Valley slums贫民窟.
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在玛萨瑞山谷的贫民区。
00:50
Now, Mathare玛萨瑞 Valley is one of the oldest最老的 slums贫民窟 in Africa非洲.
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现在,玛萨瑞山谷已经成为其中一个非洲最古老的贫民区了。
00:53
It's about three miles英里 out of Nairobi内罗毕,
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那是在内罗毕外面三公里地方,
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and it's a mile英里 long and about two-tenths十分之二 of a mile英里 wide,
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那里有一英里长,差不多五分之一英里宽,
00:58
where over half a million百万 people
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有五十多万人
01:00
live生活 crammed临时抱佛脚 in these little tin shacks窝棚,
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拥挤的住在这些小简易房里,
01:02
generation after generation, renting租房 them,
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一代接着一代,租住这些简易房,
01:05
often经常 eight or 10 people to a room房间.
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经常是每个房间里住8到10个人。
01:07
And it's known已知 for prostitution卖淫, violence暴力, drugs毒品:
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而且这里因为卖淫,暴力和毒品而有名。
01:13
a hard place地点 to grow增长 up.
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一个很艰苦的生长环境。
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And when we were walking步行 through通过 the narrow狭窄 alleys小巷,
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当我们走在一个狭窄的过道,
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it was literally按照字面 impossible不可能 not to step in the
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那完全不可能不踩到
01:20
raw生的 sewage污水 and the garbage垃圾 alongside并肩 the little homes家园.
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小房子周边的马桶出来的脏水和垃圾。
01:24
But at the same相同 time it was also
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但是同时,那也
01:26
impossible不可能 not to see the human人的 vitality活力,
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不可能看不到人类的活力,
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the aspiration心愿 and the ambition志向 of the people who live生活 there:
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住在那里的人的抱负和野心。
01:32
women妇女 washing洗涤 their babies婴儿, washing洗涤 their clothes衣服, hanging them out to dry.
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女人们洗着她们的孩子,洗着她们的衣服,把衣服凉出来。
01:35
I met会见 this woman女人, Mama妈妈 Rose玫瑰,
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我遇见了一个女人,Rose妈妈,
01:37
who has rented that little tin shack窝棚 for 32 years年份,
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她已经租在这个小简易房32年了,
01:40
where she lives生活 with her seven children孩子.
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和她的7个孩子一起住。
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Four sleep睡觉 in one twin双胞胎 bed,
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四个孩子在一个双人床上睡觉,
01:44
and three sleep睡觉 on the mud and linoleum油布 floor地板.
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还有三个睡在泥和油毡地上。
01:47
And she keeps保持 them all in school学校 by selling销售 water from that kiosk,
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她靠在亭子里卖水挣钱让所有的孩子都上学,
01:51
and from selling销售 soap肥皂 and bread面包 from the little store商店 inside.
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她还在小商店里卖肥皂和面包。
01:55
It was also the day after the inauguration就职典礼,
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那天也是美国总统就职典礼的第二天,
01:57
and I was reminded提醒 how Mathare玛萨瑞 is still connected连接的 to the globe地球.
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然后我意识到现在,玛萨瑞仍然和外面的世界相连。
02:01
And I would see kids孩子 on the street corners角落,
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我看到小孩子们在街角,
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and they'd他们会 say "Obama奥巴马, he's our brother哥哥!"
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他们在说:“奥巴马,他是我们的兄弟!”
02:05
And I'd say "Well, Obama's奥巴马 my brother哥哥, so that makes品牌 you my brother哥哥 too."
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然后我说:“这样的话,奥巴马是我的兄弟,所以你也是我的兄弟了。”
02:08
And they would look quizzically疑惑, and then be like, "High five!"
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他们好奇地看着我,然后就说,“High five!”
02:12
And it was here that I met会见 Jane.
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我就是在这遇见了简。
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I was struck来袭 immediately立即 by the kindness善良 and the gentleness温柔 in her face面对,
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我马上就被她脸上的美好、平和打动了。
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and I asked her to tell me her story故事.
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然后我请她给我讲她的故事。
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She started开始 off by telling告诉 me her dream梦想. She said, "I had two.
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她从她的梦想开始讲给我听。她说:“我有两个梦想。
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My first dream梦想 was to be a doctor医生,
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一个的梦想是当一个医生,
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and the second第二 was to marry结婚 a good man
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第二个梦想是嫁一个好的男人,
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who would stay with me and my family家庭,
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他可以跟我和我的家在一起。
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because my mother母亲 was a single mom妈妈,
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因为我的妈妈是单身母亲,
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and couldn't不能 afford给予 to pay工资 for school学校 fees费用.
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没有能力负担学费。
02:34
So I had to give up the first dream梦想, and I focused重点 on the second第二."
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所以我不得不放弃了第一个梦想,并且我努力实现我的第二个梦想。“
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She got married已婚 when she was 18, had a baby宝宝 right away.
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她18岁的时候结婚了,然后马上生了孩子。
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And when she turned转身 20, found发现 herself她自己 pregnant with a second第二 child儿童,
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当她到了20岁,发现她怀了第二个孩子,
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her mom妈妈 died死亡 and her husband丈夫 left her -- married已婚 another另一个 woman女人.
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她的妈妈去世了而且她的丈夫离开了她--和另外一个女人结婚了。
02:49
So she was again in Mathare玛萨瑞, with no income收入, no skill技能 set, no money.
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所以她又到了玛萨瑞,没有收入没有本事,没有钱。
02:53
And so she ultimately最终 turned转身 to prostitution卖淫.
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最终变成了一个妓女。
02:56
It wasn't organized有组织的 in the way we often经常 think of it.
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事情并不是象我们通常想像的那样发生。
02:58
She would go into the city at night with about 20 girls女孩,
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她每天晚上和大约20个女孩去城市里,
03:01
look for work, and sometimes有时 come back with a few少数 shillings先令,
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寻找工作,有的时候能挣点钱回来,
03:04
or sometimes有时 with nothing.
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有的时候什么都挣不到。
03:06
And she said, "You know, the poverty贫穷 wasn't so bad. It was the humiliation屈辱
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她说,”你知道,穷并不是太坏。那只是耻辱
03:09
and the embarrassment困窘 of it all."
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和尴尬。
03:11
In 2001, her life changed.
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在2001年,她的生活改变了。
03:15
She had a girlfriend女朋友 who had heard听说 about this organization组织, JamiiJamii Bora宝来,
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她的一个女性朋友听说了这个组织,Jamii Bora,
03:19
that would lend money to people no matter how poor较差的 you were,
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这个组织可以借给人钱,不管你是多么穷。
03:22
as long as you provided提供 a commensurate相称 amount in savings.
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只要你能提供一定的存款。
03:26
And so she spent花费 a year to save保存 50 dollars美元,
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然后她就用了一年的时间存了50美元,
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and started开始 borrowing借款, and over time she was able能够 to buy购买 a sewing针线活 machine.
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然后就开始借钱,过了一段时间她已经可以买一个缝纫机了。
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She started开始 tailoring剪裁.
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她开始制作衣服。
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And that turned转身 into what she does now,
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然后这就使她变成了现在的样子,
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which哪一个 is to go into the secondhand二手 clothing服装 markets市场,
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进入了二手衣服市场,
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and for about three dollars美元 and 25 cents she buys购买 an old ball gown.
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她用了3美元25美分买了一个晚礼服。
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Some of them might威力 be ones那些 you gave.
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有一些可能是你们捐的。
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And she repurposesrepurposes them with frills褶边 and ribbons缎带,
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她用花边和布条重新改了这些衣服,
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and makes品牌 these frothy多泡的 confections甜点 that she sells塞尔斯 to women妇女
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还把衣服弄的蓬松,然后她把衣服买给那些女人,
03:54
for their daughter's女儿的 Sweet 16 or first Holy Communion交往 --
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她们为女儿的16岁的生日或者第一个圣餐礼--
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those milestones里程碑 in a life that people want to celebrate庆祝
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那些人们想要去庆祝的生活中的里程碑,
04:01
all along沿 the economic经济 spectrum光谱.
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不论穷还是富有。
04:03
And she does really good business商业. In fact事实, I watched看着 her
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她的生意真的很好。事实上,我观察她
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walk步行 through通过 the streets街道 hawking霍金. And before you knew知道 it,
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走到街道卖衣服。在你注意到以前,
04:08
there was a crowd人群 of women妇女 around her, buying购买 these dresses礼服.
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那已经有一群女人围着她买这些裙子。
04:12
And I reflected反射的, as I was watching观看 her sell the dresses礼服,
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然后我想到,当我在看她卖这些裙子,
04:15
and also the jewelry首饰 that she makes品牌,
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她还卖一些她自己做的首饰。
04:17
that now Jane makes品牌 more than four dollars美元 a day.
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现在简每天挣的钱比四美元多。
04:20
And by many许多 definitions定义 she is no longer poor较差的.
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在很多定义中,她不再是贫困了。
04:23
But she still lives生活 in Mathare玛萨瑞 Valley.
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但是她仍然住在玛萨瑞山谷。
04:25
And so she can't move移动 out.
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她不能搬出去。
04:28
She lives生活 with all of that insecurity不安全,
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她在所有危险中生活,
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and in fact事实, in January一月, during the ethnic民族 riots暴动,
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事实上,在一月份,在国内暴动期间,
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she was chased from her home and had to find a new shack窝棚
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她被从家里赶出来,不得不找一个新的简易房
04:35
in which哪一个 she would live生活.
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来居住。
04:37
JamiiJamii Bora宝来 understands理解 that and understands理解
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Jamii Bora 明白这点。而且明白
04:39
that when we're talking about poverty贫穷,
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当我们谈论贫困,
04:41
we've我们已经 got to look at people all along沿 the economic经济 spectrum光谱.
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我们必须去看所有经济范围内的人。
04:44
And so with patient患者 capital首都 from Acumen敏锐 and other organizations组织,
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所以从Acumen或者其他组织来的耐心资本,
04:47
loans贷款 and investments投资 that will go the long term术语 with them,
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贷款和投资都是长期的,
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they built内置 a low-cost低成本 housing住房 development发展,
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他们建立了一个低成本住房发展项目,
04:54
about an hour小时 outside Nairobi内罗毕 central中央.
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离内罗毕中心有一个小时路程的距离。
04:58
And they designed设计 it from the perspective透视 of
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他们是按照像
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customers顾客 like Jane herself她自己,
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简这样的顾客设计的,
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insisting坚持 on responsibility责任 and accountability问责.
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坚持负责的原则。
05:04
So she has to give 10 percent百分 of the mortgage抵押 --
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所以她必须付百分之十的抵押款--
05:08
of the total value, or about 400 dollars美元 in savings.
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全款的,或者是四百美元的存款。
05:12
And then they match比赛 her mortgage抵押 to what she paid支付 in rent出租 for her little shanty窝棚.
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然后他们比较她付的抵押款和她付的简易房的房租。
05:17
And in the next下一个 couple一对 of weeks, she's going to be
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然后在接下来的几个星期,她将成为
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among其中 the first 200 families家庭 to move移动 into this development发展.
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搬进这个发展计划的两百个家庭之一。
05:22
When I asked her if she feared害怕 anything,
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当我问她是否害怕什么事情,
05:26
or whether是否 she would miss小姐 anything from Mathare玛萨瑞,
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或者会不会想念玛萨瑞的任何东西,
05:28
she said, "What would I fear恐惧
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她说,“我会害怕什么
05:30
that I haven't没有 confronted面对 already已经?
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还有什么是我没见过的?
05:32
I'm HIVHIV positive. I've dealt处理 with it all."
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我是艾滋病人。我已经经历了一切。”
05:36
And she said, "What would I miss小姐?
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而且她说,“我会想念什么?
05:39
You think I will miss小姐 the violence暴力 or the drugs毒品? The lack缺乏 of privacy隐私?
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你觉得我会想念暴力和毒品吗?没有私人空间?
05:42
Do you think I'll miss小姐 not knowing会心 if my children孩子 are going to come home
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你觉得我会想念那种不知道我的孩子今晚会不会回到家的感觉吗?
05:44
at the end结束 of the day?" She said "If you gave me 10 minutes分钟
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她说”如果你给我十分钟
05:46
my bags包装袋 would be packed打包."
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我就可以准备好我的行李了。“
05:48
I said, "Well what about your dreams?"
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我说,”那你的梦想呢?“
05:51
And she said, "Well, you know,
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然后她说,”那,你知道,
05:53
my dreams don't look exactly究竟 like I thought they would when I was a little girl女孩.
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我的梦想并不像我小时候想的那样。
05:57
But if I think about it, I thought I wanted a husband丈夫,
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如果我仔细想想,我本来想要一个丈夫,
06:01
but what I really wanted was a family家庭
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但是我真正想要的是一个有爱的家
06:04
that was loving爱心. And I fiercely激烈 love my children孩子, and they love me back."
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我非常的爱我的孩子,她们也爱我。“
06:08
She said, "I thought that I wanted to be a doctor医生,
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她说,”我本来想当一个医生,
06:11
but what I really wanted to be was somebody
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但是我真正想要的是当一个
06:13
who served提供服务 and healed愈合 and cured治愈.
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可以服务,可以疗伤的人。
06:16
And so I feel so blessed幸福 with everything that I have,
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我对我现在所拥有的一切感到非常庆幸,
06:19
that two days a week I go and I counsel法律顾问 HIVHIV patients耐心.
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两个星期前我去安慰一个艾滋病患者,
06:23
And I say, 'Look'看 at me. You are not dead.
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我说,“看看我。你没有死。
06:26
You are still alive. And if you are still alive you have to serve服务.'"
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你还活着。如果你还活着你必须去服务。”
06:29
And she said, "I'm not a doctor医生 who gives out pills.
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她还说,”我不是一个可以开药的医生。
06:33
But maybe me, I give out something better
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但是也许我能够提供一些更好的东西
06:35
because I give them hope希望."
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因为我给她们的是希望。“
06:37
And in the middle中间 of this economic经济 crisis危机,
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在当下经济危机的中,
06:41
where so many许多 of us are inclined to pull in
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我们中的很多人倾向于
06:44
with fear恐惧, I think we're well suited合适的 to
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恐惧,但我觉得我们理应
06:48
take a cue球杆 from Jane and reach达到 out,
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从简的身上得到启示,
06:51
recognizing认识 that being存在 poor较差的 doesn't mean being存在 ordinary普通.
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认识到当贫穷不等于平庸。
06:55
Because when systems系统 are broken破碎,
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因为当一个系统被破坏了,
06:57
like the ones那些 that we're seeing眼看 around the world世界,
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就像我们现在看到的世界,
06:59
it's an opportunity机会 for invention发明 and for innovation革新.
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那正是一个发明创造的机会,
07:02
It's an opportunity机会 to truly build建立 a world世界
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去真正地建立一个新的世界,
07:05
where we can extend延伸 services服务 and products制品
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我们可以扩展我们的服务和产品
07:08
to all human人的 beings众生, so that they can
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到所有人类的世界,这样他们
07:11
make decisions决定 and choices选择 for themselves他们自己.
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可以为他们自己做出决定和选择。
07:13
I truly believe it's where dignity尊严 starts启动.
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我真的相信那就是尊严的开始。
07:15
We owe it to the Janes简氏 of the world世界.
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我们欠世界上的像简一样的人。
07:18
And just as important重要, we owe it to ourselves我们自己.
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同样重要,我们欠我们自己。
07:21
Thank you.
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谢谢。
07:23
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声响起)
Translated by Shanshan Yan
Reviewed by Zachary Lin Zhao

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jacqueline Novogratz - Investor and advocate for moral leadership
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.

Why you should listen

Jacqueline Novogratz writes: "I want to build a movement in which we define success based on the amount of human energy we release in the world.

"I started my career on Wall Street and soon discovered that markets are efficient, but by themselves they too often overlook or exploit the poor. So I moved to Rwanda in 1986 to help found the country’s first micro-finance bank. There I saw the humanitarian ethos of philanthropy, and also how often top-down solutions too often create dependency, the opposite of dignity. Through 30 years of working on solutions to poverty, I have come to redefine it for myself, seeing it not as how much income a person earns, but how free they are to make their own choices and decisions, how much agency they have over their own lives.

Acumen was founded to change the way the world tackles poverty in 2001. Our mission was simple – to raise philanthropy and invest it as patient capital – long-term investment in intrepid entrepreneurs willing to go where markets and government had failed the poor. We enable companies to experiment and fail, never wavering from a commitment to stand with the poor, yet understanding that profitability is necessary for sustainable solutions. We’ve invested more than $110M across South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the US, and have seen entire sectors disrupted and hundreds of millions served.

The work also taught that it was critical to invest in talent. To date, we’ve supported nearly 400 Acumen Fellows across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion and ideology. They are a beautiful group, full of vision and grit, and a determination to do what is right, not easy. The group itself enables individual leaders to endure the loneliness that is part of the work.

And then we measure what matters rather than just what we can count. Take this all together and you see our mission to do what it takes to build a world in which all of us have the chance to dream and to flourish, not from a place of easy sentimentality but through a commitment to using the tools of capitalism and the attributes of moral leadership to focus on doing what it takes, and no less.

More profile about the speaker
Jacqueline Novogratz | Speaker | TED.com