Social entrepreneurs: Operation HOPE and Child Savings International

February 9, 11:33 PMNY Business Strategies ExaminerChrista Avampato

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IIlustration by James Fryer

Information is power. How did this current economic downturn get started? Very smart people developed very clever ways to get people to live far beyond their means. People bought houses they couldn't afford because real estate has always been a good investment and they were offered some very clever lending deal created by very clever people. People gobbled up the credit card offers that kept cluttering their mailboxes and using them as emergency funds and as vehicles to live the good life, even if that good life was beyond their means. The marketers developing those offers did an excellent job of convincing people to take unnecessary risks and ditch the idea of traditional savings. In essence, very smart people took advantage of people who weren't quite as smart, or at least didn't have the same slick training in finance. 

John Bryant spent many years in Los Angeles shouting from the hills in an effort to educate people outside the finance industry about finance. After the LA riots in 1992, he founded Operation HOPE to provide finance education to young people and those who didn't have any other means to learn about finance. Today the organization is a leader in the field of economic empowerment in the U.S. 

Mr. Bryant is one example of many people who recognize that financial knowledge is critical to helping the poor life themselves up and out of their situations. Jeroo Billimoria is a social entrepreneur who founded a nonprofit in India called Child Savings International. Ms. Billimoria seeks to make the same impact that Mr. Bryant seeks, though she is focused on children ages 6-14 in the developing world. Not surprisingly, children of little means are very entrepreneurial. Give their circumstances, when they see an opportunity to improve their meager lot in life, they take it. With a little financial know-how, Ms. Billimoria found that they could fully leverage their own determination and strong work ethic to build promising, independent careers.  

Several years ago, The Economist ran an article on the subject of bringing financial education to the masses by unconventional means and today Daily Good featured it in its daily email. If this intersection of business and social entrepreneurship piques your interest, the article is well worth your time. And there a multitude of ways for you to get involved and lend your voice and time to the cause. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3589.