Jacqueline Novogratz 耐心资本主义

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http://dotsub.com/view/c445bbb2-a0cf-472c-9519-b81ce9e8268d
Jacqueline Novogratz 耐心资本主义
我今天很荣幸地站到这里，正如克里斯（Chris Anderson）所说， 我在非洲至少有20年工作经验。 我对非洲的第一印象是在科特迪瓦阿比让机场体验的闷热早晨。 那时我刚刚离开华尔街，并且把我的头发剪成玛格丽特·米德的样式， 以及把我的东西几乎全部赠送出去， 然后带着我需要的必需品—— 几本诗集，一些衣服和理所当然的一把吉它—— 来到这里，因为我要来拯救世界， 于是我第一站就来到非洲。
但自从我到达这里，就不断有西非妇女 明确地告诉我非洲人不需要被拯救， 尤其是被我这样的人拯救，非常感谢你。 那时我还很年轻，并且没有结婚生子， 而且对非洲的情况不太了解，除此之外，我的法语说的很不好。 因此，那时候是我一生中最痛苦的一段时光， 但也使我不再自大以及开始去聆听人们的心声。
我认为失败可以成为一股极大激励人心的力量， 所以我搬到了肯尼亚并且在乌干达工作， 在1986年，我与一群来自卢旺达的妇女见面， 她们请求我搬至基加利（卢旺达首都）去帮助开设第一家小额信贷机构。 而我照做了，并且叫它作Duterimbere， 它意味着“热情地前进”。当我在这所信贷机构工作时， 我意识到很多切实可行的事务妇女们是没有涉足的， 因此我应尝试运营一所商店。 于是我开始关注四周，然后我听闻了一所 由二十位妓女开设的糕饼店。 出于好奇心我与这群人见了面， 而我发现她们只是一群想要生存的未婚妈妈。
从那时起，我始明白语言的力量， 我们对别人的称呼可以使双方隙缝增大， 并且使她们感觉到自己是很渺小的。 我同时发现这间面包店不像一所企业， 事实上，这是一位好心人开设的慈善机构， 并且每月要花600美元 来使这二十位女人制作小工艺品和烘烤食品， 但她们每天只有50美分的工资，这意味着她们还处于困境中。 因此我向她们提出了一次交易。我说：“听我说，让我们摆脱慈善援助吧， 而我则来帮助你们商业化运作这间店铺。 她们很紧张地答应了，而我也很紧张地开始了， 当然，万事开头难。
首先，我认为我们需要一支销售团队， 但我们很明显不是这里最好的团队， 所以让我（来做这件事）——我以前接受过这方面的培训， 而这其中最经典的一幕就是当我真正走上Nyamirambo的街道时， 基加利最繁华的地区时，手提一只木桶， 然后我将木桶里的小甜甜圈都售出了， 当我回到店铺里时，我向她们说：“你们看！” 她们则回答：“杰奎琳，你得知道，在Nyamirambo没有人会从一位高大的 美国女人的橙色木桶里买甜甜圈？”就像—— （笑声）这是个很好的观点。
我完全是按照美国方式运作， 需要竞争，团队合作以及独立工作。然后这完全失败了， 但随着时间流逝，这群妇女习得用自己的方式来销售。 她们也开始倾听市场的需求， 并且带回来制作木薯片、香蕉片和高粱面包的主意， 甚至在你们反应过来之前，♫ 我们已垄断了基加利的市场， 而这群妇女收入是全国人均收入的三至四倍。 由于信心的上扬，我想是时候来创建一所真正的糕点店， 所以让（我们）来粉刷下这间店。这群妇女则回答：“这真是一个很好的想法。” 接着我便问道：“你们想用什么颜色的油漆？”她们回答道:“好吧，你来选。” 我则说：“不，不，我正在学习倾听的艺术—— 你们选吧。这是你们的糕点店，你们的街道，你们家乡，而不是我的。” 不过她们不会给我一个答复。 一个星期，两个星期，三个星期过去了， 终于我说：“好吧，我们不如用蓝色吧？” 她们则回答说：“蓝色，蓝色，我们喜欢蓝色。我们就蓝色来粉刷吧。” 因此我前往将最执拗的一位店员Gaudence带回来， 我们一起去买了油漆和做窗帘的布料， 到了粉刷的那一天，我们全部聚集在Nyamirambo， 而我们起初是想用白色作主色调，蓝色作装饰色， 就有点像一些小小的法国糕点铺。不过说实话 这还不如把满墙都刷成蓝色有如蔚蓝的晨空。
所以，蓝色，蓝色，所有的东西都被粉刷成蓝色； 墙面被刷成蓝色，窗框被刷成蓝色， 店铺前面的人行道也被刷成蓝色。 同时Aretha Franklin正在大声喊出"R.E.S.P.E.C.T."（尊重）， 她们的臀部晃来晃去， 小孩子们想抓住那些毛刷（玩），这就是她们的日子。 粉刷完毕后，我们站在街对面， 欣赏我们完成的作品，然后我说：“这真悦目。” 而她们也答道：“的确是。” 我跟着说：“我认为这个颜色很好。” 除了Gaudence，她们全部都点点头， 我则问：“什么？” 她回答说：“没什么。”我继续问：“什么？” 她就答复我说：“好吧，这的确很靓丽，不过你懂得我们的颜色，真的，这是绿色。”然后—— （笑声）。
我学到倾听不只是需要耐心， 当一个人一生都在依靠救济生活的时候， 他们很难说清楚他们需要点什么。 而且大多时候他们不会主动向你提问， 即使他们这样做了，估计你也不想将真相告之于他们。 因此我懂得了倾听不只只是需要等待， 同时也学会了要以更好的方式提问。
是故我住在基加利的两年半时间里就做了两件事， 这是我一生中最难忘的一个时期。 这期间我得到了三个教训， 我认为这些教训对我们仍是很重要的， 当然对我现在的工作也一样重要。 第一点就是尊严比财富更可贵。 正如埃莱尼所说，有收入就会有选择 这应是尊严的基本要素。 但是作为人类我们希望能见到其他人， 能与他人沟通交流，我们应永不忘这些基本元素。 第二点就是传统的慈善救援 是无法解决贫困问题的。
我相信安德鲁已很好的诠释这一点了，所以我就移至第三点， 那就是单靠市场本身 也不能解决贫困问题。 是的，我们将慈善事业商业化运行， 不过都需要人们的善意（金钱）支持 来维持培训和管理机构的运作，还需要战略建议 以及最重要的一点， 就是与新人、新关系和新市场的接触。 所以从微观角度来讲，投资和慈善结合 是意义重大的。 从宏观角度来讲，在我之前的一些演讲者也推断出， 卫生保健（事业）都应私有化。 假如你们家庭有一位患有心脏病的父亲， 而你意识到你们家庭的负担能力 不足以支付他的治疗费用， 可是最后却有一位好友前来帮你们出钱治疗， 我深切相信所有人都应享有 他们可负担得起的医疗。 我认为市场可以帮我们解决这个问题， 不过却需要有慈善成分， 要不我想我们是无法建设出我们理想中的社会。
因此，那些教训迫使我在六年前 建立起Acumen基金。 这是一个为穷人建立的非营利性风险投资基金， 这句话里有几个矛盾之处。 它根本上从个人、基金会和公司募集慈善基金， 然后将这笔资金投资或贷款给 营利性或非营利性机构， 而他们则可以为南亚和非洲的贫困人口们 输出低廉的卫生保健服务、住房、能源和净水， 从而使贫苦大众可以掌握他们自己的命运。 我们已向二十种不同的企业投入了两千万美元， 并且提供了近两万份岗位， 以及向贫困人群输送了数以百万计的服务， 这些都是他们平常无法负担的（服务）。
我想和你们分享两个故事。这两个故事都是在非洲发生的。 它们都是和企业投资有关， 这些企业都承诺去服务大众而且他们都很熟悉市场。 这两个企业都处于公共卫生和企业的汇流点， 而且由于他们两位都是生产商， 所以他们直接为贫苦人群提供工作，和间接创造收入，¼ 并且他们皆属疟疾领域的， 而非洲每年都因疟疾损失一百三十亿美元。 而当人们更为健康的时候，他们的财富也因此增长。
第一个企业名为Advanced 生物提取物有限责任公司。 七年前，这个企业由一位神奇的企业家Patrick Henfrey 同他的三位同僚一起在肯尼亚创建。 他们都是农业老手了， 他们也经历过肯尼亚三十年来 大大小小的农业起伏。 现在，有一种蒿属植物 是可以从里面提取出青蒿素的基本组成部分， 而青蒿素是治疗疟疾的最著名药物。 这种植物原产于中国和远东地区， 但由于肆虐于非洲的疟疾， Patrick和他的同僚商议说：“我们不如将这种 高增值率的植物移植到这边来吧。 这群农民从中所获利益乃是种植玉米的三至四倍。
因此，使用这笔耐心资本，这笔他们早期 以低于市场回报募得的钱款， 并且愿意跑长跑以及 使管理援助和战略援助融合的帮助下， 他们现已建立起一个可供七千五百农民工作的公司。 这大约影响了五万人。 而且我相信你们中的一些人应该已经探访过—— 这些被KickStart和TechnoServe帮助过的农民， 这两个机构使得这些农民迈向了自给自足的道路。 他们从这些农民手中购买蒿属植物，然后将它们晒干并带至工厂， 其中一部份的资金是由诺华的耐心资本中出的， 而诺华是一位对购买这些粉末来制造 复方蒿甲醚（治疗疟疾的药物）真正感兴趣的商人。 Acumen从去年开始和ABE合作，也有一年半的合作时间了， 他们双方都关注一个新的商业计划， 以及如何扩张，这些都应有管理援助 条款书的签署和资金筹集的帮助。 我在上个月才真正懂得耐心资本 真正的含义。由于这间公司在检验他们生产 来制作复方蒿甲醚的产品是否达到世界标准的 时候，他们离开了十天， 而这是因为他们遇到了他们公司遇到了建立以来最大的金钱危机。
因此我们联络了所有我们熟知的社会投资者。 这群投资者中有一部分对非洲很感兴趣 而且他们也懂得农业的重要性， 他们甚至帮助过一些农民。 当我们向他们假如ABE撤走了， 那么那七千五百个岗位也将丢失， 我们有时会遇到商业营利与社会援助的分歧。 现在我们应开始创造性思考如何能更好的将这两点融合。 所以Acumen设置了两个过桥贷款(短期贷款）， 然而好消息则是他们的产品的确达到了世界级标准，并且他们 正处于将两千万美元收盘的最后阶段，（假若成功）他们就会登上一新的台阶。 而且我认为他们会成为东非最重要的一间公司。
这是塞缪尔。他是一个农民。 当他爸告诉他青蒿和它的增长潜力时 他还是一位住在Kibera贫民窟的人。 所以他干回了老本行，长话短说吧， 他现在拥有七英亩可耕作的土地。 塞缪尔的孩子们都在上私校， 而且他也开始帮助其他同地农民加入种植青蒿的行列—— 尊严比财富更可贵。
下一个例子，你们当中的许多人应该都知道。 我两年前在牛津大学演讲的时候也稍稍提到过， 你们当中的一些人也应该参观过A to Z制造公司， 它是位于东非一个真正伟大的公司。 这间公司同样也处于公共卫生和企业的汇流点。 这是一个有关有效的公共或私人 解决方式的故事。 它始于日本。住友集团开发出一种可以从根本上 注入有机杀虫剂的聚乙烯纤维的技术， 因此可以由此制作出一种蚊帐， 这种防疟疾蚊帐有五年有效期而且不需要重新蘸熏（杀虫剂）。
这可以改变病菌携带源，但是不象青蒿， （这种技术）只是在东亚生产使用，出于社会责任， 住友集团讨论道：“我们为什么不将这种技术 带到非洲从而使非洲人民受益呢？” 这时联合国儿童基金会挺身而出说：“我们将购买大部分 蚊帐，然后将它们免费输送给孕妇和儿童， 这是联合国和全球基金项目对他们的承诺。 而Acumen则携耐心资本一起进入， 同时我们也帮助确定哪些可以与之在 非洲合作的企业家们， 而埃克森公司则提供初始的树脂。
在我们搜寻企业家的时候 我们相信A to Z制造公司的Anuj Shah 是最佳人选。 这是一家有四十年历史的公司，而且也明白制造业。 它伴随着坦桑尼亚走过由社会主义转变成资本主义的过程， 而且依旧保持活力。当我们最初找到它的时候，它只有一千名雇工。 然后Anuj决定冒这个创业风险， 他决定在非洲生产抗疟疾商品并由 援助机构出资购买。
于是，长话还是得短说，他们获得了巨大的成功。 在我们第一年合作的时候，第一批蚊帐于2003年10月份完成生产。 我们预想是每年最多生产十五万顶蚊帐。 而现在他们年产量是八百万， 他们同时雇佣了五千人，而这其中的90%是妇女，大都是没有任何经验的。 他们与住友集团是合资企业。 因此，不管是从创业的角度来看， 还是从公共卫生的角度来看，这都是次巨大的成功。
假如我们是在寻找解决贫困的方法，这只是个半成品故事， 因为这并不能可持续发展。 这间公司只有一个巨大的客源。 假如禽流感殃及这里，或者其它原因， 然后世界决定疟疾不再是那么重要了，那么所有人都成输家。 因此，Anuj和Acumen 一直在商讨关于对私营部门的测试， 因为这些援助机构作出的假设是， 例如，像坦桑尼亚这样的国家， 有80%的人口日收入低于两美元。 这些蚊帐的生产成本是六美元， 然后又要这些机构花费六美元将这些蚊帐输送出去， 因此在一自由市场里这些蚊帐的市场价格将会是十二美元。 然而大部分人都无力购买，因此我们就赠送给他们吧。 接着我们就说：”好吧，这里有另外一个选择。 让市场成为我们最好的倾听者， 以便让我们懂得他们可负担的价位，从而使他们拥有选择的尊严。 我们可以开始建设本地分销点， 并且实际上可以使公共部门花费更少的金钱。”
因此我们向A to Z注入了第二轮耐心资本， 这是贷款同时也是赠款，是故A to Z可以（自由）调控价格 以及可以倾听市场的需求，和建立起许多东西。 第一，人们会用不同的金钱来购买蚊帐， 但绝大多数人都只会用一美元来购买蚊帐 并且决定购买蚊帐。 当你倾听他们的意见时，他们一定有很多想说的东西， 应都有关他们喜欢什么和讨厌什么， 以及得知一些理论上有用的销售渠道但实际上用处却不大。 由于这笔耐心资本使实验和迭代 可以持续运作， 而现今我们找到在私有领域只需要一美元的输送价格， 而且只用花费一美元来购买蚊帐。 这样，从政策的角度来说，当我们在市场开始销售的时候， 我们有权利有选择合适的价位。 我们可以继续以十二美元一顶蚊帐的价格来销售，然后顾客们一元都不付， 或者使一些蚊帐实验性定价为一美元， 而公共部门则支付六美元的成本费， 从而使他们有选择的尊严，并且建立起一个分销体系 在经历一段时间后，或许可以自我巩固。
我们一定要开始这样的会话， 而我相信没有比这更好使用市场的办法了， 不过这是将其他人带到这个桌子周围。 每当我前往参观A to Z的时候，我都会想起我的祖母斯特拉。 她很像那些坐在缝纫机背后的妇女。 她是在奥地利的一个农场上长大的，她很穷， 而且她也没有接受很多的教育。 在她搬到美国后，她碰到了我的祖父， 他当时是一个水泥搬运工， 然后他们生育了九个孩子。其中三位早夭了。 我祖母患有肺结核，但是她是在一缝纫车间工作， 而且每小时只能赚得十美分。 她很像我在A to Z见到的妇女们， 她每天勤恳工作，并且明白痛苦是怎样的， 也深刻地信仰者上帝，和深爱她的孩子， 以及从来不会接受施舍。 但是由于她抢占了市场机会， 况且她生活在一个提供健全的 医疗和教育体系的社会， 她和她的孩子们足以生存 并且追寻着他们的梦想。
我环顾下我的兄弟姐妹们——然后我说， 我们当中有很多人—— 我看到了有老师，有音乐家，有对冲基金经理和有设计者。 一位姐姐使他人梦想成真。 而我的愿望则是，当我见到那群每天勤恳工作的 妇女、农民， 以及整个非洲大陆的人民时， 他们将会有机会并且相信 可以获得各种服务的效用 从而使他们的子女也可以逐梦。 （我相信）这不会很难达成的。 仅仅只是需要我们的承诺 以便从根本上的消除老旧的假设， 走出我们理想的盒子。 这需要向那些承诺做贡献于服务业 并且希望迈向成功的企业家们进行投资。 让我们宽阔地张开我们的双手， 虽然只能期待很少爱的回报， 但这需求责任心， 以及将这份责任心带到这张桌子。 并且最重要的一点，最重要的一点， 就是需要我们要有勇气和耐心， 不论贫富，不论是否是非洲人， 也不论是否是本地人，或者是左右翼人士， 来开始认真地倾听各自的心声。
谢谢。
（鼓掌）
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Jacqueline Novogratz on patient capitalism
I really am honored to be here, and as Chris said, it's been over 20 years since I started working in Africa. My first introduction was at the Abidjan airport on a sweaty Ivory Coast morning. I had just left Wall Street, cut my hair to look like Margaret Mead, given away most everything that I owned, and arrived with all the essentials -- some poetry, a few clothes, and, of course, a guitar -- because I was going to save the world, and I thought I would just start with the African continent.
But literally within days of arriving I was told, in no uncertain terms, by a number of West African women, that Africans didn't want saving, thank you very much, least of all not by me. I was too young, unmarried, I had no children, didn't really know Africa and besides, my French was pitiful. And so, it was an incredibly painful time in my life, and yet it really started to give me the humility to start listening.
I think that failure can be an incredibly motivating force as well, so I moved to Kenya and worked in Uganda, and I met a group of Rwandan women, who asked me, in 1986, to move to Kigali to help them start the first microfinance institution there. And I did, and we ended up naming it Duterimbere, meaning "to go forward with enthusiasm." And while we were doing it, I realized that there weren't a lot of businesses that were viable and started by women, and so maybe I should try to run a business too. And so I started looking around, and I heard about a bakery that was run by 20 prostitutes. And, being a little intrigued, I went to go meet this group, and what I found was 20 unwed mothers who were trying to survive.
And it was really the beginning of my understanding the power of language, and how what we call people so often distances us from them, and makes them little. I also found out that the bakery was nothing like a business, that in fact, it was a classic charity run by a well-intentioned person who essentially spent 600 dollars a month to keep these 20 women busy making little crafts and baked goods, and living on 50 cents a day, still in poverty. So, I made a deal with the women. I said, "Look, we get rid of the charity side, and we run this as a business and I'll help you." They nervously agreed, I nervously started, and of course, things are always harder than you think they're going to be.
First of all, I thought, well, we need a sales team, and we clearly aren't the A-Team here, so let's -- I did all this training, and the epitome was when I literally marched into the streets of Nyamirambo, which is the popular quarter of Kigali, with a bucket, and I sold all these little doughnuts to people, and I came back, and I was like, "You see?" And the women said, "You know, Jacqueline, who in Nyamirambo is not going to buy doughnuts out of an orange bucket from a tall American woman?" And like -- (Laughter) It's a good point.
So then I went the whole American way, with competitions, team and individual. Completely failed, but over time the women learnt to sell on their own way. And they started listening to the marketplace, and they came back with ideas for cassava chips and banana chips and sorghum bread, and before you knew it, we had cornered the Kigali market, and the women were earning three to four times the national average. And with that confidence surge, I thought, well, It's time to create a real bakery, so let's paint it. And the women said, "That's a really great idea." And I said, "Well, what color do you want to paint it?" And they said, "Well, you choose." And I said, "No, no, I'm learning to listen -- you choose. It's your bakery, your street, your country, not mine." But they wouldn't give me an answer. So one week, two weeks, three weeks went by, and finally I said, "Well, how about blue?" And they said, "Blue, blue, we love blue. Let's do it blue." So, I went to the store, I brought Gaudence, the recalcitrant one of all, and we brought all this paint and fabric to make curtains, and on painting day we all gathered in Nyamirambo, and the idea was we would paint it white with blue as trim, like a little French bakery. But that was clearly not as satisfying as painting a wall of blue like a morning sky.
So, blue, blue, everything became blue; the walls were blue, the windows were blue, the sidewalk out front was painted blue. And Aretha Franklin was shouting "R.E.S.P.E.C.T.," the women's hips were swaying and little kids were trying to grab the paintbrushes, but it was their day. And at the end of it, we stood across the street and we looked at what we had done, and I said, "It is so beautiful," and the women said, "It really is." And I said, "And I think the color is perfect," and they all nodded their head, except for Gaudence, and I said, "What?" And she said, "Nothing," and I said, "What?" And she said, "Well, it is pretty, but you know our color, really, it is green." And -- (Laughter).
And I learned then that listening isn't just about patience, but that when you've lived on charity and dependent your whole life long, it's really hard to say what you mean. And, mostly because people never really ask you, and when they do, you don't really think they want to know the truth. And so then I learned that listening is not only about waiting, but it's also learning how better to ask questions.
And so, I lived in Kigali for about two and a half years, doing these two things, and it was an extraordinary time in my life. And it taught me three lessons that I think are so important for us today, and certainly in the work that I do. The first is that dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth. As Eleni has said, when people gain income, they gain choice, and that is fundamental to dignity. But as human beings we also want to see each other, and we want to be heard by each other, and we should never forget that. The second is that traditional charity and aid are never going to solve the problems of poverty.
I think Andrew pretty well covered that, so I will move to the third point, which is that markets alone also are not going to solve the problems of poverty. Yes, we ran this as a business, but someone needed to pay the philanthropic support that came into the training and the management support, the strategic advice and maybe most important of all, the access to new contacts, networks and new markets. And so, on a micro level, there's a real role for this combination of investment and philanthropy. And on a macro level, some of the speakers have inferred that even health should be privatized. But, having had a father with heart disease, and realizing that what our family could afford was not what he should have gotten, and having a good friend step in to help, I really believe that all people deserve access to health at prices they can afford. I think the market can help us figure that out, but there's got to be a charitable component or I don't think we're going to create the kind of societies we want to live in.
And so, it was really those lessons that made me decide to build Acumen Fund about six years ago. It's a nonprofit venture capital fund for the poor, a few oxymorons in one sentence. It essentially raises charitable funds from individuals, foundations and corporations, and then we turn around and we invest equity and loans in both for-profit and nonprofit entities that deliver affordable health, housing, energy, clean water, to low income people in South Asia and Africa, so that they can make their own choices. We've invested about 20 million dollars in 20 different enterprises, and have, in so doing, created nearly 20,000 jobs, and delivered tens of millions of services to people who otherwise would not be able to afford them.
I want to tell you two stories. Both of them are in Africa. Both of them are about investing in entrepreneurs who are committed to service, and who really know the markets. Both of them live at the confluence of public health and enterprise, and both of them, because they're manufacturers, create jobs directly, and create incomes indirectly, because they're in the malaria sector, and Africa loses about 13 billion dollars a year because of malaria. And so as people get healthier, they also get wealthier.
The first one is called Advanced Bio-Extracts Limited. It's a company built in Kenya about seven years ago by an incredible entrepreneur named Patrick Henfrey and his three colleagues. These are old-hand farmers who've gone through all the agricultural ups and downs in Kenya over the last 30 years. Now, this plant is an Artemisia plant, it's the basic component for artemisinin, which is the best-known treatment for malaria. It's indigenous to China and the Far East, but given that the prevalence of malaria is here in Africa, Patrick and his colleagues said, "Let's bring it here, because it's a high value-add product." The farmers get three to four times the yields that they would with maize.
And so, using patient capital, money that they could raise early on, that actually got below market returns, and was willing to go the long haul and be combined with management assistance, strategic assistance, they've now created a company where they purchase from 7,500 farmers. So that's about 50,000 people affected. And I think some of you may have visited -- these farmers are helped by KickStart and TechnoServe, who help them become more self-sufficient. They buy it, they dry it and they bring it to this factory which was purchased in part by, again, patient capital from Novartis, who has a real interest in getting the powder so that they can make Coartem. Acumen's been working with ABE for the past year, year and a half, both on looking at a new business plan, and what does expansion look like, helping with management support and helping to do term sheets and raise capital. And I really understood what patient capital meant emotionally in the last month or so. Because the company was literally 10 days away from proving that the product they produced was at the world-quality level needed to make Coartem, when they were in the biggest cash crisis of their history.
And we called all of the social investors we knew. Now, some of these same social investors are really interested in Africa and understand the importance of agriculture, and they even helped the farmers. And even when we explained that if ABE goes away, all those 7,500 jobs go away too, we sometimes have this bifurcation between business and the social. And it's really time we start thinking more creatively about how they can be fused. So Acumen made not one, but two bridge loans, and the good news is they did indeed meet world-quality classification and are now in the final stages of closing a 20 million dollar round to move it to the next level, and I think that this will be one of the more important companies in East Africa.
This is Samuel. He's a farmer. He was actually living in the Kibera slums when his father called him and told him about Artemisia and the value-add potential. So he moved back to the farm, and, long story short, they now have seven acres under cultivation. Samuel's kids are in private school, and he's starting to help other farmers in the area also go into Artemisia production -- dignity being more important than wealth.
The next one, many of you know. I talked about it a little at Oxford two years ago, and some of you visited A to Z Manufacturing, which is one of the great real companies in East Africa. It's another one that lives at the confluence of health and enterprise. And this is really a story about a public/private solution that has really worked. It started in Japan. Sumitomo had developed a technology essentially to impregnate a polyethylene-based fiber with organic insecticide, so you could create a bed net, a malaria bed net that would last five years and not need to be re-dipped.
It could alter the vector, but like Artemisia, it had been produced only in East Asia, and as part of its social responsibility Sumitomo said, "Why don't we experiment with whether we can produce it in Africa, for Africans?" UNICEF came forward and said, "We'll buy most of the nets and then we'll give them away as part of the global fund's and the UN's commitment to pregnant women and children, for free." Acumen came in with the patient capital, and we also helped to identify the entrepreneur that we would all partner with here in Africa, and Exxon provided the initial resin.
Well, in looking around for entrepreneurs, there was none better that we could find on Earth than Anuj Shah, in A to Z Manufacturing Company. It's a 40-year-old company, it understands manufacturing. It's gone from socialist Tanzania into capitalist Tanzania, and continued to flourish. It had about 1,000 employees when we first found it. And so, Anuj took the entrepreneurial risk here in Africa to produce a public good that was purchased by the aid establishment to work with malaria.
And, long story short again, they've been so successful. In our first year, the first net went off the line in October of 2003. We thought the hitting it out of the box number was 150,000 nets a year. This year they are now producing eight million nets a year, and they employ 5,000 people, 90 percent of whom are women, mostly unskilled. They're in a joint venture with Sumitomo. And so, from an enterprise perspective for Africa, and from a public health perspective, these are real successes.
But it's only half the story if we're looking at solving problems of poverty, because it's not long-term sustainable. It's a company with one big customer. And if avian flu hits, or for any other reason the world decides that malaria is no longer as much of a priority, everybody loses. And so, Anuj and Acumen have been talking about testing the private sector, because the assumption that the aid establishment has made is that, look, in a country like Tanzania, 80 percent of the population makes less than two dollars a day. It costs at manufacturing point, six dollars to produce these, and it costs the establishment another six dollars to distribute it, so the market price in a free market would be about 12 dollars per net. Most people can't afford that, so let's give it away free. And we said, "Well, there's another option. Let's use the market as the best listening device we have, and understand at what price people would pay for this, so they get the dignity of choice. We can start building local distribution, and actually, it can cost the public sector much less."
And so we came in with a second round of patient capital to A to Z, a loan as well as a grant, so that A to Z could play with pricing and listen to the marketplace, and found a number of things. One, that people will pay different prices, but the overwhelming number of people will come forth at one dollar per net and make a decision to buy it. And when you listen to them, they'll also have a lot to say about what they like and what they don't like, and that some of the channels we thought would work didn't work. But because of this experimentation and iteration that was allowed because of the patient capital, we've now found that it costs about a dollar in the private sector to distribute, and a dollar to buy the net. So then, from a policy perspective, when you start with the market, we have a choice. We can continue going along at 12 dollars a net, and the customer pays zero, or we could at least experiment with some of it to charge one dollar a net, costing the public sector another six dollars a net, give the people the dignity of choice, and have a distribution system that might, over time, start sustaining itself.
We've got to start having conversations like this, and I don't think there's any better way to start than using the market, but also to bring other people to the table around it. Whenever I go to visit A to Z, I think of my grandmother, Stella. She was very much like those women sitting behind the sewing machines. She grew up on a farm in Austria, very poor, didn't have very much education. She moved to the United States where she met my grandfather who was a cement hauler, and they had nine children. Three of them died as babies. My grandmother had tuberculosis, and she worked in a sewing machine shop making shirts for about 10 cents an hour. She, like so many of the women I see at A to Z, worked hard every day, understood what suffering was, had a deep faith in God, loved her children and would never have accepted a handout. But because she had the opportunity of the marketplace, and she lived in a society that provided the safety of having access to affordable health and education, her children and their children were able to live lives of real purpose and follow real dreams.
I look around at my siblings and my cousins -- and as I said, there are a lot of us -- and I see teachers and musicians, hedge fund managers, designers. One sister who makes other people's wishes come true. And my wish, when I see those women, I meet those farmers, and I think about all the people across this continent who are working hard every day, is that they have that sense of opportunity and possibility, and that they also can believe and get access to services so that their children too can live those lives of great purpose. It shouldn't be that difficult. But what it takes is a commitment from all of us to essentially refuse trite assumptions, get out of our ideological boxes. It takes investing in those entrepreneurs that are committed to service as well as to success. It takes opening your arms, both, wide, and expecting very little love in return, but demanding accountability, and bringing the accountability to the table as well. And most of all, most of all, it requires that all of us have the courage and the patience, whether we are rich or poor, African or non-African, local or diaspora, left or right, to really start listening to each other. Thank you.
(Applause)