Microfinance Practice: [MFP] New book published: "The Business of Doing Good"

New book for organisations in the business of doing good (and doing it better)

Why do so many social enterprises and charities, seeking to improve lives, fall short – and even end up harming those they try to help? This is the central question tackled in The Business of Doing Good, which outlines six practical steps for a new approach for microfinance and other social purpose organisations.

The costs of getting it wrong have never been higher, and the book details examples of unintended harm where microfinance clients have reportedly committed suicide as the result of over-indebtedness, the poorest 'untouchables' have inadvertently been overlooked by development projects in India, and poor families used their insecticide-treated bed nets to dry fish in the sun.

With public concern about poverty and inequality combining with increasing distrust of charity or government to make a difference, The Business of Doing Good reveals six insights for charities and social enterprises to improve and not just prove their impact. Just a few small changes to the way that organisations engage with their clients, manage their staff, and structure their business model can make a dramatic difference to their impact on the lives of the people they serve. This book is essential reading for anyone who has ever given to charity, or believes that business can do good in the world.

"Charities, social enterprises and businesses of every shape, size and orientation are in the business of going good – working with poor and vulnerable communities around the world, to try and deliver potentially life-changing services to address a range of pressing social needs. Many fail to perform and deliver to their potential. This book offers insights into what it is that successful organisations do to make a difference." says Anton Simanowitz, co-author of the book.

The Business of Doing Good charts the course of the remarkable and profitable Cambodian microfinance organisation, AMK, that has, with single-minded purpose, made radical choices and reached deep into rural villages, touching the lives of almost two million people living in poverty.

The book also draws the authors' 20 years of experience working to build successful organisations around the world. Having worked in international development around the world, Simanowitz and his co-author, Katherine Knotts, had become increasingly frustrated at the way in which so many organisations were failing, and wanted to pull together their experiences of which organisations worked – and why. What they discovered were simple solutions that can applied to all businesses with a social mission, captured in six simple steps.

The six steps outlined in the book cover:
- How to get to grips with the realities of clients' lives, and deliver products that address their real needs.
- How to stop good products getting 'lost in translation' through the people that deliver them, so that the reality on the ground matches aspirations.
- Building a business that works, being clear about what needs to be achieved, and innovating to build the business model to make things happen rather than accepting conventional wisdom that it can't be done.
- How all organisations can deliver social as well as economic value, and how local organisations can become self-sustaining, dynamic contributors to overcoming poverty.

"When organisations enter into the lives of poor and vulnerable people, there is a moral and ethical imperative to make good on good intentions, and not to make people's lives worse as a result. This book shows how it is possible," said Katherine Knotts.

Learn more about the book:
- Visit the website: http://www.thebusinessofdoinggood.co.uk
- Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBODGood

Praise for the book:
"This is an uplifting, hugely insightful read with key lessons for all of us. How to deliver societal as well as economic value is a challenge faced by big business, social enterprise and voluntary sector organisations like Concern and Oxfam alike. The blurring of our organisational boundaries has led to exciting innovation in this space that we all need to analyse more. Through the open telling of one Cambodian organisation's story, it's successes, failures and the lives it's touched. It's a story of learning, innovation, resilience and the simplicity and importance we often forget of people connecting with people. Organisations like Concern and Oxfam support and learn from many local partner organisations like AMK. We all share the ambition that local organisations will become self sustaining, dynamic contributors to overcoming poverty at national scale in poorer countries, but there are very few success stories of social enterprise at scale. Here is one."
Penny Lawrence, Deputy Chief Executive, Oxfam GB