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Product Description
Product Description
The Blue Sweater is the inspiring story of a woman who left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. It all started back home in Virginia, with the blue sweater, a gift that quickly became her prized possession—until the day she outgrew it and gave it away to Goodwill. Eleven years later in Africa, she spotted a young boy wearing that very sweater, with her name still on the tag inside. That the sweater had made its trek all the way to Rwanda was ample evidence, she thought, of how we are all connected, how our actions—and inaction—touch people every day across the globe, people we may never know or meet.
From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, Novogratz tells gripping stories with unforgettable characters—women dancing in a Nairobi slum, unwed mothers starting a bakery, courageous survivors of the Rwandan genocide, entrepreneurs building services for the poor against impossible odds.
She shows, in ways both hilarious and heartbreaking, how traditional charity often fails, but how a new form of philanthropic investing called "patient capital" can help make people self-sufficient and can change millions of lives. More than just an autobiography or a how-to guide to addressing poverty, The Blue Sweater is a call to action that challenges us to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink our engagement with the world.
About the Author
JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital firm for the poor that invests in sustainable enterprises in the developing world.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favorite book ... ever,
By runner13 (SPRUCE GROVE, ALBERTA Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World (Paperback)
This is by far the best book I have ever read, and I have read hundreds. The journey is incredible that this lady takes, and the lessons learned are treasures. I have passed this book arounds so much, that I am not even sure where my copy is...........
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stories from the Trenches about Going Beyond Active Compassion to Effective Assistance for the Poorest of the Poor,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World (Hardcover)
Surely you care about poor people. You may pray for them. You may send some money.If you are an unusual person, you also serve poor people directly. If you are very caring and unusual you go to where most people are very poor and devote your life to helping them. In the process, you can discover the joy of giving of yourself . . . and the wisdom to understand how to actually help. Ms. Jacqueline Novogratz provides a compelling series of stories well designed to explain how she has traveled along that path of contribution and learning . . . and to explain what she now knows. It makes for compelling reading, even if the lessons aren't nearly as concentrated as they might be. As the book opens, she recounts the synchronicity of jogging in Rwanda and seeing a sweater she had given away 25 years earlier on a child there. The world is more interconnected than we think, and we each can make a difference: That's the message. In her early days, the African women she wanted to help didn't want her help. Eventually, she was able to help found and develop a microfinance organization in Rwanda and a bakery before the genocide. In heartbreaking detail, she recounts the before and after . . . including what happened to many of the people she worked with . . . as well as the fate of the microfinance operations and bakery. Eventually, she shifted focus to providing patient capital through the Acumen Fund whose equity investments and loans could either help fund innovations or speed expansion of worthy business models to help the poorest of the poor . . . on their own terms and from their own perspectives. She recounts the learning experiences and challenges that the organization has faced and makes a convincing case for a new type of philanthropy that emphasizes carefully considered social impact on poor people as the marker rather than implementing the vague compassionate notions of the donors. There are really three books here: Ms. Novogratz's autobiography (so far), the story of Rwanda's genocide and how it affected the country from one person's perspective, and connected tales of learning how to lift very poor people up from the lowest rungs of poverty. It's difficult to turn such a book into one that tells each book's story equally well. The book's main weakness, as a result, is that it tells a little too much memoir at the expense of getting across the bigger and more important message of how each reader can make a contribution to eliminating the worst instances of poverty. You'll come away from this book with great respect for Ms. Novogratz. She personifies patience and perseverance in unremitting commitment to lifting people out of extreme poverty. Brava, Ms. Novogratz for the masterpiece of your life!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Help us don't change us to make us just like you.,
By
This review is from: The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World (Hardcover)
I am enjoying this book thoroughly. I am not quite done but I am really challenged by the writings of this author. I have been to Nairobi Kenya 3 times and I am currently planning another trip to Kisumu Kenya. Each trip has been a humanitarian trip. I have seen with my own eyes the needs of the African nation but as the author points out I have also witnessed the joy that the African people have. So many times when people from North America travel overseas to a continent like Africa they come with their own idea on how to change the African people to become more Americanized. Africa does need our help, for us to be willing vessels but for us to help them help themselves. Not for us to take away who they are and what they are about. Our ways are not always the right and only way. The author brings out her challenges in looking and working with a nation in a way that they really need the help not in the way that she just assumed they needed her help. The author and the same as us should be willing vessels and tools to help not to take over. Inspiring and a real challenge is given to us on how you can make a difference in a country so far away.
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