Obama, Microfinance, and China

This post originally appeared on the Wokai blog on December 29, 2008.

Yes, there is at least one connection between these three words.  Her name is Nancy Barry.

A trailblazer in the field of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, her current work focuses on creating pragmatic ways for large corporations in China, India, Mexico, and Colombia, to create opportunities for the working poor in these countries.  For many years she was the President of Women’s World Banking, an international microfinance network.

I just came across this article from an Indian finance website, describing her role as a close advisor to Barack Obama.

Named one of the most powerful women in the world, Nancy M. Barry, 59, the Founder and President of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty and former President of the New York-based Women’s World Banking, is no stranger to the limelight. Known to be a close confidant and friend of the Obama family, she is now expected to play a key role in shaping the new US regime’s relationship with India and Indians. President-elect Barack Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, worked with her as the first policy change manager of Women’s World Banking, from 1992 to 1995.

Says Barry: I see in Obama many of the qualities of his mother: the capacity to get to the heart of the matter, the ability to get different factions to work for common cause, and a passion to work together in building economies that work for the majority.

I am so excited to hear that she will be closely involved with the Obama administration.  I first learned of her connection with Obama from this New York Times article, which describes how Obama’s mother’s globetrotting work in anthropology and microfinance shaped his worldview.  Nancy Barry describes Stanley Ann Dunham as “a very, very big thinker,” who “was not afraid to speak truth to power.”

I met Nancy in October 2007, when she gave a speech at AmCham Shanghai‘s Corporate Social Responsibility Conference & Awards, which I helped to plan.  Here’s a description I wrote from that event:

In her keynote address, Nancy Barry, of Nancy Barry Associates — Enterprise Solutions to Poverty, argued that companies should move beyond philanthropy to create enterprise solutions to poverty. Drawing from more than 30 years of experience in emerging economies, she urged the audience to move away from “Random Acts of Kindness” and mobilize core capabilities to connect low-income people with global growth. “The biggest problem,” she said, “is that poor people don’t have enough money.” To address this, she described four key areas of activity: engaging small farmers as suppliers, creating decentralized distribution channels, developing products to increase income, and building enterprise networks.

In China, she has worked with China Mobile, Mengniu (a milk company), Proctor and Gamble, and several other companies.  Here’s the presentation she gave at AmCham Shanghai on October 30, 2007.   Download Nancy Barry 10.30.07

I am optimistic about the roles that Enterprise Solutions to Poverty and microfinance may play in Barack Obama’s foreign policy decisions.

*Note (added 1/16): Microfinance Gateway referenced this post here.