Skoll and BBC Launch TV Show Exploring Social Entrepreneurship
The Skoll Foundation and BBC World recently launched a prime time TV show called “Alvin’s Guide to Good Business“, featuring Wall Street business guruAlvin Hall. In this series, Alvin visits some of the most interesting social entrepreneurs in the world, learning to understand their challenges so that he can help them grow and scale their businesses.
Synopsis of the above video:
“Alvin Hall, a business and financial expert, is traveling the world helping social entrepreneurs–business people more interested in doing good than making money–become more successful. In India, farmers struggle to grow their crops during the long dry months. IDEI tries to help by making affordable irrigation products that feed plants a drop of water at a time. But can farmers really make enough money to pay for them? And can IDEI’s inspirational boss, Amitabha Sadangi, accept Alvin’s challenge to groom a successor?
My favorite thing about the show is “Part Two”, when Alvin revisits his subjects 6 months after the initial meeting. The way the series is framed, Alvin is supposed to be a sort of advisor to these social entrepreneurs, stopping by months later to check in on their progress. But if you watch the episode closely, you’ll see his subjects mentoring him just as much as he mentors them.
It’s a fascinating relationship, and it’s pretty satisfying to see the Bottom of the Pyramid folk teach the Wall Street guy a little something about business.
