retail development bonds

Daniel Bradlow is in South Africa. The ashoka people in Washington have already been onto him aconcerning his innovative ideas about offering a bond for the development of the informal retail sector in South Africa.

I wrote something on this in July and now it seems that we may just have something to work on. I'm very interesetd to know how a fund manager would know where and with whom to invest with.

It seems that most fund managers would start by setting fair but strict criteria and then seek projects that fit these criteria. I would suggest a different approach; select social entrepreneurs and find out what is in their plans. support those plans that are most likely to make a decent profit and be sustainable.

The project-based approach will simply get bogged down in details and become excessively bureaucratic. We simply are not there yet in the social development field.

I do hope that professor Daniel Bradlow eventually gets to meet with the Sunstyle team.