Recently, I traveled to Kenya to witness firsthand social entrepreneurship and impact investing at work. I met a local entrepreneur in a little town on the coast with a small idea that left a big impression on me. Johnson Kithendu is on a mission to improve the living conditions of people in his area using innovative and environmentally sustainable building techniques.

Creating financial models that can support the work of people like Johnson Kithendu will expand and build upon our vision of what is possible. The Partnering for Global Impact conference aims to match social entrepreneurs with the right type of investor, donor or partner.

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Pakistan has been at the top of everyone’s list these days, and not in a good way. We’ve been labeled the most dangerous country in the world for journalists and make a consistent appearance on the Failed States Index.

These criticisms and list positions are not without merit; Pakistan’s roses are more the thorny than plain variety. But to brand it as such would also be one-dimensional and short-sighted. You don’t hear too much about Pakistan’s untapped entrepreneurial potential.

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Let’s play a word association game.

I say: Angel Investor - what’s the first word that comes to mind?

Money? Investment opportunities? Startups?

On February 10th, at the conference and official launch of the New York Pipeline Fellows, the words that came to mind instead were: Women, Diversity and Impact.

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Discussions about social enterprise and not-for-profits are often dominated by the topic of measurement. Measuring output, outcomes, and impact can be useful for improving organizations and, furthermore, investors and donors increasingly demand such data.

Catherine Clark is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University and directs the Research Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship at (RISE) Columbia University, and discusses social impact assessment in this short video.

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Part 1 of this blog post highlighted some difficulties faced by social entrepreneurs in Asia; Part 2 profiles Synergy Social Ventures, which supports social enterprise, and ties in lessons for the broader world of social finance.

Synergy Social Ventures is a not-for-profit organization that was created in response to the challenges we saw preventing social enterprises from accelerating in Southeast Asia and China. In our work with entrepreneurs throughout the region, we identified a number of commonalities.

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