Meet BIF-4 Storyteller Cat Lainé: Disruptive Innovator in the Social Sector
When I first spoke with Cat Lainé a few months ago I was so impressed with her passion and conviction. She doesn’t shy away from the underside of life, a personality trait that led to her decision to leave academia, where she was studying infectious disease epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. A self-described “autodidact,” she prefers to be in the field, analyzing problems and creating solutions from the ground up. Today, she’s trying to solve some of our world’s most pressing problems. We knew she had to be a BIF-4 storyteller.
As a kid she “devoured” her Rand McNally science books, Omni magazine, and her older brother’s biology text. Because her father was a medical doctor, her family had nudged her in the direction of medicine. Her father was also a political exile from the Duvalier dictatorship that ruled Haiti from 1957 to 1986. He died when she was very young, but she absorbed enough of his experiences to comprehend the fragility of human rights in a chaotic world.
A graduate course in infectious disease opened Lainé’s eyes to some of the starkest needs of the world. Here, she learned that much of the steep decline in infectious disease mortality since 1900 was due not to antibiotics or vaccines, which surfaced in the forties and fifties, but to improved housing and infrastructure that created more sanitary living conditions and reliable supplies of clean water. This revelation sparked her current story.
As Deputy Director of Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), Lainé works to bring renewable electricity and solar hot water to families and agricultural workers in developing countries. Simple infrastructure projects like these have a dramatic effect on quality of life.
She’s learned to approach problems from multiple angles—from the fields of science, business, art, or mathematical modeling—all in an effort to solve big time problems in the world. She says we are “on the forefront of social entrepreneurship,” a growing movement that she admits is “a bit trendy, but incredibly powerful.” She intends AIDG to provide an open, transparent platform for the designs and specs of its projects. There are no business secrets here—if AIDG produces an efficient biodigester or a windmill for under $100 (a current venture with Engineers Without Borders), then it will gladly tell the world.
With AIDG, Lainé attempts to stretch the goals of a traditional NGO by throwing savvy “business acumen” into the mix. She brings her own scientific background to the table when the group spearheads a new project, but she also knows the value of a good old-fashioned sales pitch. Bringing new technology to such communities is a matter of gaining trust and demonstrating a need for the product—the same challenges faced by large corporations looking to tap into emerging international markets.
One in 3 of us - roughly 2 billion people - don't have basic services such as electricity, sanitation and clean drinking water. Creating the environment where small businesses can manufacture, install and repair simple infrastructure technologies for people living between $2-4 a day is the ultimate in collaborative innovation. We’re thrilled to welcome Cat Lainé to the BIF-4 stage to share her story.
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The BIF-4 summit takes place on October 15th and 16th in Providence. Early registration ends August 15th. Learn more about how you can hear Cat Laine's story and many more.
BIF Research Advisor Clay Christensen has been researching how to apply his disruptive innovation model to the social sector. He co-wrote a great piece called Disruptive Innovation for Social Change. Download it here.
Learn more about Cat’s organization AIDG.
Posted June 11, 2008 09:35 AM by Chris Flanagan | Permalink
