I have loved writing this blog and all the special people it has allowed me to connect with, to learn from and to honor through my stories.  It has been fascinating to chronicle my journey working with Acumen Fund and AtoZ, the mosquito net manufacturing company in Tanzania.  Just a few weeks ago, AtoZ unveiled a new facility which will allow it to produce over 11 million nets per year as the only African manufacturer of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to battle malaria.  Many came to celebrate in Arusha, including the President of the Unites States.  And of course, the debate over public vs. private market distribution of nets continues (click to see latest BusinessWeek article).

I have decided to wrap up this chapter of my blog From Tribeca to Tanzania and take a break for a few months before I write again. 

In the meantime, I will still be storing up stories to tell you later as I continue to help build Bamboo Finance (www.bamboofinance.com) in Switzerland.  As many of you have read, my newest adventures are in designing a new Swiss-based asset management company that specializes in social entrepreneurship.  We have a great team that provides debt and equity investments to social ventures globally which are addressing critical problems (health, education, shelter, energy, etc.).  This company is looking to fill the gap in risk capital for social enterprises described in the article I co-authored this year published by Oxford (click here). We were recently mentioned in the magazine BusinessWeek with our sister company Blue Orchard (click to see BusinessWeek article).  If you know of entrepreneurs looking for finance, please don’t hesitate to send me a message!  We work globally, and next month I am headed to Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

As promised, I continue to read interesting books and will share my opinions when I blog again.  The most recent book is called When a Crocodile Eats the Sun (a gift from a special Zimbabwean family-thanks) and another book I just peeled open is called MicroFranchising: Creating Wealth at the Bottom of the Pyramid (a gift from Troy at Coast Coconut Farms in Kenya-thanks).

Thanks so much to the community who has been reading my blog, contributing and supporting me.  Please continue to contact me to share your ideas.  And thank you to the Skoll Foundation and Social Edge team, especially Sally, Victor, Jason, Phil and Cristina for all of the creative ways they supported my opportunity to reflect here.

Here`s a round-up of my most interesting posts:

• You are Not Smart Enough to Be Pessimistic
• Last Night I Applied for Food Stamps and an Abortion
• Sex in the City:  Last Night I Went to a NY Strip Club
• How I Raised $10,000 this Week
• Filex, an artist in Tanzania
• From 2 to 24 Striped Socks Behind Me
• Dynamic Distribution from the Factory Gates
• Getting Back to Living with HIV Instead of Dying from It
• Shit Business Brings Dignity
• A Screwtape Letter
• Female Circumcision
• Justice Like A Hot Dog
• My poem- An Invitation

Asante Sana