[This post is a part of a series on sessions in the SOCAP11 Polycentrism Solutions Track]

In the Slow Money: Capital, Currency and Entrepreneurs session Lise Bisballe, Claire Herminjard, Arno Hesse, Lakshmi Karan, Paul Lamb and Homayoon Shahinfar illustrate how regenerative systems of capital flow build the capacity and viability of local communities. This movement challenges the model of disconnected capital that is concentrated in global financial centers, and keeps money invested in local entrepreneurs and businesses. The Slow Money Alliance and Clearbon’s Bernal Bucks promote the power of local currency that enables polycentricism to flourish.

In contrast to classic capitalism, Slow Money principles go beyond financial capital to include cultural, ecological and economic value. Expanding the understanding of value has helped to spur new business models such as social enterprises, where economic development and societal needs are integrated into a single pursuit. Organizations such as Mindful Meats, Man on a Mission Consulting, and the Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Roskilde University are working in the intersection between civil society and business.

Further, this holistic approach recognizes a need for social capital support of low-income urban social entrepreneurs and other marginalized groups who have struggled to fully actualize their potential due to lack of access to resources under the classic system. Stima and Riders for Health focus on alternative resource delivery systems that work with the unique needs of rural communities in the developing world. These organizations have developed models that work with local customs, and that acknowledge the powerful resilience of rural communities, rather than attempting to fit them into a system that alienates them.

By refocusing our attention to local needs and local resources, adaptive solutions directly address the root causes of problems, rather than exacerbating, them.By slowing the flow of capital to support social entrepreneurs and local enterprises, resources are distributed equitably and value is returned to neighborhoods, paving the way for restorative, self-sustaining and resilient communities.

Speakers, Organizations & Links

Arno Hesse | Slow Money/Bernal Bucks
The Slow Money Alliance is bringing people together around a new conversation about money that is too fast, about finance that is disconnected from people and place, about how we can begin fixing our economy from the ground up, starting with food.

Bernal Bucks is an initiative driven exclusively by residents of Bernal Heights, dedicated to strengthening the economic livelihood of our community.

Claire Herminjard | Mindful Meats
Mindful Meats’ mission is to increase access to healthy beef in all communities.

Homayoon Shahinfar | Stima
Stima was founded to profitably address pervasive demand for affordable energy at the Base-of-Pyramid.

Lakshmi Karan | Riders for Health
Riders is an award-winning social enterprise, working to make sure all health workers in Africa have access to reliable transportation so they can reach the most isolated people with regular and predictable health care.

Lise Bisballe | Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Roskilde University
The Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) aims to be a greenhouse for education and research in social entrepreneurship particularly emphasising the importance of civil society for the integration of socially vulnerable groups.

Paul Lamb | Man on a Mission Consulting
Man on a Mission Consulting is a management consulting firm that leverages the best of business, technology, and social sector practices.