Huffington Post Canada

Turning a big idea into global change

Young women at the G(irls)20 Summit have set out to fix the biggest programs facing their communities.

By Gary Turner

First published on julio 15, 2014
min read


This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post. What would happen if the world's 3.5 billion women set out to fix the biggest problems facing their communities? The G(irls)20 Summit is bringing together young women from around the globe to answer that question. The goal: Use bold ideas to improve the fortunes of their home regions and, hopefully, the world. The 2013 Summit inspired Yoomin Lee of South Korea to start CodeKorea, a business that aims to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries by teaching girls computer programming. Glender Favour, a 2012 delegate from Cameroon, co-founded StopAIDS, Cameroon, an initiative that's providing young people with resources and opportunities to fight the spread of HIV. As partners of the G(irls)20 Summit, we're excited to watch these ideas emerge. But turning a vision into the large-scale changes these social entrepreneurs seek requires a sound strategy. What does that look like? Over the years, we've seen many strategies take shape at major organizations. The best ones do several things right: They focus on serving (and delighting) customers. Organizations, whether they're nonprofits or multinational companies, succeed only when they make their customers central to all of their decisions. They understand their customers' fundamental needs and offer services that resonate with them. They don't pursue hot opportunities that distract from their target audiences. They know their strengths. Many nonprofits try to address too many issues at the same time, causing them to spread their resources too thin. To create the biggest impact, top companies invest heavily in the key businesses that set them apart from their competitors. They only consider other initiatives when they've exhausted every opportunity that's closely related to their core mission. Read the full article in The Huffington Post By Gary Turner, a Sydney-based partner and leader of Bain & Company's Asia-Pacific Financial Services practice. Gary also leads Bain & Company's pro bono and not-for-profit consulting practice in Australia.

This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post.

What would happen if the world's 3.5 billion women set out to fix the biggest problems facing their communities?

The G(irls)20 Summit is bringing together young women from around the globe to answer that question. The goal: Use bold ideas to improve the fortunes of their home regions and, hopefully, the world. The 2013 Summit inspired Yoomin Lee of South Korea to start CodeKorea, a business that aims to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries by teaching girls computer programming. Glender Favour, a 2012 delegate from Cameroon, co-founded StopAIDS, Cameroon, an initiative that's providing young people with resources and opportunities to fight the spread of HIV.

As partners of the G(irls)20 Summit, we're excited to watch these ideas emerge. But turning a vision into the large-scale changes these social entrepreneurs seek requires a sound strategy. What does that look like? Over the years, we've seen many strategies take shape at major organizations. The best ones do several things right:

They focus on serving (and delighting) customers. Organizations, whether they're nonprofits or multinational companies, succeed only when they make their customers central to all of their decisions. They understand their customers' fundamental needs and offer services that resonate with them. They don't pursue hot opportunities that distract from their target audiences.

They know their strengths. Many nonprofits try to address too many issues at the same time, causing them to spread their resources too thin. To create the biggest impact, top companies invest heavily in the key businesses that set them apart from their competitors. They only consider other initiatives when they've exhausted every opportunity that's closely related to their core mission.

Read the full article in The Huffington Post

By Gary Turner, a Sydney-based partner and leader of Bain & Company's Asia-Pacific Financial Services practice. Gary also leads Bain & Company's pro bono and not-for-profit consulting practice in Australia.