The ninth-floor offices of the Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs in developing countries build businesses, overlook Trinity Church in New York City's Financial District. Consider it a case of Wall Street crossing Hope Road. "It's a good metaphor," says Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen's founder. Some call it venture philanthropy, but Novogratz prefers the phrase "private equity for the poor." What that means is that a small company in India gets a $185,000 loan to make and sell affordable water filters. And that a Pakistani firm receives more than $260,000 in grants and loans to develop housing for urban squatters. All...
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