The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

Novogratz combined her twin passions for banking and philanthropy after she left a lucrative corporate banking position to work with women’s groups in microfinance, the pioneering banking strategy that won Muhammad Yunus a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Her work merging market systems with development and social empowerment led her to create the Acumen Fund for entrepreneurs in developing nations, which she describes as “the opposite of old-fashioned charity.” Novogratz also focuses on her own developmental path as she charts her evolving views of capitalism and how she will “change the world.” Unfortunately, she stumbles when she strays into biographical territory, relying on clichés to bolster her professional decisions through a personal lens. The book is most interesting when it touches on the difficult decisions that Novogratz and her team must make about financial empowerment—should they charge interest on loans to poor women? can working women find acceptance in a patriarchal society?—but these dilemmas are facilely glossed, keeping the book in an uncomfortable limbo between a personal narrative and a primer on globalization. (Feb.)