Jacqueline Novogratz, who’s dedicated her life to making the world a better place through philanthropic endeavors, brought her inspirational message to New England College’s graduation ceremony on Saturday.
Speaking to the nearly 450 students in attendance, who made up the school’s largest graduating class of 729, Novogratz’s message of unity and hope aligned itself with the philosophies of Acumen, a company she founded in 2001 that invests capital into businesses designed to cater to the world’s poor.
“Redefine how we look at success,” Novogratz said. “Your job is not to be perfect. Your job is to be human.”
Novogratz, Saturday’s commencement speaker, received an honorary degree on an overcast yet dry day. She began a corporate career after earning an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, working on Wall Street in international banking at Chase Manhattan.
Soon, though, a trip to Africa led to a shift in her thinking, as Novogratz began to see the world in a very different way. Her New York Times bestseller, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World,documents the springboard toward her new career.
In the book, Novogratz tells of the blue sweater she loved, outgrew, then donated to Goodwill. In Africa 11 years later, she spotted a poor boy wearing the very same sweater, with Novogratz’s nametag still inside.
She then founded Acumen in 2001 and has since devoted her time to securing patient capital, which focuses on benefiting social causes, rather than individual profits, through investments. The banking system she created has helped women become more self-sufficient through small loans.
Novogratz defined the word moral, saying it meant that “we need each other, we’re responsible for each other.”
She recalled meeting a woman in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, a 17-year-old unemployed single mother who was HIV positive. Bitter and hopeless, the woman met another woman with similar problems who had chosen to unselfishly help others, despite her own woes.
Anyone “can lead,” Novogratz said.
“I failed numerous times, ” she added.
Novogratz was part of a lineup of speakers, students and administrators, each of whom built on a common thread of service and risk taking.
“Think of how you’ve grown,” Michele Perkins, NEC’s president, said. “Part of being an educated person is being active.”
Retiring board of trustees chairman James Murtha said, “Graduating does not cut ties, but extends them into the future.”
Erik Dey, who spoke on behalf of the graduate students and earned a doctorate in education, recalled how his life direction had changed after he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from New England College 15 years ago.
An injury during a Marine Corp training exercise forced him to rethink his career goals. “I kept on sailing,” Dey said. “It’s just a different course. Keep your eyes on the stars and enjoy the voyage.”
Goffstown’s Hannah Jackson, the undergraduate speaker, noted that failure “should drive you. When you fail, you must get up. Go on and fail until you achieve greatness.”
Before the speeches, bagpipe music and color guard presentation, students lined up and waited at the college’s covered bridge, which runs across the Contoocook River.
There, Marissa Wong of Brooklyn, N.Y., waited for both the ceremony and her future to begin. She had 39 college credits under her belt by the time she arrived at the Henniker campus, having given up much of her social life in high school for a head start.
She graduated NEC in just two years.
“It’s worth it,” Wong said. “I know that nothing is permanent, and all that loneliness and all that sacrifice in high school, it has to lead to something. I knew that eventually I would look back and say, ‘Wow, I did it.’ ”