I recently came across an article about venture capital structures and how they interact and work with start-ups. The article argued that the venture capital structure is broken because it favours “quantity over quality, consumption over creation, quick exits over sustainable growth, and shareholder profit over shared prosperity.” In short, venture capital is always on the look-out for “unicorns” rather than “zebras.” Why? Well, unicorns are graceful, glamorous, and alone…. Of course, unicorns only exist in fairy tales. Zebras, on the other hand, are real: they are numerous, they live in herds, they are indigenous, the product of their environment and – apart from their wonderful stripes – they are rather unremarkable.
The article brought home to me many parallels between venture capital and the traditional aid system. The traditional aid system has also always chased unicorns rather than zebras. In this analogy, it is the INGO that has been the unicorn, manifesting itself in the form of centralised power and hierarchical structures. In this case, the zebras, have been local organizations that operate in networks that represent decentralised power.