Jacqueline Novogratz sees business as part of the solution to poverty in developing countries.

The organization that she founded, the Acumen Fund, in New York, raises philanthropic dollars, which it then invests in businesses in South Asia and East Africa that provide health, water, energy, and agriculture products and services to people earning less than $4 a day.

Too often, says Ms. Novogratz, traditional aid breeds dependency. But at the same time, she says, market capitalism alone isn’t enough to lift poor countries out of poverty. She describes the Acumen Fund as a middle approach.

Ms. Novogratz, who was in Washington to speak at the Global Philanthropy Forum, talked to The Chronicle about the effect the world economic crisis is having on the Acumen Fund’s work and the businesses that the group invests in.