Q1 Soft Power Brief: Hard Problems Become Market Positions
Five organisations profiled in depth: Hala Systems, M-KOPA, One Acre Fund, Living Goods, and Tostan
Q1 Soft Power Brief - Hard Problems Become Market Positions
The Brief profiles five organisations operating at the intersection where hard problems become market positions: Hala Systems on verifiable evidence in zero-trust environments, M-KOPA on financing for the underserved, One Acre Fund on smallholder agriculture, Living Goods on community health architecture, and Tostan on community-led development.
Each profile runs the framework against the organisation’s position: the soft power assets they hold, the hard problem field they sit inside, the structural conditions that made the position available, and what it would take to hold it.
The Brief was distributed to approximately three hundred close contacts across Substack, LinkedIn, and direct email in March 2026. It is the first in a quarterly series.