I am in a bit of a unique circumstance while writing this blog as I am sitting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia preparing to leave for a five-day trip to where more than 64 million Ethiopians live- in rural poverty. So, the implication of being a change agent for me- and thus, my answer to this [...]
It’s about 8PM PST and I’m settling in for a short sleep before I take off back to school in the morning. I’ll be leaving with Ashley Upham from Project 7 at around 3:30 tomorrow morning, so I wanted to get this recap out before I lose my fire from today. Another Creative Sunrise Morning [...]
I have the pleasure of spending April 4-6 in Long Beach, California with some dynamic people in the community development space. Before I begin, I must say that Charles Lee and his team has done a great job putting this first !deation conference together, pulling from some phenomenal minds in the field. I’m pretty sure [...]
Two months ago, I introduced you to Mark Moore and Bret Raymond, founders of Mother Administrative Nutritive Aid (MANA), an organization that aims to be a fully sustainable producer of ready-to-use-therapeutic-food by 2012. Last time, we took a look at the importance of owning an authentic mission, making sure it is measurable and concrete. MANA [...]
Almost two weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with some of the Microsoft Community Affairs team in Redmond, WA. The small group I met with focuses primarily on the company’s Strengthening NGOs Through IT program, which is led by Jane Meseck, a non-profit technology and public policy expert who has been with [...]
I had the chance to jump on a conference call on Friday that brought bloggers together to discuss the Ashoka Tech4Society conference in Hyderabad, India. Due to some technical difficulties, we were unable to connect with two of the 106 social entrepreneurs who had planned to join us in the discussion. However, we learned of [...]
Back in December, I came across Mr. Alex Cone, the marketing manager for MANA Nutrition, on twitter. He was tweeting about this organization that will tackle severe acute malnutrition with an innovative social business model producing ready-to-use-therapeutic-food (RUTF). After speaking with Cone about the process of being a start-up organization, I proposed a project to [...]
Back in August, while I was visiting that Mexican village that is so close to my heart, I spent some time with one of the kids I met when I first went to that place. Adiel was one of the “lucky kids” of the village. His family, due to his sister marrying well, was able [...]
On my way home from New York City on Saturday evening, I picked up the business section of the New York Times and began reading a column- the headline of which peaked my interest. “You, Too, Can Be a Microlender” by Ron Lieber. I’ve spent a fair amount of time studying the microfinance “niche” as [...]
For me, some of the most refreshing moments come when I hear a young person talk about their life goals. Their voices are filled with hope, energy and drive. This brings me some solace in the complexity and multi-faceted nature of my world. And when I saw the above video, which was put together completely [...]
Julie Soforenko and I began talking about co-authoring an article back in September. But, as life would have it, it took some time to coordinate our schedules. When we finally got the chance to talk about it, the holidays were on our mind. We discussed our love for this time of year and how being [...]
About three weeks ago, I was flipping through the channels and landed on PBS. If you know me, I spend about an average of 1 hour per week by the television, and it’s usually to catch the most recent episode of The Office. However, this particular night, PBS caught my attention. What I saw on [...]
Family vacation. I have to chuckle when I read those words. I have this image of tons of a luggage, racing to get to the car on time, somebody crying, and a the oldest child bargaining with his parents as to why he should be allowed to stay home alone. It’s the concept that sitcoms [...]
