Entreprenurial Empowerment

I put this page together as a way to cast vision.   Maybe a big idea will come to you.  It is possible you will become passionate about reaching a need you see that could be filled.

Each of these organizations has a unique vision and mission.  Seeing them all together may inspire you to see or do something unique as well.  I see benefits and weaknesses to each, but when it comes to empowering people diversity is needed.  There is a whole lot to be encouraged about in the area of design (as you can see on the design page), but the products don’t do any good until they reach the people who are in need.  I see each of the following as creative enterprises that are empowering local entrepreneurs.  Everything starts with the people.  For the purposes of this blog let’s define our target customer as those who earn less then $2 US dollars a day.  Through a designers intimate knowledge and relationship with the customer we must find our way to the next step.  That next step is a sustainable organizations producing products that are needed and affordable to our target customers.  We need to take great ideas and turn them into real accessible products that small farmers and urban poor need.  Strategically the best products are those that help customers earn more income.  Food, water, health care, and education are all things that come as a direct result of getting products to customers that help customers earn more personal income.

1.  Grameen Bank  under the creative vision of Nobel Peace Prize winning banker (Mohammad Yunus) has empowered some of the most vulnerable to come out of poverty into the middle class of their society.  Mohammad Yunus is a visionary who has lead by his actions and has helped us all to see opportunity where we had not before.

2.  Kiva seeks to empower through micro loans.  Connecting individuals from all over the globe with the purpose of empowering small business owners in developing countries.  Kiva distributed ten million dollars in their second year.

3.  Endeavor is focused on finding high impact entrepreneurial talent in developing countries that they then work hard to empower.  Endeavor goes through a rigorous search process to find the right entrepreneur with a big idea.

4.  Senai Global is working to bring business men and women to Africa to work together to find ways to empower rural farmers and smaller scale entrepreneurs.  Drew Harding’s vision is to be a bridge from US business to entrepreneurs in developing counties.

5.  E-myth Worldwide has been empowering small business owners for thirty one years in the United States.  They stress the need to develop the entrepreneurial leader who will work on her company and not just in it.  They have recently begun to work with Nigerian entrepreneurs. It will be interesting to watch how this develops and what the impact this will make.

Note: This list is by no means exsaustive.  Please let me know of organizations that you know of by entering it as a comment.  Please share your ideas and vision.