Again Colombus ... what was he finally?

I am a huge Colombus fan ... besides being him the guy responsible of the continent I was born at (I know, not a very deep/objective reason to admire a historial icon), I overall think the guy`s story is amazing, from a historical, human and entrepreneurial perspective. Today throwing away some garbage from my desk shelves I found again some notes I jotted down at some conferences I attended months ago, and it was funny to find two different analogies/comparisons about Colombus, related to entrepreneurship ...

"Columbus the first VC (Venture Capital) receiver"

Thus, the Queen Isabel was the first Venture Capitalist, since she funded Columbus trips to the Indies (later the Americas) without having a clue if this venture would actually end up in something ...

"Colombus, the father of the NGOs"

This is a cruel one (towards the social sector), and it`s rather a joke. Do you know why Colombus was the father of the NGOs? Because he did not know where he was going and where he arrived, and still he managed to get funding twice. (Well, the joke was originally told in spanish, so I`m not quite sure if the translations brings out the same level of sarcasm!!)

Enjoy!

"Hey, I´m here, I love my job, I greet you and please feel safe: the army is here".

Happy new entrepreneurial year!

This post might not have anything to do with entrepreneurship, indeed - it does not have. Though it´s a nice story to tell. What it´s all about might be an old thing experienced by other colombians, however for me it was the first time, and was pretty impressive.

During this past holidays I traveled by car from Bogota (Colombia´s capital) to Barranquilla, then from Barranquilla to Manizales and finally back from Manizales from Bogotá. Since last year we started travelling by car and it has been a safe and enyojable experience. So, the thing that called my attention the most during the trip was the "campaign" run by the colombian army on the roads these holidays ... "every time there was a soldier on the road, every single time he greeted every car that passed by making -thumbs up- in an extremely friendly manner". Now imagine a 16 hour trip experiencing the same synchronized gesture from (I repeat) every soldier. Come on, how many cars pass by in a road in such a holiday season and this guys waved their hands to almost every car! That´s impressive.  

Well, I have to clarify it´s an assumption that this is an structured campaign, but I bet  it should be, such a perfect coordination usually does not happen by chance. And if it indeed was a campaign, at least for me it worked. It felt so nice. It felt like they all were telling you as you passed by: "Hey, I´m here, I love my job, I greet you and please feel safe: the army is here".