The Global Entrepreneurship Week is coming!
Use it as a season to remember the DO`s & DON`ts of Entrepreneurship!
The pigs couldn`t tell it better ... so hillarious!
6/7/11
You can`t be what you can`t see - thoughts about the Thiel Experiment and more ...
I bet you have heard about the "Thiel Experiment", it`s been all over the news in the past months, particularly memorable for headlines such as "Thiel Pays Students To Drop Out Of School!" or "Thiel Pays Offers $100000 to Drop-Outs!".
In m opinion, the story is way more powerful and way less sensationalist than what the press showcases.
Peter Thiel, co-founder of Pay Pal (also known as as "the mentor of the PayPal mafia of entrepreneurs"), has set up a FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, through which young entrepreneurs "will pursue innovative scientific and technical projects, learn entrepreneurship, and begin to build the technology companies of tomorrow. During their two-year tenure, each Fellow will receive $100,000 from the Thiel Foundation as well as mentorship from the Foundation’s network of tech entrepreneurs and innovators" ... and yes, to committ full time to the previous, they have to leave school.
I am a passionate for education, and specially for that one, which is not conventional. And I totally praise what Thiel is doing for the simple reason that YOU CAN`T BE WHAT YOU CAN`T SEE. You have to see stuff like this happening, as also you have to get inspiredby the stories of all the bunch of sucessful dropouts (not only Gates or Zuckerberg, but the many other close to you that I you know you know!!) to understand that there is not a "formula" to become an entrepreneur and specially not to be sucessful.
I want to steal a statement from a recent article I read from Max Kalehoff, which in my opinion totally embodies what really matters in life ... this matters, and not only to pursue a traditional education:
"Like many parents, I wish for my kids to be curious and passionate about the world around them. I wish for them to find purpose and embrace it, and to tackle important problems with creativity and drive. I also wish for them to enjoy what they’re doing along the way, and feel pride and fulfillment in the end — that what they’d done really mattered, and made the world a slightly better place. It doesn’t matter to me so much which path they pursue, but I hope it has these elements."
These past "elements" - as Kalehoff calls it - neither neglect nor invite to eschew formal education, BUT, you might agree with me, they also do not make formal education essential. I believe Thiel is just trying to offer to this exceptional group of fellows a platform free of "distractive prejudices" where just purpose and relevant skill trainning matter. Can`t wait to see what happens with this group ... (sad that there are only two girls!). We need to get more used to serendipity and this is for sure something that formal education certainly disencourages.
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5/25/11
When nobody is watching ...
Since some time I am subscribed to Seth`s Godin blog. I like it pretty much since he normally sends very concise (aprox. 5 minute reading) and powerful messages. Godin is author of ten books that have been bestsellers around the world, influencing the way people think about marketing, change and work.
One of his last post was called "Self directed effort is the best kind"
I encourage you to read it, as said, it is very fast to do it and I ensure you that after reading it, my present blog post will make much more sense.
From the moment I saw the post titel in my inbox, it totally called my attention. And the content totally matched my expectation.
How many things do we really do, just because they genuinely matter to us, because they mean something to us and not because we have (on purpose or not) a "police man" making us doing them? I did the excercise very quicky for myself and the balance was pretty good: there were a bunch of things that I do because I care and technically enjoy doing them, while there are others where the "police men" work, and pretty well.
I do not think that it is necessarily bad to count on such police men. It`s not ideal ... but it`s not really an issue as long as the quantity of the stuff you do self-directed exceeds the quantity of the stuff you need an extra stimulus to do. Anyways, I am not an expert in the topic and so far, what all I`ve done is just referring to Godin`s post.
So ...this is a blog about entrepreneurship and therefore, I could not help inferring couple of things for the entrepreneurial world. And the strongest example that came to my mind was Endeavor, the organization I currently work for.
First thing that came to my mind is that Endeavor (in the context of Seth`s post) is an army of police men that force Entrepreneurs to excel even more than what they already doing. I am aware that the word "force" is very strong, but after having worked as Entrepreneur Services Manager for more than 4 years at Endeavor Colombia, witnessing directly how Entrepreneurs receive and use our services, I feel confident when I say that the difference that we (Endeavor) make does not only have to do with the knowledge that we pass to them, the real difference relies in the capacity that we have to act as "accountability" agents for Entrepreneurs, that are always there to remind them of the commitments that they do to themselves. During the past 4 years such commitments have been things such as "doing a business plan to move to the next level", "stepping out of operative work and hiring a manager", "putting together a board of directors" or simple tasks as "analyzing their Financial Statements to look for possible red flags". I am 100 % sure that 90 % of our Entrepreneurs know how and want to do all of the previous, but for some reason, they are not used to put self-directed effort into that. It`s not only a matter of knowledge, it`s a matter of lack of self-directed drive. And what is behind this self-directed drive (not only for Entrepreneurs, but in general) remains a question mark for me.
Recently I debated with some team mates about the role of Endeavor in the execution of projects with the Entrepreneurs. The discussion automatically came down to the role of the ESM - Entrepreneur Services Manager - (also called Key Account Manager in our jargon) and how involved the ESM should get into the day-to-day activities of the entrepreneur in order to catalyze the execution of the tasks associated to the Endeavor projects. In the end, our model works only if the Entrepreneurs execute timely the advices that are given by our group of Mentors. Some people are more of the opinion that the "Self directed effort" of the Entrepreneurs shall be the one to drive the process and set the pace and other people (like me) even if not disagreeing with the past statement, are more of the opinion that we are actually there to provide any needed oversight that helps them to go beyond what "Self directed effort" allows, even if this implies an important investment of time and energy ... which in the end is the same time and energy that the personal trainer puts to make you burn 700 calories instead of 500, as Seth´s analogy suggests.
What do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it's not an immediate part of your job... how many push ups do you do, just because you can?
From the moment I saw the post titel in my inbox, it totally called my attention. And the content totally matched my expectation.
How many things do we really do, just because they genuinely matter to us, because they mean something to us and not because we have (on purpose or not) a "police man" making us doing them? I did the excercise very quicky for myself and the balance was pretty good: there were a bunch of things that I do because I care and technically enjoy doing them, while there are others where the "police men" work, and pretty well.
I do not think that it is necessarily bad to count on such police men. It`s not ideal ... but it`s not really an issue as long as the quantity of the stuff you do self-directed exceeds the quantity of the stuff you need an extra stimulus to do. Anyways, I am not an expert in the topic and so far, what all I`ve done is just referring to Godin`s post.
So ...this is a blog about entrepreneurship and therefore, I could not help inferring couple of things for the entrepreneurial world. And the strongest example that came to my mind was Endeavor, the organization I currently work for.
First thing that came to my mind is that Endeavor (in the context of Seth`s post) is an army of police men that force Entrepreneurs to excel even more than what they already doing. I am aware that the word "force" is very strong, but after having worked as Entrepreneur Services Manager for more than 4 years at Endeavor Colombia, witnessing directly how Entrepreneurs receive and use our services, I feel confident when I say that the difference that we (Endeavor) make does not only have to do with the knowledge that we pass to them, the real difference relies in the capacity that we have to act as "accountability" agents for Entrepreneurs, that are always there to remind them of the commitments that they do to themselves. During the past 4 years such commitments have been things such as "doing a business plan to move to the next level", "stepping out of operative work and hiring a manager", "putting together a board of directors" or simple tasks as "analyzing their Financial Statements to look for possible red flags". I am 100 % sure that 90 % of our Entrepreneurs know how and want to do all of the previous, but for some reason, they are not used to put self-directed effort into that. It`s not only a matter of knowledge, it`s a matter of lack of self-directed drive. And what is behind this self-directed drive (not only for Entrepreneurs, but in general) remains a question mark for me.
Recently I debated with some team mates about the role of Endeavor in the execution of projects with the Entrepreneurs. The discussion automatically came down to the role of the ESM - Entrepreneur Services Manager - (also called Key Account Manager in our jargon) and how involved the ESM should get into the day-to-day activities of the entrepreneur in order to catalyze the execution of the tasks associated to the Endeavor projects. In the end, our model works only if the Entrepreneurs execute timely the advices that are given by our group of Mentors. Some people are more of the opinion that the "Self directed effort" of the Entrepreneurs shall be the one to drive the process and set the pace and other people (like me) even if not disagreeing with the past statement, are more of the opinion that we are actually there to provide any needed oversight that helps them to go beyond what "Self directed effort" allows, even if this implies an important investment of time and energy ... which in the end is the same time and energy that the personal trainer puts to make you burn 700 calories instead of 500, as Seth´s analogy suggests.
What do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it's not an immediate part of your job... how many push ups do you do, just because you can?
If you liked this post, tweet it!
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5/21/11
Casual thoughts about interacting wih the untouchable (and other Web 2.0 short reflections)
Disclaimer: I am neither a social networks expert, nor even an empirical “knower” of the topic. I am just a user, that sees things from a user perspective, probably in a very naïve way.
So … I`ve been using Twitter since maybe around a year. Pretty late for the standards, I know. I started way earlier with Facebook and especially with blogging, since 2003 actually (and yes, I know blogging is not a network and not comparable to Facebook and/or Twitter, no worries, yet it`s for many part of the Web 2.0 trend).
Coming back to Twitter, I must say that I just love it and as much as one is emotionally attached to Facebook, for what my personal interests are …
- a) following thought leaders
- b) getting fast, sweet, short news of topics I care (the amount of relevant info I get over Twitter in let`s say 3 minutes, I would never get it sitting a whole morning watching newspapers) AND
- c) INTERACTING WITH THE OTHERWISE UNTOUCHABLE in the physical world
… Twitter is simply a hit.
INTERACTING WITH THE OTHERWISE UNTOUCHABLE in the physical world. It`s my favorite. What do I mean with that? Well, even if nowadays lots of companies and celebrities (politicians, artists, governmental institutions, companies, leaders, whatsoever) hire someone to manage its digital presence (which in the case of individuals might seem everything but genuine) INTERACTING WITH THE OTHERWISE UNTOUCHABLE i means being able to address directly people, organizations or simply BRANDS and if lucky being able to get a response from them.
- Two days ago I talked with @CoCaCola … I said over Twitter that a new can presentation seemed very cool to me. In seconds, they replied back. What do I win with this? Nothing probably, but @CoCaCola surely wins certain particular appreciation from my side, and it`s highly likely that next time I`ll order a Coke over a Pepsi.
- What about interacting with your favorite book authors? I do it often. How faster would you be able to tell that his/her book sucked or not and why, and get an answer?
- When a delivery service I order takes more that promised, or when any other of my providers suck (public services, telecom, airline, health, etc.) I instantly complain over Twitter. In minutes they apologize and if I`m lucky, they even compensate with a treat. That does not happen in the “physical world” or at least not with the same effect: x thousand followers wouldn`t hear (read) my claim. Now, I know the "public complain" might sounds unfair/evil, but it works. I guess -bottomline- it is helping companies to be better, to serve better, in a society like the Colombian where customer service is an inherited weakness.
Web 2.0 is not a technology, it`s an attitude.
As much as I praise it, I also know that if tomorrow a meteor falls over the Twitter, Blogger and Facebook offices and their systems collapse, the world will keep moving, for sure, we have been doing it for centuries. A break wouldn`t be bad, I guess.
Ps. A propo Twitter here are some cool lists to follow, especially if you are an Entrepreneur, the Endeavor Global Twitter lists:
5/11/11
What it takes to get an MBA [infographic]
++ Click to Enlarge Image ++
Taken from http://holykaw.alltop.com/what-it-takes-to-get-an-mba-infographic?tu3=1
Via: Masters Degree Guide
Taken from http://holykaw.alltop.com/what-it-takes-to-get-an-mba-infographic?tu3=1
Via: Masters Degree Guide
5/5/11
Ask a Leader 2011 - Felipe Vergara
Felipe Vergara is the CEO of Lumni, one of the Endeavor Colombia companies and also an AShoka Fellow. Felipe was recently awarded as THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS OF THE YEAR 2011 - LATIN AMERICA by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Through my role at Endeavor Colombia, I had had the pleasure to meet Felipe and his team, mainly in the Colombia office, and Lumni has no doubt been a source of inspiration as a person and as a potential entrepreneur (Felipe is also from my home city, Barranquilla, so that makes the role modelling effect even more special).
Felipe has also been a supporter of my MBA cause :-) ... besides all the cheering when I took the decision and in all my GMAT "calvary", his short lines every now and then were key to keep going. In absence of resources to pay for an admissions consultant as many people do, I`ve leveraged on key entrepreneurs from the Endeavor Colombia network such as Felipe to help me facing different levels of the admimission process. Felipe for instance mocked my BABSON interview and it was fantastic to get his feedback, it was no doubt very useful and I`ll never forget how such a busy person took time on a weekend to sit down with me over Skype to help me on this. Last but not least Felipe has recently acted as one of my recommenders for a OAS Scholarship also to fund the MBA at BABSON, scholarship where I`m already in the last round of 8 finalists (out of more than 140) in Colombia.
Maybe on of the coolest experiences with Lumni has been the one when they opened the door to me to deliver a trainning on "Communications" for a group of students of one of its funds: VENTANAS. The story is very funny, originally Lumni requested me as its Endeavor Key Account Manager to get one of our (very senior) Entrepreneur Mentors to deliver this trainning. For some reasons, the Mentors we approached were not available at this date and I simply volunteered myself to do it with the surprise that they accepted. Here are some pictures of that day.
Something that not many people know, is that by that time I was also in the process to open my "already closed" restaurant Sizzlers (we opened from Jan 2010 to Dec 2011), in Bogota. I remember that I hired two guys that I met at this training that were studying culinary with support of Lumni. The two students worked couple of weeks with me to help us gather key information for the business plan of the restaurant. We did not work longer since in the end we came to the conclusion that their time was very limited (actually one of them worked at the Lumni Colombia office as well).
I really hope to keep in touch with Felipe and his incredible model despite my incoming move from Endeavor! And thanks again for everything!
4/30/11
The doors from hell and heaven
The Zen master Hakuin is one of the rare flowerings. A warrior came to him, a samurai, a great soldier, and he asked "Is there any hell, is there any heaven? If there is hell and heaven, where are the gates? Where do I enter from? How can I avoid hell and choose heaven?"
He was a simple warrior. A warrior is always simple; otherwise he cannot be a warrior. A warrior knows only two things, life and death--his life is always at stake, he is always gambling; He is a simple man. He had not come to learn any doctrine. He wanted to know where the gate was so he could avoid hell and enter heaven. And Hakuin replied in a way only a warrior could understand.
What did Hakuin do? He said, "Who are you?"
And the warrior replied, "I am a samurai."
It is a thing of much pride to be a samurai in Japan. It means being a perfect warrior, a man who will not hesitate a single moment to give his life. For him, life and death are just a game. He said, "I am a samurai, I am a leader of samurais. Even the emperor pays respect to me."
Hakuin laughed and said, " You, a samurai? You look like a beggar."
The samurai's pride was hurt, his ego hammered. He forgot what he had come for. He took out his sword and was just about to kill Hakuin. He forgot that he had come to this master to ask where is the gate of heaven, to ask where is the gate of hell.
Hakuin laughed and said, "This is the gate of hell. With this sword, this anger, this ego, here opens the gate." This is what a warrior can understand. Immediately he understood: This is the gate. He put his sword back in its sheath.
And Hakuin said, "Here opens the gate of heaven."
SPANISH VERSION ...
Un guerrero samurai, fue a ver al Maestro Zen Hakuin y le preguntó:
"¿Existe el infierno? ¿Existe el cielo?
¿Dónde están las puertas que llevan a ellos?
¿Por dónde puedo entrar?
Era un guerrero sencillo. Los guerreros siempre son sencillos, sin astucia en sus mentes, sin matemáticas. Sólo conocen dos cosas: La vida y la muerte. Él no había venido a aprender ninguna doctrina; solo quería saber dónde estaban las puertas, para poder evitar el infierno y entrar en el cielo. Hauikin le respondió de una manera que sólo un guerrero podía haber entendido.
¿Quién eres?", le preguntó Hakuin.
"Soy un samurai, le respondió el guerrero, hasta el emperador me respeta".
Hakuin se rió y contestó "¿Un Samurai, tú? Pareces un mendigo".
El orgullo del samurai se sintió herido y olvidó para que había venido. Sacó su espada y ya estaba a punto de matar a Hakuin cuando éste dijo:
"Esta es la puerta del infierno. Esta espada, esta ira, este ego, te abren la puerta".
Esto es lo que un guerrero puede comprender. Inmediatamente el samurai entendió. Puso de nuevo la espada en su cinto, conmovido, se inclinó con humildad y con voz honesta y profunda dijo:
-Maestro, muchas gracias, tus palabras tocaron mi alma. La rabia, el miedo y la arrogancia son mi infierno.
El maestro lo miró fijamente y le dijo:
"Aquí se abren las puertas del cielo."
No son las palabras de los otros las que te envían al cielo o al infierno, es el significado que les das.
Las palabras pueden contener emociones, pero tú decides si las aceptas y cuanta importancia tienen para ti.
Cuando eliges la rabia, la arrogancia o el miedo, estas escogiendo el dolor, el juicio y el aislamiento, tanto para ti como para quienes te rodean.
Nuestros maestros y nuestras lecciones se encuentran con frecuencia en las personas o situaciones más inesperadas.
La persona más difícil o la situación más adversa pueden ser los maestros que te recuerden que en este instante puedes elegir estar en el cielo o en el infierno.
He was a simple warrior. A warrior is always simple; otherwise he cannot be a warrior. A warrior knows only two things, life and death--his life is always at stake, he is always gambling; He is a simple man. He had not come to learn any doctrine. He wanted to know where the gate was so he could avoid hell and enter heaven. And Hakuin replied in a way only a warrior could understand.
What did Hakuin do? He said, "Who are you?"
And the warrior replied, "I am a samurai."
It is a thing of much pride to be a samurai in Japan. It means being a perfect warrior, a man who will not hesitate a single moment to give his life. For him, life and death are just a game. He said, "I am a samurai, I am a leader of samurais. Even the emperor pays respect to me."
Hakuin laughed and said, " You, a samurai? You look like a beggar."
The samurai's pride was hurt, his ego hammered. He forgot what he had come for. He took out his sword and was just about to kill Hakuin. He forgot that he had come to this master to ask where is the gate of heaven, to ask where is the gate of hell.
Hakuin laughed and said, "This is the gate of hell. With this sword, this anger, this ego, here opens the gate." This is what a warrior can understand. Immediately he understood: This is the gate. He put his sword back in its sheath.
And Hakuin said, "Here opens the gate of heaven."
Hell and heaven are within you, both gates are within you. When you are behaving unconsciously there is the gate of hell; when you become alert and conscious, there is the gate of heaven.
SPANISH VERSION ...
Un guerrero samurai, fue a ver al Maestro Zen Hakuin y le preguntó:
"¿Existe el infierno? ¿Existe el cielo?
¿Dónde están las puertas que llevan a ellos?
¿Por dónde puedo entrar?
Era un guerrero sencillo. Los guerreros siempre son sencillos, sin astucia en sus mentes, sin matemáticas. Sólo conocen dos cosas: La vida y la muerte. Él no había venido a aprender ninguna doctrina; solo quería saber dónde estaban las puertas, para poder evitar el infierno y entrar en el cielo. Hauikin le respondió de una manera que sólo un guerrero podía haber entendido.
¿Quién eres?", le preguntó Hakuin.
"Soy un samurai, le respondió el guerrero, hasta el emperador me respeta".
Hakuin se rió y contestó "¿Un Samurai, tú? Pareces un mendigo".
El orgullo del samurai se sintió herido y olvidó para que había venido. Sacó su espada y ya estaba a punto de matar a Hakuin cuando éste dijo:
"Esta es la puerta del infierno. Esta espada, esta ira, este ego, te abren la puerta".
Esto es lo que un guerrero puede comprender. Inmediatamente el samurai entendió. Puso de nuevo la espada en su cinto, conmovido, se inclinó con humildad y con voz honesta y profunda dijo:
-Maestro, muchas gracias, tus palabras tocaron mi alma. La rabia, el miedo y la arrogancia son mi infierno.
El maestro lo miró fijamente y le dijo:
"Aquí se abren las puertas del cielo."
No son las palabras de los otros las que te envían al cielo o al infierno, es el significado que les das.
Las palabras pueden contener emociones, pero tú decides si las aceptas y cuanta importancia tienen para ti.
Cuando eliges la rabia, la arrogancia o el miedo, estas escogiendo el dolor, el juicio y el aislamiento, tanto para ti como para quienes te rodean.
Nuestros maestros y nuestras lecciones se encuentran con frecuencia en las personas o situaciones más inesperadas.
La persona más difícil o la situación más adversa pueden ser los maestros que te recuerden que en este instante puedes elegir estar en el cielo o en el infierno.
4/19/11
One of the most inspiring thoughts ever
There are moments in time when we realize the untapped potential of those with whom we come in contact. Tapping their potential often releases our own.
Taken from The “Bad Boy” Poet
http://www.rdiconnect.com/blogs/rdi-community/archive/2011/02/28/competence-the-antidote-for-everything-the-quot-bad-boy-quot-poet-by-rachelle-sheely-phd.aspx
Taken from The “Bad Boy” Poet
http://www.rdiconnect.com/blogs/rdi-community/archive/2011/02/28/competence-the-antidote-for-everything-the-quot-bad-boy-quot-poet-by-rachelle-sheely-phd.aspx
3/8/11
Documentray on IIT on an American TV Channel. MUST SEE FOR ALL IITIANS.avi
Thanks to a current BABSON MBA student I got access to this VERY REVEALING, SHORT video about IIT grads and IIT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology)
As a colombian who has lived in India, with very special indian friends, and passionate for not only education but also for the capacity to understand our own passions and turn them into dreams, I can`t deny that this video was a perfect food for thought. Specially last weekend we were talking with my husband about this ...
I won`t generate much personal opinion right now, I`ll rather want to share the video and key highlights that called my attention:
"IIT grads are INDIA`s most valuable export"
"Exam to get in is so hard, that school kids for the two last years of high school go to prep classes from 4 to 8 a.m."
"A good % of IIT grads become Entrepreneurs: students say it`s a matter of CONFIDENCE"
"The year (all costs) costs 700 USD - it`s subsidized by the government"
"The 2nd option or B Plans for some students who apply to IIT is a US IB league university, - and if they get in, they get scholarships"
"2/3 of grads go to the US"
"For India, rather than a problem, the previous fact is a stimulus to work harder to make them come back"
The air to me right now smells like discipline, excellence, resilience ... it`s just inspiring. I know this is not a black or white topic, I know that controversy is also in the air. I know there are deeper analysis to be done. Yet, what an example for countries like mine.
I promise i`ll write more.
2/21/11
I´m just saying "Favor the High Potentials"
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As a response to my last post I got few interesting comments. Thanks for that! Rather than replying I would like to share a section out of the amazing HOW TO START AN ENTREPRENEURIAL REVOLUTION of Prof. Dan Isenberg (If you want to read it fully, buy a copy from the HBR site!). Daniel J. Isenberg is a professor of management practice at Babson College and executive
director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project.
I maybe did not express myself as flawless as Prof. Isenberg, but what´s below is exactly what I meant. The full article is very, very recommended.
4: Favor the High Potentials.
Many programs
in emerging economies spread scarce
resources among quantities of bottom-of-thepyramid
ventures. And indeed, some of them,
such as the Carvajal Foundation in Cali, Colombia,
have dramatically increased income for segments
of the population. But focusing resources
there to the exclusion of high-potential
ventures is a crucial mistake.
In an era when microfinance for small-scale
entrepreneurs has become mainstream, the reallocation
of resources to support high-potential
entrepreneurs may seem elitist and inequitable.
But especially if resources are limited, programs
should try to focus first on ambitious, growthoriented
entrepreneurs who address large potential
markets.
The social economics of high-potential ventures
and small-scale employment alternatives
are significantly different. Whereas 500
microfinanced sole proprietorships and one
rapidly globalizing 500-person operation create
the same number of jobs, many experts
argue that the wealth creation, power to inspire
other start-ups, labor force enrichment,
and reputational value are much greater with
the latter. One organization that recognizes
this is Enterprise Ireland, an agency responsible
for supporting the growth of world-class
Irish companies. It has created a program specifically
to provide mentoring and financial
assistance to high-potential start-ups, which it
defines as ventures that are export-oriented,
are based on innovative technology, and can
generate at least 1 million in sales and 10 jobs
in three years. The global nonprofit Endeavor,
which focuses on entrepreneurship development
in 10 emerging economies, has to date
“adopted” some 440 “high-impact entrepreneurs,”
who, with Endeavor’s mentoring, are
turning their successes into role models for
their countrymen.
Not all high-potential ventures are technology
based; in fact, I’d argue that the majority
are not. SABIS is a perfect example. An educational
management organization founded in Lebanon many years ago as one school, SABIS
now is one of the world’s largest EMOs, teaching
more than 65,000 students in 15 countries,
with the goal of reaching 5 million students by
2020.
As a response to my last post I got few interesting comments. Thanks for that! Rather than replying I would like to share a section out of the amazing HOW TO START AN ENTREPRENEURIAL REVOLUTION of Prof. Dan Isenberg (If you want to read it fully, buy a copy from the HBR site!). Daniel J. Isenberg is a professor of management practice at Babson College and executive
director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project.
I maybe did not express myself as flawless as Prof. Isenberg, but what´s below is exactly what I meant. The full article is very, very recommended.
4: Favor the High Potentials.
Many programs
in emerging economies spread scarce
resources among quantities of bottom-of-thepyramid
ventures. And indeed, some of them,
such as the Carvajal Foundation in Cali, Colombia,
have dramatically increased income for segments
of the population. But focusing resources
there to the exclusion of high-potential
ventures is a crucial mistake.
In an era when microfinance for small-scale
entrepreneurs has become mainstream, the reallocation
of resources to support high-potential
entrepreneurs may seem elitist and inequitable.
But especially if resources are limited, programs
should try to focus first on ambitious, growthoriented
entrepreneurs who address large potential
markets.
The social economics of high-potential ventures
and small-scale employment alternatives
are significantly different. Whereas 500
microfinanced sole proprietorships and one
rapidly globalizing 500-person operation create
the same number of jobs, many experts
argue that the wealth creation, power to inspire
other start-ups, labor force enrichment,
and reputational value are much greater with
the latter. One organization that recognizes
this is Enterprise Ireland, an agency responsible
for supporting the growth of world-class
Irish companies. It has created a program specifically
to provide mentoring and financial
assistance to high-potential start-ups, which it
defines as ventures that are export-oriented,
are based on innovative technology, and can
generate at least 1 million in sales and 10 jobs
in three years. The global nonprofit Endeavor,
which focuses on entrepreneurship development
in 10 emerging economies, has to date
“adopted” some 440 “high-impact entrepreneurs,”
who, with Endeavor’s mentoring, are
turning their successes into role models for
their countrymen.
Not all high-potential ventures are technology
based; in fact, I’d argue that the majority
are not. SABIS is a perfect example. An educational
management organization founded in Lebanon many years ago as one school, SABIS
now is one of the world’s largest EMOs, teaching
more than 65,000 students in 15 countries,
with the goal of reaching 5 million students by
2020.
2/15/11
Are the Poor Really Entrepreneurial?
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Interesting article I got from http://www.nextbillion.net
[Exploring the connection between development and enterprise through blogs and analysis]
Are the Poor Really Entrepreneurial?
http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2009/02/11/are-the-poor-really-entrepreneurial
Key highlights from the author ...
What do I think?
What do you think?
[Exploring the connection between development and enterprise through blogs and analysis]
Are the Poor Really Entrepreneurial?
http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2009/02/11/are-the-poor-really-entrepreneurial
Key highlights from the author ...
- "It's just wrong to assume that the majority of those living at the BoP are entrepreneurial. Recently, I spoke to a friend who is working on a BoP project that seeks to help the poor start microenterprises. The project selects a handful of people from a poor community and puts them through an entrepreneurship training program. I asked her what was one of the biggest challenges of the project. She responded, "That we're trying to train a lot of people to be entrepreneurial who are simply not."
- "I think that one of the best things that we from the developed world can do for the poor is to help cultivate an entrepreneurial environment for them. One such group that is trying to do this is TechnoServe."
- "I think more resources should be spent towards building this entrepreneurial environment in poor communities. Some people will create new ventures. The majority will not. And that's okay"
What do I think?
I do believe that "entrepreneurial genes" can be found anywhere, even in the most "hostile" contexts. It might look exaggerated to build the following analogy, but to me affirming that entrepreneurial individuals are easier to be found in X or Y environment is like saying that "women" or "men" are easier to be found in X or Y environments. People with "entrepreneurial genes" are just born everyday, everywhere, the same way as are humans with "female/male sex chromosomes" are born everyday and despite the environment they happen grow in, they never lose their natural gender. I am not trying to do a scientific dissertation on "entrepreneurial genes" because I have clearly no knowledge or evidence to support that (although there are studies like the ones of Scott A. Shane author of Born Entrepreneurs, Born Leaders: How Your Genes Affect Your Work show that), but if the question that is being asked to me is "Are the poor entrepreneurial?", in my mind it´s like asking "Are human beings entrepreneurial?"
HOWEVER, I do believe that ENTREPRENEURS, specially HIGH IMPACT ENTREPRENEURS, can´t be found anywhere.
We - people that are part of the HIGH IMPACT ENTREPRENEURSHIP MOVEMENT - tend to be very firm in positions such as: 1) Self-employment does not equal entrepreneurship, 2) Subsistence Entrepreneurship and Opportunity Entrepreneurship are two completely different worlds and 3) Even Opportunity Entrepreneurship is not enough: we need high potential ventures and to be more specific, high impact ones. The conviction of such affirmations do not really intend to treat "non high-impact entrepreneurship" as a "second class - or - not worth to take care of entrepreneurship", as few friends have told me. Yet this awareness is a powerful input to answer such questions as "Are the poor entrepreneurial?", which in the context of this reflection I will rephrase as: "Are there more Entrepreneurs in the BoP, and which kind of?"
Coming from a country like Colombia I feel comfortable saying that poverty is in some cases a legitimate engine of entrepreneurship, and to be more exact, of SUBSISTENCE entrepreneurship. What concerns me more, rather than the fact that majority of the entrepreneurs/endeavors that flourish in the low income environments are subsistence ones, is the fact that many of those subsistence entrepreneurs don´t realize (or even care of realizing) that there are other kinds of entrepreneurship that their "entrepreneurial genes" could serve, and that through those other levels of entrepreneurship a bigger impact in the world can be made. And in the end of the day, it´s too complex to expect and induce them to realize that. Thinking big is one of the most complicated things.
In this context, I find one of the the GEM´s 2010 conclusions extremely wise: "In terms of Entrepreneurship, Facilitate Necessity (=subsistence), Encourage Opportunity". I think nowadays we are pretty unbalanced: there is more necessity being encouraged and on the other hand, Opportunity is hardly facilitated.
The article that invited me to write this reflection concludes in its last paragraph that more resources should be spent towards building an entrepreneurial environment in poor communities, no matter if the majority of the people in such communities will not create any ventures - and that this is okay. To me, this is simply a non-strategic approach. Who would like to waste resources investing in something that will have no/low return?
Don´t get me wrong. My invitation is not to ignore poor communities as a breeding ground of entrepreneurs, because being coherent with what I stated at the beginning of this post, people with "entrepreneurial genes" are just born everyday, everywhere. But what I challenge are the types of approaches through which some organizations/governments expect to make entrepreneurship flourish in poor communities. Let me give an example: What approach would be more effective to "create" real entrepreneurship, to "teach entrepreneurship" (whatever that means!!) to 30+ year old people that who by that age and life moment, as I previously say, don´t understand and don´t care for understanding that there is a new way to create impact OR to focus on providig high quality K-12 and technical/professional education to youngsters, specially if this education has also the clear goal to nurture AWARENESS of high impact entrepreneurship as a life option? If I were an investor (call it philantrophist, government, NGO, academic) I would totally go for the second option. There is a direct correlation between education and the capacity to identify opportunities/networks, the ability to lead/execute and the skill to think holistically/big [any similarity with BABSON´s definition of entrepreneurship is pure coincidence :-) ]. And you can´t build easily these abilities when you are 30+ and you brain is not conditioned to absorbe those abilities.
But here is where the big dilemma of "short term vs. long term impact comes": are we willing to wait 10+ years to see companies blossom out of those youngsters whose entrepreneurial genes we nurtured? Many organizations just don´t feel like doing it and prefer to go for non-strategic programs to promote entrepreneurship - which in the short term can display cool numbers (such as "1.000.000 people trained!" or "1.000.000 USD in loans!" or "1.000.000 trainning hours!") - but whose bottomline effectiveness is very, very questionable. I think that if what social investors look for is rapid, short term impact in terms of high impact entrepreneurship development (because entrepreneurship development does not only equal venture creation!!!) the "poor communities" (assuming the High Impact entrepreneurship does NOT concentrate there) is not the most effective segment to focus on.
The BoP is an amazing source of opportunities for the world. But forcing programs to desperately foster entrepreneurship is nothing else than barking up the wrong tree, if what we look for is high, short term and sustainable impact.
What do you think?
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