Sitting here in my hotel in Lusaka, Zambia after a week of inspiration, learning more about IDE’s work at one of our more developed African country programs.
There is so much to report.. I don’t even know where to start.
On Saturday I arrived and immediately was transported to the Henry Tayali art center, where I met with some Zambian artists to procure some artwork for IDE’s exhibit in Denver at the 910 Arts Gallery on Santa Fe, “Art of Dirt“. Memories of my NYC art consulting/art dealing & appraising career in the late 90’s, I listened to stories of inspiration and creativity by these amazing artists. I will be posting some photos of the artwork once our art auction site is live in a few weeks.
On Monday, my colleague and I visited the Zambia headquarters and formally met the staff, comprised of irrigation experts, agriculture experts, farm business advisors, monitoring and evaluation staff, and consultants who make up the incredible country program where 16,000 farmers lives will be impacted this year. This entire operation is set up to teach rural poor farmers how to install and use irrigation equipment, how to grow the highest value crops for the most amount of income, pest management, fertilizer application, and seed procurement. IDE uses the most thorough and integrated approach to educating these farmers to increase their income.
I visited countless farmers who have gone from tiny plots with no irrigation to much larger plots in one year. One farmer, Jordan, is in the beginning phases of his training with IDE and went from making 700,000 kwacha a year (about $140) to $1200 a year in ONE GROWING CYCLE.
Lloyd, another farmer who has been working with IDE for about 3 years, started with a small plot, and purchased a treadle pump, then added drip irrigation, then a motorized pump and is now the lead farmer in his 35 farmer group. All of his 5 children go to school, and 2 have graduated high school and are looking to go to college. He has increased his income FIVE TIMES over in those 3 years.
IDE is to micro-irrigation and farm business advising as Grameen Bank is to micro-credit.
The impact is astounding.
Not only does IDE help increase the yield of the crops with these farmers, but we also help them get access to markets. Brokering deals with seed companies, supermarkets for local produce, farmers markets, and more. I could just see the entrepreneurial spirit bursting out of these farmers who wanted to get bigger and bigger as they saw the power of this type of knowledge and training, and access to agricultural input products, and saw how they could make money by pooling their yield to sell to larger and larger food companies and organizations.
IDE unleashes the entrepreneurial spirit of the rural poor… and helps them become serious commercial smallholder farmers who hold the key to global food security.
Only 10% of the ‘irrigatable land’ in Zambia is being utilized. Supermarkets and food brokers are ordering food from South Africa. Not necessary. The entire country’s economy could potentially be transformed if we are able to scale in Zambia. Focus on Scaling Market Access, Replicate that in 12 country programs, scale globally.
That’s the power of IDE’s potential.
When I get home, watch out for a fundraising whirlwind to make this happen! If this inspires you as it has me, contact me and let’s get you involved with this incredible work, however you want to contribute!
More soon…
This past week, the CEO of IDE (International Development Enterprises), Al Doerksen, asked the collection of VPs, Country Directors, and staff to bring a tangible ’show and tell’ item to our first ‘home week’ meeting (4 weeks a year when everyone suspends travel to collaborate in Denver) as a symbol of IDE in our current experiences.
He asked our imaginations to run wild.. and so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined the most important thing to me and why I am working with this organization. For me, its about the LOVE. Love for my children, of course, but also Loving and caring enough about every person in the world to work our tails off trying to give people at the ‘bottom of the pyramid” the opportunity to make more income with simple, affordable irrigation technology, so they can make their own choices and solve their own problems. The words Pride and Dignity ring true. Unleashing the power of smallholder farmer’s entrepreneurial spirit. Enabling these hard working farmer families to dream.
And so, to the meeting, I brought a little toy race car.. and read the poem below to everyone in the room, breathing deep in between every stanza. Enjoy.
What will I show my children?
Fast cars, or dried tears of happiness
on the face of a farmer who can
finally provide for his or her family?
What will I show my children?
That I maximized shareholder profits, or
that I maximized smallholder profits?
What will I show my children?
A world that focuses on attacks and hate,
Or a world that provides
options and prosperity to
the developing world?
What will I show my children?
Expensive prep schools,
or that I helped millions
of girls go to school in
the developing world?
What will I show my children?
That we ignore the bottom of the pyramid..
where people are left out and can’t dream…
or that we – and them -
can be the change we want to see in the world?
-by Heidi Cuppari, written for her work with IDE – International Development Enterprises.
If you are interested in IDE’s work, please feel free to set up a meeting or teleconference with me.. I’d love to tell you more!
Here are links to Donate Online or Get Connected to follow IDE’s work.
IDE, w1sd0m, Skoll World Forum, Oxford Jam, TedXVolcano..
WOW! I don’t know how it happened, but somehow life has conspired to effect collaboration on a global scale. Ride-sharing, couch-surfing, new communities and networks forming … its mind-boggling and unimaginably inspiring. Last week, Oxford UK became the nexus of global social entrepreneurialism – launching a phenomenon (with a little help from a volcano in Iceland) that feels as if it has irrevocably altered the landscape for social entrepreneurs, their projects, and the people they exist to serve.
I came to Oxford During the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship on behalf of IDE – (International Development Enterprises), a 28 year old organization founded by Paul Polak. I was to meet the international board and discuss how IDE could achieve greater scale and impact by helping more people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) sustainably increase their income . We stayed at Corpus Christi college and enjoyed gorgeous days and intensive discussions with great minds. I managed to make it to OxfordJam for a breakfast about online collaboration platforms for Impact Investing – I could only stay for an hour, yet even in that brief period met an incredible group of people open to innovation and collaboration on a scale I’ve never before experienced.
The volcano had already erupted, but nobody paid it any mind till the conferences were over and we realized that we were stuck. So back to London we all went..
… and so now, a new community is being born that is coming together in an even deeper way.
Saturday there was a great Kiva event where people shared Kiva trivia, their own business ideas, and trains and bus trips to the south of France and other places were arranged.
Here’s a little video clip of Matt Flannery, Kiva C0-Founder, and Premal Shah, President:
After this fun trivia contest, Matt & Premal asked if anyone had an emerging company and would like to talk about it. I stood up and introduced w1sd0m, an emerging network that I’m helping to build as core team, that helps social & sustainable enterprises like IDE (For which it’s already opened a lot of doors) find the intellectual, human, social & financial capital they need.
Sunday was the first ever “TedXVolcano” organized by Nathanial Whittemore, Evan Grant & June Cohen. In 36 hours these rockstars brought together TED, TEDxLondon, The Hub, Sandbox Network, Newspepper.com, & Robert Leslie along with Skoll World Forum Speakers and other great minds such as Matthew Bishop, Jim Hornthal, Gary Bolles, Peter Greenberg, Elizabeth Lindsey and musician Shesheela Raman.. Click here for the story of how they did it..
One of my favorite moments was when Jeff Skoll read his volcano poem:
This is an ode to the volcano
That sent our travel plans into the draino
I’m not really one to complaino
But this all hurts my little braino
Madrid, Casablanca, Amsterdam, Rejkavik on cruiseships
The trains will fail
All the escape routes that we planned
Are blocked by nature or by man
We heard the French trains may soon be striking
At this rate we’ll all be biking
With our luck we’ll all be struck by lightning!
This is all rather frightening
So better we all meet at TED
That is what I should have said
So thank you June and thank you all
Damn the volcano, let’s have a ball
Presented at TEDXVolcano, London, 4/19/2010
Monday afternoon, Suzanne Biegel, social venture investor and “catalyst at large” (i love her title!) and Dr. Audrey Selian of Rianta Capital organized some action-takers from the Friday OxfordJam breakfast who have built collaboration and connection platforms for impact investors and social entrepreneurs. Socential, Artha, ClearlySo, Nexii, Sasix, Gexsi along with w1sd0m were there to talk about ways to collaborate in an efficient way and eliminate waste of resources for entrepreneurs, and the networks themselves.
Another networking event after this meeting led to even more fascinating conversations over dinner with Jill Finlayson & Jason Clark of SocialEdge, Lora O’Connor of Citizenglobal.com, Cathy Clark who runs the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) program at Duke, Suzanne Biegel, Sean Holt, David Green (Solar World for All), and others.
Waking up this morning I’m slammed with all of the ideas, people, and inspiration swirling in my head. I don’t even need coffee!
As much as being ’stranded’ in London would be viewed by many as disastrous, the remarkable thing about this exceptional group of people is that, when faced with no other options, they simply turned lemons into lemonade. For the past ten days, due in no small part to the intercession of the very earth so many are working to save, some of the most brilliant minds and open hearts in the world have come together to talk, to dance, to celebrate – and most importantly of all, to find new ways of working together (as the Buddhists would say) in service to all beings.
I’m grateful and honored and humbled to have been invited to engage with these people, at this time, in this way.
As George Bernard Shaw once said, ”The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in adapting the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man [& woman].”
This quote inspired a group of brilliant young men who recently graduated from University of Colorado. From this, The Unreasonable Institute was born in Boulder, Colorado, dubbed here on HeidiCuppari.com for the first time as“SocEnt Valley.” (the new center for social & sustainable entrepreneurship & enterprise!).
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few of these young, passionate social entrepreneurs. I’m blown away by their innovation and drive. They have created an incredibly interesting model. They have assembled an list of advisors, veterans and thought leaders in this industry as well, which includes my partner and President of w1sd0m, Greg Berry.
See below for notes and actions to take from Teju Ravilochan. I reposted them here because I believe in them and what they’re doing, and want to support them by spreading the word…
“The Background. We announced to the world that we were searching for young entrepreneurs with ventures that could effectively address social and environmental problems while financially sustainable and globally scalable to millions of people. The response was incredible! And now, after receiving 284 applications from 45 countries, we’ve developed an unusual way to involve the world in selecting the 25 entrepreneurs we’ll bring to the Unreasonable Institute while admitting them free of charge, testing their entrepreneurial ability, and covering our costs of operations. It’s an online platform called the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace and you can learn everything you need to know about it from watching this 1-minute and 12 second YouTube video, to the tune of AC/DC’s Back in Black (if you’d like more background on the Unreasonable Institute, feel free to scroll down to the very bottom of this email and read the section entitled “The Background on the Unreasonable Institute.” Otherwise, read on…)
2 Simple Requests. Every entrepreneur on the marketplace must rally the support of hundreds of people from across the globe. This is your chance to have your say! If you can spare 10-20 minutes:
- Head to our online Finalist Marketplace and vote with your dollars ($10, $50, however much you like within the current $250 max) for an entrepreneur you believe will change the course of history. The fate of our finalists, and of the lives they will affect, rests in your hands.
- Tell 5 people you know about our marketplace. Whether or not you can contribute financially to any of the entrepreneurs on the marketplace, perhaps the single most important way to support our finalists without spending a dollar or more than 5 minutes of your time is to tell 5 people you know about the opportunity to back these young, high-impact entrepreneurs. I’ll even make it easy for you: You can copy and paste details below into the relevant channels.
-
- Send an Email: Send our YouTube video to 5 of your friends.
- Copy and paste this message to your Twitter Account: These 33 entrepreneurs could change the world. You decide which 25 attend the Unreasonable Institute http://ow.ly/149cu
- Copy and paste this message to your Facebook Account: These 33 entrepreneurs could change the world. You decide which 25 will receive the training, mentorship, and seed capital they need to launch at the Unreasonable Institute: http://ow.ly/149cu
Background on The Unreasonable Institute:
We select and bring together (attract & unite) 25 young social entrepreneurs (Unreasonable Fellows) from across the globe for a 10-week summer institute in Boulder, Colorado. During these 10 weeks, we incubate their ideas by providing them rigorous entrepreneurial skill training, legal advice, prototype consulting, web hosting and development services, and mentorship from 50 proven entrepreneurs and investors like the co-founder of Google.org and an entrepreneur who has lifted over 19 million people out of poverty. (Note from Heidi.. He’s talking about Paul Polak, Founder of IDE, the organization I’m raising funds for. See my projects page) After bringing their ideas from an idea stage to a prototype stage / investable stage (giving their ideas legs), we provide them access to at least $150,000 in seed capital and the chance to pitch to over 200 investors and enlightened philanthropists (finance) and support them with a global network to give their ideas wings. Our goal is to incubate & finance 25 social ventures a year that will each effectively address a major global issue (e.g. poverty, environmental degradation, slavery), become financially self-sustaining within a year, scale beyond the country of origin within 3 years, and ultimately reach at least 1 million people.
Why should you go to Miami from March 17-19?
Because.. its snowy almost every place else in the US this time of year and you need SUN? Or because you can stroll on South Beach and see lots of thongs and muscled bodies?
Well, those reasons are always fun, (believe me, I’ll probably be doing a bit of that too.. why not??!!) but if you want to connect with world leaders in social venture capital and social enterprise.. AND attend the most important Haiti conference at the same time, Miami’s hot and the place to be.
The Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise Conference, Miami-2010 Advisory Board is led by top professionals from Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise organizations around the world.
Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui - Ignia
Jonathan C. Lewis, MicroCredit Enterprises
Daniella Levine – Human Services Coalition
Kelly Michel – Vox Capital
Rodrigo Villar – New Ventures Mexico
Percy Venegas – Solar Business Technology
Eric Leenson – Progressive Asset Management and Instituto Ethos
Raul Pomares – Guggenheim Partners
Also, Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise Conference, Miami-2010 will be your best opportunity in 2010 to learn, network, and connect with hundreds of top social enterprise/financial leaders and organizations from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the state of Florida- in addition to organizations worldwide which have an interest in expanding to the region.
I’ve reposted some info from the conference website below for at-a-glance info on the conference:
The following groups will be attending SVC/SE, Miami-2010:
- Venture Philanthropists
- Social-responsible Funds
- Venture Capital/Private Equity Investment Banks
- Institutional Investors
- Angel Investors/Individual Investors
- Private Wealth Managers
- Foundations
- Multinational Corporate Executives
- Development Banks and Agencies
- Nonprofit Organizations Businesses with a Social Agenda
- Social Enterprises and Social Entrepreneurs
- Civil Society Organizations
- Advocacy Groups
- Government Organizations
- Top University Leaders
Conference Goals:
- Promote economic development within the region by utilizing Social Venture Capital and Social Enterprise.
- Establish Miami as a capital of Social Venture Capital/Social Enterprise for Latin America, the Caribbean and the state of Florida. Contribute and support continued construction of the local social enterprise ecosystem.
- Educate traditional finance (private banking, venture capital, and angel investment) about investment opportunities within Social Venture Capital and Social Enterprise. Leverage Miami’s reputation as a regional financial capital for the benefit of Social Venture Capital and Social Enterprise in the region.
- Act as a primary connecting point to the Latin American/ Caribbean Diaspora, from whom it is believed some of the next great Social Enterprise leaders can come. The Diaspora may also represent a material source of capital for both existing and new Social Enterprise organizations within the region.
- Work in collaboration with other organizations and conferences in establishing effective and standard investment metrics within the industry.
About the Haiti Conference:
Sustainable Haiti will contain 45 workshops/panels and over 100 speakers from around the world during its 3 days. Topics will include: Developing Haiti’s tourism sector, increased agriculture opportunities, microfinance for Haitian women, utilizing media to increase awareness to Haiti’s opportunities, job growth, and overall financing of Haitian development projects. Not one to miss!
I’m working on the coolest project right now which completely aligns with my passion and mission in life: use my skills, passion, knowledge and networks to make the world a better place for our children.. and their children..
I was recently retained to help Touchpoint Trust Group find 75 Triple Bottom Line (TBL) deals to review by January 22. That means, these companies have put PEOPLE and PLANET on the same level of importance of PROFIT. I’m speaking to incredible human beings about their work EVERY DAY, and I can’t wipe the smile off my face.
The Innovative Lilith I4C Campaign is a partnership with Sarah McLaughlin and the Lilith Fair, and TouchPoint! Trust Group. The goal is to select 4-6 ’social enterprises’ or ‘people, planet, profit’ businesses to receive an investment and major promotion around the Lilith Fair, in June. The selected companies will actually go ON TOUR with the Lilith Fair and the huge audience will learn about their business, and how they are changing lives.
Great story about this project here.
A little background on how I got here..
When I visited my friend Chandra Reddy Metzler during her Fullbright appointment in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2000, I was first introduced to micro-finance, micro-health and NGOs. I was incredibly inspired by the model, and it made an impression for the future when I would get introduced to the work of Acumen Fund.
I was head of fundraising at Acumen Fund in 2004 and 2005 and was more immersed than ever in the idea of ’social enterprise’ and ’social entrepreneurship’. I had dreamed about business models which generated social change before, but to see this group of MBAs, who could have been making a fortune in banking, putting their heads together to solve the world’s social problems.
I had a very successful time at Acumen Fund, and have been interested in the ‘Triple Bottom Line” (TBL) space since then. To that end, in addition to this project, I recently joined the core team of w1sd0m, a network that connects entrepreneurs, investors and advisors in this industry.
You can do something too!
Please connect with the I4C Campaign on Twitter, and Facebook, and spread the word!!
Wow. I mean, wow. 2010 is coming on FAST and FURIOUS. Here’s my take on what’s happening already: Baggage gets dropped. New doors are opening. FAST. and the signs of what to do are really clear.
I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the new moon, the blue moon, and the lunar eclipse, and how powerful the night of new years eve would be this year.
Apparently whether you believe these things or not, what you thought of on New Years Eve is a big part of what your life will become in the next 2 years. You will be able to manifest the plans you set forth on New Years Eve.
So, I was at a great New Year’s party at my very good friend’s home with about 60 other people celebrating the coming year together. I stepped outside to look at the moon, alone, at one point in the night, very late. I took a deep breath and put out what I wanted to manifest in the next 2 years.
Now, on January 4, the first work day of the year, It’s already happening. I mean HAPPENING. I am on the biggest rollercoaster ride I’ve ever been on. (I LOVE rollercoasters and screaming my head off!)
First, I found out one of the businesses I’m doing is about to implode and fall apart. Then, I found a new one to plug my existing partners into which is a much better opportunity and more legitimate in every way. Baggage, negative thing gone. New, valid and big opportunity presents itself.
Then, I find out that an idea in the Social Entrepreneurship space that I presented to a friend and colleague 3 weeks ago has taken off and we are going to have major backing for our project, and kick it off TOMORROW.
And on top of that, I have meetings tomorrow with two major social enterprises / Triple Bottom Line organizations based in Colorado. IDE and I4C. They are going to lead to big projects in this area, which is where I’m being pulled in a BIG WAY in the last couple weeks of the year, and now 2010 is kicking in HARD to show me the way..
So folks it looks like this blog is going to have quite a few updates and announcements coming… and coming… and coming!
Stay tuned!
Wow – I’ve been following micr0-loans and micro-finance since I visited my friend Chandra Reddy Metzler, now a senior investment banker in emerging markets, when she lived in Nairobi, Kenya on a Fullbright for 6 months in the year 2000. She was working at an NGO which explored the use of social collateral to secure micro-loans for small entrepreneurs in Kenya.
That was my first exposure to the concept of using business solutions to solve poverty problems. A loan is so much more powerful than a charitable handout. The borrower feels empowered, trusted, and respected. The repayment rates of micro-loans are in the 90th percentile. Its working and its now spread all over the world.
Up until this point, if you wanted to support a micro-finance initiative, you had to give to an organization which then handed out the loans.
NOW you can fund small businesses DIRECTLY! I came across this cool organization on the Ode Magazine website, one of my favorite websites. You can read about the projects and the people behind the projects. Make your own decisions, and see how such a small donation can make such a huge impact on someone’s life.
Check it out!
In my quest for learning and awareness around the social entrepreneurship space, and through my participation in marketing for the Angel Capital Summit in Denver which was held last week, I’ve come across some really cool stuff lately.
The Angel Capital Summit was a pet project of mine over the summer and in the fall. I worked with Investor and Advisor Partners to help them get the word out about the event, which was intended to bring together a community of entrepreneurs, advisors, investors, and service providers. It was a buzz of excitement and the energy was high.
190 Entrepreneurs submitted their deals and applications to present, and 40 companies were selected. mShopper, the company I co-founded with my husband David Gould, was one of the companies and I found out later was one of the highest-rated deals. Exciting stuff!
mShopper, although it is a mobile app company, has an element of ‘giving back’ and social consciousness . When you purchase a product through mShopper, you can save from 10-40%, and then we suggest that you give some of that savings back to charity as you are checking out with your mobile shopping cart.
Of the 40 companies selected to present, HALF qualified as sustainable/green/social businesses. How Awesome is that!!?? Colorado is becoming a hub for social entrepreneurs.
I’ll be reviewing each of the other companies that I came across that day, and since the event. One that I want to focus on for the purpose of this post is “EVERYWUN“.
I was lucky enough to be invited to meet with the founder, Dan Jacobs, and his very talented partner/fiance Eve Cowen, last week.
In addition to Dan and Eve, I was in the company of some other brilliant social entrepreneurs, committed to be world-changing activators of social consciousness applied to business models. We had the most exhilarating, deep, intellectual conversation which was so incredibly refreshing. Passionate, brilliant people.
We spoke about Everywun and how it could work with a new project we’re working on called W1sd0m. More about W1sd0m later…
Everywun has made it possible for you to give to charity just by taking actions on the internet via social media. Just by placing a badge on your blog (as I have one here), or facebook, or signing up for the newsletter, and telling friends, you get ‘credits’, and then you can choose what to do with your ‘credits’.
Here’s a little blurb about everywun and SIGN UP! PASS IT ON! world changin’ is on its way…
I recently joined an incredible new website called, Everywun.com. By having businesses sponsor advertising, they enable people to take fun, easy, cost-free actions on behalf of charities.
One of the easiest actions I can take is to enable my network of friends and family to do the same! Every person who joins will automatically receive 100 “Everywun credits” that can go towards planting a tree, feeding children, or donating books! If you use my personal invitation link provided below, I’ll also receive 100 credits to plant a tree!
Please remember to click on the unique URL below or I won’t get credit!