Innovative Entrepreneurship
Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. - Anita Roddick
Business Enterprise
I am very excited by the potential that business enterprise has in the arena of poverty alleviation. After reviewing progress on the Millennium Development Goals from the year 2000, it’s clear that business economic empowerment has lifted more people out of extreme poverty than the establishment ODA (Official Development Assistance AKA: Big AID) industry could ever hope to achieve (although some ODA has helped to promote economic empowerment developments). The world of business has always excited me and I’ve always dabbled in business ventures on the side.
In one of our GCDP classes, we were asked to come up with an innovative new business idea to address a pressing local need. I worked with my partner, Atuti Nyambane, to come up with an innovative business model that would target the entrepreneurial training needs of ex-convicts re-entering society (in the USA). The proposed venture would incorporate a hybrid business model known as L3C (low-profit limited liability company) to empower a segment of the population that has been largely excluded from the systems that allow legal wealth building (which further motivates them to pursue risky criminal careers).
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GCDP 515 Business Venture (180 Winners Club)
During my work with World Vision Kenya, my partner (Mark Mutai) and I worked with an up and coming women’s group named Muuo Wa Sombe. This particular CBO (Community Based Organization) was doing exceptionally well and it was obvious to see why – they had established successful income generating activities (IGAs). We worked to develop their organizational capacity so they could take their businesses to the next level. This work started with an organizational self-assessment (OSA), which then helped determine which areas to focus the trainings on. The CBOs self-identified needs were in the area of record keeping, proposal writing, strategic planning and financial management. We created a training plan to build up their capacity in these key areas over the course of several days. Here is a report from that training.
In my curriculum development work at Walla Walla University, I’ve tried to incorporate these lessons about the importance of economic empowerment as much as possible. I’ve also worked to incorporate the promotion of income generating activities in some way into all the proposals that I work on. For example, one of the objectives of EWB’s solar energy project in Japura, Peru is to promote income generating activities (textiles, artisan crafts, etc.). This aspect of the proposal has become even more relevant now than ever, thanks to the booming tourist industry in that region.
Social Enterprise
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being—this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for external shareholders. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit, and may take the form (depending in which country the entity exists and the legal forms available) of a co-operative, mutual organization, a disregarded entity, a social business, a benefit corporation, a community interest company or a charity organization (Wiki). I think social enterprises are an interesting new development within the field of development. I have worked to incorporate this emerging trend into the GHEE curriculum at Walla Walla University (WWU).
According to the definition of social enterprise above, many of the projects that EWB undertakes could be considered social enterprises. For example, EWB’s solar energy project in Japura, Peru, incorporates for-profit and non-profit partners to implement the project. It was almost tempting to try to build the solar energy systems ourselves (EWB custom system) but we realized that it makes more sense to hand this complicated task onto an in-country commercial partner – Cime. This “commercial strategy” approach will help to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.
Also by the definition above, my 180 Winners Club business idea can be considered a social enterprise. In one of our GCDP classes, we were asked to come up with an innovative new business idea to address a pressing local need. I worked with my partner, Atuti Nyambane, to come up with an innovative business model (Social Enterprise) that would target the entrepreneurial training needs of ex-convicts re-entering society (in the USA).
In addition, I conducted a crowd-sourcing campaign raise funds for the trip to East Africa with my wife for our honeymoon and my MGCD field rotation. The crowd-sourcing fundraiser was not very successful due to donor fatigue but we did manage to raise almost $10,000 at our wedding before that!
Resource Acquisition
Resource acquisition processes differ from organization to organization. I learned this in-depth from proposal writing trainings I undertook during my time with World Vison Kenya. My partner, Mark Mutai, and I conducted proposal writing to help local CBOs (Community Based Organizations) acquire the resources necessary to implement their projects. Here’s a report outlining our training: Proposal training report (small grants less than $5000). We also created the following technical guides to help them with the proposal writing process. We tried to streamline the process for the CBOs as much as possible.
During my internship at Walla Walla University I helped write a grant proposal for an EWB solar energy project in Peru. We were able to secure $5000 of funding from the Boeing corporation! These financial resources were put to good use during a recent implementation trip to Peru. This trip also required us to buy many parts locally. Buying parts locally will help the community with future resource acquisition requirements since these parts will most likely be available locally when it comes time to repair the system. EWB promotes this resource acquisition policy as a best practice to ensure future sustainability.
Value Chain Mobilization
Value chain mobilization is all about mobilizing people. During my time in Mtito Andei, Kenya I worked with World Vision to mobilize the local community (value chain) for a large advocacy and social marketing campaign. We gathered community leaders and local political members for a child rights advocacy and social marketing campaign. Here are a few pieces of evidence from that campaign.
My work with EWB at Walla Walla University involves a lot of value chain mobilization. Project teams have frequent meetings and I work with project team leaders to help coordinate that. The EWB club also puts on many social events which require special planning and coordination. I’ve helped with everything from designing promotional posters for the club to booking venues and sending out invitations.
The GHEE program is a key focus area of my work at Walla Walla University. Part of my job description is mobilizing students at least once each quarter for a GHEE brunch social event. This event requires special coordination with engineering ambassadors (student workers), engineering faculty, venue contacts, caterers and students.
Supply Chain and Logistics
Learning to manage supply chains and coordinate logistics has been a difficult but rewarding challenge for me. I’m currently working on coordinating EWB’s second trip to Japura, Peru this year (2017). This trip has many objects and the logistics are proving to be just as challenging as the last trip. One of the objectives is to train locals how to maintain and repair a water system that was install several years ago. Finding local parts suppliers in that remote area of Peru and coordinating the logistics of purchase and installation has been challenging but the project team has been very helpful. We have been dealing with supply chain issues with certain partners and we’ve come to learn (and appreciate) the value of having in-country partners (ADRA and Cime).
Coordinating the GHEE brunch social event every quarter also requires a lot of supply chain and logistics considerations. This event requires special coordination with engineering ambassadors (student workers), engineering faculty, venue selection, students and caterers (unless we cook the food - which we usually do).
During my time with World Vision Kenya (WVK) working in Mtito Andei, my partner, Mark Mutai, and I coordinated many events. We met with many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to conduct trainings and to listen to community needs. These events required significant supply chain and logistics considerations. Here are schedule outlines and pictures from some of these events.