Small Business Development

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish, or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry. — Bill Drayton

I attended an interesting presentation today by Ashoka, an organization that supports individuals who apply their entrepeneurial skills to solve urgent social problems.  Since 1981, the organization has supported over 1800 entrepeneurs by providing them with stipends so they can focus on their social endeavor full time, receive professional support, and access to a wide network of mentors from sixty different countries who can provide guidance and feedback.  

There are a precedents for Governments creating job corps in varying forms.  The pictures on the left is of men working for the United States Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), created by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 as a form of "work relief" for unemployed families suffering from the Great Depression.  

We all know that Haiti once had a tourism industry...before the HIV/AIDS scare, several coup d'etats, and the kidnapping crisis.   The much more difficult questions concern whether Haiti could/will have one again and whether time spent in this sector would be better spent on infrastructure, education, etc.

David Caprara and Robert Mallet, both associated with the Brookings Institute recently wrote an short and interesting article about Corporate Philanthropy 2.0 which you can read here.