I just added a books page with a sampling of books in various areas of entrepreurship, development, environment and social entrepreneurial ideas – plus some random stuff 🙂
https://socialecosystem.wordpress.com/resources/books/
Will add as I get a chance. Let me know of any interesting ones you come across in any of these areas.
Enjoy
I came across this article that summarizes Amy Smith’s philosophy of design for low cost solutions
Here are her 7 key points. You can read the entire article on Popular Mechanics.
Some of Amy’s inventions and designs are also described with diagrams in another article Small, Low-Tech Inventions for Big, World-Changing Problems on their website. Amy is an editorial advisor for Popular Mechanics.
Posted in BOP, Education, international development, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation, sustainable development
Tagged Amy Smith, BOP, Education, innovation, international development, invention, Low Cost Design, MIT, Poverty, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development
Yesterday I attended the final presentation of the International Development Design Summit at MIT – the brainchild of Amy Smith, MacArthur Fellow and lecturer in MIT’s Mechanical Engineering department. This, now yearly, event brought together nearly 60 students from 20 countries around the world to work together with a team of mentors and staff to tackle a number of design problems facing NGOs and non-profits in developing countries. Continue reading
Posted in Agricultural Development, BOP, Education, international development, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, sustainable development
Tagged Agricultural Development, Amy Smith, BOP, design, engineering design, IDDS, innovation, international development, invention, MacArthur Fellow, mechanical engineering, MIT, Rural Development, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, sustainable development
I had the pleasure of meeting Tapan Parikh a few weeks ago when he presented on a panel at a conference to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of my alma mater, IIT Bombay. The panel focused on the latest trends in technology with the rest of the panelists discussing emerging areas in nanotechnology, biomedicine and energy. Tapan provided a refreshingly different viewpoint that emphasized the needs of the end user in developing countries. By harnessing technology to make things simpler, Tapan has provided platforms that make the daily grind of field workers in rural parts of the world a lot easier. Continue reading
Posted in BOP, Information Technology, international development, micro-finance, mobile technology, Poverty, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development
Tagged Berkeley, CAM, cell phone, ekgaon, Guatemala, human-computer interaction, humanitarian, India, Information Technology, microfinance, MIT, mobile technology, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Tapan Parikh, Technology Review, University of California
The Gates Foundation has made some major investments in the area of finance over the past few years. Now, based on their findings and experiments, they are making a big push into the area of micro-savings. Traditionally rural finance has focused on providing micro-credit services to the poor. Only recently have some of the micro-finance organizations started extending their services to include savings and insurance. In most cases the issue has been local regulations and banking controls.
In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal – Giving a Lot for Saving a Little – the author points out several issues why savings schemes for the rural poor have not taken off. Among the issues identified:
Posted in BOP, Information Technology, international development, micro-finance, Poverty, Rural Development, Social Ecosystem, social Innovation
Tagged Ethiopia, Gates Foundation, Information Technology, Kenya, M-Pesa, MFI, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, microsavings, Opportunity International, Poverty, rural banks, Rural Development, rural savings, Vodafone, Wall Street Journal
Maximizing Progress Acumen Fund Blog Ashoka Tech
The Social Ecosystem 