Social Entrepreneurship's topics - tribe.net

Goinggreentoday.com needs last stage funding

Scottica — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:24:43 GMT

Hello,
We are launching a website that will act as a green lifestyle coach. The project is in the finial stage before launch and we are in need of some bridge capital for web development.
On a financial side this is a highly lucrative, low overhead endeavor. On a social aspect, the program can be used to END Global Warming
The LLC is seeking 10 k in return for equity stock.
Please email me if interested in finding out further details.

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Business networking and Events

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:25:45 GMT

i would like to invite my Tribe network to join me on www.connectture.com - its a social business network based in Europe with a growing base of users from all over the world. Easy way of keeping track of your Business Network.

Cheers

Sarah

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ideas for my/our Vermont retreat

Bald Mountain Retreat, — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:39:19 GMT

I'd appreciate help promoting my retreat www.baldmountainretreat.com.
I'm interested in paying customers as well as donating the space to worthwhile (environmental...) groups.
Networking ideas, etc are very welcome.
Random ideas or long-term associations.
Thanks.
All good things,
Dr Dave

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NEW! Tribe Review: Human Resource Management

Lightgiver — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:19:01 GMT

Join at:

http://tribes.tribe.net/hrm

"Human Resource Management (HRM) is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation's most VALUED assert - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its goals" (Armstrong, 1999)

As a student of business and HRM for over 10 years, I firmly believe, an organisations most important asset rests with its people. People far out weigh any other resource. If the people potential is tapped into, and used in the right way, it can be of immense benefit both for the organisation and its people.

This is a forum for HR professionals, students, researchers and lecturers to discuss all aspects of Human Resource Management (HRM). Feel free to post your views or critiques on theories, concepts, models, policies, processes, practices, activities of HRM. Maybe you are a HRM professional and found something that’s worked in your organisation? Maybe you've studied a particular concept/theory and you want to share your views on that? Maybe you have your own theory? - Feel free to discuss because through discussion we all learn something.

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Pet Care Business in San Diego, CA

sera_lovespuppies — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:00:20 GMT

www.saraspuppypatrol.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

New Business Opportunity

JASON — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 07:51:10 GMT

Live in Texas? If the answer is yes then there is an opporrtunity for you. Be able to help others by having a larger income. With extra income you can help your church, family or organization. Ignite is a company that can help you reach financial success. Please check out my website and see for yourself the "powerful opportunity". If you have any questions please feel free to contact me( it's easier to get a hold of me by email).

www.jmhinojosa.igniteinc.biz

Jason M. Hinojosa
gannon_9309@yahoo.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Are you like me? Do you share the same vision in life?

TheFunologist — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:57:35 GMT

Great to be part of this tribe filled with ambitious people like yourselves.
For me it's all about Optimizing Health then Residual Income and ofcourse the Tax advantages. The awesome side-effects are meeting amazing people, great expense write-off world wide travel and long term friendships.

The opportunity that allows me to enjoy this lifestyle can be viewed at my personal site: www.JaysVentures.com
**But first view this incredible site to understand the excitement surrounding this product at www.MangosteenMD.com ( Not much wonder this juice is highly recommended in the most talked about and highly aclaimed book "Natural Cures that "They" don't want you to know about" written by Kevin Trudeau

Have a wonderful day and thank-you for letting me share this post with likeminded folks like you all.

Jay - Certified Funologist

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

The final countdown!

socialBC — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 16:03:26 GMT

Anyone who is interested in joining our Social Business Club as a lifetime free premium member should do this now, because there are only a few lifetime free premium accounts left!

Links to the registration forms are:
English: www.socialbc.com/en/user/register
German: www.socialbc.com/de/user/register

Further information can be found in my profile or direct in the club:
English: www.socialbc.com/en
German: www.socialbc.com/de

See you there! ;)

Cheers,
Alex

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In search for contacts in the "Creative Industry"

herbalheaven — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 22:56:04 GMT

Hi,

I am looking for people who can help me with contacts for my creative cluster project. I am looking for freelancers and companies in the creative industry who would like to participate in this project. For more information please check my website at www.ph14.nl

I will post more info soon.

Regards,

Jacob

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Open Council Circle at BM

solomax — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 01:30:18 GMT

The Action Hero Network and Agents of Change will come together at BM to host an OPEN COUNCIL CIRCLE.

Wednesday, 5pm at the big dome in Brane Village- 8'oclock and Ego

This gathering is OPEN TO ANYONE who wishes to organize and take part in great things with these amazing people we call our tribe, or is keen to bring the council ritual to the masses... to reach out and expand the circle of common-unity.

This is a time to unite hearts and minds... in the middle of all this mind-blowing craziness and art ... to LISTEN and BE HEARD.

Many of us have visions, opportunities and projects that need to be supported and shared.

This is the one time of the year that so many of us are together, and it is very important that we take advantage of it to make plans for action.

This gathering will be a potluck dinner. Please have food ready to eat at 5pm, so we can gather in a circle shortly there after.

If you don't have a dish to bring... worries... come anyway... but please bring water... your plate/spoon/cup... and a stove if you can.

There will be food that needs to be cooked with water... and plenty enough to go around. Maybe bring something sweet... or tortias to eat with the meal. We'll have plenty coffee and tea.

Remember: Wed. 5pm, Brane Village, 8 0'clock and ego.

http://AgentsofChange.tribe.net - http://actionhero.tribe.net

Do you know your mission...? http://www.actionheronetwork.net

Questions: solomax@gmail.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

New here!

wahm-brenda — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 02:57:11 GMT

Hello! My name is Brenda and I just wanted to post a (re)intro, hope that's ok :-) I already recognize some of you here which is great. I'm a 30-year-old, single WAHM in Pittsburgh PA. I love to chat, write and surf the Net. I also enjoy reading books by Tom Clancy, John Grisham, C S Lewis and Max Lucado. I'm hoping to be an active member here as you look like a great group of people. I look forward to making some new, like-minded friends so please feel free to contact me on Yahoo IM - brendamariehoffman Hope all is well! Have a great day! ~Brenda

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Help!

guesswho — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:10:36 GMT

I'm in the process of starting up a socially responsible business, but am running into major trouble trying to get start-up funding. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to look? I'm not a non-profit, so most of the grants I've looked at don't apply to me, and my credit isn't good enough to get a loan with no collateral.

Any help is appreciated!

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 8 replies

Business Network

mish — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:40:28 GMT

I’m new to this group. I just wanted to let everyone know about this really cool website I stumbled across. It’s a social networking service -- www.Simpatico.com They seem pretty new but I think it will really take off... It’s a community for singles and others where you can go in and meet all kinds of people...It has been extremely helpful to me in my business… I have made lots of contacts and done a lot of networking...You can start a club and manage it as a private, moderated or public one. You can invite all your friends and they can accept or decline...you can see the photos and profiles of who joined. You can even plan events...its like Evite but much better...you can see the attendees' profiles… There is also a huge classified ad section with free photo classifieds..! This is the only website I have seen where you can see full profiles of friends of friends and see what clubs, events and things they are selling… Well I think this is a very cool website you all should definitely check it out…

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Just here to help

ambitionn — Wed, 11 May 2005 15:29:06 GMT

Well let me try to jump in the mix here. I am promoting a marketing company based in Jacksonville, FL that focuses on providing artists and entrepreneurs with the resources that will allow them to gain exposure for their products, services or themselves. The name of our company is (well... the NEW name is AMBITIONN INTERNATIONAL, INC.) Mainly, we deliver marketing startegies and campaigns that include Event production, Street Team Promotions, Web Design and Presence, Advertising, Graphic Design & Printing. We've also started a related quarterly magazine conveniently named, AMBITIONN MAGAZINE, to help expose our clients in the print world. And finally we are currently in the process of acquiring a local radio staion to provide further avenues for exposing the ambitionn of our clients.

FYI... inquire about our monthly specials and opportunities geared towards your needs!

Take a look inside, let's see what Ambitionn can do for you!
www.Ambitionn.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Is this Social Entrepreneurship?

marvin — Sat, 28 Aug 2004 03:00:45 GMT

I wanted opinions on this - do you consider this Social Entrepreneurship?

From Fastcompany.com search query: "Strategic innovation: Hindustan Lever" or on amazon.com look up "The Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid"

There is also a post by Phil in the Ideafactory tribe that is pretty interesting.

Marvin

At the intersection of two nameless dirt paths in a small town outside of Bangalore, India, the sharp smell of dung hangs in the air. Uniformed schoolchildren race about, and women from neighboring villages flood the pathways carrying jute sacks bulging with weekly groceries. The makeshift market place, or haat, is a flood of color -- blue tarp, coal-black machetes, green vegetables, pastel underwear -- and a loud cacophony of voices and competing claims.

"More washes!" "More suds!" So declares a "hawker," or a sometime sales rep from Hindustan Lever Ltd., the local subsidiary of Dutch giant Unilever, the world's largest consumer-products manufacturer. The rep makes his case with a microphone and a truck well stocked with detergents, soaps, and toothpastes. His rival, standing a few feet away and armed with a megaphone, pitches Lever knockoffs. "Costs less!" "Cleaner wash!" The spirited volley of pitches in Kannada, the local language, attracts a jostling crowd.

Welcome to the new frontier of global capitalism, the spot where state-of-the-art marketing meets the dirt road. The typical family in this town earns 4,800 rupees (about $103) a year from raising crops and from working occasional jobs in the city. Most wash their clothes and their bodies in nearby ponds or at community water taps. If soap is used at all, it's usually whichever brand is cheapest -- and people tend to use that soap for everything: their bodies, their hair, and their garments. In this country, the notion of brand and brand loyalty is fleeting, to say the least.

But Hindustan Lever, in ways at once ingenious, dogged, and culturally sensitive, is changing all of that. Over the past two decades, the company has built a remarkable distribution system that moves its soaps and detergents to every corner of India. Now it has started to leverage that valuable infrastructure to expand its reach to a huge and overlooked group of consumers: the rural poor. "Everybody wants brands," argues Keki Dadiseth, 55, who is in charge of home- and personal-care products worldwide and who is also a director of Hindustan Lever. "And there are a lot more poor people in the world than rich people. To be a global business and to have a global market share, you have to participate in all segments."

M. (Venky) Venkatesh, 42, is one of Hindustan Lever's field generals in this campaign. He is regional sales manager for a chunk of India (total population: more than one billion) that is home to more than 200 million people -- as many as reside in Russia and the Ukraine combined -- comprising some 150,000 villages. His mission: to sell Lever products to rich and poor alike.

Venkatesh takes that mission seriously. A 20-year Lever veteran, he still spends two days a week visiting stores and markets across his region. When he spots Lever products hidden behind another brand in a storefront, he walks in and rearranges the display. He smells soaps to make sure that the scent is fresh. Thanks to the spreadsheet on his IBM Thinkpad, he can recite the demographics for every village on his itinerary -- from the number of bank deposits above a certain amount to literacy rates. In two years, his team has driven Lever products into 47% of the state of Karnataka, up from 30%. "Rural consumers want value, not just volume," Venkatesh says.

Venkatesh strikes up a conversation with Mahaboobjan, an open-shirted man selling incense from a weathered wooden cart at the haat. Mahaboobjan has been peddling his wares in the region for 20 years. His long-standing relationships with customers position him as a reliable expert and adviser to local villagers. Venkatesh asks him what he thinks of the pitch being delivered by the Lever hawkers on the truck.

Mahaboobjan grabs the microphone. In classic salesman's patter, he begins talking about Lux, the soap that film stars use, and about the power of Wheel detergent. He keeps up a barrage of conversation to drown out an amplified tape recording used by the rival selling knockoffs. The market is transformed as villagers flock to the Lever truck. In less than an hour, Mahaboobjan sells soap to 15 customers, nearly half of that morning's sales. Venkatesh offers him a hawker's position on the spot.

The moral of the story? Even the poorest of the poor, when given a choice, can be choosy about brands. In a nation where more than one-third of rural consumers watch TV (everything from Ally McBeal to religious soap operas), and even more visit commercial centers, people aren't naturally inclined to settle for throwaway versions of the real deal -- if the companies that make the real deal bother to explain the difference. If you only have two rupees (about four cents) to spare, you want value for your money -- and quality products for your children. Casting a glance at the Wheel knockoffs in the market, a silk sari-clad woman named Maryamma sneers, "Only village people buy duplicates. I want the real thing."

Rich Company, Poor Customers
How far should a giant company go to understand poor customers in faraway markets? How does such a company manage to sell its product profitably to hundreds of millions of people, dispersed and isolated, with hardly any disposable income to spend? How does it develop brand loyalty in markets where, for generations, people have chosen to buy the product that was cheapest or the items that a store actually had in stock -- if they bought anything at all?

These are not questions that occupy the minds of high-level strategists and marketers at most powerful global companies. They are too busy trying to sell high-priced, high-profit products to middle-class customers in the richest countries. Hindustan Lever, the largest consumer-goods company in India, has embraced a different strategy. It sells everything from soups to soaps by going wherever its customers are, whether it's the weekly cattle market or the well where village women wash their clothes. Why bother? Because it is the smart (and the right) thing to do. Poor people, the company's executives believe, can become just as discerning about brands as rich consumers. And if brands exist as a store of value -- a promise about a product's distinctive qualities and features -- then offering poor consumers a real choice of brands means offering them a slightly better quality of life. Marketing well-made products to the poor isn't just a business opportunity; it is a sign of commercial respect for people whose needs are usually overlooked.

To be sure, plenty of companies peddle low-quality products at cheap prices to maximize their profits. But that's not the Unilever model. Poor countries, it believes, may hold the key to the company's long-term prosperity. Unilever (annual revenues: $43 billion) anticipates that by 2010, half of its sales will come from the developing world, up 32% from its current sales. Hindustan Lever is the model and the engine for that shift. India's rural people, who comprise 12% of the world's population, present a huge untapped market. What the company is developing now are the strategies and tactics to reach that market, even as its competitors waver in their commitment.

It is a crucial growth opportunity for Hindustan Lever, perhaps the most effective way for it to retain its number-one position in consumer goods. The company reported continuous sales growth in India for three decades. Then, late last year, sales were nearly flat and actually declined in some categories. "Given the large scale of the company," says M.S. Banga, 46, chairman of Hindustan Lever, "our biggest challenge is to keep growth rates where they are."

That's why every Lever management trainee begins his or her career by spending six to eight weeks in a rural village, eating, sleeping, and talking with the locals. Marketing executives make frequent two-day visits to low-income areas. Why all of this trouble? "It's important to ensure that our sales guys are connecting with our consumers," says Banga, whose tenure with the company began in a village. "Once you spend time with consumers, you realize that they want the same things you want. They want a good quality of life."

Indeed, Lever recognizes that meeting the demand of poor consumers isn't just about lowering prices. It's about creativity: developing products and processes that do more with less. Hindustan Lever creates markets where most companies see only problems. Somehow, this company of 36,000 employees -- a notorious bureaucracy -- nurtures a willingness to constantly redefine markets, marketing, and brands. Its growth in rural India is a case study in strategic reinvention.

Reinvention I: Change Who Does the Selling
On November 28, 2000, in a meeting hall in Nalgonda in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Hindustan Lever assembled a group of about 150 women. The women had come by bus or by train, some at the company's expense, from 50 villages with fewer than 2,000 residents. Many were illiterate, agrarian workers who were hard-pressed even to say which products Hindustan Lever makes. They wanted to start a business, and the program's name -- Shakti, or strength -- validated their bold decision.

The women belonged to self-help groups that ran microcredit operations. Each of them had saved money from their daily wages or crop sales and were committed to finding ways to make their collective savings grow. So Lever pitched to them what seemed like an exciting proposition: If they used some of their savings to buy the company's products at cost, they would learn how to sell them to their friends and to other community groups and how to sell them at a profit. Amway and Avon had already pioneered a similar strategy for the middle class in urban India. But for Hindustan Lever, the direct-sales model was a huge departure from stratified distribution channels and highly trained sales reps.

"It's not enough to give people access to money," says Pratik Pota, 32, a marketing manager on the new-ventures team (or New Adventures, as it's dubbed). "We have to give them opportunities and train them in what to do with their savings. Our growth prospects are inextricably linked to these women's income generation."

Shakti represents a huge cultural challenge in India. And in many places, Pota faces tough going. In the village of Pochampally, he visits the home of Anjamma, a promising participant. Anjamma is the local leader of the Telugu Desam political party, and she runs one of the larger women's microcredits. She's blunt: It's hard to sell products to local villagers, she says, pointing to the boxes of soap bars and shampoo sachets stacked in the corner of her living room. Though accustomed to charging interest on her group's loans, she's struggling with how to sell the products at a margin.

But in the next village, Ravenpalli, Pota finds evidence of progress. In their spare time, a group of women weavers have taken to selling soaps and detergents to their neighbors. "I thought that we could sell the products for less than at the store and still make a profit," says Maheshwari, the leader. Though she's never sold before and has just a second-grade education, her billing book is perfectly organized. Sitting cross-legged on her dirt floor, Pota looks pleased.

"We're not doing this out of charity," Pota says. "But if you can contribute to a social cause while being profitable, then why not?"

Reinvention II: Change How You Market
As twilight sets on a weekly cattle-and-trade market in a village in Bihar, buyers collect their wares and gather in front of a stage. A performer lights a small fire on a plate to purify the stage. A mythological tale of romance begins. Then the performers -- magicians, singers, dancers -- offer a bit of local news and call out to surrounding villages.

In the next scene, performers are acting again, this time in the role of rural laborers. One man is worried that he's not strong enough to do his work. The other tells him, "Your body can't breathe if it's covered with mud." What he means is, if you're not clean, you're not strong, and you can't support your family. Variations of this message are sung to a catchy tune. The backdrop: a banner advertising Lifebuoy, Unilever's 106-year-old mass-market brand of soap in India.

Is rural folklore the best way to explain useful hygiene practices? Or does it co-opt a centuries-old tradition in the interest of crass consumerism? Cultivating poor consumers is often a series of long-term gambles that test the line between what's creative and what's exploitative. After producing 7,000 such live shows across rural India to promote Lifebuoy and five other brands, Hindustan Lever itself is unsure of the best method for connecting with consumers. But complicated circumstances call for a willingness to experiment.

In Bihar and in other villages of the more rural states of northeastern India, the landscape is different from that of the south. Television ownership is less widespread. Men, rather than women, go to the weekly haats. Here, swaying consumers doesn't involve switching from counterfeit brands to Lever brands. Instead, it involves switching people from infrequent to everyday washes using soap without making them feel profligate or inauthentic. The marketing challenge is to integrate the product into consumers' lives.

One strategy relied on science. Soap executives realized that people who didn't see dirt on their hands thought that their hands were clean. This attitude partly explained why people didn't wash their hands after washing clothes in the river or feeding the cows, a key cause of disease transmission. Although the connection was clear in the executives' mind, they had to create a similar urgency and emotional connection to soap for the consumer.

And what better place to educate people about the importance of frequent soap use than where 70 million people come to clean themselves? Hindustan Lever joined the pilgrims visiting Allahabad for Kumbh Mela, the religious festival held every 12 years. Executives wanted to show that dirt is always present, though often invisible. Marketers waved an ultraviolet-light wand over attendees' hands to show where germs and dirt resided. While the pilgrims came to bathe at the confluence of India's sacred rivers to cleanse their souls, they also learned to keep their hands free of pathogens.

The village street theaters represented a more emotional play. Lever and Ogilvy Outreach, the unconventional marketing arm of Ogilvy & Mather, recruited local magicians, dancers, and actors who knew each market and village that the company wanted to target. In total, 50 teams of 13 performers were recruited to serve as connections between the brands and the residents. Scripts were changed for different dialects, education levels, and religions. In all, Ogilvy coordinated two-hour performances at 2,005 haats over six months.

The results seem compelling. Awareness of Breeze, a low-cost soap with more of a beauty pitch, increased from 22% to 30% over the six months that the performances were running. Awareness of Rin Shakti, a moderately priced detergent bar and powder brand, increased from 28% to 36%, a company spokesman says. And in all five states, sales of Surf Excel, a premium washing detergent, shot up in the first half of 2000 compared with 1999, while sales of Rin shot up in four states.

More than that, Hindustan Lever may actually be improving health conditions. "It's not enough for the company to look at market-share increase," says Anand Kripalu, 42, the company's head of detergents and a creative thinker behind many of the company's rural-outreach strategies. "We want to spread the message of hygiene and really use the Lifebuoy brand to deliver that benefit to consumers. This isn't just good for us as a brand; it's good for the country."

Reinvention III: Change How You Develop Products
Most big companies assume that developing products for poor consumers requires less strategic flexibility, less marketing inspiration, and less expensive R&D than developing products for rich consumers. Hindustan Lever has learned that, in fact, the opposite is true. It takes a genuinely creative company that is filled with highly imaginative product developers to reach the poorest of the poor.

Consider Indian women and their hair. India is home to 16% of the world's population but also home to 28% of the world's hair, thanks to the long tresses that Indian women maintain throughout their life. In a culture in which many poor women still avoid any appearance of self-indulgence, hair grooming is often their one luxury. Even women with faded saris and little jewelry rarely leave home with a hair out of place.

Which means that women look for unexpected opportunities to care for their hair. This insight led to two product-development strategies. One reinforced a prevailing consumer habit, that of using soap for hair and body wash. Just over half of consumers, especially low-income consumers, use soap to wash both their hair and their body every day, Lever's research shows. Rather than fight it, marketers decided to create an opportunity. Two years ago, Hindustan Lever marketers thought of testing a prototype hair soap. But that development still didn't acknowledge the fact that consumers use one soap because it's more convenient and because it costs less.

And so came the idea for a low-cost soap that cleans the body and the hair. Product developers spent a year in the lab before finding the right formula. Marketers had already built a strong beauty brand in Breeze, a discount soap. Now marketers could build the Breeze brand even further. The new soap is called Breeze 2-in-1, and distribution is targeted at smaller towns and rural areas. "It's an example of product marketers piecing together insights from the field and stretching their imaginations," says Mukul Deoras, 38, head of the personal-wash business.

It's also an example of how Lever gets consumers to buy higher-quality products, or how it gets them to buy "up the value chain," as company executives say. Deoras acknowledges that this brand may cannibalize users of Lever's other discount soaps and shampoos. But, he says, "even if there's cannibalization, it's okay. Consumers are buying a value-added product, which is likely to increase loyalty."

The other strategy targeted women who weren't even willing to try shampoo, because they thought that it was too harsh. Marketers decided to tackle the harshness issue head on. An ad campaign showed a straw broom (what happens to hair with soap) alongside soft tresses (the benefits of shampoo). Coupled with this campaign, the company developed a sachet of Lux shampoo. It capitalized on the Lux-soap brand, and it cost less than any other sachet: just 50 paise compared with two rupees. The visual cues and sachet size were so powerful that in the test state of Andhra Pradesh, volume sales of shampoo jumped by 50% in just three months.

It promises to pay off with more premium products too. A woman named K.M. Bhagilakshmi used to use soap-nut powder, a local crop near her town of Dabospet in the state of Karnataka. "But the dandruff would still be there," she says. After seeing advertisements for Clinic All Clear, Lever's premium antidandruff shampoo, on the vernacular cable channel, she bought a sachet for 2.50 rupees. Now she and her husband buy a sachet (7 milliliters) once a week.

This combination of consumer insight, advertising, and product development is part of Hindustan Lever's recipe for success in habit building. One-third of India's 60.6 million pounds of shampoo sales in 2000 came from sachets in rural India. Lever claims 70% of those rural sales. And already half of its $1.02 billion sales in soaps and detergents come from rural markets. The potential to build an even larger market with more regular consumers is mind-boggling -- if companies are prepared to do the hard R&D work that is required to deliver on that potential.

"We need to apply top-class science and technology in order to solve simple problems for a reduced cost to the consumer," says Dr. V.M. Naik, 53, deputy head of Hindustan Lever's Research Laboratory in Bangalore. Naik, who spends about 70% of his time in the lab, is not just refining high-end shampoos. He is the primary scientist behind recent mass-market products such as low-cost ice creams and low-cost soaps. "Technology that liberated consumers before can be a constraint for new innovation," says Naik. "New products require new principles."

"Who Says Rural Is Not Rich?"
More than one-third of India's rural residents live below the poverty line, but that's down from more than half two decades ago. The look and feel of rural India is quickly changing. Thavarekere, a village in Karnataka, has a bike-repair shop and one retail store. But it also has a red-and-yellow sign that is painted on a stone ledge along the road: "Samsung, Onida, Sharp televisions. On sale." The ad mentions a store in a nearby village.

Venky Venkatesh, Hindustan Lever's intrepid southern-sales manager, is smug: "Who says rural is not rich?" It's vindication for him to find such a brand-conscious village. And he knows that if the residents can afford a bike, let alone a TV, then they can afford Lever products. "You build brands by offering choices and benefits. It lets consumers know that you're investing in them."

The fact that TV sets exist in a village where women collect water from a borewell, a deeply drilled well, may seem a contradiction. But it's how rural India has developed. Near the village borewell, the weedy ground is littered with consumer decisions that Venkatesh considers to be crucial. There are blue and green wrappers of brands and not-so-brands that women use to do their housework.

Shakuntala Lakshminarsimhamurthy squats outside her house with two buckets of bright purples in suds. She takes a sari out of a bucket and beats it against a stone slab to push out the dirt. Venkatesh's local rep visits her and can tell that she's fairly well-off. She's able to soak her clothes, which means that she bought a detergent powder, a more premium product than the detergent bars poorer families typically use. And there's a television antenna rising up from her house.

She uses Rin Shakti, a moderately priced Lever brand. Before she saw ads for Lever products, it didn't matter to her what brands her husband, who commutes to the Railway Police Force office near Bangalore, bought at the market. "Now," she says after noticing the difference on her hands and her clothes, "it matters."

Rekha Balu is a Fast Company senior writer. She grew up using soaps made by Hindustan Lever. Learn more about Hindustan Lever on the Web (www.hll.com).

Sidebar: The Strategy and Marketing Agenda
Who: Keki Dadiseth
What: Selling to rural consumers
Why: To tap into high-growth markets that rivals aren't prepared to enter

Keki Dadiseth, 55, rose quickly through the ranks of Hindustan Lever and then went on to Unilever headquarters, where he is in charge of home- and personal-care products worldwide. Here is his agenda for how strategists can address rural consumers.

Do the math -- and then make the commitment. "Even though developing markets use small quantities per capita, their huge population means a huge amount of fabric-washing products, shampoo, and so on. And even if you make modest profit levels on that, the gross profit can be much more than in the traditional markets."

Define markets broadly. "Is your goal to get 50% of the shampoo market, or to increase consumption so that 50% of all 'hair washes' are done with your shampoo? In India, Lever has a 70% share of the shampoo market. But we look at total hair washes as our market."

Look at assets, not income. "It may seem as if rural residents have little money to spare on your products. But a farmer's food is largely free, which means that he has more money to spare than an urban resident who might spend 50% of his income on food."

Affordable products aren't always inexpensive to develop. "Most companies tend to take an existing technology and apply it in a diluted fashion as they go down the income groups. We turn that logic on its head. For instance, when we worked with salt, we used atomic-measuring technology to calibrate how iodine passes through the body so that we can offer the highest level of iodine delivery in the market. About 75% of the iodine in salt is wasted. You can either put back that 75% and double the cost of salt, or you can find a technology that allows consumers to get the required iodine in their salt without the costly process of adding it back."

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 9 replies

Global Music Project worldwide launch on Feb 24th

Peter — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 00:00:41 GMT

Global Music Project.org (it's downloadable music, but the money goes to charity!) is currently gearing up for its worldwide launch on Feb 24th. In Seattle, it will be at Bada Lounge (7pm). We're also planning parties in the UK and Zambia Africa on that same day. IMPORTANT: If you know anyone in other parts of the globe that might like some exposure for their music and willing to have a launch party there, let us know.

If you're in the Seattle area, come down to the meeting this Tuesday night (Jan 4th) at 7pm at Bada Lounge. You could meet a few of our volunteers and see what we're up to! If you know anyone else that might want to check it out as well, bring them along or send them to globalmusicproject.org

Happy New Year,

Peter

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Wanna go to summer camp in Mexico?

solomax — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 07:17:05 GMT

In 2000, I experienced a trial of thirst and pain blazing a trail on the Mountain of Death... which led to a vision and a divine opportunity that I want to share with you.

Contemplating death by dehydration on a pathless mountainous mess of thorn bushes, I bargained with the universe to let me live, promising to devote my life to creating a learning center that would teach appreciation for the simplest of things, such as clean drinking water, peace, freedom and friendship.

In 2002, I made a trail up the mountain of Death, lead five boys from the village of Roblito to the top and made a video doc of the adventure for them to enjoy. They lived close to the mountain, but nobody from the village had ever climbed it.

Seed, an art teacher from Louisiana, joined me and we taught art classes in Roblito. We picked up litter scattered around the village, juggled, walked tight rope, caught fish, took pictures and visited the beach. This was the first Action Hero Training Camp.

The next three steps:

#1. The Action Hero Network is a catalyst connecting people and resources for forming collective efforts to create community centers and common spaces.

#2. Action Hero Training Camp brings together talented and inspiring individuals to teach skills and get stoked on mission-focused educational adventures and environmental awareness.

#3. The Roblito Community Center for Cultural Exchange becomes a seasonal eco-village/retreat providing learning and leisure opportunities people of all income levels.

Until recently, I’ve called this project The FAR OUT School. Now I realize this title is too narrow. The FAR OUT School is a journey I’ve created for myself, where I am the principal and the student. I think of being in school as a state of mind, one of openness, curiosity, and exploration, so as long as I am seeking, I am in school. This is the quest I am on…. this is my question. I want to learn how do we make education more fun and purposeful.

The Action Hero Network vision is to promote self-directed learning through action and community involvement. It is the U of You. You get out of it… whatever you put into it. What’s the quest ya on …your question ...your mission?

I invite you to join me and other fun loving friends in Roblito this winter, between New Years and March break… to create your school! We’ll work on our Action Hero-self, wear capes and fuzzy clothes, develop our powers, meet peaceful people, play with kids, make art from trash, sleep in tree house hammocks like monkeys, spend very little money, find quiet places, sing and dance around a fire, swim in waves and water ski, and through all this… create at curriculum connecting natural cycles and community needs. This is the vision that gives me purpose.

I'll be leaving LA around Christmas, driving down to Roblito via Tucson. There is room in my car. Meggio will also drive her van down from San Francisco if there are enough passengers to pay for gas. Taking the bus to Roblito from Tucson costs $70. You can also fly into Mazatlan, and bus south for $10.

Details will continue to be posted at actionhero.tribe.net …. Please add to the thread if you are interested in joining us. Also see www.solomax.com/farout.html for past stories and photos from Roblito.

Please pass this on to others who may be interested.

Have fun and shine on!
-Cory Richardson
818-331-9707
www.solomax.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

New movement to co-opt corporations for change

spidey — Sun, 14 Nov 2004 14:30:56 GMT

I have a passion for life - for my life, my kids ’lives, and all of our lives …so I have to share my passion and my vision (that follows) with you …hoping that it might lead you to more hope-filled, joyful and sustainable lives.

First, for perspective, the next paragraph is the important part of world history in a single paragraph. Then, I hope to enlist you in joining the Aikido Activism Movement, a movement that can face today ’s deepest challenges with the most empowered approach to change.

THE IMPORTANT PART OF WORLD HISTORY IN A PARAGRAPH
Humanity has passed from a first great era of primarily physically-mediated conflict to one today of primarily economically-mediated conflict (see for example, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins - http://www.tinyurl.com/4tebc or http://www.tinyurl.com/5t8j9 ) and NOW we can and must advance to an era of primarily reason-mediated conflict. In each of the earlier eras people by and large did the best they could with what they had (as they will today and in the future only now with much better tools for communication which MUST be used for increased understanding, which -- fortunately -- can naturally translate to caring). The problem of capitalism today was less a problem when it was invented as a solution to feudal imperialism (with regular physical conflict). Economic imperialism has yet further removed the suffering from view of the beneficiaries of economic imperialism; but, in order to link with economic subjects, a global network has been built that can actually be used to bring people together -- and while inter-tribal, international, and intercorporate engagements in ages of primarily physically-mediated and primarily economically-mediated conflict have a history of being quite exploitive (if not deadly), engagements in the dawning age of reason can evolve to be much more like a dance, yet still a dance of joy or survival depending on one's viewpoint. The key should be seeing the power of inclusion, which can bring joy and unity -- replacing profit maximization with fruition maximization as a necessity for sustainability/survival and joy in a globalizing era.

My passions have been channeled into writing about a systematic solution to this systemic problem of today: that corporations do both the most good and the most bad, but it is their ability to hide bad things in the complexity of corporate behavior and in the popular but treacherous myth they promulgate -- "greed is good" -- that has led to essentially all major world problems.

Efforts to overpower corporations with grass roots public fervor or death-of-their-excesses by a thousand cuts from non-profits or NGOs appear to be having little effect, so why not turn the tools of corporations (and their economic might) against their regressive practices? This is Aikido Activism, my passion that I hope will become yours in a budding movement that everyone should want to join - and that anyone and everyone with a computer and Internet access is empowered to advance by sharing parts of the puzzle (how Aikido Activism can be applied in their field and applying it), supporting other Aikido Activists, getting the word out electronically, etc.

Change is possible. Find out who some Aikido Activists are who are working for progressive transformation of outworn social traditions –and please share any comments, ideas, connections, at the new wiki-website http://aikidoactivism.xwiki.com/ where there is a growing amount of information begun to be collected and organized online to advance the Aikido Progressive Movement – to understand our past and build a promising opportunity for our future.

Spidey

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Community Interest Company

sobey — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 06:19:31 GMT

William Davies, a fellow at London's Institute for Public Policy Research describes them as being "all about channeling the powers of the market towards social harmony:the yin without the yang, the creative without the destructive."\

This winter the British government will pass legislation to create the CIC,which it describes in its documents as "an entirely new form of company designed to meet the needs of people seeking to pursue enterprise in public interest,dedicating their profits to the public good."

CIC's will be able to sell shares, paying limited but real dividends. They will be subject to an "asset lock" keeping them from stepping outside their stated social goals (such as fixing up a neighborhood say, or running a hospital).

Exerpted from article in Globe and Mail,Sat.Oct.9,2004
"London bridges the best of private and public"

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Eco-Comm Groups?

Alex — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 02:33:06 GMT

What are good examples of groups that enhance community cohesion while simultaneously lowering levels of resource consumption through shared-use-type schemes? My name is Alex Goodman and I am a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Florida. I am trying to gather an extensive list of possible case studies for groups that exemplify this kind of eco-community scheme for a research paper I’m doing in my Environment and Society course, which will hopefully become part of my dissertation framework. I sure would appreciate any and all help with generating this list, as one person can only know so many people and ideas. Some examples I am currently using would be cohousing, community supported agriculture, and the local currency/bartering networks. I know there are tons more out there! Thanks, ALEX – alexevasion@yahoo.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Progressive education model

solomax — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 00:47:43 GMT

Lori and Beth are sitting with me watching a video about Damanhur, a community in Italy which is mind blowing. Lori brought the video over. Check it: www.damanhur.org

Beth is now telling Lori about a job she was interviewed for today, that is to convince restaurants to create healthy children's menus and corner stores to offer more fruits and veggies.

Lori just now asked me to look up Arcosanti.org... and bam... a whole new world has opened to me.

Imagine schools more like community centers, for people of all ages... not stressed out cages... not focused on ages, grades, tests... but inspiration, sharing, caring and taking action in the community... places where you might meet people like Beth and Lori.

An organization forming to make this vision reality is called The Action Hero Network. The site, www.actionheronetwork.net thus far is a links list of creative people and informative resources. The plan is to make it into mission control. Needing direction... seeking a purpose... let us know your interests... and we'll give you suggestions. It will be a create-your-own-school-experience web site.

Thus far I, Cory Richardson, have been touring schools, sidewalks, festivals and jails with a slideshow promoting self directed education through adventure travel, and I'd appreciate the opportunity to visit a school/community center near you to do a presentation. See www.solomax.com/slideshow.html

I'm also working on creating a Burning man/rainbow gathering vibe cultural exchange community center in central Mexico. It was called The FAR OUT School, but is now Action Hero Training Camp. See www.solomax.com/farout.html ... I'm looking for people to join me in central Mexico this x-mas holidays to work on this project. Call 818-331-9707 or email max@solomax.com

Lori is now showing me Astral Circus, Venosa's mater work. See it for yourself:

www.venosa.com/catalog.html

What an amazing world we live in! We have the tools... and the people. It is time to leave the old system behind. Bucky said it well:

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
- Buckminster Fuller

Read more great words: www.solomax.com/found.html

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 1 reply

Leveraging commonplace assets in a Co-operative(s) to prepare us masses for collapse.

sobey — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 20:51:14 GMT

Written by a friend of mine..Inviting feedback.

sobey

Leveraging commonplace assets in a Co-operative(s) to prepare us masses for collapse.

Synopsis: The below article describes a largely democratic business vehicle that I’ve been studying along side my business degree. It is a Co-op based model that would collectivize common-place assets, mostly dormant ones, so as to leverage responsible businesses that involve their clientele in their strategic market approaches thus building brand/cause based loyalty. It would serve a bunch of objectives -just like any good vertical and/or horizontal SWOT business analysis- towards one goal of preparing for collapse and simultaneously preparing technics to ameliorate and repair degraded ecosystems.

For a long time we artists, light beings, and general populace have been at the mercy of Babylon’s capitalist economy. Interest rates (inflation) and property (rent) have kept those who do not exploit others in the gutter with only our selves as the gems in the grime. And even then us ‘gems’ are forced in some manner to clamber over each other for survival. This is not necessary!
It’s time to create a parallel economy within our own vehicle that would not allow those who profiteer off the backs of their fellow humans to buy out or circumvent that vehicle. I’ve spent the last year of my business degree studying co-ops, their history and their unrealized potential. I’ve read cooperative legislation over and over and the good news is that in many jurisdictions the legislation allows for what can basically be a democratically controlled, transnational corporation with all the debt and equity instruments of capitalism but controlled with the consensus processes of green anarchist and Rainbow traditions.
This is a proposal resulting from many councils at the One World Rainbow Gathering in Costa Rica (2004) and discussion in Tribal Harmonix (Vancouver Trybe). It is for those compassionate and moral enough to want to do something significant about the current situation and pending peak oil and ecosystems collapse, such as putting their assets into a centralized coop that would, in return issue shares equal to market value of the invested assets. This way we pool collateral leverage which allows the members of the co-op access to financing for most projects they could want to do, and creates economies of scale that can be democratically or consensually authorized by the membership for certain purposes all while maintaining personal equity in shares (making your assets a payment for cash equivalent shares).
My version of said coop is a parent co-op that handles consolidated marketing and administrative efforts for all its member entities. This would make many little business proposals feasible as there would be centralized staff departments for accounting, financing, marketing, liability, insurance etc, thus making us cost effective. This parent office would allow for great gains in cost efficiency and allow the associate member coops or even regular companies the chance to reduce their administrative overhead while supporting the maintenance of this beautiful planet.
It is also proposed that we centralize the branding for all of the proposed coop’s products and allow for some of the member company’s and/or co-op’s products to be democratically designed through public events or forums such as Reclaim The Streets (RTS) or IndyMedia type discussion forums. This means exciting consumers by involving them in the creation of what they consume, by inviting them into a community that can actually affect things.
Of course profits would go towards preserving/defending healthy ecosystems, consolidating our parallel economy in bartering (so as to minimize our inevitable tax punishment), and into capital investments that will prepare us and 144 years/7 generations for the rising oceans and unstable climates: i.e. capital investments such as getting into renewable energy manufacturing, high altitude land, and maybe even not so obvious things like multi hull sail boats.
This way we have the infrastructure to take in economic, ecological, pestilence and disease refugees who will be coming off the mass-produced addictive commodities like sugar, antibiotics, coffee, tobacco, etc. These people can then be put to work building the low-tech solutions that will become the hallmark of civilizations’ survival. Whether that be tearing up asphalt for garden space or helping to repair clear cuts and open pit mines that threaten water supplies or pestilence.
The point is to develop our brand into the brand of hope for homeostasis. Everyone wants an environment that can sustain them and so our market is all of humanity if we only consolidate our efforts under a legislated, ethical mandate of a democratic coop.
We may start with healing foods, supplements, hemp based clothing lines, media companies (music), anything that our communities already have the corner on. We must realize that our trybes already drive consumer fads. Street fashions and culture are heavily plundered by major corporations for their latest consumer lines, and we in the underground are the primary generators of that culture and resulting fads. In my trybe alone there are at least three hot designers who could drive market trends in the North West. So let’s organize ourselves, stop being co-opted, and, instead, put our skills and marketing power to saving this beautiful Earth.
What I’m alluding to is known in business as vertically or horizontally integrated conglomeration. Vertical integration is a group of companies linked by common ownership that exist to align supply and demand such as a recording company and a radio network. Horizontal integration is the linking of companies in the same business but occupying different markets-typically, newspapers, radio, or television stations being owned by the likes of GE. Member companies may have agreements to buy and sell services or products from each other. This allows for economies of scale through the streamlining of common administrative needs and business practices (as described earlier in centralization).
If we were to globally market in the underground in places like community website forums, parties, Reclaim the Streets, workshops at festivals like Rainbow or Burning Man that we organize anyway we could have a huge vertically and horizontally integrated communications/marketing movement that’d be seen as the true products of the people and the streets. Anyone of our members at anyone time would be at every full moon party on the planet whether it be on Koh Pahn Ghan or with Moon Tribe in SoCal and could be influencing clothing, music and/or information media trends all while basically just partying. Anyone of our members or whole member communities need products of all kinds to do what they gotta do so why not keep it in the family of Light warriors? Of course we could achieve major unity of brand purpose in that consumers will know that purchasing and using any product under the parent coop’s brand name supports healthy, just living on Earth.
What are needed to get this going are people to turn their assets and/or business’ over in exchange for shares in the proposed coop. We also need good people with high expertise in business and organizational behaviour to offer up their time for lower of end industy salaries or maybe for preferred shares that will pay dividends, whether cash or share. There are all sorts of ways for doing this that are entirely beneficial for each individual who invests in the coop. A) You’ll get expert staff support for your business. B) They’ll get free advertising and marketing. C. The investor will be buffered by community no matter what happens to them or their business. D. Your compassion will be directly expressed for this planet and it’s sentient beings in whatever you do, as even just having your dormant assets in the coop’s name (in exchange for shares that you can liquidate pretty well when you need to) you help an economic entity/system who’s main concern is aiding all life.
For example, say Cougar wanted to exchange his publishing business for shares. Let’s say accountants valuated the businesses’ 3-year expansion forecast to result in a company worth $100,000. The coop would buy him out with a $100,000 share issue and perhaps guarantee him a certain position in the company in his chosen capacity or lease his assets back to him in a long-term lease agreement. If Cougar’s conditions are that he wants help in expanding the business online through various mirrored hubs worldwide and into other languages, the coop could use it’s wider assets to secure financing for that expansion in exchange for him integrating what he does into a wider media network that the coop may want to or already has set up.
Or take another example where an investor has land that is 15 acres out in the middle of nowhere that he doesn’t do much with. The property is worth $100,000 and you are basically just pissing taxes away with it. The investor always intended to move out there but never got ahead enough to give it a serious run. The investor offers to invest that land into the co-op’s collateral pot in exchange for shares. The investor could offer a business proposal to buy the adjacent land to it and grow the coop aloe vera for the coop’s alternative beverages line. Only said investor wants a long-term lease because he doesn’t want to be shoved out of his home and garden at the whim of a membership vote (this sort of member vote would probably be heavily restricted by co-op by-law articles). So in exchange for the investors contribution to the asset’s pool, the co-op gives him a 40 year lease on that land at extremely favourable rates in exchange for the investor considering coop members first when hiring to work his land and all his aloe vera being contractually sold to the parent co-op over 5 yrs at a predetermined rate.
Are we getting the picture? Basically this is a vehicle for us to leverage anything we want in the pursuit of re-evolving community economics and building skilled and dedicated resources. It could be a string of eco-villages, car coops, design collectives, worker run agricultural divisions, consumer coops, and even nomadic cultural/artists groups who do nothing but public shows that equate our product lines with the beautiful, creative, what have you, via their own performance formats while maybe at the same time organizing communities into associated coops where ever they are caravanning through. These groups could all have their own decision-making processes for their respective spheres and contribute to policy formulation at the parent office level. Of course a truly democratic/participatory entity must rotate roles as would this co-op so as to keep all aspects of the operation appreciative of all other arms of the enterprise.
If you have anything, even a relatively new car, and can get a few other people in your town to put their cars into a car coop, the parent coop will take legal fleet ownership of those cars, issue shares in consideration of amortizable liability to the investing owners, get the co-op’s tech people to do a website with y’all that’ll allow you to schedule reservations and maintenance on the co-ops’ vehicles, get you a favourable fleet insurance rate with the parent co-ops insurance underwriter, as well as market your car co-op to other people in your town so that it can grow and work more efficiently.

Too many eggs in one basket clause:

The main risk in this proposal is centralizing to many assets in one States’ side entity. This is a risk as the Feds would likely quickly attack and dismantle it as has been done in the past. This is why I propose that we divide the assets of each associated operation once they approach a certain ratio to the overall co-ops’ assets’. Also it is thought that the more up to date and favourable Canadian coop legislation should be used along with off shore jurisdictions that can shield all the subsidiaries in the U.S. from forfeiture.
The military draft is also nigh in the U.S. with the Bush administration already reconstituting the old draft boards, so a Canadian parent co-op would be a good opportunity for our brothers to the South to get landed immigrant status here in Canada via ‘skilled workers’ avenues in the Canadian parent staffing departments.
It is time to let go of the American dream where everyone gets their personal piece of the pie and collectivize our efforts, as life (with peak oil and ecosystems collapse) is about to get much harder brothers and sisters. No person is an island and we will only transcend together so let’s move to a model that reflects that and insure our children have the infrastructure around them to deal with Earth changes. Collectivize you efforts and assets into a legally protected co-op!

May the ‘Ground Crew’ members find each other and steer this ship clear of hell.
In Lak’cheh

Gregory Dean started his warrior’s path as an eco-villages researcher and lobbyist with the City of Vancouver also working with the Global Eco-Village Network. He then moved to blockading in Australia and B.C. along with some Reclaim the Streets organizing and making million$ for Green Peace. After organizing for J18 in Sydney (the world wide carnival against capital; Russia’s induction to the G7 finance committee) he flew straight to Seattle and was one of the first blockade tacticians analyzing the WTO location. During the ‘Showdown’ he worked at the founding IndyMedia/Independent Media Center. After Seattle he dropped out of traditional direct action tactics and started work on a Business/Communications joint major. He is currently based out of Vancouver and on the Rainbow circuit working on his degree via online correspondence.

You can reach him at redresonantearth@planet-save.com

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Taking Back the Economic Power

buildingblocks — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 20:07:50 GMT

Hey folks. I am putting this out on many different tribes post to invite as many people over as possible. The tribe is called Renaissance Farms and the idea behind it is to get people connected. We have let too many politicians and corporate types run things for too long. I wasn't a big Dean supporter but it shows what you can do with the internet and a little imagination.

I am going to use this tribe and a website that I am currently working on to try and connect a LARGE group of like minded people together. (From Left to FAR Left, Libertarian, Progressives, Dems and Open Minded Republicans (yes they do exist) although all views are welcome as long as they aren't hateful) That way we can help each other out. Examples would be that when someone works to get things done politically and socially then you will already have a base of people to start with that could be interested in the issue.(Yes we already have some sites like these but I have not found any that are anywhere comprehensive enough)

PLUS, I THINK THAT WE CAN TAKE A LOT OF THE ECONOMIC POWER BACK. The idea is to to keep the money within the group(or demographic or tribe or among people that vote similiarly or whatever you want to call it).. I am going to set up a website for the state of Ohio that will be a kind of directory of liberal links and businesses that are owned by people with a more left leaning attitude. THE LESS MONEY THAT WE GIVE TO THE RIGHT THE BETTER. There are an endless number of organizations and businesses in each state but they have never been put into one place. So I will get numbers and contact info from people like Stonewall and environmental groups, Unitarian churches, NPR affiliates and other organizations and every kind of business that I can think of. The GLBT community has the Lavender pages (some are the Pink pages). Same concept. So now I need to start compiling a list of these groups and places. If you know any please start a list and pass it on and I will make contact to get all of the necessary info. It will take some time to get a pretty comprehensive site going but I will keep the members of Renaissance Farms notified of progress as I go. I have posted to see if there are people in other Ohio cities that can help. Then once it is up and running it can be a place for people to find service providers and organizations. Then we can create sites for other states and group them together under one site. Make connections. And eventually it can be more. There are some pages similar to this but I want this to be more comprehensive and then connect to similar ones from different states under an umbrella site. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS A REAL MARKETING BLITZ SO THAT PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE SITE IS THERE AND WHAT IT WOULD DO FOR THEM. We can use conventional marketing to get the word out. Things like the Alternative Papers. Booths at festivals and Bumperstickers. If you have a website or business that you want to advertise, or a CD or a band to promote then you already would have a group of like minded people that might be interested in hearing about it. How many people do you know that are trying to run painting companies or freelance web design so that they can control their time and spend more with their families? How often would one sale make the difference between their staying in business or not. The stronger each individual is the stronger the whole. If a person has more time, money and less stress then there is a better chance that they will work to improve their community and world. I would prefer to give them my business than give it to someone that I have no connection with. This is a way to economic and political power. We have to take care of each other just as the Conservatives have. Ours can be a community with all ethnicities and creeds, orientations and leanings. All that matters is an open mind. And the stronger each individual is in the community the stronger the community.

If you know anyone else that might be interested then pass along the info. The bigger it gets the more power it will have to change things.

Peace

Andy

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Biofuel Connections?

Davis — Thu, 01 Apr 2004 09:23:46 GMT

Hey does anybody have any connections to people doing serious biofuel research?

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 3 replies

New UK business tribe!

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 16:08:56 GMT

Hi All,
Hope this post isn’t too Spammy! I’ve just launched a new tribe for UK business discussion, which I hope to run as a sister site to my already existing OX1.BIZ forum. If you would like to join this tribe click here: http://ox1.tribe.net or visit the OX1 Forum here: http://ox1.biz/forum/portal.php hope to see you there soon.

All the best,
Patrick

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

The FAR OUT School

solomax — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 08:49:26 GMT

Hey folks... I'm building an art and adventure school in central Mexico. Got the land, and vision, no all I need is folk to take part. My site is www.solomax.com/farout.html

If you dig it, please join the FAR OUT School Tribe.

-MAX

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 2 replies

Current Event Win-Win solutions

dotcom25 — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 01:05:26 GMT

I'll take on (and by no means the most important in the news, but an easy one)...Allowing Gays Marriages.
If government policy does not have sovereignty over the institution of marriages and if civil unions are a viable alternative to marriages should not government policy only deal with matters pertaining to the usage and definitions of civil unions, something it does have influence over, thus needing to replace any status acknowledgements, requirements, and attributed benefits or right in which policy previously used or referred to marriage with terms of civil unions. This inclusive policy formation avoids conflict with conservatives concerning the re-definition of marriage, while giving all Americans, heterosexual and homosexual, equal acknowledgement and thus equal protection of participation through equal representation, otherwise allowing government to continue using marriage and civil unions will fail as all separate but equal policy has in the past.

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 4 replies

Define social entrepreneur

shipman — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 05:19:28 GMT

The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. 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.

Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a social entrepreneur because only the entrepreneur has the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when she solves a client’s problem. The manager calls it quits when he has enabled his organization to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, the world.

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 1 reply

Check this out

anca — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 01:10:17 GMT

http://www.worldchanging.com - a daily blog with ideas for that can change the world, from technology to social stuff, to business.

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies

Logic

dotcom25 — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:41:33 GMT

Humans existed before "money". Societies existed before corporate business. MUSIC WAS MADE BEFORE RECORD COMPANIES EXISTED!!! What would we do without someone telling us what to do? Is anyone brave enough to muse with me about a world we will lose if we can not see?

posted in Social Entrepreneurship - 0 replies