Motivations

Born to Climb

Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth, is a phenomenal speaker.  As an entrepreneur, you’ll appreciate what Michael has to say in this video.  Please take a few seconds to watch.

Michael proclaims that “you were born to climb”.  The entrepreneur in you is striving for the top of the mountain.

Business Ideas, Networking, News

Zoroastrian Stimulus Plan

Looking for a job or contract work? Thinking about starting your own business? Seeking career guidance?

FEZANA and the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) are excited to offer this free, private Job Search, Career Counseling, and Entrepreneur Mentoring service to the community.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/zorostimulus to register for this service
Click here for more details

Social Entrepreneurship

Light Up the World

Light Up The World Foundation (LUTW) is the first humanitarian organization to utilize renewable energy and solid-state lighting technologies to bring affordable, safe, healthy, efficient, and environmentally responsible illumination to people who do not have access to power for adequate lighting.  LUTW remains the world’s leader in this endeavour: globally active and setting standards in the field.

Through generous support from interested individuals, corporations, host country organizations, international foundations and industrial partners, LUTW has lit up more than 17,000 homes in over 50 countries throughout the developing world from Afghanistan to Zambia.    (read more…)

Motivations, People / Stories

Entrepreneural Learnings – Rajesh Jain

Last Saturday, I gave a talk for TIE on “The New Internet”. The presentation, while showcasing the opportunities for the future, ended with some of the lessons I have learnt in the last 10 years as an entrepreneur.

  • Importance of Vision: Dream the future
  • Think 2-5 years hence; near-term opportunities are gone
  • Best way to raise capital is by being profitable (B-n-B biz)
  • Need to Stay Alive long enough to aim for Gold
  • Our biggest strength is Passion — “infectious enthusiasm”
  • Be prepared to fail – and learn; Experiment and Explore
  • When building, don’t think of exit; Build to Keep
  • Forget the stock markets – they are irrelevant
  • Our First Mistake can be our Last
  • Read-Think-Write
  • Faith in God
Books, Motivations

Imagining India

Across the world, Nandan Nilekani is recognized as one of India’s most successful software entrepreneurs and as the co-founder of Infosys, among India’s premier companies in the IT sector. In his new avatar as author, Nandan talks about a subject close to his heart – that of India – and adds his own unique perspective to India’s past, present and future.

This site is designed to serve as a living companion to the book for readers who want to delve deeper into the book’s material and themes, and who want to carry forward the discussion on the ideas that have shaped, and continue to shape India.

Click here and participate

Marketing, News, People / Stories, Startups

How startups can take on established players?

While the first customer could help break the ice, innovation, networking, competitive pricing, and good service quality can help you beat competition.

It is a challenge for any entrepreneur to take on big and established players in the market but a multi-pronged strategy can help swim against the tide. Here are a few pointers that can help you tackle the competition….. Click here to read more

Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurs: Pioneering Social Change

The Skoll Foundation has recently completed a short film about the field of social entrepreneurship. Its a great overview of the progress made over the last three decades. It starts with Mohammad Yunus and includes interviews with a number of social entrepreneurs and others in the field, including Sally Osberg of the Skoll Foundation, Bill Drayton of Ashoka, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund, John Elkington of Volans, and author David Bornstein.

For more information on these and other social entreprenuers, visit www.skollfoundation.org

Uncommon Heroes

In addition to leveraging media partners to create and distribute social entrepreneurship content, the foundation has produced several seven-minute films profiling Skoll entrepreneurs. These Uncommon Heroes films are premiered each year at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford as part of our annual award ceremony and also distributed via YouTube and select web channels. The purpose of these films is to provide a practical tool for our social entrepreneurs, offer compelling examples of social entrepreneurship for the field and inspire others with stories of how one person can change the world at scale.  Click here to hear from Uncommon Heroes

Finance

Kiva – Borrowing and Lending with a difference

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding – not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.

Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.

Entrepreneurs and Lenders can both benefit from KIVA – Click Here