entrepreneurship

Mercosur Shares Social Concerns, Diverges on Economy

Posted by Dave

December 23, 2008

Politicians, stuck in an industrial era mindset, love to “protect jobs” since that plays well among interest groups like unions, while they completely neglect skill-building, the key to not only citizens being eligible for many jobs in the knowledge era, but also in a position to create jobs as entrepreneurs.
Unlike someone who has been [...]

MICROFINANCE: Six Pioneers in Latin America

Posted by Dave

November 24, 2008

Microcapital
Microcapital has identified the following six microfinance “pioneers,” individuals who have made long-standing contributions to the evolution and promotion of microfinance practices and/or technology. While not all of these pioneers hail from Latin America, all have been instrumental to the development of microfinance in that region. These pioneers are: Álvaro Dávila of Colombia, Joseph Blatchford [...]

Colombian coffee icon defies Starbucks doldrums

Posted by Dave

October 17, 2008

International Herald Tribune
Starbucks may be struggling, but a Colombian cafe chain built on the fame of the world’s biggest coffee icon is determined to buck the trend.
Even as cash-short consumers cut back on gourmet blends, the Juan Valdez Cafe is selling coffee at 101 stores across Colombia, as well as at outposts in New York, [...]

The Afterlife of American Clothes: Haitian entrepreneurs find value in castoffs

Posted by Dave

October 4, 2008

Reason Magazine
When thrifty shoppers in Boston and Miami pick through secondhand shirts at local Salvation Army outlets or estate sales, they are as likely to meet Haitians as hipsters. Some of the immigrants will simply be collecting clothes to mail back to family in Port-au-Prince, but others are part of a large global network trading [...]