We noticed that you got your inspiration from your travels to India. What happened in India that inspired you? Did you see another example similar to OUWA?
No, it was being confronted with two realities; one, that extreme poverty exists on a large scale, and two, that there are many people trying to do something about it. It made me want to do something about it. The idea for OUWA didn’t start forming until a couple of years later, and didn’t full come into focus until a solid 5+ years later. We did a lot of research. The model isn’t completely original in that the parts stem from other models; open educational resources, microfinance, cooperatives, etc. But it is a beautiful piece of recombinant innovation. 

What has been your motivation for your projects and who is your role model in the entrepreneurial world?
I don’t like problems. I see poverty as a problem. One that needs to be solved. I didn’t feel like people were truly stepping up and doing so in a way that would actually achieve 100% eradication. So I wanted to see what would happen if I put my soul, heart and brain to it. Think we are making progress. Pretty excited at this point. As far as a role model, I have had a few. The most poignant is Antonio Meloto, founder of Gawad Kaligna – the Philippines’ largest grassroots social business. 

Why did you choose Ghana for this project? Do you have any personal connection to this place?
Ghana was strategically the right environment to incubate this idea. It is stable, Anglophone, etc. 

What was your greatest achievement and biggest disappointment in your entrepreneurial career?
My greatest achievement to date has been mentoring a team that was the highest ranked startup (Global Startup Battle) in West Africa. Amazing idea, amazing team. My biggest disappointment has been the friends I have lost along the way. Building things is complicated. Egos get in the way. Disagreements about money get in the way. Being a social entrepreneur can really take its toll on your friendships. 

Your project is doing great and is very ambitious. However, if there was anything you could have done differently when starting up what would that have been?
I think we should have found a local co-founder from day one. 

How did you manage to make your project financially sustainable when you first started? And how do you intend to make it financial sustainable in the future as well? 
We are reinventing the model of the university. We focus on long-term revenue streams, not tuition. In the short term, we stay afloat by sharing the burden of aspects of our operating cost via the co-working/hub model. 

How do you think the entrepreneurial world has changed since you started? 
It seems like there is an emergence in the “cluster”, “hub”, etc. world. I think this collaborative, streamlining, trend is super positive. 

What are your next big steps with OUWA and what is your vision?
My vision is to see 1,000,000+++ students enrolled in nearly free higher education. To see 10,000,000 families find employment in our ecosystem. To end poverty. Our next big steps to do this will be to add faculties. Medicine (the PA program) is the first in line. Working with some amazing people on that. 

What advice would you give to up coming entrepreneurs? Both from getting an idea to making it happen and financial advice?  
Start. Pivot. 

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? 
I didn’t. It just happened. 

The average youth unemployment rates in OECD countries are consistently in the range of 1.5 - 4.5 times higher than the adult unemployment rates (see figure below). There is not a single OECD country, which has a youth unemployment rate that is equal to or lower than the adult unemployment rate. The global ratio of youth unemployment to adult unemployment is 2.9. In certain countries, for example in Sweden and New Zealand, the youth unemployment rate is roughly four times as high as the adult unemployment rate. In other countries, such as Spain, Greece and Portugal, the total rates of youth unemployment have reached shocking numbers with every second young person being unemployed (ILO, 2012), a trend which has worsened rapidly in the past years.

There are already significant numbers of young people who would rather start their own business than work for someone else. Entrepreneurship is an important driver of economic prosperity and social well being, creating jobs and econo­mic competitiveness (Thurik & Wennekers, 2004; Monitor Company Group, 2009; ManpowerGroup, 2012).

In order to solve the youth unemployment challenge, we cannot rely on the large corporations to create sufficient amounts of jobs for the next generation. Instead, all stakeholders (policymakers, educators, large and small corporations and other support organizations) need to adapt and prepare the next generation to become job creators instead of job seekers. Youth entrepreneurship must be considered a critical pathway to decent work for young people and has to form a strategic component of national efforts to address youth unemployment. The number of entrepreneurship programs has rapidly increased in the past years; however, little knowledge exists about their inter-connection as well as their effectiveness. Picturing the components that make up an entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as providing measurement indices has been missing to date. 

The Entrepreneurs' Ship works with governments and universities to solve the challenge by establishing sustainable long-term strategies and the implementation of solutions.

Interviewee: Jack Sim (Singapore)
Region: Worldwide
Category: Sanitation, Health, Toilets

"You can’t fall down when you are sitting on the floor."

Jack Sim, Founder of the World Toilet Organization (WTO), has been a successful businessman since age 24, in a range of areas such as real estate development, international schooling and construction materials. Having achieved financial success in his 40s, Jack felt the need to change his direction in life and give back to humanity – he wanted to live his life according to the motto “Live a useful life”. Jack soon left his business and embarked on a journey that saw him being the voice for those who cannot speak out and fighting for the dignity, rights and health for the vulnerable and poor worldwide.

2.5 billion people in the world live without access to a toilet. As “talking toilets was taboo!” at that time, Jack decided to act and in 1998 founded the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) whose mission was to raise the standards of public toilets in Singapore and around the world. With time, he realized that there were other similar organizations around the world, which led him to found the WTO in 2001 and four years later the World Toilet College (WTC). Today, after 11 years of existence, the WTO has 258 member organizations in 58 countries.

His passion and persistence has made Jack the globally renowned “Mr Toilet”. In 2001 and in 2006, the Schwab Foundation has selected Jack as the Social Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2004 he was awarded with the Green Plan Award 2012 by Singapore’s National Environment Agency. Jack is an Ashoka Global Fellow and since 2008 carries the titles “Hero of the Environment” awarded by Time magazine as well as “Asian of The Year” awarded by Reader’s Digest magazine. Jack is also Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum. This year he was named Synergos Senior Fellow. He is now also an Adjunct Professor at Tel Aviv’s College of Management Academic Studies.

Tell us a little bit about your life: Where and how did you grow up and how did your entrepreneurial career start?
I grew up in poverty in the 1950s-60s when Singapore was poorer than Cambodia. I understand the psychology of the poor very well. I watched how my mother never went to school, became a self-taught Wedding Beautician and how she eventually transformed her business into a 1-Stop Wedding Planner Center. She served 3,000 couples in her career. At the age of 5, I already understood that doing business is such an easy thing.

I did badly in school: too talkative in class and was often ordered to stand outside. I never went to University, so after working as a Salesman for three years, I started a business since I had nothing to loose. I started importing roofing tiles from France to Singapore and started one new business every year until I had 16 profitable businesses at age 40. But when I realized that the average lifespan is only 80 years, I decided not to waste my time. Instead of making more money till I retired I wanted to do social work, which is a more meaningful use of my remaining time on Earth.

What was the biggest entrepreneurial success you had before starting RAS and the WTO?
At that time when I started RAS and WTO, people were embarrassed and unwilling to talk about toilets. But what you don’t discuss, we can’t improve. So I made it humorous. Restroom Association of Singapore was very well received by the public the instant it started. We managed to clean up most public toilets in Singapore.

Using the acronym WTO, the World Toilet Organization broke the global taboo on Toilets and Sanitation. When politicians realized the amount of media coverage on Toilets & Sanitation, they joined in. Both the media and politicians gave so much legitimacy to our work that academia, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, technologists, corporations, funders and everyone else started acting on the Sanitation Agenda.

Later, I began to make Sanitation attractive by making it a status symbol. We also trained the less fortunate to adapt to our SaniShop Micro-franchise producing latrines and selling them at low cost to their communities. The first three years, we sold 24,000 toilets in Cambodia and the program spread to Vietnam, India and is stretching out to Nigeria, Indonesia, South Africa and the Philippines.

Was there anyone particular who helped you develop into who you are today?
Many people came to help at different stages: donors, corporations, volunteers, etc. But it was Mr Condom’s one-hour chat, which led me to a good strategy. He taught me that if I can make people laugh, they would listen to me. It worked wonderfully! He is one of my role models.

Tell us more about RAS: How did you come up with the idea of launching a toilet organization in Singapore?
I was bored when the recession came. I could not create new businesses. Whenever I could not create, I suffocated. It was unbearable for me to do routine work. So I created social work. One morning, my Prime Minister said that we should measure our graciousness through the cleanliness of our public toilets; I thought this is a really interesting thing. I started ABC (Architecture Design, Behaviour and Cleaning) as a mantra for everyone to get clean and happy toilets. I even started a Happy Toilet Star Rating for the public toilets in Singapore. In 2005, I successfully persuaded the National Environment Agency to change the Building Code of Practice such that ladies’ toilet can have more cubicles to compensate for the urinals in the gents, avoiding queues by ladies’ toilets. The same law is now available in Hong Kong, China, USA’s federal Buildings and in Australia.

What were the first days / weeks / months like? What were the biggest challenges you had to face during the early years of RAS and later WTO? How did you overcome these challenges?
It was fun all the way. You can’t fall down when you are sitting on the floor. I felt since it was neglected for so long, I could not make toilets worse; hence I could only make it better. I worked for free and alone for the first seven years, so there was no financial pressure. It was a One-Man-Show advocacy campaign but the media presence of World Toilet Organization was as large as a big global NGO. I used the Leverage Model: Aligning multi-stakeholders’ interests towards a common Mission. Instead of organizing the World Toilet Summits every year, I gave out hosting rights and got paid for it. Each host made a very good event and they too were satisfied. We never spent more than we had but as we became more credible, donors and sponsors came to us and today we have 16 staff members and are more organized than before.

I see any delays in success for my ideas as “work-in-progress” and when I wait a little longer, I usually find someone to partner and make it happen. The nearest thing to a challenge was talking to my own government. Somehow, it is always easier to convince a foreign government but harder to do the same at home. Prophets tend not to be welcome at home. Some called it “The Carpenter’s Son Syndrome” with reference to Jesus’ problem in Nazareth.

Were there any particularly amazing or disappointing moments, which you encountered? What were they?
The amazing thing is how much the global media love to write about Toilets and Sanitation once it was turned it into humour. Before that, articles were so boring because academia and bureaucrats wrote them. Once we turned it into sound bites, it went viral. A Director from Publicis, the PR company for World Economic Forum, told me: “When I first read about World Toilet Organization at breakfast, my first thought was ‘these folks have got the wrong name. Who is going to believe an organization with a name like that?’ Then at tea break, when I was having my second cup of coffee, I had an epiphany: ‘WTO, these people has the best name for their organization!’” He said it took him three hours to figure it out because the name got stuck in his head and he could not get rid of it. It stuck. He was also amazed that the WTO brand had grown so large over the years. He thought it’d be a fad and go away. Instead, we reached one Billion audiences last year with our messages.

If you were to start up your organization again, what would you do different today?
I’d recruit a full board of active directors. In the past, so many board members only lend their names but were passive. If there is a good multi-talented team actively helping, we can do much more for our mission.

If you had to indicate the success of WTO, based on which facts would you justify it? Do you for example know how many people, because of WTO, no longer have to live without toilets?
We don't have many measurements. But we know the following:

• We’ve broken the Taboo and got everyone talking about toilets when they were unwilling to do so in 2001.
  
• World Toilet Day is the biggest annual sanitation event with international participants. We’ve reached one billion members in 2011. In 2010, we even beat Justin Bieber on Twitter on the 19th of November, World Toilet Day.
  
• World Toilet Summits series has been successfully executed for 12 years in a row and it is going strong. Each event created massive mind set changes in each region it took place.
  
• SaniShop franchise sold 24,000 toilets in 3 years and is now spreading to other locations. It has also generated many similar models and this is a very good thing for the Mission.
  
• President Clinton’s endorsement of WTO’s work has brought great status to the Sanitation Agenda.
  
• Our work is recognized by Time Magazine as Hero of the Environment and passed through the rigorous due diligence of the Schwab Foundation, Ashoka and Synergos to be accepted into their Fellowship.

When I first started, I asked where to register a world body and was told that it is not where to register; rather it is whether you are recognized by the world as a world body. I think we accomplished that.

Where will the WTO go in the next years? What is your long-term goal?
We’ve to work collaboratively with everybody within the sector as well as across other sectors so that we can deliver sanitation in the most effective and efficient way. I see corporations as very good partners as they understand how to turn problems into business opportunities sustainably. Our partnership with Unilever is now very strong and in multiple countries. We’re now actively working with many other new ones. I believe that through market-based solutions, we can arrive at the day when everyone, everywhere can have access to proper sanitation anytime they need to use it. I imagine at least another 2 billions people can have that by 2020.

What are the main lessons you have learned since you became an entrepreneur?
That business is easier if you focus on where you want to go and not focus on what resources you have now. If you focus on limitations, not much will happen. If you focus on abundance, the whole world will conspire to help you achieve your mission.

If you are selfish, you will work alone and nothing will happen. If you are selfless, everyone will support you and success after success will happen for the mission. Not for you. It is not about you. It is about the mission. 

"The entrepreneur needs to realize that a good entrepreneur may not often be a good manager. Therefore, it might be better for him to recruit a good manager to implement his vision rather than do it himself.

The entrepreneur is a visionary person who sees the end result but may not have enough clarity on the process, the manager is a structured and disciplined person that manages every steps: human resource, finance, logistics, daily command and control.

Management is about control and Entrepreneurship is about breaking rules.

That is why the entrepreneur and the manager are often two separate persons. Sometimes, the same person can have both qualities, but this is very rare. "

Entrepreneurship has evolved into a huge trend. What are, in your opinion, the biggest opportunities and threats related to this trend?
The biggest opportunities are by the base of the pyramid where four billion new customers await. By turning the four billion into a marketplace, we can train them with economic empowerment to help themselves make profits and create jobs, improve quality of life and sustain the growth to get them out of poverty and into dignity. The biggest threat is Capitalism on overdrive destroying the environment, polluting the waters, the air and the land. We’re on a suicidal path and excessive consumption cannot be the symbol of success anymore.

The new definition of a billionaire should be one who improves the lives of one billion people. Not one who merely has one billion dollars because that has no meaning in itself.

Besides the fact of having started a business (for profit or not), what distinguishes an entrepreneur from everyone else? What role does “unreasonableness” play in this?
An entrepreneur must focus on his dream. He does not have a complete plan but he knows he’ll get there. He treads between courage and foolhardiness. His ‘unreasonableness’ challenges the status quo and brings him to a new realm. Whether this new realm is better than the last depends on whether the entrepreneur is one with a conscience. If he doesn’t have a conscience, he can do much harm to society. He must temper his ego and not let it control him.

In your opinion, what will “The Next Big Thing” be?
The next big thing is the BOP. That’s why I started the BOP HUB: (www.bophub.org). We can end poverty by training people to become entrepreneurs, tradesmen, sales agents and with appropriate technologies. Singapore got out of poverty through building its own peoples capacity through economic empowerment. It did not succeed because of charity. BOP is the marketplace where economic and social objective converges. Many Multi-national corporations have understood this message and will be entering the BOP in a big way. The trend BOP set has now become clearer. 

What do you see as the greatest challenges social entrepreneurs face in today’s world? What advice would you give them?
Decide on the un-served needs that you want to serve and be fearless. Fear is the main obstacle for people trying to create. Have the courage to believe you will succeed. Have the curiosity to learn what you need to do a good job. Have the humility to know that the mission is of first priority. Have the urgency to know that you don’t have much time because you are going to die when you are 80 years old. The days are numbered and you must hurry to make a difference. Live a useful and meaningful life. Die with peace in your heart knowing that you did not waste the time you have or squandered the opportunity to serve. That you have treasured every relationship you have had and given all the love you could give. Die happy.

If there were one change you would like to see in the world, what would it be?
That all religions converge into one and never have to be divided by their names, rituals, power or differences. We all eat, shit, live and die. We are part of nature and be humble that we are.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Nothing

Interviewee: Ranjan Ojha (Nepal)
Region: Nepal
Category: Music & Society

The Nepal Music Festival is not only a celebration of music, but of the different cultures and communities in Nepal. The festival unites people both domestically and internationally, highlighting that the Nepalese society can corporate despite major differences. Attracting international artists, Nepal is slowly becoming known for something else than extreme poverty. Nepalese history demonstrates that music has always been a key element for the population, which has made many exceptionally enthusiastic about the festival. The festival is especially encouraging the younger generations to stay in their country and make a difference and fight poverty. 

The founder, Ranjan Ojha completed secondary school in Nepal, after which he moved abroad. He attended universities in both England and Denmark: having studied international development at Roskilde University, Leadership at University College of Sealand and business studies as well as achieving a master in science at the De Montfort Leicester University. In 2008, Ranjan was the chief Coordinator of the Nepalese Students Network and in 2010 he became vice president of Global Medical Aid. Following by the Nepal Music Festival, which he initiated in June 2011. The organization stands for “3P”, which is the first of its kind in South Asia. 3P represents People, Progress and Peace.

The vision of the organization is to build peace, cultural and educational platforms through out time, which will create sustainable development in Nepal. This will be done by establishing trust and supporting the engagement of stakeholders from around the world.

Could you tell us more in-depth about the peace aspect of your project in Nepal? How has the situation (government corruption and poverty) in Nepal affected your project?
Despite the ongoing worse scenario of political, economic and social instability in the country, we (Nepali people) should not give up our esteem; but instead join hands for unity, harmony and hope for a better future. This is our voice!

Thousands of young people have joined Nepal Music Festival 2012 which shows the value of our music and culture that binds our diversity and also manifests the strong message of ‘’people, peace and progress’. Music and culture has its own meaning and is one of the major tools that in fact brings cohesion in the Nepalese society in wider terms.

Most Importantly, in the times of divisions in society, festivals where thousands of people came together, ultimately gives the feelings and message of unity and cohesiveness that resembles peace. Further, we also say its not enough. Nepalese people should work together constructively in creating better, competitive and prosperous future by their own hands. We should focus on our synergy and strengths, and of course our own recourses, that can be utilized to make the country move forward, which we believe is possible.

Peace gives immense pleasure to think about and work towards. When the project is going through a negative phase, it helps to talk about hope and the peace aspects. It benefits us to think; that if we fully dedicate ourselves to change, then it can be achieved. 

We have not experienced any problems so far. We know there might be obstacles on the road; poverty, education, jobs, health, innovations and lot of other factors are amongst the major challenges, but on the other hand, these problems are the source of inspiration to strive on. I believe there are not any problems that can’t be overcome. The question is how much do we strive towards it and how long does it take. And regarding the government, I am very optimistic; they will be the shoulder to lean on. We trust in common efforts and look forward to work closely with them and any entity that wants to add value in the mission and contribute in this process in taking forward.

How did you get the idea for your project and what was it like starting it? What was easy and what was difficult in this process?
It originally started with my former lecturer Mr. Ian Choo and few of my close and enthusiastic friends here in Denmark who were inspired and willing to do something for Nepal. We all agreed to run a volunteer run non-profit yearly festival where people can gather and celebrate for People, Peace and Progress in an international musical environment. On the run, we were also able to articulate our vision to our various friends in Denmark, Nepal and abroad and everyone was willing to be part of. Now we have support from various people, professionals, volunteers and organization. We are also happy to have support from the Nepal Tourism Board the government body.

The easy part, was my team, we immediately agreed on the concept and to move forward. We had a few challenges of having our own recourses, expanding our networks, telling our vision and stories, convince people and organization to support us. But now we have more people and organization that have already tied up the collaborations and more have already requested to join. I think this is going great.

How do you personally think your project contributes to development? And how does this relate to social entrepreneurship?
Nepal has massive possibilities in natural and cultural recourses for example tourism, agriculture, hydropower, cultural industries etc. But I don't think there has been a sufficient action plan to take the maximum benefit out of it and making these recourses the main backbone of our economy. Despite having our own strengths, that has to be explored, we have become a kind of parasite and have spent decades relying on others. The big question is, how long we can be dependent on the developed nations and how long can this be sustainable? That is why we say, its time to reflect, evaluate our own possibilities and explore new ideas. We hope our voice and action will open the door of dialogue and opportunities that will contribute to and support the development processes. In addition, we want to create an environment, where people can have dialogues, brainstorm, share ideas and knowledge. We wish to engage people in a debate in thinking differently (Out of the box) and see what creativity and innovations they can come up with, by using the recourses that they have in front of their eyes. This will enhance our youth generations to become a role model. They can create their own innovation that contributes to the development of our country. This leads people, particularly the youth, on the path of becoming entrepreneurs and innovators, which I think is key to drive the nation.

How did you make you project financially sustainable? What financial advice would you give to upcoming social entrepreneurs?
Sustainability is vital, because we don't want only to live, but also to grow. We want to build our own economy so that we can work towards our objectives. Our financial plan is based upon the economy, which we will generate from the involvement of our outside participants. This particiapants are, for example, audiences, partners, and other stakeholders, which will help to sustain the project. We hope people will join and take this as a celebration. In addition, we also want our partners, musicians and concerned stakeholders to understand our non-profit initiative and cause. Also, we hope they will contribute their support on their own initiative. I am very positive that the Nepalese government also supports us.

I think entrepreneurship is all about taking risks, doing something new and bring forth change, whatever the size or scale. So I suggest depending upon one’s financial and other capabilities, one should at least start to make the idea grow and expand. Eventually, it’s all about knowledge and creative approaches that you make to foster the actions further. If people believe your ideas, things will turn your way.

What can we expect from your project in the future, both short and long term? What do you hope it will result in?
Nepal Music festival is from the people and to the people. We hope it grows bigger every year, where many people and organizations join and takes it as a celebration of peace, hope and transformation. We hope our festival will carry the message of peace within and across the country. It should be a festival where people unite under one arena despite any differences or ideologies. We look forward to our many foreign guests who will join the Nepalese audience for the good cause. Our non profit initiative and the proceeds from the festival will contribute to the most pressing social causes within Nepal. Moreover, most importantly, our audience will understand that they are not only paying for the festival, but  also contributing to the good cause. We want to see Nepal music festival not only a yearly musical event, but as an organization working for development and progress.

Where do you think the biggest social entrepreneurship potential is in your country? In your opinion, what should the next generation of entrepreneurs focus on?
Nepal has many challenges to overcome, so I think there must be many opportunities and potentials for entrepreneurship. But I can suggest areas, in which I think the biggest potential for social entrepreneurship is in: education, health, agriculture, cultural industries, natural recourses, hydropower, technology and so forth that can create the vibrant the economy and social impacts. These are the major areas we should all focus on. These areas should be the starting point for exploration.                                                                                     

What is the biggest barrier in your country for social entrepreneurship to happen? What do you think is the best way to overcome these barriers? 
I think it's the embedded culture. We don’t have a strong background of entrepreneurial culture due to many influencing factors, such as tolerance of failure, individual passion, etc. Basically, people lack the knowledge of what entrepreneurship is. In spite of having creative ideas and imaginations, one lacks the confidence in his/her creativity and willing for the risk in making it happen. Similarly, we don't have a strong educational background that empowers youth and students to become entrepreneurs. Our education systems does not prepares us for it. This is the major challenge.

But this is not an excuse. It’s an incremental change process and we should trust our new ideas and move forward.  Sometimes there might be a small initiative of change, that can have a wider impact. But to start with, and importantly, the government should play an inspirational role in facilitating and engaging people into the perspective of seeing the world differently. The government should understand the importance of entrepreneurship, create a healthy and competitive environment and empower the citizens to create and transfer their knowledge to the society. Also traditional ways of learning needs to be reformed to prepare the upcoming generations to lead and bring their passion into actions and make Innovation to happen. 

What would you change in your country to make entrepreneurship a stable strategy to get more development?
The culture and passion of entrepreneurship should be empowered both from a government and society level. We have to create an environment where people can build up their confidence in trusting their new ideas and willing to take the courage to speak up and take action. We should prepare generations to think differently and look for new opportunities. Educational reform, new learnings, supporting peoples ideas and creative thinking is fundamental. The government can facilitate this process by investing in education, research and development, e.g. in Universities, ventures etc.

What advise would you give upcoming social entrepreneurs?
Knowledge and critical thinking is central, and combined with action plans will result in change.  

Entrepreneurs are the ones who create change. They are the role models and source of inspiration to the society. So I think they need to engage in a discussion of how they might bring some differences and make their own stories. Thinking differently and looking for opportunities is the seed. Preparing for the challenges that might appear on the way , continuous work, passion in what they are doing and dedication is a drive that will eventually pay off. 

Interviewee: Andrea Cornejo (Peru)
Region: Latin America
Category: Technology entrepreneurship

Development of today’s world is highly dependent on the access to the Internet. Virtually, every business and organization benefits from the use of the Internet, which has enabled numerous work opportunities to emerge. This has opened a way out of poverty for populations in developing countries. Coderise does not only give individuals these technological opportunities, but educates one how to manage it effectively . The organization offers the guidance to obtain work, both domestically and internationally, as well as how to start up a new technological business. Providing skills, tools and connections, Coderise enables high school students to earn a promising future. 

The Peruvian director and founder of Coderise, Andrea Cornejo, is a serial social entrepreneur. In addition, she is also known as an economic development and impact evaluation specialist. In the past Andrea has founded both EmprendeSocial (the first online publication of social entrepreneurship in Latin America) and Proyecto Viña Vieja (a development initiative in Peru). Likewise, she has been involved in numerous organizations such as KNG health Consulting, France Amérique Latine and Partners of the Americas. Having received her education from several universities including: Harvard University, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Swarthmore College, Andreas project has a promising future.

For her various entrepreneurial endeavors she has received various awards. In 2009 she received both the Wilma A. Lewis Fund Scholar and the Peter-Merts Scholar for outstanding academic achievement. In 2010, Andrea was presented with the Swarthmore Intercultural Taslima Nasrin Community Builder Award. In the future Andrea and her team behind Coderise wish for at least fifteen students to graduate from the pilot program launch their first Coderise Hackathon at the end of the program and achieve a basic level of Javascript for 70 percent of students.

Why did you choose to focus on kids, education and programming?
We chose to focus on high school kids because at this age a great amount of very successful programmers got their start. Also, at this age you can be heavily influenced before deciding what career path you want to take in college. We chose programming because it is a very concrete tool with a lot of values especially in today’s global markets. If one at least knows a bit of programming you can be both, much more competitive in the employment market and get one step closer to developing your own applications. Applications can help solving a problem you see in your daily life or in your community and get a head start from there.

How does Coderise support the students who participate?
The way our program works is that three times a week the kids come in and we have them follow a course given by two instructors for three hours. In these lessons they learn multiple concepts about programming, at the moment the class is focusing on Javascript. Additionally, each student has the opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with distinguished tech entrepreneurs and programmers. We do this so they can get integrated with the tech community and continue to be connected after the program is done. We hereby give the students a direct opportunity to become part of the tech entrepreneurial network. Whether the students go through to college or straight into the working environment they have resources to start. They both obtain valuable skills and connections. 

Why is technology entrepreneurship good for the future? 
Coderise is based on the idea that in the future technology is going to allow everyone to have the same knowledge. The access to technology is lower in the developing areas, which hinders individuals who do not go to the best schools and have academic backgrounds to be just as likely to innovate compared to other developed communities. This is the reason why we are giving them the tools, the programming skills as well as the recourses to help these people along to a successful career path. Through technology anyone can become an entrepreneur and learn about entrepreneurship, as one needs little financial capital to get started.  

From your point of view, how does Columbia foster entrepreneurship? Do they do this successfully?    
The technology field is slightly different from other places because it is quite easy to get started due to reduced capital requirements (e.g. labor costs) to get started. Columbia is a country to follow as an example for Latin America because the government is providing resources and promotes an ecosystem of entrepreneurship, which is the initial thing that needs to happen. How to foster social entrepreneurship is a combination of having the right knowledge and connections. Columbia is doing this quite well from a government point of view, as they are seeking to look into and connect with key stakeholders out of the country, to bring back successful initiatives and bring these together with aspiring entrepreneurs in Columbia. This is done to secure good mentorship and guidance, which needs to happen in order to create a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

How did you make your project financially sustainable?
For our pilot program we decided to do a crowdfunding campaign where we acquired the minimum funds that we needed to make our program successful. Additionally, we will most likely launch more structured campaigns at the end of the program for the future. However, it was mainly through a campaign advert through crowd funding and stretching across our networks to receive individual support from sponsors. These sponsors were also local companies that are especially development focused in Medellín. 

What restrictions do up-starting social entrepreneurs face in your country? How can they overcome these restrictions?
From my experience in Peru it gets really difficult with Bureaucracy. This is because even at the point when your project is bringing in volunteers and receiving donations from other governments, there are several conflicts with local entities. These conflicts make it difficult to initiatives to take place. Governments are often not good at making initiatives in different sectors work well together.  This causes government responses to initiatives to be unclear and slow.  Social entrepreneurs must “pick up the slack” and articulate how an initiative fits in with government objectives, because often this won’t be clear. Social entrepreneurs have to be persistent and develop strong communication skills. Work with deadlines and be very precise with every entity that is involved, local or national. 

Do you believe that the biggest barrier social entrepreneurs face is the government?   
No, there is always a way around the government. If it is necessary there are always short cuts one can take. The more significant problem a social tech entrepreneur can face is his or her team. The team has to be organized and consistent. Also, finding a way to ensure the sustainability of the organization and developing a way to effectively evaluate your results. The results have to be presented to the sponsors in order to get more support. When all of these objectives are met, it makes the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful project. 

What were the most significant barriers you met when you founded Coderise?
Coderise is fairly young as we started developing the idea in April 2012. What was very challenging for me was to set up a team in a location where I was not physically present. I did go to Columbia eventually, however, my team did work on the idea of Coderise for a long time while I was still in New York. It has been especially difficult to start a program before having the money to be paying everyone for the work they do. It is therefore difficult to manage a structured team when most are working voluntarily. The two instructors for the current pilot program are also volunteering, as it is very new and experimental. However, for the future we would like to pay them, as we would like to keep them in the project. 

How did you get motivated to start a technology education program in Columbia, sitting in New York and coming from Peru?
The social initiatives I led in Peru from 2006 to 2009 gave me experience in management of community development driven programs, skills applicable to any future endeavor. I gained a more articulate understanding of poverty, its origins, and traps from working on the ground. My perspectives and commitment toward economic development has always been global and never with geographical specifications.
Back in the US, I complemented these experiences within and out of the classroom discussions that led to a theory to reduce social inequality based on a not-so-popular tool: computer programming technology. To apply our theory, we chose Colombia for the pilot program for Coderise because it is a country with national (and regional) strategies to direct economic growth based on the technological sector. We also had a strong support in both network and tech community, which were essential.  

How did you experience the first few weeks and months when Coderise started?
It was a nice feeling finally having the project up and running, as we had been planning it for so long. Also, when the project hasn’t started yet it seems very vague and outlandish. We only got the instructors through our networks and connection with other people. At this point nothing was actually happening it was more recruiting the team and the curriculum technical advisors. So it was a great feeling that it was actually happening.

What can we expect from Coderise in the future?
On the level of our students, we can expect the graduating students to have basic working knowledge of Javascript, CSS and HTML. Furthermore, we can expect them to be more competitive in whatever they choose to do, both in college and in the working field. We also want them to be empowered by the motivational speakers they heard and use the skills they have learnt to be able to go out into the world and create and innovate the solutions to problems they encounter. In addition, we can expect an expansion in the model of Coderise, once we analyze results at the end and evaluate what needs to change to improve the program. Then, connect with others to figure out where there are more resources and support to expand Coderise as a program. 
In the long term I hope Coderise will enable more people to understand what a great tool programming is and everything it can be used for. Also, for the project to grow and expand into other countries and have different communities have ownership of Coderise to see students get more competitive on the career they decide on. Finally, seeing the next generation in Latin America becoming familiar and liking the idea of being able to innovate their technologies and ideas. 

Do you have any advice to give to upcoming social entrepreneurs?
I have learnt from being a social tech entrepreneur that it is important to take your objective very seriously and treat it as seriously as if it was a for-profit business model, even when it is not. Also, accountability towards your volunteers and measuring impact through quantity of analysis of data we collect. It is additionally important to understand what each team member contributes with and have him or her work at high work standards. It is important to learn from the private sector as they are highly efficient in getting the job done.

Anything you would like to add?
I think there are more private sector opportunities focusing on development, more than what we dare to think. There may also be opportunities where there don’t appear to be any at all. I don’t think that tech entrepreneurship is the only way forward in the future, but I think it is often a tool that gets forgotten with respect to social economical development. Therefore, where it can fit in and act as a supporting tool, it should be.   

Source: Eurostat

More than 75 million young people were unemployed in late 2010 (UN World Youth Report 2012). This is a trend that disproportionately affects the developed world, which might sound somewhat counter-intuitive if we consider the shrinking birth-rates. However, there are some logical reasons for this trend:

• An aging population.
• Pension systems that cannot afford financing people for 30 years or more after having paid into the system for maybe 30-35 years.
• An older generation that therefore needs to and wants to work longer.
• An academization of the younger generations as a result of the misconception that everyone needs to go to university in order to become successful.
• A mismatch between what is being taught at schools and universities and what is being required on the labor market.
• A lack of experience among the younger generations and at the same time a lack of available jobs for younger people to develop their professional track-record and gain work experience.
• An increase of productivity and automation in the manufacturing industry leading to job-cuts
• Universities that are too ignorant to develop function career-guidance services that help their students prepare for the labor market.

If no suitable labor market incentives are identified, the result will be economic waste as well as an undermined social stability and a marginalization of the local workforce, a valuable natural resource for any country. Entrepreneurship is one of many active labor market policies that need to be focused on. Supporting young people in gaining work experience through starting projects and companies is an effective mechanism to by-pass the challenges of getting an entry-level position. Of course, not everyone is made for entrepreneurship. However, by helping young people realize entrepreneurial projects and ideas, relevant skills for the general labor market are being learned.

Interviewee: Sebastian Lindstrom (Sweden)
Region: Africa
Category: Filmmaking

I, Sebastian Per David Lindstrom, hail from Sweden where I served in the Swedish Military Special Forces, learning, among other things, how to survive in -30 degree Celsius weather. After the chilly winters of Sweden, I thawed, graduating from the University of Hong Kong's International Business and Global Management program. I have also consumed knowledge at educational institutions in Singapore, China and Korea. I’m the co-founder of non profit organizations and have become an integral part of several more globally-focused groups, including the Sandbox-Network. One such organization, Light for Children I co-founded with two Ghanian partners in 2005.  The organization works with HIV-infected children and mobilizes volunteers from around the world every year to volunteer in Ghana on a variety of child-centered projects. I maintain links with The University of Hong Kong as part of this growing network that supports the region’s affected children.

Prompted by the question 'What took you so long?’, I bought the domain whattookyousolong.org (WTYSL) and subsequently launched a film expedition across Africa in search of the unsung heroes in the international aid community. In 2008, using only public transportation, we traveled from Morocco to South Africa. A new and highly formative string was added to my bow when the filmmaker Alicia Sully joined the crew of volunteers, later becoming an integral part of WTYSL. Upon completion of the documentary expedition, WTYSL co-created a screening tour which brought the film to 20 cities and universities across the US and eight European countries. 

WTYSL works in collaborations with NGOs and is contracted for freelance work. Some clients and partners include: USAID, TED, PBS, EDC (Education Development Center), Agora Partnerships, Makeshift Magazine, and PSI (Population Services International).

I am a passionate and energetic speaker who talks about what I know best, namely Guerrilla film-making and camel milk. The guerrilla ethos developed over the four years of WTYSL's existence filming non-profits and social businesses in more than 60 countries. In guerrilla filmmaking you embrace the unknown, never getting permits, working with semi-professionals and volunteers, and moving around with local people on public transport.

The most ambitious project thus far has involved a year-long journey, covering 20 countries, filming camel milk entrepreneurship and cultures. Due to this expedition I have become a huge Camel Milk promoter and consumer. To test out the Bedouin tradition of camel milk detoxification I stopped eating food and water in Nairobi and instead started consuming only unpasteurized Kenyan camel milk. Each day I drank five liters of the milk and after nine days my mind and body were clear. At the conclusion of my camel milk detox I was invited to Swedish TV’s biggest morning show to share camel milk and camel cheese with the host.

In April 2012 WTYSL was the official documentary team for the first ever TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, where 700 TEDx organizers from around the world joined forces to coordinate the 'ideas worth spreading' movement. A month later, taking the ‘ideas worth spreading’ further, WTYSL helped organize TEDxMogadishu "Re-birth" in a city that some still call "the most dangerous city on earth." The Somali Diaspora joined the event from abroad via live stream and Twitter to take part of the first sign of normalcy after 21 years of war in a stateless environment. In May the WTYSL team was in Rwanda filming the Rwanda Open Summit; a collaborative innovative space with education professionals from around the world who came together to discuss the future of education in the developing world. In June I was invited to collaborate on the education committee for Create32; an Austrian governmental initiative organized by the Austrian entrepreneurship organization to develop a vision of how the country should look 20 years from now. In July, I was a speaker and facilitator at the International Baccalaureate World Student Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in Segovia, Spain. 

Currently I’m in the Center for International Education’s Master’s Program where I’m focusing on open education solutions in complex regions. I will very likely remain an enthusiastic generalist due to my healthy obsession connecting people to co-create progress. Traditional education is not dead, it is just realigning itself in the world of crowd-everything and I would like to be part of this process. 

Goals
After over four years of filming, producing, editing and coordinating over 100 videos for non-profits and social businesses in over 60 countries, I have decided to dedicate two years of my life studying and working at CIE. 

The conversations I have had with CIE staff in the last month triggered me to venture out deep into the sea of alternative educational methods. I have decided that I would like to focus on the educational possibilities linked to the Open Knowledge movement.

My goal is to develop new open education solutions for children and youth, particularly in complex and fragile environments, that help eliminate barriers of entry into quality learning experiences. I want to assist in the creation of an ecosystem where knowledge is not pre-determined but can emerge through study and empower learners to feel curiosity of inquiry.

Rationale
Education systems, for some, have been a vehicle of division and the accumulation of power for a ruling elite. There are also massive challenges in delivering quality education to the approximately 39 million out-of-school children around the world who live in situations affected by vicious conflict.

I envision a future where Open Educational Resources (OER), a sub-product of Open Knowledge that promotes the idea of free sharing and peer collaboration, could potentially alleviate the digital divide between the global North and the global South. OERs will also contribute to decreasing the resource divide between rural and urban learning environments.

Such open education initiatives can widen access to quality education, especially when distributed and shared amongst many countries and higher education institutions. 

The primary region of intervention will be the Middle East and Africa. To enable a deeper understanding of the Arab context, I will undertake a program of language study. My chosen dialect is Egyptian Arabic, as it is most widely spoken and understood in the Arab world. To further build upon my filmmaking background, I will obtain a Graduate Film Certificate.

Flash. Right now a lot of my passion to film comes from my fellow team member Nate Mook ; he just told me to watch On the Road. This morning when I woke up I realized that my friend’s other restaurant in Mogadishu had been bombed and I felt no hunger to read or write. I wanted to sit down and run away so I started to watch Nate’s movie suggestion. One quote in the movie especially captured my imagination. “We were leaving confusion and nonsense behind, performing our one noble function of the time, move”. It resonates with me. In the end of the day my only quest is to move.

What is the vision for your films? What do you hope they will be contributing in the short- and long-term?
Our vision is to explain the world; other people will watch, take action, and in a perfect world,  improve it.

• Short-term we strive to create movement of thoughts and ideas; potentially through provocation, buzz or inverted hype.
• Long term we want to create measurable positive outputs like increase in funding, changes in the way people think / operate / share / do / live. 

How did you come up with the idea for the WTYSL Foundation? 
The name derives from a conversation with a girl named Lina who used to be very close to my sister. We were in a car driving to a beach somewhere in Los Angeles. 

For some reason Lina says: “What took you so long?” It resonated with my ongoing questioning of everything around me so I decided to buy the domain  whattookyousolong.org right away. What the domain would be used for was at this point still very unclear.

The idea of what we are, what we do and what we want to achieve has been fluid. I would argue that it is a child exploring and evolving throughout the world of development, outputs and impacts. Filming was initially a segment of our quest; it is now our vector of output; our soul to give. 

You seem to have become an expert of Africa, despite the fact that you are originally from Sweden. Tell us more about this and how it happened that you decided to follow this path.
Me nor anyone in the WTYSL team will ever consider ourselves to be an expert in Africa or anything else. The learning theory Connectivism teaches us that some people are good at finding the knowledge, others store it. I would consider myself, at the best, to be in the category of know-where rather than know-how. If a path is needed I’m on a path of diversity. A quote I read sometime ago in a report titled "future work skills 2020" by the institute for the future at the ‘University of Phoenix research Institute’ concludes that "Research now tells us that what makes a group truly intelligent and innovative is the combination of different ages, skills, disciplines, and working and thinking styles that members bring to the table". The What Took You So long team can embrace that diversity of learning and share via peerology and knowmadic epiphanies. 

Who is your role model in the entrepreneurial world? And why? 
I’m inspired by people who can do things that I can’t. Playing the guitar, the drums ; singing properly. Artists ; people who can paint and use their fingers in any direction. Long distance runners who can deliver four marathons in a row. I feel weak but it inspires me to push harder. Steve Jobs makes a great point in this video from 1995 ; 

“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you”.

What are the greatest challenges you have met in your entrepreneurial career to date?
To see a purpose in everything around you.

How did you make your organization financially sustainable? Do you have any financial advice to give to upcoming entrepreneurs? 
Stay off the radar. Minimize expenses rather than focusing on profits. Flexible budgeting where larger organizations will pay more for your services and smaller org’s will get a sweat subsidized price tag to enjoy. Don’t have kids. Have cheese for dinner. Couchsurf without guilt world wide. Ditch an office. Get unlimited data on your phone and turn it into a hot spot. Make love to the media ; they will add credibility to your story. Don’t feel bad about borrowing stuff. Make people believe in you as a person. Set up boxes with your belongings in friends apartments on all five continents. Make conferences pay for your biggest cost, air fare. 

If you were to start your organization today, what would you do differently?
I wouldn’t try to raise money with an idea to redistribute it to projects that were ‘good’. 

I would have bought a motorbike. I should have learned a new language. Built a stronger advisory board earlier on. Discuss scalability models in a dark room with people I don’t know.

Tell us about something you are exceptionally proud of?
I’m proud of the great friends I have made on the road. Filmmaking is the perfect vector to share your energy with curious souls. 

What was crucial when you founded your organization and what would you advice other entrepreneurs to do when starting up?
Start your vehicle and wait as long as possible until you register the venture into a non, for or hybrid profit / corp. Provoke to gain traction. Disrupt everything. Talk to everyone. Surround yourself with diversity. 

What are you next big goals with the organization and in life generally?

Big goals:

1.     Find a good animator who wants to join the road.
2.     Set up a Guerilla filmmaking school.
3.     Understand what complexity is all about.
4.     Be more humble.
5.     Learn Final Cut Pro 10.
6.     Learn Arabic.
7.     Buy a pair of second hand running shoes.
8.     Read more.
9.     Write more.
10.  Give back more.

Is there anything else you would like to add or talk about?
My running shoes were stolen by a taxi driver in Boston so now I can’t exercise.

If you want to learn more about what Sebastian is up to and the camel milk project, then take a look at his TED talk: