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Sustainability, collaboration and creativity are at the basis of the changes currently being experienced by our society. Since 2008, Defiant Imagination has been looking at how these concepts are being applied to different areas of our daily life: urbanism, food, the economy, social media, and more.
Its author, Flavie Halais, is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist.-
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Category Archives: Business and Economics
On giving
One of my last readings was Dambisa Moyo’s provocative essay Dead Aid. While I don’t feel qualified and knowledgeable enough to take a definitive position concerning the debate between international aid proponents and its detractors, I do feel that something has gone wrong in the relationship between developed and third-world countries.
The situation of dependence of [...]
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A visit to In Good Company Workplaces
A few months ago I found out about a unique coworking space in New York City. In Good Company caters exclusively to women business owners and provides them not only with an extremely convenient and elegant working environment, but also with valuable support and collaboration opportunities.
I visited the space last April during a trip to [...]
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Microloans work best when business skills are taught to receivers
A recent New York Times article looking at several examples of microcredit programs around the world notes that their efficiency is increased when business skills are also taught to the receivers. Small business owners thrive when povided with basic entrepreneurship skills and networking opportunities, which allow them to discover new approaches and ideas.
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Local currencies: help businesses, connect residents
An article in Yes! magazine’s summer issue presents local currencies as a way to limit the effects of the recession by stimulating local economies. Local currencies such as the Chiemgauer in Germany or BerkShares in Massachussetts force cash to be spent in local businesses, thereby maximizing the use of profits and reconnecting citizens with their [...]
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Microcredit institution moving to the West
The Internet-based lending program Kiva will now turn to the United States to fight poverty after serving third world countries for the past four years. Its president Kemal Shah said access to credit has become more difficult for small business owners because of the economic crisis, particularly in the U.S.
Kiva allows individual lenders to finance [...]
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Stimulate creativity, not infrastructure: Richard Florida
Creative class champion Richard Florida had a column in the Globe and Mail yesterday in which he discusses Obama’s bailout plan. Florida says it’s time to forget about infrastructure when putting together bailout packages because the new economy will be based on something else: creativity. Scientists, engineers and artists are the new driving force of [...]
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“Bigger than the internet,” but still useless
The Globe and Mail published an article last Monday about the Segway, this gas-free personal transportation device that was launched in 2001. It is small (with only two wheels,) doesn’t emit greenhouse gases and is great to use on short distances, like commuting to work. The Segway would solve so many of our problems related [...]
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Beat the oil price hikes, one milk jug at a time
As oil prices rise, so do transportation and fabrication costs. Plastic is already more expensive to manufacture. How long will producers and consumers be able to bear the hikes for? An American manufacturer has dared to do the unthinkable and gone ahead to redesign the sacred gallon milked jug.
An article published today in the New [...]
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Microcredit comes to North America
Grameen Bank and its founder Muhammad Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their microcredit activities in the Third World. And since it worked so well over there, they’re now bringing their services to North America. Grameen America recently started lending small amounts of money to prospective entrepreneurs in Queens, N.Y., while other [...]
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Charter cities: using urbanization to boost development