Read a Q&A with Romer on the New York Times’ Freakonomics blog.

Visit the project’s website.

Watch Romer’s TED talk:

The situation of dependence of third-world countries on foreign aid has been going on for far too long to remain healthy, and it has been leading to abuse in many cases (the example of the mosquito net, used several times by Moyo, is a good one. Mosquito nets manufactured by rich countries are then sent to poor ones out of good will, even though poor countries would gain more from manufacturing the nets themselves thanks to foreign investment.)

Reading Moyo’s essay has brought me to think about altruism and the act of giving. One thing I’ve learned from my trips to developing countries is that I had much more to learn and receive from the local population than the opposite. The reasons that motivated my trips had to do with a feeling of collective guilt that we try to address through aid. I do not wish to be in that position ever again, since I’ve come to think that it does more harm than good. What I’d now like to concentrate on, as far as international cooperation is concerned, is to foster mutual understanding and learning.

As for giving, I believe that many issues still need to be taken care of around me, even if I live in one of the richest parts of the world. I’ve thereby come up with a list of innovative ways to make good use of your money. Rule n°1: know where your money is going.

• Don’t focus on the material stuff only Journalism might be going through what might be its biggest crisis ever, but there will always be a need for reporting. Spot.Us gets readers directly involved in the editing process by allowing them to choose and fund the stories that they think are worth writing about. The website started out in the Bay Area and is now providing the same services for Los Angeles. If it works, this model could be brought to many other communities.

• Be picky With the growing success of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, we’re going to start seeing more and more online platforms that will facilitate the making of ideas and projects. Kickstarter acts as a fundraising platform for creatives who have a specific project in mind. For example, artists, photographers, filmmakers or writers can get help for their next book, film, or endeavour. Projects only receive fuding when the target amount has been reached, although this amount can go beyond expectations. In return, donors get involved in the creative process by staying updated and receiving little perks. A relationship can therefore be initiated between donors and receivers. Firstgiving is based on the same principles, but concentrates on charitable initiatives. Individuals can create a personal profile and raise money for the nonprofit of their choice. These platforms allow for donors to choose which project, among hundreds, suits them best.
  

• Be original If you have a lot (and I mean, a lot) of spare change you’re willing to give away for a good cause, the Globe and Mail can show you how . Their weekly column Giving Back, published each Saturday, features original ways of donating or raising cash. A soccer camp for kids with cancer, a community association, a specific research area, a student in need of a scholarship are example of recipients. Donations can amount to several thousand dollars.

• Invest in entrepreneurship I don’t want to rule out financial aid to developing countries entirely, as there are several kinds of initiatives I believe in. Microcredit is one of them, even though its efficiency is still subject to debate. Kiva acts as an intermediary between lenders and entrepreneurs in need of a boost for their business. Because you’re lending the money and expect to receive interests in return, receivers can keep a sense of pride that is lost in the traditional aid process.

As for me, I give a little bit each year to WBEZ Chicago Public Radio and WNYC New York Public Radio for my two favourite radio shows, This American Life and Radio Lab.

I visited the space last April during a trip to the city and had a chat with co-founder Amy Abrams.

How did you get the idea for In Good Company?

My business partner Adelaide Fives and I worked together for about three or four years in a consulting practice with women who were in career transition or women business owners who were experiencing problems. Over the years we found these women kept articulating the same challenges. They had this tremendous sense of not knowing anybody else who was doing this and when they had to see clients they didn’t have a place to meet them. We always wanted to give them a resource to solve this sense of isolation. We couldn’t find that resource so we decided to create it on our own. We thought that what these women were missing was a community of peers, and a place to work at when they needed it. A lot of good resources were getting lost because people didn’t know how to share them.
We knew we wanted to have a physical space and allow people to rent it when they needed it. That already existed, but the key component to what we wanted to do that was different was this sense of community. So we described ourselves as a community membership and a community workspace. In order to ever use our space you have to be a member of our community.

Can you tell me more about this community aspect?

By becoming a member of our organization you get to be part of our community in person and online. We have about eight events a month: lunchtime meetings where we have a specific topic that we’re discussing, panels, evening events, holiday parties and cocktail hours. Sometimes we invite successful local entrepreneurs to speak about their experience. We also have smaller affinity groups, like mother business owners, women consultants, women over 60… We also have an online component, with a membership directory and several ways for people to communicate with each other.

What would be different in a community like this from a mixed community where you have men as well?

I have to speculate on the answer because I’m not involved in a mixed community. What we find in working with women is that there seems to be some significant things that they had in common with one another. Some of them wanted more balance in their lives, whether that be family balance or  otherwise. The flexibility of our workspace seemed to really appeal to them. Sometimes they wanted to work at home, sometimes they didn’t, sometimes they wanted to work three days a week, etc.
In terms of the community, there are a lot of workers organizations that are mixed and I think that they’re great, and many of our members belong to lots of organizations. What was missing was an organization of women business owners in New York that could meet in person and offer a variety of things.

Do you think that women do business differently than men?

Yes and no. I think that if you’re smart, talented and successful it doesn’t matter what your gender is. The women in our community really love to help each other. They look to connect with other people and they have some need to not be isolated, but there’s plenty of other people who like to work by themselves, plenty of men who like to work by themselves and plenty of men who like to work around other people. I think people just self-select for this community’s offerings.

You say that your members have a lot to exchange even if their businesses are different. Can you give me some examples?

Our members tend to collaborate all the time here, if they need a resource, a web designer, a lawyer, a health insurance provider… They make a lot of introductions on behalf of one another. Sometimes they are redesigning their logo and they just want some feedback from people who aren’t related to them.
A lot of time people miss going somewhere and having people that they know they can chat with, where they can see some friendly faces. Humans are social beings. People really crave that and they don’t realize when they start their own business that it’s something that they will miss.

What are the challenges that women face that come back regularly?

Sometimes women entrepreneurs need to be more specific about the amount of money they want to make, and they need to be very clear about how to make that money. They should be very clear about what they do well, and make sure that they’re doing that the majority of the time in their business. People come here a lot of times and they’re very isolated, that is very detrimental to your business. If you’re not around other people who are doing similar things, it just makes it that much harder.
I also think you have to take yourself very seriously and have a professional identity. In some cases it’s totally acceptable to meet in a coffee shop, but in other cases people won’t take that seriously. You need to think about what your goals are in business and make sure that your decisions reflect those goals.

What about family?

For the women who have younger children, this is a perfect blend, because they can work a few days a week. A lot of women go into business for themselves at certain career junctures so that they can have more balance with their family life. Others are taking care of aging parents. Our community allows them to meet other women who are in the same boat and get support from them.

Amy Abrams

What kind of advice would you give to someone who wants to start a business?

If you want to start a business, I would be very clear about what you’re good at, and I’d be very aware of what you’re not good at. For example, let’s say you know that you’re really good at sales but you’re not a great accountant and that’s going be a part of your business. What you should do is find some type of software or keep all your bills organized and give them to someone, but you don’t have to be good at that to do you own business. I would be very clear about what your goals are; do you want to have flexibility, make a lot of money, be the biggest this…
I would also talk to a lot of people in the industry that you’re interested in. For example if you want to sell a product, do your research and make sure that it doesn’t exist or that there’s a market for it. If it’s a service, you want to know what people charge in that industry.
You also want know your peers in that industry, so even if you decide to be a financial consultant, you want to know other financial consultants. They’ll give you leads or they’ll refer people. You should also make sure that you find a community of people who are starting their own businesses so that you have support along the way.

Photo credit: Flavie Halais

The entire issue is devoted to the new economy, showing examples of how to give the control of our global economy back to citizens, from local banks to worker co-ops. Quite interesting…

Kiva allows individual lenders to finance small businesses without receiving any interest in return. So far, more than half a million lenders have contributed almost $80 million to business owners in the developing world.

Grameen America, another microcredit program, also started operating in the U.S. after winning a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their activities in third world countries.

Source: BBC News

The creative economy already includes roughly 30 per cent of Canada’s work force and about a third in the U.S. It accounts for more than half of all wages and salaries paid in each country. So, if the stimulus were allocated proportionately, between $250-billion and $375-billion should have gone to the U.S. creative economy; in Canada, the figure would be $12-billion to $20-billion.

Florida makes a parallel with the New Deal, which at the time focused on infrastructure and assembly line products instead of the aging agricultural system. It’s time for us to make the transition to the new economy.

I have another idea for a small carbon and gas-free personal transporter. It’s called the bike, it’s cheaper and makes you stay fit.

Read the Globe and Mail article and a Daily Mail article which describes another way to use the Segway.

An article published today in the New York Times describes how Superior Dairy, a company based in Ohio, has introduced new milk jugs in Wal-Mart and Costco stores. The new jugs are easier to stack and can be transported by bigger quantities, allowing the number of delivery trips to the stores to be reduced. The company saves time, energy and labor. According to customers, the jugs are a bit difficult to handle at first but hey, can anyone come up with a better idea?

Learn more about milk jugs on greenUPGRADER and Design Research.

While the New York Times dedicated an article in April to Grameen’s operations in Queens, the Globe and Mail published today the summary and some excerpts of an interview with Yunus.