International Development and Entrepreneurship

The Beginning: Recently (and only after a great deal time and thought) I have decided that the purpose of my near to medium term future will be focused on International Development and Entrepreneurship.

In a sense, this has been clear ever since I graduated New York University in 2005. After graduating, I worked in India as fellow for a microfinance NGO. Working in the most rural parts of India, I helped to bolster local businesses and entrepreneurs from the bottom up.

Later, I lived in Veracruz, Mexico, for a Microfinance Institution (MFI), delivering market solutions to improve the livelihoods of urban poor individuals. Most recently, I assisted in researching and writing a USAID report which sought to understand how inflation is affecting MFIs in four countries.

I hope to use this blog as both a forum and journal. Everyday I read, research and seek to understand the numerous components that make up international development. It is a daunting and challenging activity. I feel, as not to get lost in the sea of information, it is useful for me to keep a record of my findings and ideas.

Through the blogging process, my goal is to record my findings, spread information, relate to you my ideas and exchange new points of view. I have always valued a paradigm shift and my hope is that this blog will be a means to that end. I encourage you to participate in the dialogue with me.

To close, I would like to leave you with a clever way in which technology is bringing awareness to one of the most desperate crises in the international development arena. It is a video game called Darfur is Dying.

http://www.darfurisdying.com/

In the game, you are a Darfur villager living in a refugee camp. The game does an excellent job in highlighting the daily struggles of people in Darfur and is a good way to introduce the topic to children and individuals new to the subject.