Author Archives: Heidi Cuppari

Bill Clinton, Dona Linda Manueles, and Summer Cuppari Gould

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Summer VIP reception

On December 4, 2012, my seven-year-old daughter Summer got to see Bill Clinton speak on behalf of rural poor families around the world making $1/day.

 

Bill Clinton Speaks for iDEBill Clinton, at the recommendation of one of iDE’s donors who worked in his administration, chose to surprise, attend and speak for 12 minutes at iDE’s second annual Leaders In Their Fields Luncheon – because he believes in the mission.

I’ve included the transcription on my blog here, as well as the raw video comments of his speech. Here’s a news page of iDE’s site which recaps the event nicely.

Meeting Bill Clinton felt like meeting a living legend. Beyond politics, wherever you lay on the spectrum, few can refute what he’s done for humanity since his time in office.  A lucky few of us were able to meet him backstage right before he went onstage. Present here are, from left:  Stephanie Cox, Tim Prewitt, Paul Polak, Bill, Rehan Hasan and Jim Deters.

group shot

I was moved and elated that this living legend made his way to this event.  This is the second year iDE has had this fundraising event called Leaders In Their Fields which was named intentionally so iDE could award and highlight first the excellence and accomplishments of the farmers in their lives, and also to create space to bring in incredible speakers of relevance and reverence such as Bill Clinton.

One of my other special moments goes to having met and connected with Dona Linda Manueles who won the Leaders In The Fields award this year.

dona linda heidi michaelWe instantly felt connected to each other, and I was deeply honored to meet a woman who has done so much for her family and community.  I love this photo – it shows our joy that comes with a shared purpose. On the right, one of iDE’s Ambassador’s, Michael Tracy, smiles to himself. It was a wonderful moment in time.

At iDE, for the past 2 1/2 years, we built a fundraising department focused on investments of time, money and talent from individuals and corporations.  We created the Ambassadors’ Circle for people like Michael and their families to be able to invest their time along with their money and that be valued just the same.  To create a community of change-makers with means who care about each other and our mission.

On December 4, my heart exploded with possibility for more positive impact on humanity as a result of what we were all able to pull off on that day.

hick and romanoffWith Andrew Romanoff as emcee, we had 750 people present, including Governor John Hickenlooper, (in photo along with Romanoff on right) other public officials,  the state treasurer, the city council president, heads of companies, out of town companies present, partners organizations, new family foundation donors, etc, etc..

Best of all, my mother Brigitte Cuppari and my 7 year old daughter Summer Cuppari Gould were able to be there to experience the event. When Clinton took the stage, Summer grabbed my iPhone and started filming Clinton and whispered to me with bright excited eyes:  ”When was he President, Mama?”

Summer LITF

The joy I felt with three generations of my family – all strong women – in this room filled with potential, possibility, hope and humanity – was profound.  To inspire my daughter to both understand what I do and how I serve humanity, to share with my mother who from a young age did everything in her power to foster, encourage, and support a world vision in me – is something I never imagined could happen, and is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.  Bridging the gap of generations and action and service is the best holiday gift, and launches me into the new year filled with hope for the future.

News Links:

Read about the event in the Denver Post here. Or, in The San Francisco Chronicle (AP) here.

Or watch a clip of the event on Denver’s CBS 4 News site here.

What does Hub Boulder and Brown University have to do with Apollo missions?

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I’m sitting in a cafe in Providence, Rhode Island with the week’s events and activities swirling around in my mind and body.

I’m filled with awe, inspiration and a feeling of deep connectivity to both Boulder and Brown, and the collective energy and leadership that both have inspired in the field of social enterprise.

On Thursday evening, I attend an event in Boulder for key community members and investors to pool their collective resources, finances and talent to launch the HUB here. About 60 people gathered in a circle and shared stories about how and why they feel the HUB needs to be here. Investors, entrepreneurs and advisors came together and realized that the power was in the hands of the people in the room.

From Executive Director Greg Berry’s invitation to this event, I quote:

At HUB Boulder, we are catalyzing a business eco-system by incubating start-ups, promoting sector-leading business practices, and accelerating impact investments.  Members will host and attend uniquely thought-provoking events and talks, meet with new partners and old colleagues, and drop in to work, whether for half an hour or the next five years.  Connected to a network of more than 30 similar spaces around the globe, HUB members have a home base wherever their travels take them, from Seattle to Sao Paulo and London to San Francisco, and access to thousands of change-makers world-wide.

The elation I felt from being a part of this founding group of community members made my heart soar as I got on a 7AM plane the next morning to attend the first ever SEEED (Social Enterprise and Ecosystem Development) conference at Brown University, my alma mater. I had been asked to speak on a panel at this conference on behalf of iDE.

I arrived late to the conference just in time for a panel on Impact Investing with Tracy Palandjian, CEO, Social Finance, Inc., Bill Strathmann, CEO, Network for Good, and Michael Brown, CEO & Co-Founder, City Year. Read their bios here. It was an excellent panel with so many different perspectives and I was honored by their willingness to participate in Brown’s first conference of this kind.  I asked the last question during the panel: “What do you think is missing in this sector to unlock and realize the $3 trillion market JP Morgan describes? How can we get this into the public eye and funnel the most capital into the hands of social enterprises?” and I got three great answers, two of which are highlighted here:

Tracy Palandjian answered – “We need the business cases to prove that investors can make money by supporting social ventures.” Excellent answer and totally spot on.  Then, Michael Brown answered:

We need an Apollo of our time.

I heard an audible gasp of inspiration and awe in the crowd. It took our breaths away.  Then I thought, I have to find that Apollo and support it, or do it.

Throughout the conference I was touched by the openness and willingness to collaborate and share. Like at the HUB gathering, I felt that I was part of the founding members of something bigger than myself that would be a beacon to the world.

Then, during the lunch session on Saturday, I realized what that Apollo might be.

I met a 16 year old entrepreneur who lives in Providence. Brown had partnered with Social Venture Partners, Rhode Island, which has had tremendous leadership and innovation in supporting local social entrepreneurs. They partnered with Ashoka Youth Ventures to support a youth program.  This young man, John Novas, had been supported by SVPRI and sat at a table with professionals, investors and other entrepreneurs more than double his age.  He told us about his business, Earth Custom Designs, which takes non precious stones from the developing world, makes them into jewelry and sells them here in the US, and gives back to the communities that sent the rocks. He wanted to help others as he felt he had been helped to start this business.

All of us at the table were dumbfounded. We were supposed to come up with a product or new venture at the table but we couldn’t get past the awe we felt for this young man, with this incredible spirit, who wanted to help the world.

All we could do is jot down a few notes about creating a loan fund for young entrepreneurs under 20.  I knew there was something here, but at the moment we couldn’t fully structure it because we couldn’t stop asking John questions about how he got here. We asked what he needed from us. He said just keep doing what you are doing. Didn’t ask for a thing. The humility baffled us.

I realized in that moment that something really profound had happened around that table.

The Apollo of our time would be an entrepreneur like John Novas.  Youth. The youth of the world would unite us like nothing before it.

It hit me that the HUB Boulder would support youth entrepreneurs and gather around them with all of our skills and mentorship, and help them become that Apollo mission.

And so would Brown, Social Venture Partners Rhode Island, and everyone around that table who represented consulting firms and organizations such as Acumen Fund, iDE, and Brown University.

I passed a note around the table for everyone to sign their name and their email addresses. I took a picture to record it and email to everyone, and gave John Novas the note to keep. I had to take a picture with these young men:

The Apollo missionaries of our time

After the conference ended, we all got an email from John and his partner Anthony no less than an hour later:

Hi guys,
On behalf of Earth Custom Designs, I would like to thank you sincerely for giving me the opportunity to come in and be a part of the Seeed Summit, I truly appreciated all of your time and support. From your kind words and through your actions, I admire your work as well as your passion in helping social ventures grow. Throughout our interactions you were always professional, kind, and considerate and you always stayed true to your mission.

Thank you for taking the time out to talk with me. If there are any more opportunities that are linked to Seeed Summit, I would love to be a part of it.

As a reminder, my venture is Earth Custom Designs. We make bracelets that incorporate non-precious stones from developing countries that support the growth of education in poor villages where the stones first originates from.  My business partner Anthony Defilippo and I will definitely keep you updated on the progress we make with our venture. Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely, Earth Custom Designs
“Uniting the world, one stone at a time”
Anthony Defilippo and John Novas

So, to HUB Boulder and to Brown University – I invite you to keep being the beacon to connect the global and local communities around supporting these incredible heroes. I will support you and sing your praises, and be a part of the foundation that creates the change we want to see in the world.

With love and great hope,
Heidi Cuppari

 

 

The Day That Changed My Life

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Dear visitor,

If you are here, you probably care about the world.  I need your help to spread the word about this unique and sustainable approach to poverty.

I’ve been working at iDE for nearly 2 years, but the moment that changed my life—the moment when I truly experienced the impact of our work first-hand—was the day I met Anita Mwembe in Zambia…

Back in 2007, Anita and her family were living in a thatched roof hut on a small plot of land. She was making only $1-2 per day by selling packets of sugar and chickens outside the front of her hut. After becoming an iDE entrepreneur, she learned farming practices and invested in a drip irrigation system, which now allowed her to grow year round and sell crops for a better return.

Today, Anita is a full-scale entrepreneur. Not only has she quadrupled her income in only 5 years, but she’s also started a seed collective, purchased a car to get products to market more quickly, and even setup a women’s micro-lending network to support others in her community grow their businesses. But most important of all, is what this has provided…

Anita can now afford to send all of her children to school, she has built her family a new brick home, and she is even giving back to her community.

In short, through working with iDE, Anita’s entrepreneurial spirit has been unleashed. Her dreams are flourishing.

Since my trip to Zambia, I have traveled to Bangladesh and Cambodia also and I continue to be incredibly inspired and touched by the sparkle in the eyes of the people we work with – those who have invested in their future and with iDE’s partnership, brought themselves and their families out of poverty.

Please join me in spreading the word and help me reach my personal goal of $10,000 this holiday season. Our board is matching up to $50K dollar for dollar, so your investment is doubled.

It would be the greatest gift I’ve ever received if I reach my goal – which means we can help 500 individuals out of poverty.

So please give what you can, or help me spread the word. You will make more people happy than just me.

Thanks, and with great hope and love,

Heidi Cuppari

Donate Now

 

Celebrating Ten Years of Acumen Fund – Joy, Humility, and Bollywood Style Flash Mobs

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As I stepped out of the taxi in front of the Skylight SoHo in NYC last Thursday, I took a deep breath.  I was about to walk in to the celebration of Acumen Fund‘s 10 year anniversary.

During my time at Acumen Fund in 2004 and 2005, we were a start-up.  6 years later, we’re a global phenomenon.

I say “we” – because once you become part of the Acumen Fund community, you are always family.  There’s something really deep that connects people that come in contact with Acumen Fund.  I think its a sense of real commitment to people. To the world. To innovate new ways that can change lives. To unrest and unwillingness to let people flounder while others flourish.  To recruiting the best and brightest minds in the world to this cause, and unrelentingly pursuing solutions that work.  To knowing that we are all one and we are all connected, and there’s nothing we should stop at to give people the opportunity to change their own lives.  When you feel that, along with others, it’s unstoppable and the constraints of time and space don’t apply.

I now live in Boulder, CO. Acumen Fund is based in NYC, where I lived for 10 years.  I moved here to pursue a more balanced lifestyle, and still, I can’t rest until I find more like-minded people who care about the world in this way. I have found it in Boulder. There are so many conscious, loving people here. It’s why I am so passionate about my work with iDE which is headquartered outside of Denver – its the same story. I learned about iDE when I was at Acumen – because Acumen invested in iDE’s India program. I have been using the story of micro-drip irrigation for years when people ask me what social enterprise is.

Somehow, the stars aligned so that I happened to live in Colorado when iDE was hiring for the exact same position I was doing at Acumen Fund. I’ve been at iDE since February 2010 and have had the pleasure of visiting Zambia, Cambodia and Bangladesh to meet our customers.

My heart explodes with hope for humanity when I see the work that Acumen and iDE do.

I digress.

The celebration was spectacular. There were 450 people. Each person got a gorgeous scarf as they walked in.  Many people, including myself, were  dressed in South Asian garb. (I was wearing a Bangladeshi dress that I had made when I was there in February. I knew this would be the perfect place for it)

The energy was connected and loving and celebratory. During the cocktail hour, a flash mob assembled to dance Bollywood style in the middle of the crowd.  A spoken word poet named Sarah K inspired us with her words about being a teacher in New York. Aaron Neville performed his beautiful songs. There was an engaging 7 minute video about Acumen told by the community. And Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen’s visionary, brilliant, open-hearted CEO and founder, gave an inspiring 30 minute speech about where Acumen’s been and where they are going.  They have ambitious goals: to double their portfolio to $150 million in 15 countries by 2015, while also expanding their leadership programs to include 400 leaders and 40 chapters with the goal of serving 150 million individuals.

Here’s the flash mob of dancers, made up of staff, board members and donors:

Here’s the 7 minute video during the program:

One of the main things that struck me was the humility. The truth about failures was not hidden, and there was a real effort to make everyone feel a part of this community. Even the fact that Jacqueline, my old boss, said she was proud of ME. Here’s this incredibly successful woman who inspired me to do what I do now, and still has time to be humble and give so many compliments to others. Here’s a great pic I had to share, because it shows the joy in our faces:

I was so proud to have been part of this incredible organization in its start-up days, and to see it flourishing now. I’m honored to have shared this incredible night with this inspiring global community, which came from 20 countries around the world to be there. There were Indians, Pakistanis, and Saudi Arabians all dancing together like family, and there was Jacqueline, heart exploding with joy at what’s possible.

This is the hope I see for the world.

What does it mean to you to operate from a heart-centered place in business?

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This summer, I was asked to do a 14 minute “TED” style talk at Harvard’s Igniting Innovation Summit on October 1 by the enterprising undergraduate chair, Kara Kubarych.  Earlier this year, I had conducted a guest lecture in David Ager’s Social Entrepreneurship class about iDE, and Kara had been moved by our work.

The theme of the summit was ‘movement’ and ‘action’, so I was asked to speak about bold actions for social change.

As I prepared in the weeks prior and thought about what I wanted to talk about, it came to me.  I want to talk about a different way of being in the world. A different way of being in business. To not accept the status quo of conformity and actually operate in business from a heart-led place. To me, it means operating from a place of fearlessness, open-heartedness, and authenticity.  What would it look like if everyone operated that way? If all business owners and leaders operated that way?

I wanted to gain some insight and inspiration from other business leaders in Colorado where I live.  The perfect opportunities presented themselves right as I needed them as I flowed through meetings in Boulder, and in the form of a w1sd0m gathering in downtown Boulder, CO.  I grabbed my iPhone, launched the video camera, and started asking the question without them knowing what I was going to ask. The responses I got astounded me.  I just had to include them in my talk. These leaders are successes in the fields of social enterprise, renewable energy, green/fair trade products, philanthropy, and asset management. My brilliant volunteer intern, Jenny Wardell, created an amazing video from these compiled clips to include in my talk. I thought you’d enjoy seeing the incredible consciousness and leadership in this field exploding in Colorado.

Now, I ask you, the reader of this blog – no matter what you do, please consider this question, and please post your answer. I want to hear from you!

Falling in Love

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I’ve fallen in love.

It happened right around Valentines Day.

Landing in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 10, buoyed by the excitement of a new connection I made with friends in my own community, I was open to whatever came next.

After 35 hours of travel and 1 hour of freshening up, me and my travel partners Laryl Hutchin and Ilona Niemczyk, fellow colleagues at IDE,  arrived at the IDE-Bangladesh country office and greeted with open arms. Led by Rajiv Pradhan, a superstar social entrepreneur and the Country Director here, the staff there had arranged for our adventure to begin the next morning, guided by the brilliant and beautiful Raisa Chowdhury, IDE-Bangladesh’s Communication Officer.  We set out to drive 6 hours to Barisal, a 200 year old Muslim city in the southern part of Bangladesh.  Hanif, our driver, has been with IDE for 13 years so I knew we were in good hands.  I put on some music and watched out the window as we drove at breakneck speed and skill to our destination.

The next morning we left on a speedboat to an Island named Bhola.  We were going to meet IDE’s fish and vegetable farmers on this island. Since IDE works in partnership with rural poor families, we look at their entire situation for what might help them increase their income, whether its vegetables, fish, pigs or other such income generating activities.

After driving and walking through stunning vistas in this tropical place, we found a group of fish farmers first, and then through a grove of banana trees, came upon a group of women farmers.

This, my friends, is where it happened. I fell in love, and my heart cracked wide open with the possibility of the human spirit.

These women were strong, confident, and hard-working. They had been working with IDE for 4 years – and because of our partnership with them, because we work with them as customers and partners, not beneficiaries, I could see the progress.. In this remote place, the women and their families were flourishing.

They were still poor by most standards, yet the smiles on their faces belied another quiet but strong factor in their lives.

Those smiles came from the dignity of being able to feed their families, send their children to school, and expand their farms.

They asked for visits to commercial farms so they could grow theirs. They wanted better rates and terms from micro-finance institutions. They knew all of the players and they knew what they wanted.

They offered us coconut milk, tomatoes, and asked us questions about why we were there, etc.

We are here to learn from you, we said. We want to tell your story so we can reach more customers like you, to provide tools and opportunities to more farming entrepreneurs like you. We are also mothers, we said. We are just like you. We are one.

I showed pictures of my little children, Summer and Cody, on my iPhone. I had videos as well, and showed them. That’s when we all fell in love with each other. They crowded around to see my children. I played the videos and pictures over and over on their request. They let us hold one of their gorgeous babies.  They invited us to come back for lunch with our children, and come live with them for a while.

Here’s a photo with the women:

My new family

The incredible thing is that this is only one story of many that occurred during this trip. After Bangladesh, we went to visit Mike Roberts and his superstar team in the IDE-Cambodia program, and went on field visits in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh – we had more adventures, connections and inspirations than I could ever write about in one blog post, but stay tuned!

Every day I was inspired, for 10 days straight. Every day, my heart broke open wider. Between connections with farming families and staff halfway around the world, and connections with new people in my community back home, I’m awestruck by the potential we have, at IDE and in our lives, to unleash the human spirit and inspire dreams and change and entrepreneurship.

This is what I live for.

To connect with and fall in love, over and over again, with the human spirit.

Thank you for this experience and this learning, IDE.  You are one incredible organization!

———————

PS. To view slide shows of my trip and our adventures, click on the below links. As a facebook friend you should be able to view them:

1. Bangladesh Album 1 – great hair, fish farms and more..

2. Bangladesh Album 2 – landing in a village where westerners have never been..

3. Cambodia – pig farms, latrine selling, and a social enterprise for water filters..

Midterm Election Agita

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Ok. I’m sitting here having forced myself to watch the midterm election coverage. (and yes, I voted this morning and volunteered for GOTV in 2008). I wanted to watch Andrew Romanoff cover Colorado, not only because I think he’s brilliant and talented and inspiring, but also because he has recently joined IDE to spread awareness in Colorado and beyond for IDE and our market-based approach to ending poverty in the lives of rural poor families in the developing world. He believes our work is incredibly important and wants to put himself and everything he has behind us. I’m sad that he lost his bid for a US Senate Seat, but the 1 Billion people who live on less than $1 / day won when he decided to focus on giving them a chance.

Now, if you met me only 2 years ago, you’d think of me as obsessed with politics and activism and ranting about all of the things that are wrong with the world.  If you met me 7 years ago, you’d have seen me tirelessly working on Howard Dean‘s campaign for President in New York State.  In either case, you’re probably surprised to see that I had to force myself to watch election coverage this evening.

So, why the change? Simple: Optimism.

I choose to live my life surrounded by people working together to solve global problems.

It doesn’t matter if you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party, or any other affiliation out there.  If you are part of a family, or have a family, you can probably connect with this sentiment:

You want to be able to make your own choices and solve your own problems. You want the opportunity to lift yourself up if you are struggling, to educate yourself and your children, and to live in a safe home. You want to be able to purchase life-saving medicines. You want to eat three meals a day.

You want someone, somewhere, to see your potential. That you are worthy of an investment and you are not a recipient of charity.

In my experience since I’ve been in the field of social enterprise, I’ve not met ONE person who doesn’t nod when they hear this. Who doesn’t connect with that need and that burning desire.

Folks, THIS is the place where we can all start from, to begin creating massive global change.  I invite you to post your comments, ideas, thoughts and passions. We have a lot of work to do to unleash human potential together.

And THIS place is where we can meet, beyond all ideas of right vs. left, and as Rumi said “meet beyond all ideas of right and wrong.”

Inspiration in Zambia

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Sitting here in my hotel in Lusaka, Zambia after a week of inspiration, learning more about IDE‘s work at one of our more developed African country programs.

There is so much to report.. I don’t even know where to start.

On Saturday I arrived and immediately was transported to the Henry Tayali art center, where I met with some Zambian artists to procure some artwork for IDE’s exhibit in Denver at the 910 Arts Gallery on Santa Fe, “Art of Dirt“. Memories of my NYC art consulting/art dealing & appraising career in the late 90′s, I listened to stories of inspiration and creativity by these amazing artists. I will be posting some photos of the artwork once our art auction site is live in a few weeks.

On Monday, my colleague and I visited the Zambia headquarters and formally met the staff, comprised of irrigation experts, agriculture experts, farm business advisors, monitoring and evaluation staff, and consultants who make up the incredible country program where 16,000 farmers lives will be impacted this year. This entire operation is set up to teach rural poor farmers how to install and use irrigation equipment, how to grow the highest value crops for the most amount of income, pest management, fertilizer application, and seed procurement. IDE uses the most thorough and integrated approach to educating these farmers to increase their income.

I visited countless farmers who have gone from tiny plots with no irrigation to much larger plots in one year. One farmer, Jordan, is in the beginning phases of his training with IDE and went from making 700,000 kwacha a year (about $140) to $1200 a year in ONE GROWING CYCLE.

Lloyd, another farmer who has been working with IDE for about 3 years, started with a small plot, and purchased a treadle pump, then added drip irrigation, then a motorized pump and is now the lead farmer in his 35 farmer group. All of his 5 children go to school, and 2 have graduated high school and are looking to go to college. He has increased his income FIVE TIMES over in those 3 years.

IDE is to micro-irrigation and farm business advising as Grameen Bank is to micro-credit.

The impact is astounding.

Not only does IDE help increase the yield of the crops with these farmers, but we also help them get access to markets. Brokering deals with seed companies, supermarkets for local produce, farmers markets, and more. I could just see the entrepreneurial spirit bursting out of these farmers who wanted to get bigger and bigger as they saw the power of this type of knowledge and training, and access to agricultural input products, and saw how they could make money by pooling their yield to sell to larger and larger food companies and organizations.

IDE unleashes the entrepreneurial spirit of the rural poor… and helps them become serious commercial smallholder farmers who hold the key to global food security.

Only 10% of the ‘irrigatable land’ in Zambia is being utilized. Supermarkets and food brokers are ordering food from South Africa. Not necessary. The entire country’s economy could potentially be transformed if we are able to scale in Zambia. Focus on Scaling Market Access, Replicate that in 12 country programs, scale globally.

That’s the power of IDE’s potential.

When I get home, watch out for a fundraising whirlwind to make this happen! If this inspires you as it has me, contact me and let’s get you involved with this incredible work, however you want to contribute!

More soon…

What Will I Show My Children?

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This past week, the CEO of IDE (International Development Enterprises), Al Doerksen, asked the collection of VPs, Country Directors, and staff to bring a tangible ‘show and tell’ item to our first ‘home week’ meeting (4 weeks a year when everyone suspends travel to collaborate in Denver) as a symbol of IDE in our current experiences.

He asked our imaginations to run wild.. and so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined the most important thing to me and why I am working with this organization. For me, its about the LOVE. Love for my children, of course, but also Loving and caring enough about every person in the world to work our tails off trying to give people at the ‘bottom of the pyramid” the opportunity to make more income with simple, affordable irrigation technology, so they can make their own choices and solve their own problems. The words Pride and Dignity ring true. Unleashing the power of smallholder farmer’s entrepreneurial spirit. Enabling these hard working farmer families to dream.

And so, to the meeting, I brought a little toy race car.. and read the poem below to everyone in the room, breathing deep in between every stanza. Enjoy.

What will I show my children?
Fast cars, or dried tears of happiness
on the face of a farmer who can
finally provide for his or her family?


What will I show my children?
That I maximized  shareholder profits, or
that I maximized smallholder profits?


What will I show my children?
A world that focuses on attacks and hate,
Or a world that provides
options and prosperity to
the developing world?


What will I show my children?
Expensive prep schools,
or that I helped millions
of girls go to school in
the developing world?


What will I show my children?
That we ignore the bottom of the pyramid..
where people are left out and can’t dream…

or that we – and them -

can be the change we want to see in the world?


-by Heidi Cuppari, written for her work with IDE – International Development Enterprises.

If you are interested in IDE’s work, please feel free to set up a meeting or teleconference with me.. I’d love to tell you more!

Here are links to Donate Online or Get Connected to follow IDE’s work.

Volcano Explodes Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford & London!

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IDE, w1sd0m, Skoll World Forum, Oxford Jam, TedXVolcano..

WOW! I don’t know how it happened, but somehow life has conspired to effect collaboration on a global scale. Ride-sharing, couch-surfing, new communities and networks forming … its mind-boggling and unimaginably inspiring. Last week, Oxford UK became the nexus of global social entrepreneurialism – launching a phenomenon (with a little help from a volcano in Iceland) that feels as if it has irrevocably altered the landscape for social entrepreneurs, their projects, and the people they exist to serve.

I came to Oxford During the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship on behalf of IDE – (International Development Enterprises), a 28 year old organization founded by Paul Polak. I was to meet the international board and discuss how IDE could achieve greater scale and impact by helping more people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) sustainably increase their income . We stayed at Corpus Christi college and enjoyed gorgeous days and intensive discussions with great minds. I managed to make it to OxfordJam for a breakfast about online collaboration platforms for Impact Investing – I could only stay for an hour, yet even in that brief period met an incredible group of people open to innovation and collaboration on a scale I’ve never before experienced.

The volcano had already erupted, but nobody paid it any mind till the conferences were over and we realized that we were stuck. So back to London we all went..

… and so now, a new community is being born that is coming together in an even deeper way.

Saturday there was a great Kiva event where people shared Kiva trivia, their own business ideas, and trains and bus trips to the south of France and other places were arranged.

Here’s a little video clip of Matt Flannery, Kiva C0-Founder, and Premal Shah, President:

After this fun trivia contest, Matt & Premal asked if anyone had an emerging company and would like to talk about it. I stood up and introduced w1sd0m, an emerging network that I’m helping to build as core team, that helps social & sustainable enterprises like IDE (For which it’s already opened a lot of doors) find the intellectual, human, social & financial capital they need.

Sunday was the first ever “TedXVolcano” organized by Nathanial Whittemore, Evan Grant & June Cohen. In 36 hours these rockstars brought together TED, TEDxLondon, The Hub, Sandbox Network, Newspepper.com, & Robert Leslie along with Skoll World Forum Speakers and other great minds such as Matthew Bishop, Jim Hornthal, Gary Bolles, Peter Greenberg, Elizabeth Lindsey and musician Shesheela Raman.. Click here for the story of how they did it..

One of my favorite moments was when Jeff Skoll read his volcano poem:

Jeff Skoll’s volcano poem

This is an ode to the volcano
That sent our travel plans into the draino
I’m not really one to complaino
But this all hurts my little braino
Madrid, Casablanca, Amsterdam, Rejkavik on cruiseships
The trains will fail
All the escape routes that we planned
Are blocked by nature or by man
We heard the French trains may soon be striking
At this rate we’ll all be biking
With our luck we’ll all be struck by lightning!
This is all rather frightening
So better we all meet at TED
That is what I should have said
So thank you June and thank you all
Damn the volcano, let’s have a ball

Presented at TEDXVolcano, London, 4/19/2010

Monday afternoon, Suzanne Biegel, social venture investor and “catalyst at large” (i love her title!) and Dr. Audrey Selian of Rianta Capital organized some action-takers from the Friday OxfordJam breakfast who have built collaboration and connection platforms for impact investors and social entrepreneurs. Socential, Artha, ClearlySo, Nexii, Sasix, Gexsi along with w1sd0m were there to talk about ways to collaborate in an efficient way and eliminate waste of resources for entrepreneurs, and the networks themselves.

Another networking event after this meeting led to even more fascinating conversations over dinner with Jill Finlayson & Jason Clark of SocialEdge, Lora O’Connor of Citizenglobal.com, Cathy Clark who runs the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) program at Duke, Suzanne Biegel, Sean Holt, David Green (Solar World for All), and others.

Waking up this morning I’m slammed with all of the ideas, people, and inspiration swirling in my head. I don’t even need coffee!

As much as being ‘stranded’ in London would be viewed by many as disastrous, the remarkable thing about this exceptional group of people is that, when faced with no other options, they simply turned lemons into lemonade. For the past ten days, due in no small part to the intercession of the very earth so many are working to save, some of the most brilliant minds and open hearts in the world have come together to talk, to dance, to celebrate – and most importantly of all, to find new ways of working together (as the Buddhists would say) in service to all beings.

I’m grateful and honored and humbled to have been invited to engage with these people, at this time, in this way.