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Author: Elmira Bayrasli
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Tag Archives: entrepreneur
Be careful what you wish for
The Turkish-based charity Insani Yardim Vakifi, known by the initials IHH, has come under heavy scrutiny since Israeli commandoes attacked the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara last week. It was IHH funds that bankrolled the Mavi Marmara’s “humanitarian” voyage to deliver relief supplies to Palestinians in Gaza. Was there more to it?
Israelis believe so. “The IHH..is widely [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged entrepreneurship philanthropy, flotilla, IHH, Mavi Marmara, Muslim entrepreneur, Turkey 2 Comments
Goldman Sachs 0, White House 1
Day two at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. Here’s what I wrote for Portfolio.com about one of the themes that came out of the day’s discussion: government v. business. And while poor Lloyd Blankfein slugged it out with Carl “I don’t trust you” Levin, the 250 plus Muslim entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders gathered for [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged business, entrepreneurship, Fadi Ghandour, Goldman Sachs, government, Mo Ibrahim, President Obama Summit on Entrepreneurship Leave a comment
There’s no such thing as a “Muslim” entrepreneur
From ash clouds to Foggy Bottom. This week I’m hanging out in our nation’s capital, attending the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. You can read my thoughts and impressions on www.portfolio.com. Here’s my first one, talking about how surprised I am that the conference isn’t “business as usual.”
On poverty alleviation: stop the entrepreneurial madness
David Henderson, a social enterpreneur, posted this great blog “No Not All Poor People are Entrepreneurs” on socialentrepreneurship.change.org today. In it he points to something I’ve always believed was a problem in poverty alleviation efforts: the Western propensity to “romanticize the poor as entrepreneurs.”
“The unifying trait of the poor is not entrepreneurial spirit. It [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged David Henderson, entrepreneurship, poverty, social entrepreneurship 2 Comments
Entrepreneurial Lessons from an Egyptian (who inspired Bob Dylan)
Since I was in Cairo this past week, the only thing that caught my eye was Egyptian entertainer Umm Kulthum.
Umm is hailed as the Arab World’s – not just Egypt’s – greatest singer. She sells nearly a million records every year. On the first Thursday of every month, Radio Cairo plays her songs. Not bad [...]
It’s the investors, stupid
Entrepreneurship is hot in the Middle East. And that was long before President Obama announced last June in Cairo that he would host a summit on entrepreneurship, which will take place April 26-27, 2010 in Washington DC.
Arabs are abuzz about getting their ideas for new businesses off the ground.
Habib Haddad, founder of Yamli and Yalla [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Egypt, entrepreneurship, Habib Haddad, investor, Jordan, journalism, Maktoob, media, Middle East, President Obama Summit on Entrepreneurship, venture capital, Yalla Start Up, Yamli Leave a comment
Where entrepreneurship is the dream and the NBA is just the stepping-stone
I have no interest in basketball.
But when I heard that fellow Brooklynite and former New York Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury landed in China this week to play for the Shanxi Dragons, I fiendishly tore through the sports pages to find out why.
Leaving the NBA for a foreign league is, I’m told, a career killer. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged basketball, China, entrepreneurship, Le Bron James, NBA, Shanxi Dragons, Stephon Marbury Leave a comment
A Savings Revolution Sparked (Already…)
It is time for the global microsavings movement Nick Kristof. In this column Kristof talks about “one of the ugly secretes of global poverty” which “is that a good deal of suffering is caused not only by low incomes but also by bad spending decisions.” That’s because most people in the developing world [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged agriculture, banks, entrepreneurship, Kristof, microsavings, New York Times, Nicaragua, poverty 1 Comment
The Sugar Palm Fairy
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, — Kethana Dunnet was just being a supportive wife. When her husband Bruce agreed to volunteer for the New Zealand government in Kethana’s native Cambodia, she left her job with New Zealand Air and joined him. After a few weeks she became restless. That’s when she decided to become [...]
Inside the poverty puzzle: a plug for slum tours