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Author: Elmira Bayrasli
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Tag Archives: entrepreneurship
In Egypt, give ‘em entrepreneurship
In the frenzy to understand, analyze and predict the historic events unfolding in Egypt, many rightly have focused on the Egyptian economy. Here are some interesting data points: A year ago, Egypt’s government released figures on the country’s poverty. It showed that it had reached 23.4 percent, “up from 20 percent the previous year.” In [...]
Twins? Handel & Jay-Z
It is not uncommon to see the word “entrepreneur” alongside “rap artist” when describing Jay-Z. Founder of RocNation, co-owner of the 40/40 Club and investor in the New Jersey Nets, Jay-Z has extended his innovative hand into the boardroom. (For more, watch this great Charlie Rose interview.) He has been featured on the cover of [...]
The Mark Zuckerberg moral: Entrepreneurship or Terrorism?
Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg is TIME magazine’s person of the year. That has unleashed voluble outrage, particularly on Twitter. “The world is off its rocker,” one Twitterer commented. “Ridiculous,” noted another. Among the 140 character crowd Wikileaks’s Julian Assange seemed to be the favorite. (Definitely not mine.) TIME notes that “person of the year” isn’t [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Afghanistan, developing world, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, opportunity, Pakistan, person of the year, Richard Boly, terrorism, Time magazine Leave a comment
Social innovators of the world unite!.. in Japan
This is why the next social innovation conference needs to take place in Japan. It’s a pay phone shop — in Japan. A pay phone shop was the last thing I would have expected to find in the East Asian island nation. Isn’t it supposed to be the world’s technology capital? Yet after attending a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged development, Japan, JICA, RIkkyo University, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, technology Leave a comment
Pakistan postcard part four: Smell
Part four of my five-part postcard of impressions of my Pakistan visit… smell…. Smell It brought tears to my eyes. As soon as the astringent yet sugary scent that wafted through the Marriott Karachi hit my nose, my stomach tightened: someone was cooking onions. I hate onions. There’s no real explanation for it. I just [...]
Pakistan postcard part two: Sound
Part two of my five-part postcard of impressions of my Pakistan visit is what I heard…. Sound Pakistan hums with machinery. It is a powerful hum that, in certain instances, drowns out all other sounds. One barely notices the cacophony of Pakistani families who travel in packs, or hears the ‘Allahu akabar’ of the azan, [...]
Pakistan postcard part one: Sight
A week ago, I visited what is supposedly one of the most dangerous places in the world: Pakistan. While I do believe the country has serious security concerns, the only threat I came up against was traffic. And that, compared to New York or Istanbul, wasn’t all that bad. Here is the first of my [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged aid, Ataturk, culture, development, economic growth, entrepreneur, Jinnah, Muslim entrepreneur, Pakistan, Turgut Ozal 6 Comments
It’s the markets, stupid
The take-away from day two of CGI is that development has moved on from the question of whether it’s okay to profit from the poor. Today’s CGI nugget: embrace the market. That’s where the opportunity, as Bono has declared, to “Make Poverty History” lies. Or, to put it in Clintonian terms: It’s the markets, stupid. Read [...]
Capitalist Cuba?
CNN runs a story about the Castro government’s announcement to lay off 500,000 state workers over the next six months – and, interestingly to allow “private sector jobs.” There are no details about how those private sector jobs will be created (I’ll get into CNN’s awful reporting another time). CNN just says that: “(a)lternative forms [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Castro, CNN, Cuba, entrepreneurs, for profit entrepreneurship Leave a comment
In Egypt, entrepreneurship isn’t all business