TechnoServe

Willy Franzen — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:00:09 +0000

As an entrepreneur I am a strong believer that businesses are often the best way to solve problems. Don’t get me wrong—I love non-profits, but the ruthlessness of the business world breeds efficiency and effectiveness. We’ve seen plenty of non-profits try to cure poverty, yet poverty remains one of the world’s biggest problems. Lately we’ve seen more and more business based solutions aimed at eradicating poverty. TechnoServe, is a non-profit (the irony!) that is doing just that. They help “entrepreneurial men and women in poor areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, their communities and their countries.” What they’re doing may sound like some new social entrepreneurship startup, but they have a 40 year track record of successfully transforming the lives of the world’s poor. I guess business based solutions to poverty aren’t a new idea at all.

TechnoServing Up Some Exciting Jobs

When I first heard the name TechnoServe, I imagined some sort of technology related non-profit; however, that’s not what they are at all. In fact, what TechnoServe does could be considered quite basic. They’re helping people do what other people have been doing for thousands of years—building sustainable businesses. Last year they helped 1,350 businesses generate $149 million in total sales, while in the process touching the lives of 1.2 million people. TechnoServe does this through three key practices: Developing Entrepreneurs, Building Businesses and Industries, and Improving the Business Environment. Over the years they’ve expanded to more and more countries, so they now cover: Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and India. Their U.S. based offices are in Norwalk, CT and Washington, DC; and you can find information on their jobs here. Most of their job openings don’t profile for new college grads and they don’t accept applications for unlisted positions; however, with the right background (they really like consulting experience) you may find a few of their job listings to be a good fit. Additionally, they have a three to twelve month Volunteer Program that can groom you for a job with TechnoServe. Check it all out and see what works for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you heard anything about TechnoServe?

Trickle Up

Willy Franzen — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:41:19 +0000

I’m not going to start an Economics debate on a Saturday morning, but I’m tempted. Trickle Up is a non-profit organization that was named as a slap in the face to the theory of trickle-down economics. Regardless of their economic philosophy, they appear to be doing great work by empowering “people living on less than $1 a day to take the first steps out of poverty, providing them with resources to build microenterprises for a better quality of life.” Trickle Up is based out of New York City, and they believe strongly in microfinance, micropreneurship, and microenterprises as being the solution to worldwide poverty. Their website does a great job of telling their story, so I recommend that you check it out to get a full feel for whom Trickle Up helps and how they do it.

Trickling Up

Trickle Up’s Jobs page is extremely simple and doesn’t include many details about what it’s like working for them, but it does include job postings with in-depth descriptions. There’s a Development Associate – Individual Giving position that doesn’t appear to require very much experience. It’s not explicitly entry leve, but if you have any fundraising/development experience, then it’s certainly worth a look. The deadline for applying is January 19th, and you can apply by sending a cover letter, resume and one writing sample to jesseg@trickleup.org with “Development Associate” in the subject line. There’s also a Program Associate for Africa job available (although the deadline was yesterday, 1/9/09). It looks like a really cool opportunity, so it might be worth trying to sneak in a late application by sending a resume and cover letter to africa@trickleup.org with “Program Associate” in the heading. It appears that the Development job is located in New York City, and the Program Associate job is in Africa. Trickle Up also has headquarters in India, Mali, Uganda, and Guatemala and projects in even more countries, but there don’t appear to be any other jobs available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Trickle Up or Trickle Down? Both?

One Day, One Job » africa

TechnoServe

TechnoServing Up Some Exciting Jobs

Trickle Up

Trickling Up