A few thoughts on education and OLPC

‘One laptop per child’ gaining ground in India. It is for those with little or no access to education

India has ‘just begun’ taking an interest in the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) global initiative that aims at providing poor children with laptops to open up a world of education to them.

http://www.laptop.org

OLPC is one of the best examples of inclusive growth-the question I have is why are so few schools taking the OLPC in India and how can the reach of this device be expanded to include most children-in my opinion every school in India should join together and create a demand for more education in India-just 3 shifts of 8 hours each in which to teach and break will automatically increase demand for education in general and provide more employment opportunities for qualified and capable teachers.The advantages of 3 shifts of 8 hours each in schools will be:-

1. the number of children being educated will triple in one shot.
   
2. more employment to capable potential teachers.
3. faster learning using technology and the OLPC at the primary levels.

This will need a change in mindset and a must do attitude should evolve-the state and central governments can think of incentives for such schools-most importantly such thinking must not be forced upon managements and must be presented as an option.

Twitter and StumbleUpon

I have more than 80 twitter followers and have made more than 20,000 discoveries on StumbleUpon for more please visit:

1. http://twitter.com/parvez1
   
2. http://parvez.stumbleupon.com
   

Dream big - with a laser like focus!

This entry has been reproduced with permission.

Here are the common sense reasons why a laser focus is more likely to lead to startup business success:

• Time to market is critical. It takes too much time to build processes and products to capitalize on a broad strategy. Meantime, small competitors will appear and seize your business opportunities and steal your targeted customers.
  


• Keep infrastructure costs low. Every business needs some basic equipment and infrastructure, and ongoing development costs. Attempting to roll out the big dream internationally all at once costs lots of money. Getting more money is hard, but not as hard as building the big infrastructure and getting it right the first time.
  


• Need to be nimble. Every successful startup I know has had to “dodge and weave” quickly as they learn what their customers really want, and what really works in product design and marketing. Bloated products and the grand unifying “theory of everything” won’t allow you to adapt quickly to market changes and mistakes made.
  


• Proving market leadership. Success requires market leadership in your product area, and it’s easy to see that pushing more products and services dilutes your focus and attention. Market leadership isn’t a one-time thing, it means continuous innovation, or you will be left behind.
  


• Maintaining quality is key. The more you try to do in parallel, the harder it is to maintain quality. Remember the old maxim that “you only get one chance to make a great first impression.” Customers are fickle, and good quality and goo customer service is hard, even with a focused product.
  


• Personal bandwidth is limited. When things become too messy and complex, and even you are not sure of priorities, people get disillusioned, tired, lose motivation, and tend to give up easily. A laser focus is easier to communicate, easier to manage, and more likely to get done quickly and well.

Be inclusive in bringing about growth - be clean and green - get the local people and government to be on your side.Save resources and spend wisely on essentials till the venture starts to become profitable-find ways to complete the needs of people and customers-many times barter does work-a fair bargain is what must be offered to people with whom one interacts-it works for even the local community.
I have added my thoughts to the article here - it is brilliant and to the point - very relevant today to read the full article please visit
http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/

Thanks Marty.

Banning of plastic bags-I oppose this stupidity

Why is banning plastic bags good-they really save energy and are very convenient - incineration or depolymerization of plastic bags for energy or fuel is an answer- think about which other packing material keeps your food safe, your purchased items waterproof,gives many poor people a means of livelihood,a road that is reinforced by plastic, lightweight,can be recycled multiple number of times-today plastic bags are even biodegradable are you aware of any other material available at low costs for developing countries-how will you provide solutions for more than 10 million poor people,100 million,500 Million,1000 million and more etc without use of plastic, water, food,fuel, oils,chemicals,blood,etc all must have plastics - think before supporting meaningless bans on plastic-one has absolutely no idea of even enforcing such a ban at low costs.Besides plastic bags save trees by reducing paper bags.You want the oxygen to live.
Neither governments nor rich people are willing to give real world solutions and most if not all use plastics-extend this argument to even ewaste,medical waste,Municipal solid waste,etc and you cannot even imagine the cost of not using plastics.

Twittering around and Justmeans

I am on twitter and justmeans - see http://twitter.com/parvez1 and http://www.justmeans.com

Alltop and sterilization

The top news happening in most tops is found on http://www.alltop.com - it is a wonderful source that anybody surfing the net can lookup and get their daily dose of info.I use the Green News section a lot.

Another really good news is the sterilization of stray dogs in India - a great effort to eliminate rabies - how ever this will happen over a period of 10 years.

We are what we do!

An excellent post by Jonathan Lewis - with the economic crisis showing signs of coming back again one is really compelled to do more - it is with combined efforts only will success come faster and people must do a lot more.

Everyday in every moment of our lives we are faced with a choice - are we spreading oportunities or not,are we being helpful and nice or not - it is not easy but even more difficult to not do what we can - think it over. The opportunities are there all around us-we just have to open our eyes and see things differently - we must inspire and motivate ourselves and others.

People and time do not wait - the poor too are alive to what is happening today.We wil be held accountable and there is no escaping from the same.Let us share dreams,create opportunities and reach out to the lesser fortunate.

TOGETHER FIGHTING POVERTY AND DOING GOOD IS POSSIBLE

Be a Doer, Not a Talker.

Posted by Jonathan Lewis on 07/07/09
This year, around the world 100 million MORE people are hungry. They consume less than 1800 calories per day. The total is now over 1 billion hungry people, up 11% from last year.
Civilization, if it can be called that, seems to create poverty and disadvantage as fast as it builds prosperity and opportunity. It is easy to become disheartened and self-questioning.
The Opportunity Collaboration, set for World Poverty Day on October 17, 2009, in Ixtapa, Mexico, will bring together the doers who are fighting the scourge of poverty. From social investor to nonprofit leader, from philanthropist to social entrepreneur, we need fulcrums of hope – levers to make change.
As a matter of conscience and common sense, we are compelled to ask, what is worth doing? As the website says, we are what we do (www.wearewhatwedo.org).
In the community of entrepreneurial global citizens, the most effective intervention, the most impactful approach and the most efficient way to use resources is an active debate. Some favor scaled governmental solutions; others prefer smaller, targeted nonprofit solutions; others demand self-sustaining, even profitable, private sector solutions.
For my part, I like them all. With equal enthusiasm, I take advantage of privately-sold fire insurance, expect rapid, efficient service from tax-supported government fire departments and hope that my neighbors learn from nonprofit, community-based fire safety programs.
A world of poverty is not news. 2.6 billion people lack a toilet, outhouse, pigsty or even an open drainage ditch for sanitation, a euphemism for keeping excrement out of the human water supply. We each have our own disturbing image of poverty. Mine is a woman who rises in the dark for some measure of privacy while she completes this basic bodily function.
The “sadness numbers” are numbing. Billions in poverty, 27 million in slavery, a landmine kills or mains a person every hour…

Finally visit http://www.opportunitycollaboration.net and do a lot more.

On entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship and therefore "the entrepreneur", is at the core of what makes an enterprise succeeds, whether you call it an entrepreneurial firm, a small business, a family business, a home-based business, or a new business.Find solutions that consumers are ready to use and clients are ready to pay for - stick to the essentials:

1. Save time
2. Save money
3. Save resources
4. Increase sales
5. Reduce inefficiencies in process(es)
6. Be inclusive - the solution must uplift even the lesser privileged
7. Spread the risk

Find people who believe in the idea,build a prototype or find clients willing to buy int the idea, minimize risk (both imagined and actual),leave aside and ignore people who say it is not possible and just do your thing to create value for clients and consumers.
http://www.icecd.org
http://www.niesbud.nic.in
http://www.nstedb.com
http://dare.co.in/
Go green and help save the environment too in the bargain.Most of all never give up.