Archive for September, 2010

Microsoft Alumni Foundation Selected Cliff as a Finalist of Integral Fellows Award

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

This post is from Arthur Tao:

Cliff, our founder and Executive Director, has been selected by Microsoft Alumni Foundation as 1 of the 5 finalists of its Integral Fellows Award.

The purpose of the Fellows program is to recognize and support Microsoft alumni who have made a meaningful difference to others by using their talents, time and resources to change the world for the better. The Foundation seeks and identifies nominees who embody the values of entrepreneurship, innovation, collaboration, and integrity, and have achieved extraordinary results in their chosen endeavors.

As a finalist, Cliff is in very good company. The other 4 finalists are:

Up to four winners will be selected by a prestigious panel of judges:

- Tom Brokaw, journalist and author
- Bill Drayton, Chairman and CEO, Ashoka
- William H. Gates, Sr., Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Pierre Omidyar, Chairman and founder, eBay, Inc. and founding partner, Omidyar Network
- Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
- Thomas J. Tierney, Chairman and co-founder, Bridgespan Group.

The nominees, finalists and winners will be recognized and honored at the 2010 Microsoft Alumni Foundation Celebration this November 18, where Bill and Melinda Gates will announce the winners of this year’s award.

The selection of Cliff as a finalist helps Literacy Bridge gain visibility of its work and impressive results. As Cliff said in his interview by Microsoft Alumni Foundation: “It’s time for us to scale up, and this nomination is a great way to help build awareness”.

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Business Plans and the Global Social Benefit Incubator

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Here is a post from Cliff:

I spent two weeks in Silicon Valley last month as a fellow at the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), an outstanding program run by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. The program gives social entrepreneurs business skills, tools, and mentors to help them create the greatest impact possible. Read what another fellow thought about the program in this Huffington Post article. The timing of the program was perfect, as we just started selling our Talking Books a few months earlier.

I first learned about the program in the Social Edge newsletter. What attracted me to the program was the application process — three homework assignments about our business plan that was reviewed and commented on by GSBI staff. You can read more about the program here.

The first day of the 14-day in-residence program required us to stand up in front of the faculty and a few dozen guests and give an elevator pitch. They are all now posted on YouTube; you can see mine here.

Also during the first day, we met a few alumni of the program, including Matt Flanner (founder of Kiva), Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu (founder of the Smallholders Foundation in Nigeria), Marc Krizack (executive director of Whirlwind Wheelchair International), and Manoj Sinha (co-founder of Husk Power).

Literacy Bridge may soon be partnering with two of those organizations, the Smallholders Foundation and Whirlwind. The Smallholders Foundation, based in Nigeria, operates community radio stations to deliver “information to enhance the livelihoods of poor rural farmers” – sounds similar to what Literacy Bridge is doing in Ghana; but Nnaemeka and I see a great opportunity to experiment with complementing his content production and radio distribution with our ability to make that information available for playback whenever it’s needed.

A key element of GSBI is the mentorship. I was very fortunate to have three amazing mentors: Wilson Farrar, Kimberly Hendrix, and Bret Waters. They spent countless hours working with me on our business plan before, during, and now after the in-residence portion of the program.

One of the business models that I began thinking more about was microconsignment model — somewhat similar to franchising. Two other GSBI alumni have used this model in their social enterprises. See ToughStuff’s Business in a Box or VisionSpring’s Business in a Bag. I can’t help wondering if a similar model will serve Literacy Bridge’s mission — not just for selling Talking Books, but for providing all the expertise necessary to support impoverished rural families to improve their health and income through knowledge.

At the end of the two weeks, each of the 19 social entrepreneurs had the opportunity to present their business plan to a packed auditorium of investors and others from the Silicon Valley community. After each presentation, we were given feedback from a panel of judges to critique the business plan. I was very happy with the feedback I received and was quite impressed with how quickly each member of the panel “got” what we were trying to do and with their ability to see the key challenges and opportunities we will face in the next couple years.

This is just a small fraction of my GSBI story, but I’ll save some of the business plan specifics for separate future blogs.

Posted in Fundraising, Strategy | 1 Comment »

Presenting at the Ghana Graduates Conference

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Here is a post from Andy Bayor:

The Ghana Graduates Conference is annual forum for undergraduate and postgraduate scholars to present findings from their seminal dissertations. The objective is to provide an opportunity for debate and discourse which contributes to policy development, informing practice, and/or the development of sustainable projects that have a commercial or socio-economic development focus.

The conference took place 23rd -24th September, 2010 and over thirty papers were presented by participants from South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana. Graduates and scholars made presentations from ICT4Ds, Web security, commerce and business.

I presented the results from our pilot village, VingVing; my presentation was titled “Impact of low Cost, On-Demand, Information Access in a Remote Ghanaian Village”. Participants were very impressed with the potential of the Talking Book and asked several questions about the cost, durability, and procurement.

I made several contacts with participants from Nigeria and Uganda. The representative of the Ghana Mathematics Society, Mr. Gavor described the Talking Book as a timely intervention for the adoption of ICT into the education curriculum. He promised me avenues for further presentations that will draw the attention of policy makers to its potential. Doctor Alonge from Nigeria was also very interested and explored many applications of the Talking Book in agriculture in Nigeria. Albert Mucunguzi, PC Tech’s Executive Director (An ICT magazine that featured an interview with Cliff) was in attendance and told me two organizations in Uganda had contacted him after he featured the interview on his magazine.

For those who are interested, you can download all of the presentations from the conference here.

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Fundraising Event Reflections

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Here is a post from Krysta Strasbaugh:

Literacy Bridge hosted a fundraising event in Bellevue, Washington on July 11th, 2010. Even more recently, our planning team met to reflect on what we had learned throughout the process… My mind immediately lit up with images of food, equipment, decorations, and lists- oh, the lists- that came together to form a space where our guests would eventually gather. However, these vivid images soon faded into a deeper, more significant, feeling that comes when one is touched by the sheer generosity of others.

  • -  a decadent buttercream cake
  • -  fresh food and drinks galore
  • -  sleek, portable posters featuring people in our Talking Book program
  • -  hours and hours of video editing
  • -  the collaboration of our volunteer team
  • -  and so much more…

All donated by people and businesses who connected with our cause and chose to use their talents and recourses to help continue the work of Literacy Bridge. This sense of community and care is contagious. It spilled over into the flavor of our event and continues to contribute to the enthusiasm of our volunteer team.

On behalf of the Literacy Bridge team, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation and gratitude to all of our local, in-kind donors. Without you our event would not have been as successful, and your gifts truly do keep on giving.

Carl Pearson

Costco

Heavy Restaurant Group

Honey Bear Bakery

Mac & Jack’s Brewing Co.

Metropolitan Market

QFC

Safeway

Trader Joe’s

Washington Graphics LLC

(more…)

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