CARD MRI Fosters an Army of Entrepreneurs with Microfinance 266.0
In December 1986, the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Inc. was organized as a social development foundation to address the growing poverty incidence in depressed communities in Regions IV and V. From the beginning, CARD sought to achieve this goal by turning poor, landless, rural women into an army of entrepreneurs by granting [...]
The Favorite Books of Premier Wen Jiabao of China 256.0
On Fareed Zakaria GPS (CNN), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said his two favorite books are The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. The choices are very astute and worthy of the sixth Premier of China. For one, both authors are long dead but the writings combined reflect traditions that [...]
Jesuits Sparked Social Innovation for the Philippines 250.0
I read The Jesuits in the Philippines, 1581-1768, (1961, Harvard) by Horacio de la Costa, S.J. over the weekend. After a year of looking for a copy in local bookstores – from John Nery’s effusive recommendation in a blog post and seeing a second-hand one for US$91.80, I finally found a copy I could afford [...]
Amartya Sen Says Development Follows Expanding Freedoms 237.0
Amartya Sen, 1998 Nobel Prize winner for economics, is one of the most eminent development economists today. In his book, Development as Freedom (1999, Anchor), Professor Sen quotes Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics in justifying why he believes freedom is more important than wealth as the true object and subject of development: “wealth is evidently [...]
Jay Bernardo Shouts Lets Go for an Army of Entrepreneurs 231.0
Jay Bernardo, a serial entrepreneur himself, has been passionate about teaching entrepreneurship since I first met him sometime mid-1990s. Lets Go (an acronym for Leading Entrepreneurs Toward Seizing Global Opportunities) began as a training caseroom on entrepreneurship for JAD Manufacturing, Inc. employees, then Jay Bernardo’s flagship venture. It eventually became a training room for all [...]
Hapinoy – Mark Ruiz Retails Sari Sari Happiness to Filipinos 228.0
“The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield,” begins Peter Drucker’s classic 1985 book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, quoting the French economist J.B. Say. Thus, Mark Ruiz and the Hapinoy/MicroVentures (MVI) team, all social entrepreneurs, are mining a rich vein for social enterprise [...]
Rags2Riches – Reese Fernandez Creates Value from Creativity 226.0
Not all entrepreneurs are innovators as categorized by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In putting together a new way for nascent entrepreneurs to work together and create value from creativity and to sustain the work over time, Reese Fernandez of RIIR is definitely in the practice of innovative entrepreneurship. I believe her pioneering effort – [...]
Learning from China and Indigenous Innovation 224.0
In China, they have a saying, “one cannot step into the same river twice.” Lu Qiwen first wrote about the China brand of national innovation systems, Indigenous Innovation, in China’s Leap into the Information Age: Innovation and Organization in the Computer Industry (Oxford, 2000). It seems, that the mode of national innovation system as described [...]
Countervailing Powers per Galbraith Engender Strong Leaders 219.0
More than technological innovation, Filipinos must design social innovation in public governance that is more effective in creating wealth for all. The context for post is given from PN Abinales and DJ Amoroso’s book below; the recommendation is inspired by JK Galbraith further down. In summary. Peter Drucker, in another post on social enterprise, noted [...]
Learning from the National Innovation Systems of South Korea 213.0
Filipino progressives would love to emulate the strong state approach of Korea to attain industrialization. Alice Amsden, a heterodox economist, wrote Asia’s Next Giant, South Korea and Late Industrialization in 1989, the same year as the fall of the Berlin wall, and described the successful Korean breakout experience to developed country status. Agreeing with some [...]
Will the 2010 automated elections be a failure? Part 2 of 2
Our happiness ought to be the leader-candidates’ platform in this election This post answers the other question on election failure, that of the political scientists and many people in the streets: If the purpose of elections is to select the best leaders, will the 2010 automated elections fail? Unlike my answer to the same question [...]
Comelec Plans to Reduce Congestion from Clustering are Inadequate 187.0
Res 953 was enacted en banc on 12.22.09 as a complete plan Minute Resolution 953 was promulgated one week before the first Res 8739 General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (GI). If, implemented fully, it can greatly minimize congestion from clustering. Yet, it was not made part of that first GI for the [...]
