I understand where your coming from. My parents are of West African (Nigerian) descent and they tell me what’s going on down there all the time. I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that we must stop fearing our jobs going overseas. I actually think that jobs the American people refuse to do must be given to those who want it. The high profile jobs won’t change, but the poorer jobs (nanny, cleaner, etc.) will be taken by foreigners eventually. Nothing’s wrong with that at all.

I would like to join you in your quest to prevent the downfall of the climate situation soon to make itself known in 2040.

Thanks for this eye-opening post.

so true about your realisation 20 years later about how you can’t port solutions from elsewhere to Africa. i live in Cape Town, South Africa – and you can see evidence of it everywhere. you can however port the intention behind it and the expertise. thing is that you can’t port the solution because the situation is so different. you have to apply the resources to the situation to make it work.

i think education is definitely the most important part of preventative steps toward stopping climate change for the worse. the resources are there internet wise as you say, we just need to focus the attention on them so they are used and capitalised upon.

I don’t think a Senegalese youth needs our help – it would be a good thing – but he needs his own belief more than anything else. he needs to see that he CAN do it and gain that perspective that he is essentially no different to anybody else, especially with the connectivity of this day and age. engage him, help him, challenge him, embrace him – all necessary but don’t treat him differently, that’s just more marginalization, more of the mentality that keeps him stuck in the first place.

awesome blog.
talk to you soon
alex

Poor atmosphere does not get a chance to cool down like it did 100 years ago. Result GLOBAL WARMING. Stop making more people.

But in my case, I’d also want to be hands on in making the cause happen… So, while working on my business, I always have this thought on the back of my head: how could I make my business to be about something important in itself.

I haven’t figured that out yet… But that shouldn’t stop me from doing something important already now, and in that the approaches that you suggest really make a difference.

Let’s keep our minds working on this and see what we can come up with!

I know some cases in which the supported cause has had a major impact on the client when he was choosing a place to buy. This is one of the reasons I stamp my business as an eco-friendly business – it is a way to choose customers. It’s quite funny actually, as I really get mostly clients who are also concerned about nature preservation. When the client shares the values, it’s much easier to get along.

I might be with you on this. We might even be able to pull off a campaign/brand, something like “Operaatio maa” or Fair Trade.

@Mark: Thanks, man!

@Bill Gates: If you’re reading, send me a note :) Let’s see what we can come up with.

@Anyone else: I’m all ears for ideas on how to actually make this happen…

“The biggest failure of the world wide web is that it is not world wide.” ~ from my perspective, the web is not even island wide. Where I live the “haves” have internet while many don’t.

Local business models, reliable technology, and scalable ventures could do wonderous things but providing access and ongoing training is the difficult part. Bill Gates are you listening…?

Rohan