A new project by California eco-urban design firm LJ Urban aims to make giving more concrete—quite literally—by matching its sales of homes domestically with funds to build homes in the impoverished African nation of Burkina Faso.

Urban has designed a new eco-urban community of 35 LEED ND Certified homes in the urban core of Sacramento, its home town. The community is suggestively named Good, and for each home within it that gets sold, LJ Urban has committed to funding the complete training of a West African mason to build sustainable homes for families in Burkina Faso. By partnering with the Association La Voûte Nubienne (AVN), which has already trained about 60 local masons to build durable homes out of earth bricks and mortar, LJ Urban aims to go beyond just providing homes to impart enduring skills and jobs to the local community. Taking the notion a step further, LJ Urban has also opted to skip the expensive marketing campaign to promote its Good community, and to use that money to train more African masons instead. So, for every 100,000 people who visit LJ Urban’s new, dedicated website by July 1st, the company will fund the complete training of another local Burkina Faso mason—up to 20 in all through this viral approach.

The Good project was inspired by Toms Shoes, a project that donates a pair of shoes for every one it sells. “[That] approach captivated us because it broke through the ‘charity fatigue’ all of us have felt at one time or another,” LJ Urban’s team explains. “The question then became: ‘What if we could do something like that with our houses?’…” The project is also reminiscent of One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC’s) “Give One Get One” campaign last year through which consumers could donate a laptop and get one for their own use at the same time.

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But there’s one thing I love more: Inspiring people to start and grow successful businesses.

That’s why I passionately accepted an invitation from Franchise India, Asia’s largest small business publisher and coordinator for entrepreneurship events, to chair their conference on entrepreneurship this year and to share all that I can about American style entrepreneurship, what works, what doesn’t, how to do it, why to do it, and who it’s for.

Yes, that’s me you see through the dust on that billboard.

The two-day event spans November 28-29 and will be host to an international audience of people wishing to catch the spark of business ownership and successful business growth. While you’re eating turkey with cranberry sauce, I’ll be scrambling for a Tandoori variation on a theme wherever I can find it!

Here’s the event website.

Yes, the global economy is going to belly smack in the months ahead, and the sting may not go away for a while, but one thing is for sure: Entrepreneurship will not slow. In fact, we believe it will speed up. As more and more people are turned away from large employers, they will have to turn to themselves.

And the beauty is, it’s easier than ever to do so. The tools–websites, software, devices, etc.–are there. The culture is there. In fact, working for yourself and working from home are “in”. The outsourcing resources–accountants, web designers, virtual assistants, etc.–are there. Entrepreneurship is tee’d up like never before.

StartupNation community members - the people who LIVE THE DREAM every day - I promise to take your spirit with me to inspire your peers in India and TURN THEM ON to what’s possible. And don’t be surprised if you start seeing a groundswell of them probing for help in our entrepreneur forums in the near future.

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Since localization is a form of segmentation, you must be aware of specific languages as well as certain cultural and social customs that would affect your sending reputation. Many countries have a variety of different cultures within their borders and therefore it is imperative to target these audiences individually to improve results.

Also take note that when sending your messages, salutations are perceived differently in other cultures. Some countries embrace personalized emails and you will see positive outcomes. In others, people interpret salutations as an invasion of privacy.

Probably the most important rule when localizing your email campaigns to specific regions of the world is to adhere to their laws. Anti-spam requirements are the most important, but you also want to investigate any other laws that might involve doing business electronically or the use of personal information.

Thanks for reading. I will be back next week to discuss more topics on email marketing.

Cheers,

Ryan Allis

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I recently spoke with Shashi Srikantan, founder of Quench Bath and Body, on StartupNation Radio. Her company offers bath and body products from around the world. What a star she is!

Though she’s just recently become an entrepreneur, thanks in part to her use of our StartMeUp! program, Shashi has always been interested in beauty products.  Back when she was a little girl, she would spend hours in her bathroom mixing up concoctions to turn into creams.  Once she mixed up baby powder and water and her mother walked in and told her to wash that off because it would clog her pours. From that point forward, Shashi began using her mother as more of a beauty resource.  As a teenager, when Shashi skin would break out (like every teenagers skin does at one point or another) her mother would give her tips of mixing up certain spices and oils and her face would clear up instantly.  Shashi’s mother always had these unique, small village-based beauty tips that worked!  This was the framework that launched Shashi’s interest in the natural, culturally influenced, beauty market. 

Having an interest in something is a giant step away from forming your own company and starting a business, as Shashi quickly learned.  As every good entrepreneur should learn, research, research, research!  And boy did she ever!  While working a full time job, Shashi still found the time to scour the internet for hours during her nights and weekends, trying to get a smart as possible on the beauty world and where to source her materials from.  Though she was able to get a strong handle on her product and her market, she still was lacking on the ‘business savvy’ side of the equation.  This is where StartupNation came into the picture. 

When Shashi found StartupNation, she quickly found an endless amount of information from all of the contributors on the sight. There was also the forums that offered free advice for new entrepreneurs.  Shashi was able to–and still–uses this sight as her go-to place to pitch new ideas, help strategize her business and a place where she is able to have contact to talk to other people who are in a similar situation.

She is now well underway with her business and we applaud her for moving from “idea” and “passion” to hanging the OPEN sign on her business.

CONGRATS to Shashi!

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In this post:

• The Decision About Place
• Impacts of Migration
• Meeting Opportunity
• Cities Are People Too, They Are Alive
• Impacts to Small Businesses
• What Do We Need To Do?
• Consequences of Success (The Balance of the Whole)

The Decision About Place

Florida offers the premise that most people do not put nearly the same amount of effort in choosing where they want to live as they do in choosing a spouse and choosing a career, but that location seems to be more predictive of our all-round personal happiness. As he talked about the importance of place and the magnitude of choice, I thought back to a previous lecture I attended with Thomas Friedman, who argued that the world is flat – that globalization was making the world effectively smaller.

Impacts of Migration

Florida agrees with Friedman’s premise, but suggests that by nature of having a worldwide competition pool, the economic growth is increasing concentrated in certain mega-regions. He refers to these as “superstar cities.” Smaller cities and towns are starting to feel the effects of brain drain much like international countries did when their youth went to the US for business school and stayed in the states. Now, those international students come here for business school and are seeing opportunities around the world – not just The States – and it’s equalizing the playing field (but not equally across the playing field). He cite that roughly 40 million people make a “big move” each year and that the areas where we live are also affected by our increasingly mobile culture.

Meeting Opportunity

I can vouch for this, I’ve moved over 20 times in my life, all for education or economic opportunities and in doing so, I gave up “being rooted.” Sometimes, that is what you have to do to experience and enjoy an opportunity – you have to go after it. He argues that (on average) those who choose to stay rooted in their communities due to friends, family or other choices, do so at the risk of giving up such opportunities. Most people agree that personality types tend to cluster—type A to urban areas, type B to rural. Florida argues there are three types of people now: those that can move, those that are rooted in the communities and those that are stuck (want to move, but financially cannot). The “stuck” are part of the ever-widening class gap and digital divide issue we are facing, and it is growing faster than ever before. But technology and education alone cannot power the economy – cities do.

Cities Are People Too, They Are Alive

Florida made the point that cities are living organisms, with a metabolism. They shrink and grow as opportunities arise. Some continue to grow and grow – those that can sustain such uber-growth (those with high metabolisms, like New York, Hong Kong, Beijing) have found a way to not collapse under the pressure. However they also have a very polarizing class system. While those with the latest skills are contributing to that growth enjoy a nice life, there are increasing amounts of people living in substandard conditions.   This affects trends. Take real estate. Housing priorities change as we age (from starter homes to family-friendly suburbs to empty nests and finally retirement centers).   

“…the world is composed of innovative peaks and valleys. The leaders are the metropolitan regions around Tokyo, Seoul, New York, and San Francisco. Boston, Seattle, Austin, Toronto, Vancouver, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Helsinki, Osaka, Seoul, Taipei and Sydney stand out.” “There are still at most two dozen places worldwide that generate significant innovation. These regions have ecosystems of leading-edge universities, high-powered companies, flexible labor markets, and venture capital that are attuned to the demands of commercial innovation—and there aren’t many of them.”

“The global system of cities and regions is going through the same kind of consolidation and restructuring that reshaped global industries like steel and autos and electronics around a smaller number of larger and more efficient players worldwide. Smaller cities and regions may be particularly hit hard, as both global and domestic mega regions up the ante, accelerating their rates of innovation while drawing more top talent. The Clevelands and the Pittsburghs will find themselves increasingly squeezed between twin pincers as to business functions gravitate to larger regions like Chicago, while production shifts to centers like Shanghai.”

Impacts to Small Businesses

One last point on this topic…The Shanghai Daily features some Q&A with two leading sociologists of world cities, Saskia Sassen and Chen Xiangming. Here’s Sassen on the contradictions of global cities.

My research suggests that ultimately cities are better off being dynamic (and hence global cities) but they do need political and civic leadership to balance out the extreme outcomes that markets left to themselves can produce.  European cities are much better than US cities. New York, the ultimate market town, has the highest share of very rich people and very powerful firms in the US and the highest share (over 20 percent) of officially counted poor … and, according to the most recent count, over 100,000 homeless. That shows something about matters left to markets.

Global cities are two-edged swords. They bring economic dynamics - and that means jobs, life on the streets at night, vibrant restaurants, and so on.  But they do create 20 percent of the population which is extremely prosperous and a risk that they will take over key areas of the city with luxury office buildings, luxury housing and consumption spaces. This displaces smaller shopkeepers, the old modest middle classes. They lose. More on this article…

What Do We Need To Do?

In a previous post, I had asked the question of Social Entrepreneurism being a fad. Americans can be so trendy sometimes and when it comes to conscious buying and living, I hope that this greater good we are supporting by developing sustainable businesses, working toward better business practices and investing in our communities isn’t simply a flash in the pan. The Divide (both here and abroad) needs to be served in some way, my argument is that sustainable business or social entrepreneurism is a “movement” in that direction. We can argue that the Darwinian aspects of a free market economy (let the successful thrive and the weak go out of business) are good and should be allowed to follow their course, but we have to consider the big picture even for the long term viability of those who are successful today. Consider the masses who have suffered through white collar layoffs and not had the means to go through job retraining, they are suffering on a small scale what small cities and towns are going through now –they are being left behind and will eventually tax the system. Social entrepreneurism is a “preventative medicine” for this inevitable condition. Triple bottom lines serve the whole.

Consequences of Success (The Balance of the Whole)

All this made me wonder about the climate of the small business, their much needed function and their place in society. Something to consider when driving past unrecognizable strip malls and some suburbs with disorientingly similar cross streets - what is the impact of that kind of town planning, where is the money being spent in these communities going? To shareholders, or to local services? Small businesses are necessary to our economic ecosystem, help fill in the niches large companies leave and provide an alternative option in a free market.

If the economic centers are going to be increasingly concentrated, and an increasing number of people are “stuck”, we will have to face the question of how to raise society as a whole. How does this affect “The (political and economic) Center of the US, and what sorts of support is needed to help small businesses succeed to benefit their immediate communities?

I’ve a few questions for all of you out there:

• What market are you in now (local, nationwide or international)? If you are local, what is stopping you from expanding to other “like” markets?
• If you were to move, could you take your business with you? Was this a consideration for you when you developed your business plan?
•  Was the community benefit a conscious effort for you to include in your business model or a natural by-product of your business plan?

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