developing countries

The Global Innovation for Village Entrepreneurship (GIVE) Capstone

Arizona State University at the Polytechnic Campus, 2009 - $30,000

Faculty from the GlobalResolve program at ASU is developing a capstone courses and a certificate for Global Innovation for Village Entrepreneurship (GIVE) with the express purpose of creating solutions to village problems in developing countries and then building businesses around the solutions. The capstone courses are:

1) Global Impact Entrepreneurship: Introduction to global poverty, entrepreneurship and village appraisal;

2) Village Immersion: Travel to and assessment of needs of a developing village using GlobalResolve partners to identify the village and arrange for local help. The goal is to talk to the villagers and experience what poverty looks like, feels like and the specific needs of the villagers and to mentor the village in venture startup.

3) Solution Development: Creating a sustainable technological business solution for a village. This course will bring together the theory from course 1 and the experience from the field trips in course 2 into a set of products developed for a village in order to create village-based sustainable business ventures.

The capstone is also participating in the Acara Institute’s Challenge program, with multiple partners for global impact.

Global health technology course at MIT yields new women's health company

Submitted by NCIIA Guest on Mon, 03/01/2010 - 15:10
 

Designing and Sustaining Technology Innovation for Global Health Practice is an NCIIA-funded course at MIT. Several E-Teams have formed in the class, including the SHE team – Sustainable Health Enterprises. The team has recently launched a self-titled company. SHE addresses women's lack of access to affordable, eco-friendly, sanitary products and services by helping local women in developing countries jump-start their own businesses to manufacture and distribute affordable, quality, and eco-friendly products.

“Starting and managing a course of this nature is a significant commitment,” says course instructor Jeffrey Blander about the course that inspired the new company, “The funding from NCIIA was extremely helpful and without it we would not have been able to get this off the ground.” SHE is currently working in Rwanda because of its urgent need for access to sanitary products and its existing well-established networks for women.

Learn more about the course or visit SHE's website.

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