South America – Page 2 – Frontier Market Scouts

Learning from entrepreneurs

datatics Aineth Torres, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America March 3, 2013

One of my most important motivations by joining the Frontier Markets Scouts program was learning key skills from social entrepreneurs and also get surrounded by like minded people.

I must say that in this respect my experience has been great!.

I´ve had the opportunity to meet and talk to amazing people all over Mexico and abroad. People doing wonderful things and who are a true inspiration for whoever is lacking motivation to go ahead with personal projects.

I don´t regret when about a year ago I decided to apply to FMS with the purpose of giving practical steps towards my goal.

Important to me has been learning about the great amount of hard work that is behind a social startup. Even when all the great descriptions of social enterprises are so moving and inspiring, learning about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and how, above all of them, they stick to their vision has made me value even more the reasons behind these caring businesses (this is how I´ve decided to call them). Social entrepreneurs are regular people believing that they can build a better world and putting all their personnal resources to do it.

I feel grateful for this opportunity and I thank the many companies I´ve been able to interact with during the past months.

Today, I feel also somehow safer knowing that there are people I can relate to rearding my vision for a better world. Entrepreneurs, scientists, students, housekeepers, journalists, writers, dancers, artists in general. So many people right now working from different frontiers to create a healthier and safer world.

Thank you to all of them!

They call me crazy for seeing the world as it could be and not as it is.- Miguel Cervantes Saavedra. El Quijote.

Extending Renewable Energy to and Scouting for Entrepreneurs in Peru’s Off-the-Grid Communities

onthedevelopmentcurve - OTDCBlog 2013 Scouts in the Field, Frontier Market Scouts, Internships, Kathryn Harrison, Scouts in the Field, South America February 27, 2013

Sr. Domingo Morales with his neighbor Rubén. A well respected town leader, he is our first pilot participant.

Payoff.com Retention and referral

lRavenel Lisa Ravenel, Scouts in the Field, South America February 18, 2013

Payoff.com is a website aimed at helping individuals set and reach short term savings and debt payment goals. The website combines elements of social networks, gaming and goal setting in a simple tool which allows users to compile all of their accounts into one location. They aim to help users understand where they are spending money then educate and incentivize them into making intelligent saving and debt payment decisions.

I signed up for Payoff.com just today, so haven’t gotten a chance to go through their entire retention and referral lifecycle. But on initial glance at the website it is clear that they are running several tactics in both of these areas.

Retention: Payoff.com is attempting to retain users by incentivizing them with prizes for using the service frequently. Whenever a user completes a task such as defining a savings goal, they receive a badge. For every badge earned, users are entered into a drawing to win a “sur-prise” which is a cash prize from one of the Payoff.com sponsors. The more badges you earn the more chances you have to win every week.

Payoff.com also tries to retain customers by ensuring that they fully understand the value proposition and uses of Payoff. The front page of the website uses simple language to walk you through the process of what payoff does. In addition, the first e-mail that is sent states clearly at the top: “Have feedback or questions? You can reach us directly at support@payoff.com or ask us a question on our Facebook page!” followed by the questions “what should you do next”. This information helps users know where to go to ask questions and what they need to do in order to get started on the website.

Referral: Payoff appears to rely on social networks for referrals. After completing a task on payoff you are always given the option to share what you have completed on Facebook or twitter. In addition, they have a “refer a friend” tab in which you invite new users via your social networks. Upon referring friends you receive badges which will enter you in the weekly drawing.

Snapshots as an FMS Scout in Brazil

saocialbrasil 2013 Scouts in the Field, Frontier Market Scouts, Julie Lapidus, Scouts in the Field, South America January 18, 2013

Snapshots from Brazil: Social Entreprise World Forum 2012, Rio de Janeiro

Wildlife of Brazil

autismevolutionprotocol Julie Lapidus, Scouts in the Field, South America January 18, 2013

Even though I didn’t go to the Amazon this time in Brazil, I still got to see a bit of the Brazilian wildlife, especially birds. Highlights included seeing blue and golden macaws and toucans in trees in the wild. I also saw a lot of different birds and wildlife at the Parque das Aves and the Sao Paulo Zoo.

Macaws, Parque Das Aves

Blue and Golden Macaws in the Wild (look at the top of the tree)

A Blue-and-Gold Macaw Couple in the Wild (look at the top of the leafless tree), Cerrado, Goias

Monkeys in bamboo tree, Jardim Botanico, Rio de Janeiro

Toucan, Parque das Aves, Iguazu

Monkey in bamboo tree, Jardim Botanico, Rio de Janeiro

Jaguar, Sao Paulo Zoo

Coati, Iguazu Falls

Coati on the hunt for food, Iguazu Falls

Couple of Hyacinth Macaws, Parque das Aves

Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Goais

White Tiger Basking in the Sun, Sao Paulo Zoo

Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Goias

Toucan in a tree (look for the orange beak), Iguazu Falls

Tapir, Sao Paulo Zoo

White Tiger Crying, Sao Paulo Zoo

Highlights of my time in Brazil

autismevolutionprotocol Julie Lapidus, Scouts in the Field, South America January 18, 2013

During my semester abroad, I managed to fit in a few trips between my studies and work, which I never blogged about, and wanted to highlight here.

Visited Brasilia, and some other cities in Goias state: Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, is a really interesting city with a very futuristic vibe: the city was designed to look like an airplane and in logical and confusing fashion, the streets are identified by a series of letters and numbers such as SDN 409. I also saw a lot of waterfalls in the nearby national park (Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros).
Brasilia, from Above
Saw the Iguazu Falls and hopped over to Argentina: The Iguazu waterfalls are an amazing natural wonder, being taller than Niagara Falls and wider than Victoria Falls. The Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls is cheaper to stay in and more awe-inspiring. Also, the Parque das Aves on the Brazilian side of the waterfalls was definitely worth the visit and featured a large variety of birds from all over South American (and the world).
Iguazu Falls
Visited Rio de Janeiro: My favorite attraction in Rio was the beautiful Jardim Botanico (Botanical Gardens) which has monkeys, bamboo trees, an orchidarium, a medicinal plant garden, and a Japanese garden. I think one of the reasons I liked the Jardim Botanico so much was because I had missed seeing greenery while living in industrial metropolis Sao Paulo. Another attraction in Rio that I recommend is the Museu H. Stern and Museu Amsterdam Sauer, which both feature large gemstone exhibits. As many of the world’s gemstones are mined in Brazil, it was interesting to see exhibits by these top Brazilian jewelry designers. The vibrant and colorful steps in Santa Theresa/Lapa neighborhood of Rio, Escadaria Selarón, were another highlight and reminded me a bit of Gaudi’s architecture in Park Guell in Barcelona.
Escadaria Selarón

Overall, I most enjoyed going to Iguazu Falls and Rio de Janeiro, and definitely recommend seeing the two if you have a chance to visit Brazil.

Iguazu Falls: A Natural Wonder of Brazil

saocialbrasil 2013 Scouts in the Field, Frontier Market Scouts, Julie Lapidus, Scouts in the Field, South America January 18, 2013

In my final posts, I have decided to create a series of “snapshots from Brazil,” featuring photos from Brazil. Here are some pictures of the Iguazu Falls.

Highlights of Working for F123

autismevolutionprotocol Julie Lapidus, Scouts in the Field, South America January 17, 2013

Now that my assignment for F123 has ended, and because I didn’t provide many updates during the whirlwind of the last part of my assignment, here are some of the highlights of my work during my FMS assignment in Brazil for F123 below:

Volunteered at the Social Enterprise World Forum conference: A conference focused on social entrepreneurship that brought together experts in the field from all over the world and was hosted by impact investor NESsT in Rio de Janeiro. This was a really exciting opportunity and it gave me a great excuse to skip classes for a week and take some extra time on the weekend to visit Rio. I also got to meet a former FMS scout from the prior term in Brazil and another MIIS student who had flown all the way from California for the conference. I met a lot of interesting individuals in the field of impact investment and social entrepreneurship, and got some helpful contacts for F123. Moreover, I met a few graduates from my Master’s program at FGV. To learn more about this conference, read this former scout and volunteer’s take on it here: http://blogs.miis.edu/elmapaulauskaite/, as well as another fellow volunteer’s post here: http://ong-entreprises.blog.youphil.com/archive/2012/11/16/a-premiere-for-social-business-in-brazil.html.
Attended F123′s ceremony for the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013: This ceremony was held in true Brazilian fashion and was a kind of Oscar’s award ceremony for social entrepreneurs in Brazil. And F123 won the Social Entrepreneur of the Future Award! Watch the video below from the ceremony (sorry, it’s in Portuguese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rJVSsrbLAw&feature=plcp and see Fernando Botelho’s acceptance of the award below. Thanks to everyone who helped with voting for F123! (We ended up getting the 3rd most votes of all the candidates with 14.7% of the total votes, which was great considering the relative size of F123 compared to other nominees, and was a factor in winning the award.)
Fernando Accepts Social Entrepreneur of the Future Award
Conducted a market sizing and market forecast for potential sales in all Spanish-, Portuguese-, and Spanish-speaking countries worldwide and got some very interesting results for F123.
Managed 2 Virtual FMS scouts who helped with translation, social media marketing, and marketing to NGO’s in French-speaking countries (I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to manage people again, although I had never done so virtually before).
Helped with social media marketing and tried to establish partnerships with NGO’s throughout Latin America
Helped establish a partnership between F123 with a university in the US and Brazil (which is still in progress)

23 and 24th weeks

irebea Irene Garcia, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America January 13, 2013

The last two weeks I travelled and enjoyed my winter holidays, but I am happily back in Mexico focusing most of my time in two main projects. In one of them I am still helping with the screening of companies that blend social, environmental and economic values; and in the second one I am supporting entrepreneurs through an acceleration process that allows them to strengthen their business model and allows them to rethink their strategy so that they can achieve sustained growth.

For the last 5 months I have been exposed to different businesses, all of them very interesting, but I have realized that the two sectors that I enjoy the most are agriculture and housing. I really like learning about new ideas in these two areas, and I am really happy that I have come to realize this through my placement.

I am looking forward to learning a whole lot of new things!

Thinking about the origins of our modern world

datatics Aineth Torres, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America January 3, 2013

As I have mentioned before. About a year ago my interest for studying the history of international exchange was reignitiated as I prepared a recipe for a cooking club.

Since then, I´ve read a few books, magazines and everything that comes across describing the journeys and adventures of voyagers in their search for treasures around the world.

Still it results amazing to me the way by which many places were discovered or, better said, joined back (as now it is better indicated by many authors) as result from the great courage that people showed when launching themselves to unknown lands. When we live in our nearly pain free modern world it is hard to find any trace of the pungent suffering that our ancestors went through in their effort to build new nations. And it is even more difficult to imagine the great distress that the Earth itself went through.

The fact that we see tomatoes all over the world rarely makes us think about the environmental distress that their adaptation to other latitudes could have caused to entire ecosystems. Now we are used to enjoying of so many things that we would probably feel strange if those things were not available anywhere we go: soft beds, mosquito free areas, tasty cakes, spicy meat, sweet vanilla icecream, fresh coconut water, crunchy potato chips, silk ties, cotton dresses…so many things that make our lives “enjoyable”.

Charles C. Mann describes very vividly the many deads caused by yellow fever and malaria across the world as result of interactions between different species. It was truly an encounter that did not prevent the potential losses in terms of human lifes and ecosystem damage. Morever, it was an encounter so insanely produced that still today is causing the lost of so many habitats. And our own existence, after many generations since then, is being threaten by the utilitarian approach through which nations back then decided to support their growth: the unlimited consumption of our limited natural resources.

Indeed, the rich and grandiose resources of our planet Earth have been enough to support the lives of men through centuries of insane exploitation. Sources of coopper, gold, silver, and even grains and cereals are so depleted that by now it results impossible to believe that what is left in many cases is no more than 10% of what existed four centuries ago. A simple look to amazonian deforastation exemplifies this:

And as painful as it results being stripped away of our surroundings it becomes even more amazing to learn how governments and enterprises still pretend to base their growth on the limited availability of these resources.

This is an indication to me of so much ignorance on part of the great majority of human beings. The weirdest part is that those that seem to be more ignorant are exactly the ones that have access to the best means of information and education. The best schools, colleges, universities, and technology that can make available the reality of our planet seem to be not enough to change the minds of human beings as a whole.

Scaling good

datatics Aineth Torres, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America January 1, 2013

As a catholic very early in my life I learnt about the Fruits of the Spirit. Among them, goodness has always been my favorite one!.

I´ve met so many good people in my life!

Being good is that virtue that simply breaks the sturdiest heart and makes it humble by witnessing the goodness performed by others. I think one of the best ways to become good is by witnessing people being good. I´ve seen professors that are truly good persons, also grandparents, artists, politicians, policy makers, church leaders… I don´t even remember the name of many of them but their good actions always come back to me. Their voice and semblance can move multitudes and even criminals.

So many persons wake up every morning with no other purpose but that of doing good. I feel that this century is that when goodness, kindness and other virtues will take the main stage of all activities of human beings. Compasion and empathy will be instilled in humanity as a whole. Corporations doing good will take the lead of economies and their internal policies will be based not on productivity and competitiveness but in peace and service.

May God allow many good actions to take place this year in every corner of the world!.

May the role of corporations be intertwined with that of social institutions to exponentially scale the fruit of goodness!.

19th and 20th weeks

irebea Irene Garcia, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America December 17, 2012

The last two weeks were very intense as we kept working on the screening process that would lead to the 10 finalists at the project we are currently conducting.

The diversity of models discussed at the final committee were very interesting, and many members had a hard time deciding which companies should continue in the process. Towards the end of the meeting they had built a consensus, and the 10 finalists were chosen. The 10 social entrepreneurs will go through a half-year program that will seek that their organizations go through the next level of growth and also reinforce and develop greater impact through capacity building, increasing their social benefit.

Being able to contribute in this process has strengthened my satisfaction as it has allowed me to engage in a project that is delivering social value.

MicroConsignment: an Innovative Solution to Poverty

Dana Warren Dana Warren, Scouts in the Field, South America December 7, 2012

The ancient Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime” is often used in blogs and articles relating to social business. The newly emerging sector of social business, MicroConsignment, takes this saying one step further. MicroConsignment business models (MCM) “teach a man to fish” and then they give him the fishing pole, the boat, the bait, and even a few fishing partners.

The MCM borrows many values and methods from both micro-credit and micro-franchise. It utilizes a tested and proven business model, emphasizes a local approach, and does not require collateral.

In a micro-franchise model, the entrepreneur must borrow money in order to purchase the products they plan to sell. This initial investment provides a barrier to entry for those at the bottom of the pyramid. In addition, the personal risk associated with not being able to sell all of the products you purchase is very high.

The MCM works the opposite way. The entrepreneur is provided with the products at

no cost. Once the product is sold, the entrepreneur pays back the organization, pockets a portion of the profit, and restocks in order to sell more. This model is ideal for those living at the bottom of the pyramid since it requires no monetary investment, allows for flexibility in schedule, has minimal barriers to entry, and provides entrepreneurial training and experience that act as a stepping stone to future entrepreneurial activities.

The MCM has spread relatively quickly throughout the developing world and has found great success in India, Africa (particularly South Africa), and parts of Latin America. The MCM was developed less than a decade ago in the rural village of Nebaj, Guatemala by a Peace Corps volunteer named Greg Van Kirk. The idea of MicroConsignment was born when Greg donated the profits from the tourism business he created (as part of his peace corps assignment) to a wood-burning stove project. He quickly realized that his donations were not sustainable and began to locally manufacture the stoves instead. He found local entrepreneurs to market and sell the stoves (on consignment) to low income families in nearby villages. The stoves were interest-free and micro-payment options were made available. Greg created a model in which high-quality, health-enhancing products were brought to rural villagers at affordable prices by local individuals who were trained to be entrepreneurs and provided with income-generating opportunities.

In 2004, Greg founded the NGO, Community Enterprise Solutions (CES), to test, develop, implement and expand the MCM in Guatemala and beyond. Two years later, CES established Soluciones Comunitarias (SolCom), a Guatemalan owned social enterprise. SolCom has offices in 6 regions of Guatemala and sells more than 20 products including cook stoves, water filters, solar lamps, and vegetable seeds. SolCom’s most popular product however is their eyeglasses which they offer alongside free eye exams (which the local entrepreneurs are trained to administer).

Everyone has their own opinion on how to best eliminate poverty. Greg Van Kirk found an innovate way to both empower and employ locals and to bring affordable products to those in need.

“People grow out of poverty when they create small businesses that employ their neighbors. Nothing else lasts.” -Thomas Friedman

17 and 18th weeks

irebea Irene Garcia, North America, Scouts in the Field, South America December 4, 2012

These past weeks we have been very busy screening entrepreneurial projects, as we had to choose 20 projects for the next phase. I was very lucky and had the opportunity to participate on the investment committee, which was very interesting as the committee participants shared comments and suggestions on how to analyze the companies.

The 20 entrepreneurs which have been chosen had to send us new information and rearrange other documents for the 3^rd phase of the project. There are many projects that are very exciting. So far we have went through the large scale screening, detailed interviews, and follow up data collection. By the end of the month we need to have the 10 finalists who will be granted a training and mentorship so that they can grow their business and impact as many people as possible.