Next week I’m off to the technology mecca (uh, that’s Silicon Valley, Ca) to rub shoulders with IT representatives of 20 NGO organizations belonging to NetHope. I swear it's not a boondoggle. Intel is sponsoring the organization’s spring summit this year and we’re going to showcase a number of our technologies designed to address the needs of emerging markets. There's one particular piece of technology we're showcasing that I'm all ablaze about. I'll post more about that later, but what I’m really looking forward to is meeting the member NGO representatives.
As you know, all eyes are on the south (as I understand it, this is the new PC term replacing “emerging markets”), where Muhammad Yunus and others are finding ways to generate sustainable revenue streams by making the poor unpoor. It’s great stuff, and we want to contribute to the great things already going on there. This conference is part of our efforts to contribute to the great work people are already doing by building relationships with them and hopefully increasing their effectiveness. The 20 or so NetHope member NGOs have representation in these countries and, rather than reinventing the wheel, perhaps we (they and us) can work together to magnify both our impacts.
Of course, we already have some activities underway in the south. But there's more we can do. There's more we should do. And, we need to find ways to do it that are sustainable and acceptable to the people who live there - ways that respect cultures, traditions, values and life as they (the people living there) know it and want it to be. Hopefully, our approach will have people wanting to work with us again. I’ll post more on that later on. In the meantime, I’ll be posting from technology’s holy land sharing what’s hot (and not) at NetHope’s summit. I’ll also let you know if I attain some kind of megabit nirvana breathing the rarified air of Silicon Valley.
Ciao for now.