The economic development problem

There are roughly 3 Billion (3,000,000,000) people living in poverty. Over 4 Trillion Dollars have been invested to help develop – with virtually no success. Wars, the gap continues to widen. Many NGOs, humanitarian workers, philanthropists began to look for alternatives?

It was assumed that helping the small businesses to grow would help but they did not. It was assumed that education is the key. But it evolved into a new problem. What is a degree worth if there are no jobs? Usually education is a function to improve what already worked.

We decided, not to look for answers how WE could help 3 billion people to get out of poverty – but HOW could we help them get out of poverty themselves? We analyzed all the 30 developed countries to learn how they came to prosperity. To make a very long story short: Innovation and Entrepreneurship was the key to all of them. The first machines for production in England at a time where nobody needed machines. The first automobile in Germany at a time where nobody needed a car. The first Jet engine in France, where flying was a pure luxury. Computers in the US where most struggled to get their farms going. Later electronic equipment in South Korea, at the time one of the poorest nations in Asia.

WIForum and a unique way of volunteering

We envision prosperity in all nations through innovation and entrepreneurship. And we need lots of people who are willing to volunteer and help. We want to help local entrepreneurs with crazy ideas to actually get them out into the world.

17 countries on 3 continents we are engaging with in 2020
Africa (5) — Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda
Latin America (6) — Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Peru
South East Asia (6) — Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam

Current Volunteers Support Needs:

• Local market research in the countries we work with
  We want to learn as quickly as possible and as fast as we can about data that are key, yet not accessible.
• Photo/videographer who catches and reports stories of our work locally
  We want to share the stories of local entrepreneurs and their innovations with the world. We want to help those teams to get visibility and attention.
• Bloggers who are interested in partnering and share news and updates
  We look for blogger who can share new sightings with us and will share our content with them.
• Anybody with relevant connections to help spread the word
  We are looking for people with large amounts of relevant connections and followers to help spread the word about stories, things that happened in the countries.
• Promoters to help promote our upcoming workshops and accelerator program
  We are looking to get the word out about our accelerator program where we help young startups to accelerate their business, grow, create jobs and contribute to the local economy.
• Connectors who help connect with the respective government leaders
  We are looking to get introduced to the local governments to collaborate on FDI policies and also on immigration rules.
• Co-working spaces who are interested in hosting our events
  We are looking to partner with co-working spaces to develop areas of Silicon Valley style cultures as well as collaborate on events.

Please let us know if you are interested to collaborate with us on one or the other project.