Aineth Torres

Researcher- entrepreneur

A great post from an entrepreneur researcher above.

One of the greatest challenges I´ve found while getting a PhD is the seemingly impossible integration between a career as a researcher and that of an entrepreneur. At least in the IE program at Penn State I can say that the main focus so far has been on preparing graduate students to work either in industry or in academics. Entrepreneurship is hardly ever mentioned. Moreover, when it comes to talking about jobs after graduation, I swear only once in all these years I´ve heard someone considering starting an enterprise. Maybe it is just my luck, or the program where I am at, or the department…but that is what I´ve found as a graduate student in engineering and basically in any other major not related to business management. I must tell this was surprising to me coming from a B.A. program that emphasized so much on the importance of etrepreneurship.

Once (at one of the rare talks held in our department on the topic), I approached the speaker asking him about his advise on how to take my research into a business enterprise. He plainly told me: “Don´t do it, there is so much risk into it for someone young like you”. =o… As you can imagine… I was shocked!!

I mean, I hadn´t got a minor and taken so many courses in entrepreneurship and innovation to be hearing this now…

Anyways…

But, actually, remembering some of my thoughts when I engaged in graduate  education, I recall realizing about the many great things being done within the walls of those labs and classrooms and the little talent that researchers in general seemed to have for pitching their ideas  or finding business opportunities (I mean for themselves, because of course their brilliant ideas eventually become business opportunities for someone else like…big corporations). And this, by the way, goes along with another good article I read today about green marketing.

I would argue that society  truly needs potdocs, graduate students and researchers in general to gain the skills necessary to “pitch” their work in front of people capable of helping them to generate practical applications and business models. Why not?

Does that makes them “less scientific”, “less credible”?. I don´t think so, but all the opposite, as Francisco Palao explains in his post above (sorry is in Spanish!), it could be a unique opportunity for actually doing the research you want to do and, best of all,  …have fun while you do it!!!.

Is there anything better than that?

According to this post, the first Hub for entrepreneurs will be in Puebla, the 4th largest populated state in Mexico.  The Hub will be coordinated by Angel Ventures and Endeavor, two of the major actors in the new ventures sector in Mexico.

I am hoping to learn more about this initiative soon.

I started taking the online course offered by MIT through edx a few weeks ago. Esther Duflo and Abhijit V. Banerjee are offering this course mainly around the findings described in their book (which I haven´t finished reading yet). I signed up for the course mainly with the purpose of better understanding what I had read before in such book and also as an opportunity for dicussing my doubts and ideas.

So far, I´ve got a positive experience. It is not a heavy load, specially after I was able to figure out the class logistics. Also, we have access to great material, including to an electronic versión of Poverty Economics. Unfortunately I missed the first three topics and was not able to complete all the activities for the fourth one. In any case, my goal is to obtain a better grasp of the “logic of the poor”. I will keep you posted on my progress.

These are links where I´ve found useful information for traveling around Puebla:

Tour Agencies

Corazón de Puebla (tours book quick!)

Every new opportunity to meet a social entrepreneur represents a great chance to be amazed about the resilience of human beings and…to feel thankful for this experience called life.

Also, it is an opportunity to come back to the essence of human beings, an essence which does not depends on where someone was born, or on the many or few resources a person had, or on its network of friends or family but…essentially… on its essence as human being. A human being with basic needs and with unsubstitutable talents,  capacity of amazement and inside beauty…

Everywhere, in its own  little piece of the world, there is someone fighting. Fighting for what they enjoy in life: the smile of a child, the piece of fruit that fills a stomach, the good moments with friends and family, the evening watching a favorite sport team. Fighting for accessing low or high quality education, low or high quality health systems, low or high quality food and whatever the best means of a person can afford.

Having many opportunities in our lives can make us forget that to millions of people around the world being in our place could  signify not less than winning the lottery. Therefore,…we might better live as if every part of our lives is a treasure. A treasure for us not to simply enjoy but, especially, to manage wisely and to better distribute it among the most  people around us. We are simply managers of the treasures given to us. Let´s ask God what was the reason, what good quality he could have seen on us, to put in our hands and not on someone else´s the big responsability of managing such treasure.

Also, I just watched this great Bono´s talk and I couldn´t finish this post without recording his final phrase:

We are going to win because the power of people is so much stronger than the people at power

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.

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.

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!.

Weekend 1 (Michoacán):

Cuitzeo, Patzcuaro & Santa Clara del Cobre

Weekend 2 (Puebla):

San Andrés & San Pedro Cholula

Weekend 3 (Puebla):

Chignahuapan, Zacatlán and Pahuatlán

Weekend 4 (Michoacán):

El Oro, Tlalpujahua & Angangueo

Weekend 3:

Real del Monte, Huasca de Ocampo, Mineral del Chico

Weekend 4:

Tepotzotlan & Huichapan

Weekend 5:

??

Cadereyta de Montes, Bernal, Tequisquiapan,

Craft makers are common in Mexico. Their wide variety of textiles, pottery, leather pieces, etc. are enthusiastically searched by locals and foreigners.

This weekend I met Sonia, she lives in Pátzcuaro a small town in the state of Michoacan about 4 hours from Mexico city. Sonia sells beautiful sweaters, jorongos (ponchos) and shawls most of them hand made by herself. Actually, she is among the few craft makers still selling authentic work. But Sonia has a problem: she is the main source of support for her family. When I asked why, she said:

” there are no jobs for men”…”women here are the ones who usually support the family”…”we make our living from what tourists buy”…”if there are no tourists we do not eat”.

Unfortunately, for many craftmakers as Sonia, the best way for surviving is not the most appealing anymore. Although craftmaking provides unique pieces to wear or use, the disloyal competition of industrial products makes it very difficult if not impossible for craft makers to make a living with the miserable profit they obtain from the products they make.

For instance, take Sonia. She spends nearly 12 hours finishing one sweater. If we consider the base salary in Mexico, she would deserve to earn about $12 dollars for her work. In addition, she would need to cover the cost of yarn which according to my own estimates should be about $20 for 600 grams of wool. There you have a cost of at least $32 needed to cover basic expenses for producing the sweater.

And we end up with a sweater that can easily be found in stores as Macys for above $50 at regular price but that she is selling for only $25. A very good deal ah!. But she is loosing about $7 which obviously represents some of her own working hours and, probably, at the end she obtains a net profit of only $3 after discounting the cost of rent.

Why in the world would someone want to run a business like this? Because of need? Because of lack of alternatives?

According to Marta´s Turok book How to approach craftmaking (Como acercarse a la artesania) the way craftmakers have survived is by splitting their time between several jobs. In any case, modes of production that used to represent modes of life for entire communities have almost entirely disappeared with the appearance of serial production. People also have had to learn to leave behind the bondage with their traditions and costumes which many times were linked to their economic activity.

What can be done to support these communities??

Examples of socially responsible businesses working in this area in Mexico and other countries which are my favorites include the following:

• Mexican Textile Art&Craft
• Fabrica Social
• Mexican Art Dealing
• Ten Thousand Villages
• The Andean Collection

Just a few facts about our impact on the environment that cannot be denied:

1. Oil is a non-renewable resource. Practically everything we do depends upon de availability of oil. No alternate source of energy has been found that can sustitute this resource without also depending on it for production.

2. Climate change is a reality which will cause places to disappear either due to flooding or droughts.

3. We all will suffer when this happens.

The question is what type of (near) future do big corporations envision for themselves given such facts? And countries? Why still these issues are not at the headlines of every major newspaper everyday?

Most probably Henry Ford didn´t even think about all this when he made mass production a reality.    Did he ever realized the cost for the environment against the benefits of shortening distances (mile distances obviously) between people? Did he envisioned  having an average of more than 2 cars per family and the great ecological footprint that this means?

What is true is that no matter the circumstances that made inventors in the past ignore environmental damage in the search for “progress” we should learn to rethink the effect that decisions can have when not taking into account the interconnections of our planet.

Moreover, we are in a truly urgent need for people proposing intelligent ways of living. People who search for sustainable ways of progress and who translate strong ethical values to the global stage.

Here is where the important role of social entrepreneurs comes in. Sustainable modes of life have to emerge at every corner of our world and need to be adopted by everyone. Will we do it ontime to avoid a collapse? Well, at least we´ll be better prepared for anything if we start envisioning and testing better alternatives now.

List of Pueblos Mágicos:

This week I had the opportunity to attend an event of iniciativa Mexico (iMx).

iMx started as a joint project of the most important media companies in Mexico seeking to promote and support citizen initiatives with true social impact. The project was launched towards the celebration of the bicentennary of the Mexican independence and the centennary of the Mexican revolution. It was seen as a way to bring up the best of Mexicans in face of the raising violence  that prevailed in the country.

In 2010 and 2011 they received a total of 104,007 idea and project applications. About 100 projects passed to a second round and, after being evaluated by Ashoka, each year about $116 MMx were distributed among the selected projects.

The finalists of iMx were awarded capital to invest in their operations. In addition they were provided with periodic training to help them improve the management and operations of their organizations.

Being among so many citizens that are in the field working hard to generate a positive change in their communities was a humbling experience. They are common mexicans with an outstanding empathy for what happens around them.

I also had the opportunity to learn about the many challenges they face to keep their organizations going. Among them, the most commonly mentioned were resistance to change and economic strugless.

Even though the program was launched for all types of initiatives (for-profit and not-for-profit), I was surprised to see so many not-for-profit. Indeed only about 1 in 10 were for-profit organizations. As I was talking to a few of the NGOs that seemed to be able to generate a viable business model. They all seemed to be quite interested but, at the same time, afraid about the uncertainties faced with a for-profit model. Moreover, I perceived in them the conflict between doing good and being profitable.

In other parts of the world we´ve seen how some well known companies have struggled making this decision and others have opted for a hybrid model to better achieve their altruistic goals. What´s the best approach for organizations is there to be determined by each. In the mean time, in the mexican social environment, the existence of Bcorporations and L3C (low-profit limited liability company)s represents an opportunity for making money, attracting investors and addressing social issues that most probably will receive much attention in the coming years. Let´s see how well accepted these new models are and whether they can see the same or better growth compared to what NGOs saw in Mexico in the 80´s and 90´s. Right now only about 5% of mexican citizens participate in non for profit organizations which is very low compared to the 21% of participation overall seen in Latino America(1). The major causes seem to be a very poor civic culture supported by lack of mechanisms to make laws easy to implement (2).

(1)(2) Source: DIAGNÓSTICO DE LA SITUACIÓN DE LOS ACTORESSOCIALES QUE PROMUEVEN EL DESARROLLO SOCIAL. SEDESOL 2009. Mexican Government.

I am super happy for being back in my home country to live and work in it and learn more about it!.

Impact investing means to me the possibility of creating a life with a purpose.

We work not only with the purpose of making a living (or it might be better to ask what “to make a living” means for each of us -you might want to follow the discussion started by Etsy´s founder). We live while we work so, why not making our work experience something we are thrilled about as we want to make the time we spend when we are on vacation or when we are with family and friends?. I can not agree with seeing our jobs as something separated from the fun of life because it implies that we haven´t learnt to value our own lives.

Of course, we have the opportunity to enjoy our jobs no matter the type of organization we work at… The problem as I see it is that many organizations (especially businesses but not only businesses) have lost the sense of their value to the purpose of profit. Employees get disconnected from the purpose of their jobs and great corporations don´t measure their growth to the extend they preserve healthy ecosystems and the dignity of all the stakeholders they interact with.

Impact investing is an opportunity to measure organizations for the good they do beyond the profit they make. It is an opportunity to regain focus on the value of service and of relationships. An opportunity to redirect the flow of benefits only seen by about 1% of the world´s population to be enjoyed in a more balanced manner by each person in the way she/he wants (e.g. not only by getting the latest car model or pair of tennis shoes). Because, at the end, economic prosperity only can be enjoyed to the extend we can live safe, happy and healthy lives… and see that others around us do the same.

This is why I don´t see impact investing as an option but as the path to follow and I hope my experience as an FMS will help me to strengthen this position.