Imagine A World Full Of Entrepreneurs

Good intentions are never enough.

How is it that we’ve been trying to change the world for centuries but it still needs changing?

Just a thought.

But at the end of the day the question all change makers need to ask is how efficient have we been at affecting the change we envision worth pursuing?

Here’s a real concrete example of what I mean.

The story goes something like this.

Good Intentions Gone Bad

Some well meaning people in Atlanta starting sending over free eggs in an impoverished area in Rwanda. They thought they were doing the people a favour by flying in free food. Good intentions — check.

But what happened next is a lesson for every world changer armed with nothing but good intentions. Little did those well meaning people know that what they did caused that little impoverished village more harm than good. Why? Well because in that village lay hidden a local world changer who had just started an egg business himself. He bought himself some chickens and started selling the eggs locally. Needless to say that when the oversupply of eggs hit the local market, the local entrepreneur was driven out of business and was forced to shut down. A year later, the Atlanta charity shift their attention to another cause and they stopped sending eggs. The villagers were suddenly hit with a shortage of eggs on the market so they had to import their eggs from another community.

So what can we learn from this? Well the first obvious lesson is that good intentions is not always a good enough motivator. We need to be smarter about how we affect change. Right, so how do we become smarter about it so that we can be more effective?

Great question. How does anyone get smarter about anything at all? How does anyone get smarter, period?

Education, Education, Education

Through education of course.

Now, there’s education and there’s education.

And if our goal is indeed to change the world, then our focus should be children’s education in particular.

Why? Because JFK said so.

Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future (John F. Kennedy)

So if children are our most valuable resource and our best hope for a better world, we better invest in them.

That is, if we still hope for a future.

Now, here’s another (fictitious) story.

Introducing “Smart” Intentions

Imagine if those Atlanta philanthropists would’ve invested their Rwanda aid in a local entrepreneurship school instead of just shipping over free food. Imagine the impact.

The local egg entrepreneur would’ve probably been called upon to become a guest lecturer at the school and he would’ve had the opportunity to not only learn about growing his business but also give back to his community by mentoring other young local entrepreneurs.

If children were invested in from early childhood, those children would’ve had the chance to grow into passionate and energetic entrepreneurs in a world ripe with opportunities.

Imagine that village develop into a blooming community with access to international networks of exchange.

Imagine that the school planted would’ve developed into a full blown university that would have opened up a new campus the following year.

Wow.

Just sit back and imagine that.

And all of that could’ve been bootstrapped by an initial investment that was just a little bit smarter in practice yet still imbued with all the right intentions.

Just more effective.

Imagine that.