Redbean - I recently attended SEWF09 (http://www.sewf09.com/)a heady two days of passionate entrepreneurs and social enterprises spruiking their stuff and collaborating under the banner of changing the world for the better. A lot of very ‘Smart’ businesses and people. Exciting and stimulating to say the least!
Far better than the average “let’s make wealthy white folks happier” conferences I usually attend. Although I must admit the back slapping and fawning admiration did start to wear after a couple of days. Too much goodwill at one sitting can be hard to digest.
But the debate was lively and not all one sided. The world has many real issues to deal with and when do-gooding and passion team up with the reality and hard-headedness of sustainable business I get the feeling that this ol’ world might just be saveable.
Here is the first of a number of social enterprises and entrepreneurs I interviewed at the conference. This novel approach to lighting solves a real dilemma for developing countries - the prohibitive price of energy.
Melbourne - Last week I met with Professor Hugh Taylor and members of the National Indigenous Eye Health Survey Team.
They are considering using digital information systems to get their health and well-being messages out to a geographically remote and resource restricted audience. A difficult prospect for sure yet tending to be far more effective than the old glossy brochure alone!
Professor Taylor is quoted as saying “Indigenous children are born with better eyesight than their non-Indigenous peers. However, by the time they reach adulthood they are six times more likely to be blind and three times more likely to have low vision.”
The key findings of the landmark survey are available here.
