Business Development is Key

"We see every day how human beings are packed with unlimited capacity, unlimited potential. They're not helpless people; they're as capable as anyone else. It's that society never gave them an opportunity to unwrap that gift. It's a matter of removing the barrier." - Muhammad Yunus

There are so many ways for individual people to be brought out of poverty. We here at ASCEND are working on one of them: providing the same basic access to business and financial know-how to everyone we work with. When Muhammad Yunus created the Grameen Bank, he touched on a fundamental principle of poverty: when people don't have access to capital, they aren't able to create any of their own. What a basic concept! Yet so few institutions, even after decades of microcredit successes, believe in the power of human creativity and the capacity of an individual to bring his or her own self out of poverty.

Part of why I have loved working with ASCEND so much is that this organization DOES believe in that capacity, and is laser-focused on building it. We are working on a couple projects that could really do some fantastic things in the world of business development. Getting a network of young entrepreneurs from across the globe together to take on humanitarian projects, like small business mentoring; partnering with colleges and universities to create academic programs focused on teaching small business consulting so students, while learning consulting skills, also learn how to use those skills to holistically better their own communities; and always developing more and better ways to help those with the desire to provide for themselves to be able to do so.

Capitalism has created drastic challenges for the modern global economy. But wise capitalism - that which takes into consideration more than the monetary bottom line - can be the answer to those very challenges. It's a pretty exciting thing to be a part of that.

Written by: Sabrina King
ASCEND Alliance Intern