Technology Innovation and Good Samaritans

One of the nice things about MR's conferences is he honors several charities. At  the dinner at Software 2006, he honored 7  organizations (1 commercial but involved in a worthwhile cause).

I cannot begin to transcribe what we saw in videos on the impact of each of their activities, and the heartfelt thanks each of their founders/sponsors expressed as they accepted the honor. These are bigger people than most of us.  They deserve all our support - kind words and more.

Here are some cameos:

Sahana Project, which came together during the Asian tsunami in 2004, involved putting together open source components and building a rapid Disaster Management System, which has since been utilized in other global disasters.

BUILD,  founded by Stanford Law Graduate Suzanne McKenhnie Klahr when she could have got a lucrative job, is in the heart of Silicon Valley and teaches youth from low-income communities  the ropes of entrepreneurship, how to write business plans, run small businesses - while ensuring they go to college.

Project-Impact, founded by David Green, a tech enterpreneur, makes medical technology and health care available at hugely subsidized prices to people in poor countries.

Room to Read, founded by an ex Microsoft executive John Wood, builds libraries, computer labs and donates scholarships across the world. I had the honor to sit  at John's table at dinner.

Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Incubator, teaches "social entrepreneurs" running charities and non-profits around the world how to become better managers in an intensive 2 week course.

SKS Microfinance, founded by an ex McKinsey consultant  Vikram Akula has helped over 200,000 women clients in Southern India but providing them small loans to allow them to buy sewing machines or other tools to improve their lifestyle.

LiveOps, which operates virtual call centers, put together a stunningly quick response (which a number of other tele-services firms declined to support because it was "technically unfeasible") and a toll free number and process to reunite over 10,000 displaced people during Hurricane Katrina.

No offense to the luminaries presenting at this conference, but to me this has been the highlight of the conference. Big kudos to MR for allowing the industry to honor these social enterpreneurs.

One of the nice things about MR's conferences is he honors several charities. At  the dinner at Software 2006, he honored 7  organizations (1 commercial but involved in a worthwhile cause).

I cannot begin to transcribe what we saw in videos on the impact of each of their activities, and the heartfelt thanks each of their founders/sponsors expressed as they accepted the honor. These are bigger people than most of us.  They deserve all our support - kind words and more.

Here are some cameos:

Sahana Project, which came together during the Asian tsunami in 2004, involved putting together open source components and building a rapid Disaster Management System, which has since been utilized in other global disasters.

BUILD,  founded by Stanford Law Graduate Suzanne McKenhnie Klahr when she could have got a lucrative job, is in the heart of Silicon Valley and teaches youth from low-income communities  the ropes of entrepreneurship, how to write business plans, run small businesses - while ensuring they go to college.

Project-Impact, founded by David Green, a tech enterpreneur, makes medical technology and health care available at hugely subsidized prices to people in poor countries.

Room to Read, founded by an ex Microsoft executive John Wood, builds libraries, computer labs and donates scholarships across the world. I had the honor to sit  at John's table at dinner.

Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Incubator, teaches "social entrepreneurs" running charities and non-profits around the world how to become better managers in an intensive 2 week course.

SKS Microfinance, founded by an ex McKinsey consultant  Vikram Akula has helped over 200,000 women clients in Southern India but providing them small loans to allow them to buy sewing machines or other tools to improve their lifestyle.

LiveOps, which operates virtual call centers, put together a stunningly quick response (which a number of other tele-services firms declined to support because it was "technically unfeasible") and a toll free number and process to reunite over 10,000 displaced people during Hurricane Katrina.

No offense to the luminaries presenting at this conference, but to me this has been the highlight of the conference. Big kudos to MR for allowing the industry to honor these social enterpreneurs.