Unselfish Technologists

Keshav pointed to me the earlier RedHerring article on Profits with a Conscience, and that got me started on this blog and on social entrepreneurism. Here is another brilliant and warm article, not on social entrepreneurism per se, but about do-gooders, who out of their simple motivation and dedication are making a big difference to the world. The article talks in detail about 6 such technologists.

- Orlando Bonilla from Columbia became rich, but he did not waste his wealth on thrills and frills like other rich people pursuing high status symbols. He invested his money in the people, by empowering them and helping them to set up new ventures and get good education. In his words: "Parquesoft is more than a regular business incubator, it is a big social project about social inclusion, a kind of social Trojan Horse. My dream, which I am certain will come true, is that these actions will multiply in a spiral of startups that can generate wealth for us all".

- Mac Dearman ran a wireless ISP in Louisiana. When evacuees from Hurricane Katrina was harboured in a closeby church and they did not have access to telephones to contact their loved ones, he set up a simple wireless link for VoIP communication to help them. But that was just the beginning. It worked, and then he moved further south with some volunteers to set up similar wireless links in Lousiana, which also worked. The ranks swelled, and eventually there were more than 800 PCs and 400 phones in hundreds of locations around Gulfport, Mississipi, and Louisiana. "After setting up PCs in a shelter, I watched an elderly woman who had languished for several days with no news from her family discover on a Red Cross web site that they were alive and looking for her. That’s what drove us for the next 10 days".

- Hamish Fraser was the Director of Partners in Health, a Boston based non-profit organization, when one of the clinics' was robbed and all the medical records were destroyed. This was a turning point, and Hamish went on to make a web-based software that would keep regular backups of the records, even in cases of power failure or poor Internet connectivity. The system is now not just in use by Partners in Health, but organizations in Phillipines and Rwanda are also using it.

- Robert Maranga from Kenya was raised by his single mother after his father died, and his education became possible only through the small loans that his mother would take from scattered MFIs and money lenders located in the area. He is not 30, realised the benefits of MFIs a long time back, and has dedicated himself to writing software to help MFIs improve their functioning. "It’s not simply about better bookkeeping. More accountability will lead to more money flowing to micro-financing institutions".

- Oviemo Ovadje from Nigeria has developed an absolutely novel blood cleansing system that avoids the need for frequent blood tranfusions. He is currently having difficulty in getting funds to popularize his invention, but he says that he would rather spend time in saving lifes than run around to VCs for money.

- Lee Thorn once bombed Laos during the Vietnam war, but he has come back after 40 years with a message of peace of friendship. He has set up the Jhai Foundation, a non-profit organization that has helped villagers build schools, sources of drinking water, and a co-operative for local coffee farmers. It has also created the Jhai PC, an innovative, built-from-scratch computer designed to help low-income communities become financially viable. "I wanted to give back to these people not out of guilt, but because I wanted to share in the compassion that they had. I wanted to be like them, be able to forgive and work with people who had hurt them".

We have a lot to learn from such people.