Welcome to BRINQ.com
Innovation, entrepreneurship, & play
in the Base of the Pyramid
"If what you're doing doesn't feel uncomfortable, then you're probably not doing anything new"
-Erik Simanis,Co-Director, Base of the Pyramid Protocol
Quick Links
- About BRINQ.com
Learn about what we're doing at BRINQ - the BRINQ Blog
Articles and news about the BoP - What is the BoP?
Learn about the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) - BoP Protocol: How we're involved
Some information about our involvement with the BoP Protocol and the group that created it (at Cornell University). - Rain Dance - Joy & Play
BRINQ founder Patrick Donohue's short short story, read & loved around the world.
Do the poor dream brighter sheep?
Why is so much entrepreneurial spirit found among our immigrants and our poor?
Do they dream more vividly, brighter and bigger than we do?
Perhaps it is just we who dream dreams less bright, dimmed by the glare of so many TVs, movies, and neon signs, from the clutter of so . . . much . . . stuff, sleeping too deeply among our existing history of achievements, our licenses to be lazy.
This is not just an idle question for us at BRINQ, it is at the heart of what we do, discovering and painting vivid dreams.
We are searching for the verge of innovation, where the brightest sheep of all colors, white, brown, blue, magenta . . . singed sugarcane yellow, are leaping by. And we’re looking for that entrepreneurial spirit, that drive, which makes sheep not only leap but fly.
So where can we deep sleepers find those bright spirits, those vivid dreams?
Among the sleeping lightly.
Among the poor,
at the brink of the world!
Partners & Best Friends
 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
 Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise Ithaca, NY |
 Nairobi, Kenya |
 Enterprise for a Sustainable World Ithaca, NY |
 NextBillion.net Washington, DC |
 The BoP Working Group YahooGroups.com |
- the BRINQ Network: Click for more BRINQ friends and mentors
Views from the BRINQ...
Latest Stories from BRINQ
The play goes on - Projeto BIRA (Brazil)
Tuesday, May 29 2007
A few years ago - when I was getting started with BRINQ - I was thrilled to come across the work of Renata Meirelles and David Reeks, a Brazilian American couple that was working hard to document and share the toys and games of the Brazilian Amazon. Their stories of what they discovered and shared were truly inspirational and I had hoped to meet up with them on one of their trips back to the U.S. Unfortunately the timing didn’t work out and I have since moved on to other projects, leaving my task of building a global toy chest sadly neglected. However a recent discussion on the Omidyar Network about recycled crafts and toys sent me looking for David and Renata’s work and I was delighted to see what they’ve been doing in all this time.
Linking Into the BoP
Tuesday, May 22 2007
…I decided to go poking around my Linked In network which now consisted of 97 1st degree connections, 5400 2nd degree connections, and close to half a million people within six degrees of reach. It wasn’t long before I started looking for other people who also worked in the Base of the Pyramid. About 65 connections came up, interestingly enough most of them at 2 least degrees away or more: meaning I have few direct connections working in my own field.
However, I was thrilled to find so many interesting people working in the BoP. Five year ago when I started working on projects in the BoP it was hard to find anyone that knew anything about, but now there are numerous consulting organizations, start-ups, corporations and universities employing people to focus on the BoP. I even found a life coach!
BoP Conference - Business with Four Billion
Monday, May 14 2007
Ted London just sent me the latest conference announcement for the UMich/Cornell BoP conference in September. You can see more below, as well as a link to the latest Conference Announcement (PDF).
Please pass the announcement on to people who may be interested in attending. Space is limited.
Patrick
www.bop2007.org
BUSINESS WITH FOUR BILLION
Creating Mutual Value at […]
BoP Book Discussions
Thursday, May 3 2007
“All learning integrates thinking and doing. All learning is about how we interact in the world and the types of capacities that develop from our interactions.” - Presence, Peter Senge et al
This new section here at BRINQ is to discuss that thinking/doing interaction: interesting books and what implications and lessons they offer for someone working on-the-ground at this particular intersection of business, poverty, and innovation. Most of the time the discussion will be about books read recently, but sometimes it will be about books read long ago that new experiences in the BoP brought back to light. On the surface, not all of the books that will be discussed offer obvious connections to the BoP - and some of the books are old to the world but new to me - but these books and articles have demonstrated their relevance during several years of work with companies and communities in the BoP.
by Patrick C. Donohue