White Bull & Central Asia Institute
CAI connects with European entrepreneurs By KARIN RONNOW
Face-to-face conversations about the“ who, what, where, and why” of Central Asia Institute( CAI) have long been the organization’ s bread and butter.
The pioneering work CAI does is complicated but successful and there are hundreds of great stories about how it is making a difference in the world. Some of those stories are published here, in the Journey of Hope. Others are posted on our blog( ikat. org / cai-communique /). And some of them are best conveyed in person.
In the past year, CAI Co-Founder Greg Mortenson has taken a slow-but-steady approach to his public appearances and sharing those stories. He has spoken at schools, libraries, churches, women’ s groups, and club meetings, and participated in the One Book One Bozeman events in his hometown. His main passion is speaking to students, from elementary school to university, about making a difference, each in their own way.
In October, Mortenson spoke to a slightly different audience in Barcelona, Spain. He was a keynote speaker at White Bull Summits’ Pathways Summit( whitebull. com), which brings together innovative European entrepreneurs with global investors and services firms that can help accelerate their success.
“ At first I was reluctant to talk with a European tech and business audience about education in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.“ But White Bull’ s Co-Founder Elizabeth Perry was relentless. She felt CAI had an important message to share with Europe’ s tech innovators and global investors. After all, innovation is the name of the game in business— and in the work CAI does.”
Perry said that she and Co-Founder Farley Duvall have a longstanding desire to increase social consciousness in the European business and tech community.
“ In the U. S., there is a highly developed private nonprofit sector that addresses many of the global and domestic problems and needs,” she said.“ However in Europe, which is more socialized, there is often the perception that governments should take care of social problems, and the nonprofit sector is not as mature as in the U. S.
“ While we certainly talk about business at Pathways, our focus is on the journey toward success, which we believe is driven by the passion behind the entrepreneur. Every year we try to bring in an inspirational leader. Who better than Greg Mortenson, who is clearly one of the most inspirational leaders of his time, to share the story of an incredible journey? In this way, we plant the seed, encouraging entrepreneurs to integrate social consciousness into their business models from the start,” she said.
“ But Greg did more than just plant a seed for the young entrepreneurs in the room. He also commanded the hearts of many a venture capitalist, with a standing ovation, and what we hope is just the beginning of many long-lasting relationships and attention of the important work of CAI,” she said.
For Mortenson, White Bull offered a unique opportunity to meet scores of smart and determined young people, learn about
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This is a dynamic group that’ s growing fast, as the global economy and innovation becomes less U. S.-centric. Conference attendees had many excellent ideas of how to help in a country like Afghanistan.”— Greg Mortensen, CAI Co-Founder
their ideas, network, and get feedback about CAI’ s efforts.
“ I learned a lot,” he said.“ This is a dynamic group that’ s growing fast, as the global economy and innovation becomes less U. S.-centric. Conference attendees had many excellent ideas of how to help in a country like Afghanistan with everything from how to enhance communication to free mobile technology to transferring funds to on-the-spot accounting to more efficient delivery systems and much more.”
Mortenson took full advantage of the event, participating in workshops and breakout events, and sitting down for private conversations with the European innovators.
“ There were so many visionary, optimistic people at the conference, people who don’ t believe in the word‘ impossible’ and are not afraid of failing,” he said.“ They remind me of our students, who pursue their dream of education with utter determination and confidence.”
Thanks, White Bull, for the invitation and the introduction. n
Photo courtesy of White Bull Summits
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