Small Business Guru Launches Global Initiative for Entrepreneurship
Some people truly walk their talk. At a time when many Americans are pushing for more isolation, Steven Van Yoder is reaching out globally. Yoder, a popular journalist, small business guru and author of the new book Get Slightly Famous, is a man with a mission?to bring the message of entrepreneurship to the developing world, beginning with India and Bali.
As a result of the technology industry downturn, particularly the drop in sponsorship of work visas, millions of well-educated young Indians are trying to enter the workforce, only to find no jobs available.
2 out of 5 young Indians are unemployed, many with Master's and Doctorate degrees.
The poor global economy and the fear of terrorism has caused a great drop in travel, hitting distant countries like the island of Bali particularly hard, and leaving their people searching desperately for alternatives to their tourism-based economy.
"This project is my book brought to life," says Yoder. "As a long-time journalist, I've traveled and seen the human costs of poverty and economic hardships brought on by a rapidly changing global economy, especially to people in the developing world."
He has garnered the support of many top individuals and organizations, including Guerrilla Marketing founder Jay Conrad Levinson, the National Federation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Indian-based I Create, Inc., the Center for International Trade Development and catalog entrepreneur Lillian Vernon, among others.
This first in a series of trips to Asia began August 27, 2003. He is posting a daily log in an online travel journal at www.getslightlyfamous.com/journal.html
Yoder believes it is important to work with both community leaders and individual entrepreneurs. He will be meeting with community leaders in both India and Bali to arrange partnerships and mentorship programs. He will also be working directly with a Balinese entrepreneur to build an export operation for Balinese artwork, and with a Delhi-based virtual administrative assistant to help him grow his one-person business to a small outsource firm for global companies.
He is nothing if not ambitious regarding the scope of this project. "I hope this project inspires others," says Yoder. "If I can convince enough people to mentor potential entrepreneurs through this program, we could experience an economic renaissance of impressive proportions?and possibly fix a few of the world's problems at the same time."
As a result of the technology industry downturn, particularly the drop in sponsorship of work visas, millions of well-educated young Indians are trying to enter the workforce, only to find no jobs available.
2 out of 5 young Indians are unemployed, many with Master's and Doctorate degrees.
The poor global economy and the fear of terrorism has caused a great drop in travel, hitting distant countries like the island of Bali particularly hard, and leaving their people searching desperately for alternatives to their tourism-based economy.
"This project is my book brought to life," says Yoder. "As a long-time journalist, I've traveled and seen the human costs of poverty and economic hardships brought on by a rapidly changing global economy, especially to people in the developing world."
He has garnered the support of many top individuals and organizations, including Guerrilla Marketing founder Jay Conrad Levinson, the National Federation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Indian-based I Create, Inc., the Center for International Trade Development and catalog entrepreneur Lillian Vernon, among others.
This first in a series of trips to Asia began August 27, 2003. He is posting a daily log in an online travel journal at www.getslightlyfamous.com/journal.html
Yoder believes it is important to work with both community leaders and individual entrepreneurs. He will be meeting with community leaders in both India and Bali to arrange partnerships and mentorship programs. He will also be working directly with a Balinese entrepreneur to build an export operation for Balinese artwork, and with a Delhi-based virtual administrative assistant to help him grow his one-person business to a small outsource firm for global companies.
He is nothing if not ambitious regarding the scope of this project. "I hope this project inspires others," says Yoder. "If I can convince enough people to mentor potential entrepreneurs through this program, we could experience an economic renaissance of impressive proportions?and possibly fix a few of the world's problems at the same time."
Source...