Deja vu all over again

In 1978 I had a wonderful position in the Agricultural Library at Ohio State University working with agricultural credit and technology files. The position, like many at universities, was paid for by the State Department USAID. Essentially, it was research on what very small amounts of credit from non-profits and governments could do for families and villages in rural, third world countries. Browsing the examples that will be presented at this Fisher College of Business event next week, looks like not much has changed in 30 years. A scarf project in Bolivia and a charity in Appalachia. Well, they probably meet green goals even if they don't lift anyone out of poverty. And that's what is about these days, right? I doubt if the ACT files are still there, but there's no need to reinvent the wheel (although how would academics get promoted if they couldn't rewrite the research done 30-40 years ago?).

Students organize dialogue on battling poverty through entrepreneurship

On Feb. 20, students, the ambassador of Bangladesh, business executives, business scholars, state officials and poverty practitioners will gather at Gerlach Hall for the "Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship Summit." The day-long summit, inspired by Fisher students, will bring together poverty experts and individuals interested in this topic to create a dialogue and exchange successful strategies, ideas and practices.

“There are many entities addressing poverty utilizing different approaches, as business students we wanted to bring many views together in one forum,” said Benjamin VanBuskirk, one of the student organizers for the event. “We hope this interaction will create discussions about how theory and practice are intersecting while offering participants opportunities to learn from each other.”

The format for the summit will be panel discussions—focused on four areas, research, government, practitioners and business." Link