This was originally posted on the Vista Hispano blog. The US Hispanic consumer market is big. Really big. $1.3-trillion-dollars-and-counting big. Major corporations like Best Buy, Yahoo, and The Home Depot are paying attention and have piled in, attempting with varying degrees of success to capture a piece of this large and growing market. Over the course of the …
The Case for Catalytic Funding of Latino-focused Startups
[Note: If you're interested in the updated and much-improved version of this pitch--especially if you're a Latino-focused entrepreneur--my gmail address is mark.c.hand.] This year, the Saïd Business School at Oxford launches GOTO, an ambitious project to focus the university’s attention on a particular topic of global import. The first topic is demography, with a focus on …
Continue reading "The Case for Catalytic Funding of Latino-focused Startups"
Demographics in North America: Not just US
This year, the Saïd Business School at Oxford launches GOTO, an ambitious new project to focus the university's attention on a particular topic of global import. The first topic is demography, with a focus on aging. In my first post, I argued that discussing the effects of aging demands discussing immigration, too. In my second, …
Continue reading "Demographics in North America: Not just US"
MPI Board Update I
Two months ago I joined the Board of Directors for Manna Project International, the NGO I worked with from 2004-2009. What I have learned in our two meetings to date: On MPI After three years of hard work by Zak, Lori, and MPI crew, MPI's finances are in good shape. The bulk of MPI's revenues come from--and …
Al Idioma Mío
Remaba bien, una vez.Remaba con hombros tensados y manos callosas, trazando un plan recto, si no sin falla.Remaba bien, una vez.Remaba con toda la concentración que sabe dar un hombre. Y de pronto--casi sin darse cuenta--sentía más cómodo remando en aquél río que andando de pié en su propia tierra. Remaba bien, una vez. Pero …
On my first three weeks in Bombay
Diego had never seen the sea. His father, Santiago Kovadloff, took him to discover it. They traveled south. She was there, the sea, just beyond the highest of sandbanks. Waiting. When the boy and his father finally reached the top of that little mountain of sand, the sea burst into sight. So immense was the …
Moving to Mumbai
Last week my dentist asked me why in the world I am moving to India. Given his professional efficiency, I had little chance to tell him verbally--but promised an update by email. That email: For the last year, I've been working in Atlanta with Gray Ghost Ventures (GGV), a family office that began as a …
The Union of South American Nations – why isn’t this a big deal?
Yesterday twelve South American nations signed a treaty creating UNASUR: the South American equivalent, ostensibly, of the European Union. You can read a little about it here. But, curiously, the summit got little attention. Why? I'm not sure. I'm also unclear why the death of the founder and leader of FARC has not made many …
Continue reading "The Union of South American Nations – why isn’t this a big deal?"
What in the world…?
Last week, Colombian forces entered Ecuador and killed the #2 man from the Colombian group FARC. Depending on who you talk to, the FARC is either a revolutionary movement, guerrilla movement, terrorist organization or camouflaged drug cartel. The response has been the largesgt diplomatic crisis in Latin America in recent years. Both Ecuador and Venezuela …
