Last summer Tigere Chiriga discovered the dark side of success. The Mooresville, N.C.-based entrepreneur, a clerk for the U.S. Postal Service, used crowdfunding site Kickstarter to bankroll his flagship invention, the Floating Mug–a coffee mug that doesn’t leave moisture rings behind when placed on a table. While his fundraising goal was a manageable $15,000, he ended up with more orders than he expected (just shy of $40,000 worth). Overnight, his one-man operation needed a manufacturer and logistics house that could handle shipping.
On a trip to Africa in 1990, Peter Scott was moved to tears by the deforestation he encountered. Determined to do something, he spent 15 years as a consultant for governments and NGOs in the developing world, designing fuel-efficient cooking technologies that didn’t rely on wood. Through his work he taught people in 20 countries to build and sell more than 400,000 clean stoves, bread ovens and food dryers.
By: Allon Raiz, an EO South Africa – Johannesburg member, a Special to Overdrive
As a consultant, I’ve had the privilege of helping countless entrepreneurs achieve growth and greatness over the years. Along the way, I’ve seen many instances of what I call “The False Start”— companies that seem to be getting off the ground and taking their competitors by storm, only to quickly fall short.
On the heels of President Barack Obama’s fourth State of the Union address, I’m pondering the power of huge, if seemingly unattainable, goals. Before both chambers of Congress, the President renewed calls for increased gun control, immigration reforms and making a solid deal on deficit reduction. He also offered proposals for job creation, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and promoting education. And though some of these ideas have bipartisan support, many of them also sounded a bit like pie in the sky or too far-fetched to ever really win support.
Have you ever launched a business with the expectation that it would run itself? It sounds pretty foolish when you see that sentence in print, but a few years ago I believed it. When I launched my online business, ServiceSeeking.com.au, I thought I could take a hands-off approach. No staff, just a website where customers can list their jobs and compare quotes from interested businesses. It seemed so simple— just build the site, sit back and wait for the business to take off!
One entrepreneur went from finding her voice in Uganda to starting an award-winning design firm. Watch the video.
Another entrepreneur set a Guinness World Record by traveling to five capital cities on a motorcycle continuously. Watch the video.
What do they both have in common?
They’re a part of the Entrepreneur’ Organization (EO), a global community of nearly 9,000 leading entrepreneurs who are changing the world, one awesome experience at a time!
A special interview with EO Calgary’s Zahra Al-harazi, founder of Foundry Communications
To be successful in business, you need to stand out. That best practice is especially true when it comes to entrepreneurship. No one understands the power of uniqueness more than Zahra Al-harazi, an EO Calgary member who’s making her voice heard in business and beyond.
In many ways, Zahra’s entrepreneurial journey is like most others— it’s filled with a thousand and one stories, memories and lessons learned that have helped shape her into one of today’s most innovative entrepreneurs. And yet it’s remarkably different, a journey colored by challenges and cultural experiences: She’s a Yemeni woman born in Uganda. She was raised in places that tourists rarely visit. She grew up during two civil wars. She married at age 17. She had three children by age 25, and later immigrated to Canada, a land as foreign as she was. From being a stay-at-home mom with no degree or career to finding an entrepreneurial spirit she never knew she had, Zahra is a perfect example of what can be achieved when passion meets purpose.
In this special interview, Octane sat down with Zahra to talk about finding her entrepreneurial voice, the magic of marketing and defining her future.
Everyone knows that the United States is in a terrible business slump, and there’s no shortage of opinions about how to get out of it. But there hasn’t been much in the way of notable improvement. So our organizations — Gallup and Operation HOPE — have been looking deeply into the science of human nature to find an answer and a solution.
Entrepreneurs behave just like most Americans when it comes to religion — but with one spiritual twist. They’re significantly more likely to pray several times a day or to meditate, said sociologist Kevin Dougherty, a co-author of the Baylor Religion Survey. The survey can’t answer whether prayerful, peaceful folks are more likely to take a business risk, or whether the stress of a start-up drives folks to their knees or to the lotus position, Dougherty said.
As the workforce becomes more and more tech savvy, a recent trend called BYOD — or bring your own device — has really begun to take off in popularity.
Basically, BYOD means just what it implies—people using their own devices in the workplace. Rather than rely on your boss for a computer, just bring your laptop or tablet from home and use it at work. According to an article on Forbes.com, by the middle of this year, 60 percent of companies were allowing consumer devices and software in the workplace — a 43 percent increase from last year.
