Weekend Entrepreneur Links: Mobile Payments, Dino VCs

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2010-08-01 23:26:00 UTC
Topics:

I've spent the last few days in Boulder immersed in the world of the Unreasonable Institute. As I've been listening to some promising social ventures give their pitches, there have been a number of great articles about the changing nature of the venture space, innovation in global mobile money, some good news about conflict minerals, and more.

Obama Signs Legislation to Label Conflict Minerals: There is a growing awareness of the fact that many of our modern electronics include minerals mined in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. New legislation passed recently means that companies are now obligated to provide information about whether they're using parts derived from minerals that come from these places, and if so, what they're doing to ensure that they obtained legal and with regard to human rights.

A Mobile Payment Trifecta in Kenya: Erik Hersman is one of the leading voices in the story of Africa's mobile tech renaissance. In this piece , Hersman talks about three mobile payment companies showing how Kenya is actually arguably getting out ahead of many startups coming out of America and Europe that are working on these high-potential areas.

Idiocy and brilliance of American policy toward entrepreneurs: A nice simple piece about the irony of our immigration policy by tech blogger Robert Scoble. He points out how, on the one hand, the US creates a space safe for failure -- the necessary prerequisite for an entrepreneurial culture. Yet on the other, we make it immensely hard for talented people from around the world to settle and work here.

Why Every Social Entrepreneur Should Be Paying Attention to SKS & Unitus: I haven't spent as much time with the Unitus shut down and the SKS (microfinance) IPO as I should, in large part because I'm still wrapping my head around what I think they mean. This post does a nice job connecting many of the dots, however, and links to a follow up, as well.

Are Most VCs Dinosaurs Who Need to Hurry Up and Die?: The venture capital space is in the midst of a rationalization period, in which the model is trying to adjust to the reality that startups are starting for less, and exiting earlier through buyouts. This week, leading angel investor Dave McClure launched his own seed fund "500 Startups," and launched a shot across the bow of the traditional VCs. This post looks at both sides.

Photo credit: Scott Kinmartin

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Social Angel Investors Need to Figure Out How to Get to "Yes"
NEXT STORY:
Facing Forward: The End of the Social Entrepreneurship Blog on Change.org

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.