Dear friends,

I hope this finds you well. In light of last years post (Ruin and Rebirth), it seems like I'm destined to continuously cycle through a reinvention of self. So please forgive my vulnerability.

<< = a reflection on this year. A caterpillar chewing on the leaves of the year long past, pooping out nutritious tidbits.

> = A call for more opportunities on proven ground. Seeking to prolong the cocoon of security, while I work out what I wish to become. 

<<

Last year it was my pleasure to work with a wonderful grass roots organisation in Sri Lanka. Yarl IT Hub. Their growth and community impact - bringing IT, Open Source Tech, and Entrepreneurship to a Rural community recovering from over 2 decades of civil war is truly inspirational.

I wrote up my impressions here for those of you who're interested. Any help amplifying their project is greatly appreciated, too often our attention is focused on what sucks, we need to hear more stories of people doing great things with love and care. This is one such story. Please read and share widely. 

For those of you in the startup community, or responsible for building labs and ecosystems, I took a deep dive into Sri Lanka's Startup Ecosystem exploring what obstacles and opportunities lie in this space.

Many of the insights are a broader critique of existing challenges within the Startup culture, which prevent many innovations from taking place and create a very narrow band of "novel" ideas that make it to market. For those of you who wonder how we end up with shit like the Juiceroo - this may offer you some ideas to reflect upon. I got a bit carried away - it's a bit long. So here's a PDF for your ebook reader etc. Sri Lanka is in a high energy phase right now, and it's a great time to get involved.



>

This year I'm being pulled in many directions as usual, trying to navigate that narrow crossover point between money and meaning.

I really enjoyed the work I did last year, and the feedback I've had from Yarl IT hub has been very favourable.
So I'm looking for more work in the following areas:

Collaborating with Local Community Builders to support both Leaders and General Community, helping them to grow and develop their skills in Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and Personal Confidence.

Working with Innovation Ecosystem Builders, to address critical blocks and obstacles in the path of innovations and Entrepreneurs.

If you know of any communities/companies/organisations that would benefit from my combination of creativity, entrepreneurial experience and systems thinking please let me know.

The above request relates to the ongoing challenge of personal security, which pulls me away from projects which I would prefer to focus on and engage in.

This was one of the critical insights from my Sri Lankan research, perhaps most visible to me because it was and remains a concern I have myself.


We are pulled in two directions. On one hand the need to provide security for those we love, and on the other drawn to explore opportunities to meet our collective needs.

(this is compounded by the sheer volume and scale of ideas and opportunities from Personal Cooling Systems at one end of scale to how to enable Universal Basic Service through distributed currency at the other).

An idea that sticks with me is to somehow align the needs of security and opportunity. That the 2 forces should be aligned, that Entrepreneurs and Inventors have the security to explore. But the Opportunities they explore should create greater security for all.

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