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Author Archives: Al Doerksen
Pied Pipers and IDE
On a recent trip to Ethiopia, one of my colleagues collected a couple of photos of himself with a larger group of the local kids. I was ragging him a little about that saying that IDE doesn’t need any more … Continue reading
UnBalanced Investing
It’s already few years back, but those finance lessons from my MBA are still stuck in my head. (1) The right way to value a business is to calculate the net present value of future cash flows. (2) The safest … Continue reading
Intentional Consumption
So we’re back in that period of the year when we begin to hear angst around the pressure to consume. So here are my somewhat contrarian guidelines first written a couple of years ago. This is an argument for consumption … Continue reading
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[Disruptive] Innovation
The thing about poverty is that people get trapped for generation after generation by expectations of same old same old. “We are poor, we have always been poor and it is our destiny to be poor. It is our caste. … Continue reading
The Water Malthusians
I grew up in a family with eight kids. We never had a lot of money but I don’t recall thinking we were poor. We did have water restrictions however. We bathed once a week in 3 to 4 inches … Continue reading
Homeless Artists
The first time I recall buying art from a homeless person was in Kenya some years ago. The artist was a Somali women seeking safety in a UNHCR operated refugee camp. Her surroundings were incredibly basic; her studio was her … Continue reading
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A sucker for markets
People who have travelled with me know that I am a sucker for markets. I find it painful to drive past one and not stop. We’re not talking about supermarkets, shopping centres, outlet malls and Walmarts. We are certainly not … Continue reading
Billboards and food security
It might be the closet sociologist in me, but I have always enjoyed billboards. I figure that you can learn a lot about a society’s values by what people post on billboards. I still remember Coca Cola billboards from … Continue reading
The Iconic Treadle Pump
If IDE employees were forced, by policy, to wear a tattoo of IDE’s most successful technology, it would be a treadle pump. No, we didn’t invent it. It was introduced to us by Gunnar Barnes working for LWS in northern … Continue reading
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Carrying a green card
So here I am on the 4th of July in my fifth homeland. No, this might be overstating it – this is my 5th country of residence. Preceding this one were Mexico, India, Germany and Canada, whose passport I continue … Continue reading
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Raspberry Jefe 