Sustainable Livelihoods

Jeff Asher President


Microfinance support for the $1 a day entrepreneur

The use of microfinance grants for small entrepreneurs to build a business has been a stellar success in developing sustainable livelihoods. These entrepreneurs who happen to be poor usually focus on the purchase of new, critical equipment be it an irrigation pump for farmers, a sewing machine for a seamstress or a baking oven for a restaurant. Ultimately, the success of this fragile enterprise can rest on whether this equipment is safe, performs as expected and is reliable.

Sustainable Livelihoods can work within these various job categories on a local level to provide the technical assessment of the marketplace for this critical purchase. By communicating these results and product ratings in terms of their expected value and performance, the entrepreneur can make the right purchase for this product. Additionally, wide communication of these product assessments can change the marketplace for the better. Poorer quality products will not be bought and will leave the market while better ones will gain market share.

Back to Top

Enhancing Local Entrepreneurial Impact

To isolate assistance to only the entrepreneur and not impact others in the local community would be a lost opportunity. For example, assisting a farmer with a key equipment purchase can also mean encouraging the manufacture, repair and recycling of these products be done locally, with local materials to further build the local infrastructure.

Back to Top

Building Local Technical Infrastructure

The technical assessment of product performance and safety is an essential skill that can protect the growing population of the emerging nation. Thus, it is essential to consider developing local technical resources, like Universities, to test products in the marketplace via scientific, objective methods and communicate the “best in show.” Consumer organizations borne from this capability are now found in many of these emerging countries and over 150 are members of Consumer International whose headquarters are in London.

Back to Top

Water!

Water remains one of the most critical elements in the sustainability needs of the entrepreneur and his/her family. Water is required for irrigating crops and having potable water for the family. Many technical issues will need to be solved for the specific local conditions in order to ensure sufficient water resources. Fortunately, there is much work that has been done in water resource management that can be utilized directly and made appropriate for local application.

Finding potable water is only the beginning. Long term, there needs to be the local infrastructure to test and maintain the purity of this source. Thus, the transition of technical knowledge and testing equipment must go hand-in-hand with solving the water supply and purity challenges.

I am looking forward to using my significant technical knowledge in this area. In particular, I majored in Fluid Mechanics for my Ph.D. studies. I can still remember the Reynolds equation and how to calculate the pressure loss of fluid pipes. Further, I was directly involved in many consumer product studies published in Consumer Reports that involved water filters and water purity safety assessments. (Ironically, even today there remains unsafe lead levels in the water of some American cities and Giardia outbreaks are not unheard of.)

Finally, I found out firsthand how Giardia can wreak havoc on one’s digestive system after picking up this parasite in the wilds of Canada during a canoe expedition. It has forever made me sympathetic to those who must contend everyday with impure drinking water.”

Back to Top

Product and Food Safety

Product and food safety issues still plague developed countries like the USA. For instance, in Consumer Reports we had published stories recently indicating high levels of salmonella levels in chicken and lead in toys.

Nonetheless, the challenges are far greater for product and food safety in emerging countries where there are many times no standards or they are less likely to be followed. Once again, these safety issues are possibly best solved with trained local, technical infrastructure. Sustainable lives and livelihoods depends on having safe products to use and safe food to eat.

Back to Top