2 years ago, 3 of my team mates and I founded Ghonsla, a building materials company to provide affordable insulation made from renewable and waste materials to underserved markets in Pakistan and beyond.
Since then, we:

* secured over $10K in seed capital through business plan competitions,
* manufactured installed insulation in 12 homes and 1 school in a village in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, with the help of our strategic partner, Packages Ltd & community partner, WWF-Pakistan
* tracked the fuel-wood consumption and indoor temperatures in homes with and without insulation over a year

After finishing

up at MIT last summer, I moved back to Pakistan to work full-time on Ghonsla. It’s been quite an adventure so far, especially leading the product development, re-evaluating the market potential and planning for demonstrations in other communities. From our pilot project we learnt that the idea of improving insulation to mitigate deforestation and reduce respiratory diseases stemming from indoor air pollution makes sense. Also the dreadful images coming from Haiti have reminded us that rebuilding places from scratch will happen again and again. Developing cheap, local and green solutions to do so are as urgent as ever.

Recently, Ghonsla was selected as one of the finalist ventures for the Unreasonable Institute, which is a 10 week summer program designed to attract and unite 25 high impact social entrepreneurs from around the world, while incubating and accelerating their ventures through rigorous skill training and guidance from expert mentors. The institute also allows for entrepreneurs to connect with seed capital and offers a global network of support.

We are very humbled to be selected as one of the finalists, for all of the ventures are very inspiring. We believe that being part of this training will help us in moving Ghonsla to the next level and in achieving the kind of impact we are looking for.

The public i.e. YOU, will decide which of the finalists will attend the Institute, through placing their money on them at the finalist marketplace. The first 25 finalists to raise $6500 through sponsorships will attend.

I hope you get the chance to see our profile at unreasonable finalists and to support us through sponsorship. The pledges, which have a maximum amount of $10 in the first week will only be requested for those projects which do make it to the final, for others they will simply have served as a vote of confidence.

Thank you for your support!

What do you think about Ghonsla?  Did you buy cialis like this article? Do you want to reach TechLink’s members with your own experiences? Send an email to techlink-officers at mit dot edu.

In this insightful article, Shelley shares with us her observations and experiences post-MIT and some of the remarkable steps she has taken to create opportunity from obstacles. Have your own stories to tell? Share them with us, at techlink-officers at mit dot edu.

In today’s environment, businesses must think about globalization in order to sustain growth and stay competitive. It’s especially true with the recent rise of Asia, which has recovered rapidly from the global financial crisis and outperformed other parts of the world in many aspects. Yet, outsourcing can only be applied so far. To succeed in expanding internationally, the management team needs to be localized. That is, executives and others who work in any international capacity should be equipped with knowledge of local languages and culture to effectively manage teams, execute plans, and drive success.

Many US companies, whether they are big conglomerates or tiny startups created by entrepreneurial MIT alums, recognize the tremendous potential of the overseas market. They pour in enormous investment to expanding internationally, only to have their dreams fail. This is because they too often neglect the importance of adapting to the business model, organization, culture, and most importantly management style of local environment. Localization is as important as globalization. Many supposedly global companies including Amazon, Ebay, and mostly recently Google have struggled to penetrate into the market in China. On the small scale, successful entrepreneurs who want to apply their know-how and repeat their successes overseas after selling a business often find that what they did in the US simply doesn’t work as well aboard.

But everybody speaks English – right?

Although many working professionals in large organizations abroad are now better educated and have basic knowledge in English or other languages, the truth is that it remains difficult for the local staff to communicate and engage in complex business and technical conversations. Arguably of more importance, local employees might be highly trained in English relevant to their trade, but may find it difficult to use English in social situations.

High level executives are no exception. They might expect local staff to be available for day-to-day translation and communication services, but what about the challenges of adjusting to life and taking care of personal matters in a foreign country? For example, I know of one senior business executive at Priceline, who travels frequently to Asia but always encounters communication barriers with taxi drivers. So he’s late a lot. In another case study, several MIT grads and a senior advertising executive with over 20 years of experience with Hearst decided to start ventures in China. When they arrived, they found that the translators that had worked for the companies they used before were gone after a management change. They were left to navigate treacherous business waters alone.

When in Rome, do Business as the Romans do

It’s not rocket science (though many of you can probably handle that too), but does it take discipline and time to learn new languages and acquire knowledge of buy cialis local cultures. In my time at and away from MIT, I recognized the needs of travelers and business executives who need to learn foreign languages and culture quickly. I have been spearheading the development of practical and effective language learning applications for the web and mobile platforms. My team at LangLearner has developed state-of-the-art and complex language learning, speech recognition, text-to-speech and translation technologies to enable rapid learning of 90 language pairs in

a fun and interactive environment.

Business executives and professionals no longer need to spend many hours in the classroom or thousands of dollars on outdated desktop software and old methodologies (like Rosetta Stone). Technologies and Invention have always been the MIT’s strengths. Innovative and clever applications and solutions solve problems in impactful ways that make members of the MIT community the change agents of the world. The tools LangLearner is developing are accessible on the web without download/installation or via the iPhone or Windows Smartphone. We’ve been busy – some of our latest achievements include winning the Samsung Mobile Application Competition, and we were finalists in various contests including the Olin Cup Competition, JCI’s Socially Responsible Business Competition, and the Cyberport Creative Micro Fund Program.

Giving back to MIT

I really credit a lot LangLearners’ success to my time at MIT. To give back to the MIT TechLink community, members can claim an exclusive free trial by sending an email to “hello at langlearner dot com” with subject line: “[MIT TechLink] Exclusive LangLearner Free Trial” or by joining the email list at http://www.langlearner.com

If you are connected to email 24/7 and run into a communication emergency in a foreign place occasionally, you can get instant help with LL Translation HelpMail (free for you) – it works everywhere from laptop, blackberry and any cell phone with email access. The address is “translate at langlearner dot com”

Email to: translate at langlearner dot com

Subject: “French, voice”

Body: [text to translate]

** Note: It supports many languages, e.g. replace “French” with “Japanese”; check out http://www.langlearner.com for the updated list of language supports.

We hope you will give our software a try and let us know your thoughts. Thanks so much!

What do you think about the need for localization as a complement to globalization? Leave a comment for Shelley!

Did you like this article? Do you want to reach TechLink’s members with your own experiences? Send an email to techlink-officers at mit dot edu.

Open to MIT Graduate students and their guests.
Bring government issued id for wristbands.

Admission is free!

Linked Data Product Development Lab

K. Krasnow Waterman, Reed Sturtevant, Co-Leaders
Mon Jan 11 thru Fri Jan 15, 9:00am-05:30pm, TBD
Tue Jan 19, 5:30-9:00 (Demonstrations & Reception)
Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 24-Dec-2009
Limited to 50 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)

Prereq: order viagra Apply by email: iapsemantic@mitecenter.org See notes below

Create and build a Linked Data killer app! Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, will kick off the week with his vision of Linked Data, the means for unlocking the greater power of the Web. This one week immersive lab will include lectures on key linked data concepts and buy cialis online technologies. Participants will form multi-disciplinary teams of coders and entrepreneurs for a collaborative week supported by coaches with expertise in Semantic Web, Linked Data, product design, entrepreneurship, Web services and mobile applications. Working prototypes will be evaluated by a blue ribbon panel at the end of the week. Your team’s result from this boot camp hack-athon could be a working prototype for an open source project, entry in the $100K competition, etc. Co-sponsored by Decentralized Information Group, CSAIL.

Details for applying are at: http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2010/LinkedData/KillerApp.pdf
Contact: Chris Mather, E40-196, cmather@mit.edu
Sponsor: MIT Entrepreneurship Center
Latest update: 25-Nov-20093

PDF

The 12th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference presents

Startup Showcase

Thursday, December 3^rd, buy viagra online 2009 at the MIT Museum (265 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139)
6 pm to 9 pm
Free Admission!!
Meet over 25 exciting early stage startup exhibitors, as well as other entrepreneurs, investors and members of the MIT community.

Don’t miss this opportunity to

interact with a select group of early-stage startups as they showcase their products and services in sectors including information technology, healthcare/biotech, and clean technology.

For more details on showcase companies, visit

www.mitvcconference.com/showcase

For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Countries across six continents are coming together to celebrate buy cheap cialis online Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. To think big. To turn their ideas into reality. To make their mark.

From November 16 – 22, 2009, Global Entrepreneurship Week will connect young people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and more will participate in a range of activities—from online to face-to-face, and from large-scale competitions to intimate networking events.

Through this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs will be inspired. In doing so, they will begin to acquire the knowledge, skills and networks needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on their lives, their families and their communities.

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2008 was a great success and a remarkable example of what can be achieved by bringing together different ideas and cultures around the theme of enterprise. In 2009, we aim to unleash young people’s ideas around

the issues that matter most to society, from poverty reduction to climate change, and to foster a global culture which recognizes entrepreneurs as drivers of economic and social prosperity.

See the latest newsletter here.

Designed by MIT Students for MIT Students, Noontime Networking (http://noontimenetworking.org/) is a simple site that matches students at MIT together by interests and other factors

and finds an ideal time for them to get together and grab lunch.

The site is still in beta form, but already boasts a multitude of features that you would expect to see on cheap viagra much larger, for-profit sites, like automatic recommendations, sorting by affiliation and interest, and connections with all of your favorite social networking sites.

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MIT $100K Executive Summary Contest Mobile Mixer

Have a great business idea that enhances or leverages mobile technology ? Interested in forming or joining a team for the MIT $100K? If so, please

join us for the MIT $100K ESC Mobile Track Mixer!

Wednesday, November 18 – 6:30-8:30pm

MIT Stata Center

Floor 1, TSMC Lobby

32 Vassar St, Cambridge

Come build your team, join an existing one, and learn more about the MIT $100K competition. If you’re ready and willing, you can pitch your idea to the crowd and attract the right talent to help your business succeed (limited spots available). If you are interested in pitching, indicate this on your registration and we will accommodate as many as possible.

This will be the only Mobile mixer before Executive Summary Contest submissions are due on Dec

3rd, so don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to meet like minded-entrepreneurs!

Please RSVP here:

http://mit100kescmobiletrackmixer.eventbrite.com

Executive Summary Contest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The MIT $100K Executive Summary Contest (ESC) is the second contest in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The ESC encourages teams to flesh out their business ideas and form teams that combine technology and business strengths. By participating, all competitors will receive feedback from qualified judges. Six exceptional entries will win cash prizes

Contact Information

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email: puneet@mit.edu jblake@mit.edu

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Calling all aspiring entrepreneurs, investors and gamers

When: Thursday November 19, 2009

Time: 12 PM (noon)

Where: Location Corrected: E51-345

Students, faculty and staff are invited to the public preview of Kapitall—a revolutionary new online investing platform designed to transform the investing experience for the next generation of investors.

Traditional financial sites make investing feel like a chore consisting of uninspiring or daunting tasks. Kapitall makes investing feel like something entirely different –a form of play—that speaks

directly to the Gaming Generation and the way they prefer to engage, learn, and interact.

Kapitall’s team includes people with experience at companies like Apple, Bloomberg, Electronic Arts, Morgan Stanley, ShareBuilder and Pearson.

Join founders Gaspard de Dreuzy and David Neubert for an interactive presentation about the adventures of starting a company trying to create a Revolution in investing.

Refreshments Provided

Go to www.kapitall.com to sign up, or go behind the scene at www.backstage. kapitall.com

Please contact

Victoria Alexander (917) 238 8912 / victoria@kapitall.com with any questions.

TechLink’s mission is to help the MIT graduate community connect, collaborate, and innovate. We host fun events & initiatives linking students across disciplines with each other, alumni and professional networks. techlink.mit.edu

World Usability Day is a global, public event to raise awareness of usability and user centered design. This year’s theme is Designing for a Sustainable Future.

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM  Activities at South Station, Red Line T stop, main concourse

Activity Details at upaboston.org/wud2009

4:00 PM – 7:00 PM   Findings & Conversation over food and drinks at MIT Stata Center, R&D Pub and Commons

To join the conversation at MIT, RSVP at wudboston.eventbrite.com

This week’s event summary:

Global Entrepreneurship Week is Next Week | Kapitall Wants to Turn Investing into Wii-style Fun | Mobile Phones for Social Impact | Volunteer for Futures of Entertainment 4 Conference | MassAccess Speednetworking | Random Video?

________________________________________________________________________________________

Global Entrepreneurship Week16 – 22 November 2009
The Premier Event of Global Entrepreneurship Week

The MIT Enterprise Forum and NASDAQ OMX present “The Tough Get Growing: How to Succeed in a Down Economy”
Monday, November 16 at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium
6:00 – 7:30 pm Program; 7:30 – 9:30 pm Networking Reception
http://mitenterpriseforum.org
Panelists:
Bo Fishback, Kauffman Foundation; Gene Fitzgerald, Professor, MIT DMSE; Helen Greiner, iRobot  / The Droid Works; Daphne Zohar, PureTech Ventures.
Introductory remarks by MIT President Susan Hockfield.

The current economic climate doesn’t mean companies can’t succeed. It just means the WAY a company succeeds has its own unique challenges. Hear the real-world experiences of entrepreneurs, the lessons they learned going from start-up to success story, and the research and best practices that will help you to get growing.

Watch the 30 second event trailer: http://tinyurl.com/mitefpromo

Register today:  http://tinyurl.com/mitefnov16

Share the event with your friends on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/mitef-gew-facebook

________________________________________________________________________________________

TechLink Participates in Global Entrepreneurship Week: Calling all aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and gamers!Thursday, November 19th, 12PM | MIT Sloan E53-Room 345

Students, faculty and staff are invited to the public preview of Kapitall—a revolutionary new  online  investing  platform  designed  to  transform  the  investing  experience  for  the  next generation of investors.

Traditional financial sites make investing feel like a chore consisting of uninspiring or daunting  tasks.  Kapitall  makes  investing  feel  like  something  entirely  different –a  form  of  play—that  speaks directly  to  the  Gaming  Generation  and  the  way  they  prefer  to  engage,  learn,  and  interact.

Kapitall’s  team  includes  people  with  experience  at  companies  like  Apple,  Bloomberg,  Electronic Arts, Morgan Stanley, ShareBuilder and Pearson.   Join founders Gaspard de Dreuzy and David Neubert for an interactive presentation about the adventures of starting a company trying to create a Revolution in investing.

Participants will be given the opportunity to become among the first worldwide beta testers for Kapitall. more info at techlink.mit.edu/events and www.kapitall.com

________________________________________________________________________________________

Mobile Phones

for Social ImpactNov 16, 2009 6:30-10:00pm Wong Auditorium
Mobile MIT (MoMIT), along with Mobile Monday and Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development (SEID), are proud to sponsorMobile Phones for Social Impact. Join some of the pioneers in this space as they discuss the challenges and opportunities of using mobile phone technologies to improve people’s lives throughout the world.  8 speakers have already registered to present their companies in the fields of mobile healthcare, labor, agriculture and more.  More information at http://bit.ly/eR4qs | http://mobilesocial.eventbrite.com/

________________________________________________________________________________________

Volunteer for Futures of Entertainment 4, Get Free Admission
________________________________________________________________________________________

MassAccess: A Speed Networking Event
Speed Networking aims to bring together entrepreneurs and professionals of all backgrounds to share ideas, make

connections, and inspire collaboration–quickly.
Are you any one of the following?
- Young entrepreneur
- Industry leader
- Service provider
- Experienced entrepreneur
- Investor
November, 17th 2009 at the Microsoft NERD Center.
http://massaccesscambridge.eventbrite.com/

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Video of the week: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html
And a special sneak peek from next week’s newsletter: http://bit.ly/tp9Z0
________________________________________________________________________________________
As always, we are always open to ideas on how to make this newsletter or TechLink better.