Achenyo Idachaba-Obaro harvested the reedy stems of the water hyacinth from a dam near Ibadan with a particular mission in mind. With deceptively beautiful blue flowers, water hyacinths are a blight in the water channels of the West African country. Fast-growing, choking, they keep fishers from their traditional livelihoods. But Idachaba-Obaro, an entrepreneur, was noodling […]
Elizabeth MacBride
Posted inInnovation
Two MIT Profs ID’d An Aging NY City As The Next Innovation Hub. Their Data Is Proving Right
Times of E’s series: Deep Dives into Secondary Cities was sponsored by Armory Square Ventures (ASV). ASV is a returns-oriented, mission-focused technology venture capital firm based primarily in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It is an optimism engine for secondary cities and a community catalyst for regions outside Silicon Valley. _____________________________________________________________________________ ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Little […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Welcome to New Builders Dispatch!
We report on and advocate for the founders and innovators making a difference in their communities. We focus on telling the stories of underrepresented founders, through the written word and through events. And we’re broadening to cover the innovative companies and people in the up-and-coming smaller cities in the middle of the United States. If you […]
Posted inUncategorized
Google Lobbies in Many Ways
A note from our editor, Elizabeth MacBride: I wrote a few weeks ago that the military-industrial complex, having retreated from Afghanistan, would soon be looking for a new story to sell its wares. I predicted it would be China. Today, in the Wall Street Journal, we saw Eric Schmidt, the former chairman of Google, lobbying for the Pentagon […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s Note: Is Venture Capital Really a Tool for Broad Economic Development?
Earlier this month, the National Venture Capital Association and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise released a report on job growth in U.S. venture-backed firms. The headline finding: Employment at VC-backed firms grew faster than employment at non-VC-backed firms between 1990 and 2020. This is like saying the world’s hot-dog eating […]
Posted inUncategorized
Editor’s Note: The Story of a Syrian Entrepreneur
Editor’s Note, from Elizabeth: One hard thing about being a journalist is letting a story go. Over the years, many people have shared their stories with me. I’ve written them, filed them, and then moved on. That’s the job. But it feels inhuman at times, especially when I’ve reported on poverty, conflict and violence. Back […]
Posted inUncategorized
The True Power Behind the NRA
This story originally appeared in Quartz in 2019. In late April 2019, I found myself standing on the 15-acre floor of the National Rifle Association’s annual convention and gun show, looking at a gel mold that demonstrated what a hollow-point bullet does inside a human body. The mold showed how the bullet spreads out, tumbles, […]
Posted inTrailblazers
Editor’s Note: Three Killer Moves that Backfire on Women
There’s a well-known phenomenon in business, whereby a man who is bold and asserts himself is seen as a leader, and a woman who is bold and asserts herself is seen as a bitch. Women get caught in a Catch-22 – either you’re a weakling or a bitch. Research established that about a decade ago. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Editor’s Note: When You Grow Up Traveling, Travel Is Home
I’m a military brat, the daughter of a career Air Force officer. Our family moved 11 times before I was 17. Some of the most wonderful memories of my childhood are of those nights before a move, when my room was packed and the boxes stacked three or four high, and I Iay in my […]
Posted inUncategorized
Editor’s Note: Killer Business Moves … That Backfire On Women
Three killer moves in business … that backfire on women There’s a well-known phenomenon in business, whereby a man who is bold and asserts himself is seen as a leader, and a woman who is bold and asserts herself is seen as a bitch. Women get caught in a Catch-22 – either you’re a weakling […]
