The team at ebbf Ecuador of Farzin Ashraghi, Vahid Masrour, Maritza Figueroa, Shamim Kazemi, Katty Velasco and Pablo Robayo (part of the team pictured in this image preparing a session), shared with us their own path from the idea to the actual implementation of their over 10 ebbf events in just 100 days, warmest congratulations to this great team and we hope their article proves a useful inspiration for others wishing to start their own ebbf local activities:
How we got started
In July 2015, two of members of what would become the EBBF Ecuador team participated in the ISGP (*) Seminar for Graduates in Colombia. The deep analysis and reflection there inspired them and, once they were back in Ecuador, got them to discuss possibilities of “participating in the discourses” that relate to the world of business, in which one of them had a wealth of experience and contacts. Since then, the team has progressively grown to include 3 more members that have a shared interests in the topics that are being addressed.
We requested using the ebbf Ecuador brand as it made complete sense to link our initiatives (which are directed mostly at a business-minded audience) to the global ebbf brand, and also to help our participants realize they are part of a larger, worldwide, community that wants to make a (civilization-scale) difference. At the same time, we obviously benefit enormously from the decades of experience of ebbf on these topics and on how ….
to foster adequately reflection and ways to interact that promote genuine transformation.
(*) [ISGP: The Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity is a non-profit organization, dedicated to building capacity in individuals, groups and institutions to contribute to prevalent discourses concerned with the betterment of society.]
A collaborative process
The team meets twice each month to create contents through a process of reflection and consultation, enriched with experience from the business community of all the team members, and complemented by research on those topics from thought leaders and academics.
The tools we use include whatsapp (for discussion), Google slides (to assemble the contents) and Keynote (for the final design of the contents), as well as social networks for invitations to the events and announcements.
What we’re currently doing
Meaningful entrepreneurship: Participating in the discourse on Entrepreneurship: Since Farzin and Vahid were co-founders of a community that encourages entrepreneurship (LeanQuito), it was fairly easy to obtain a slot in the programming of the community meetings to discuss topics that enhanced the understanding of entrepreneurship to include ‘meaning’ and ‘impact’ into the planning process of would-be entrepreneurs.
Co-creating the future: In order to be able to more fully develop the contents and ideas that we want to share, we created a community called “Co-creando el futuro” (co-creating the future). Since we manage the agenda and all the aspects of the events, it is easier to define the topics and the approach we want to use. We used the ebbf breakfast template as the inspiration for the format, but decided that breakfast was not the right option for Quito, and have worked with an evening session schedule. The format currently includes a dedicated venue (so as to avoid interruptions), a presentation with visuals (something that we are experienced with), and group discussions.
We have received feedback that we need to make the sessions more interactive, and are working towards that goal. In all 3 sessions we’ve held, we’ve been surprised by the warm thanks that have been expressed along the lines of “thank you for opening a space and discussion of these important topics”. We of course want to promote the progressive implementation of the ideas that are discussed, but it seems that this aspect will take a while longer to “stick”. You can look at our previous events through this link: www.meetup.com/co-Creando-el-Futuro/ and the presentions we have developed here: www.slideshare.net/ebbfecuador
LogistiQuito: we have only just began participating in this quarterly event, which is focused exclusively on Supply chain Management. In the single event we have participated in so far, we opened the discussion of the idea of equality of men and women in the supply chain jobs.
Re-using the generated contents in different spaces and contexts: Depending on events that we can insert ourselves in, or are invited to, we reuse the contents we have generated, adapting them to different audiences and lengths of time. This allows us to fine-tune the ideas we are sharing, by receiving more feedback, and to reach wider audiences.
What has been achieved so far, and what we’re hoping to achieve
In terms of numbers we’ve been blessed to achieve the following results:
7 contents presented,
12 events,
533 participants,
890 minutes of meaningful conversations as well as very encouraging feedback from managers of some of the biggest companies and entrepreneurs of Ecuador.
Our current aspiration is to build an enthusiastic community of business managers that participate regularly in our events, committed to implementing as much as possible of the concepts that are shared and discussed, generating learning on what restraints they find, and what results that they obtain. Increasing the size of our audience is also a goal, and we are looking for opportunities to find other outlets that want to discuss the topics we are covering.
Useful Links:
click here to download ebbf’s guide to how you can create your own “ebbf meaningful conversation” event
http://www.meetup.com/co-Creando-el-Futuro/ our community (includes pictures of events, very much still in progress)
www.slideshare.net/ebbfecuador Presentations (in Spanish)
https://twitter.com/ebbf_ecuador our twitter account (feel free to follow)