Yes, you're exactly right. He probably hadn't yet grokked the significance of massively parallel micro-entrepreneurialism, both for the benefit of individuals within an population, and for national economies as a whole, particularly in developing countries. The point he did grasp is important, that technology can help developing countries leap frog some of the steps currently first world countries had to take (like stringing phone lines...and btw, why not adopt air cars and leap frog road building?)...which should quickly afford more opportunities for individual prosperity and innovation in any case, even if the government doesn't quite get it at first.

I completely agree with you and his Excellency regarding the importance of technology for developing countries. Just last week I saw a statistic showing that there are more people in the developing world using cell phones than in the developed world. This is truly amazing and gives a lot of hope! It's just a pity that there isn't anybody really trying to get the most out of this opportunity. The international aid organizations are still rather focusing on relief work. The bi- and multilateral organizations such as GTZ and World Bank are still focusing their economic development programs primarily on the cooperation with the government. Microfinance funds are well in place but coaching and advice for starting a new venture are very limited. The large foundations such as Gates and Clinton are doing an amazing job in supporting large scale projects (e.g. to increase crop productivity) but given their structure they can't provide the right support either. The point I want to make here is that there is currently no large international institution which is driving this topic. Some organizations look towards that direction but haven't arrived there yet. For example, I worked with CARE International over the summer and they are thinking exactly in this direction but it's quite a challenge to make this organizational change happen.

We're on the same page. The problem you outlined is in large part the foundational thinking behind the business model of Selfport. Our idea is that, through a business structure, we can put in place tools that help people in every social strata to leverage rapid technological innovations (starting with social networks) to improve their lives and opportunities. As a small start up, we can move with agility, where large institutional forces can be slow to maneuver and change. At the same time, there is the possibility, starting from nothing, to grow at the rate Google did, if the product brings enough value to enough people.

(BTW, a recent statistic: 3.2 billion people subscribe to cell phone service...the cell phone is the biggest selling thing ever.) The world is amazingly and increasingly connected. Soon we will be able to reach pretty much everyone and anyone, like a Facebook with the whole world on it. But what do we do with that connectivity? As you say, microfinance has proven very effective at getting resources for business development in to peoples' hands. But they must still come up with the business. What we're doing is creating the business making tool set, that is intended to allow anyone to succeed, with a wide variety of flexible business templates, as part of a social network.