On June 30th, Suzanne Pronk was proud to host her very own event, FIPNetwork, held at the impressive Microsoft Headquarters at Schiphol. At the FIPNetwork Aspire Event, different female speakers were given a (female) audience, existing of FIP members. Women who either have their own company or are being payrolled at a senior level. Women that know stuff. With a growth of a mere 470 members within one year, the FIP network seems to have proven its worth.
On this very event, TEDx Amsterdam Ideas Worth Doing was giving the opportunity to explain the philosophy, background AND one particular project. This project was Leanne Bogers’ Boosting Burundi.
Leanne Bogers at the FIPnetwork event
The fact that the vast majority of the attendees chose the TEDxAmsterdam slot, lead to a plenary presentation. The other unique fact, was that the only man in the audience and on stage was the courageous Jim Stolze. Yes, the founder and initiator of TEDxAmsterdam.
As the event was nearly to a close, the stage was given to the TEDxAmsterdam team. First in line was Jim. He sketched the history of the USA TED event that started way back in 1984 and how he himself also caught the TED virus. That’s when he witnessed an angry Jamie Oliver, ranting on excessive sugar-use in the UK. Jamie was furious. And Jim was inspired. TEDxAmsterdam was born. The “x” in TEDx stands for independently organized.
Jim Stolze, TEDxAmsterdam founder and the only man at the FIPnetwork event
And then. Having set up an extremely successful event – even Mabel Wisse Smit, known for declining most public invitations, wanted to perform a Talk – Jim came to think. All these wonderful talks, about magnificent, original and inspirational ideas. What can I do with these ideas? Et voila, TEDxAmsterdam is now not only hosting Ideas worth Spreading, but also Ideas worth Doing.
Ilse Kerling was next and talked about Ideas Worth Doing (IWD). She gave some more insights on IWD, the 5 IWD projects – with BoostingBurundi being one of them – and explained the power of the TEDx vibe. TED is about human capital. No one is being paid. Goals are met and things get done, because people share a vision. Ilse’s project team is connecting idea initiators like Leanne to TEDx fans, like me.
Third in line was Anita Mooiweer, Sanoma Publishers and Chief Editor of TEDx Magazine. She linked Esta Magazine to the Burundi project. At this very moment, two Esta reporters left for Burundi for a Photoblog journal to be published in Esta.
Anita Mooiweer shows the Esta picture of Leanne Bogers
And then. The stage was Leanne’s. For Leanne, it all started when she met Consolata Ndayishimiye, head of the Chamber of Commerce, at TEDxChange Amsterdam. They clicked. It was chemistry. After a lot of discussing, visits, research and exploring, Leanne came to 1 final conclusion. We have to get Burundi back on the map. This means country marketing at its best. But it doesn’t mean just another tourism site.
In order to do so, Leanne came up with two solutions.
First, get in touch with the Burundi diaspora-members. The diaspora-members are Burundi people, that left Burundi because of the civil war. These skilled and educated Burundis live splattered all over our globe. Burundi is in need of their talent and knowledge, so we need to build a database to get in touch with them.
Secondly, get it back on the map, simply by ranking. If you hit Google, all results show negative info about Burundi. Disaster all over. If we can bend this and turn it into something positive, it will help. No doubts about that. For example. The Code 5, which was issued some time ago and sort of means, entering the country with a gun to your forehead is now a Code 4! This has been changed due to extensive lobbying. But no one knows this.
Leanne’s presentation was a Call for Help to the FIP Network members. Actually two calls.
The first was “how can we get Burundi in a positive way higher up in the Google ranking?”
Second: “help us to create a community in order to locate the Burundi diaspora people and communicate with these people.”
Especially for help on these issues, a breakfast brainstorm for the FIP members is issued on July 14th at the Sanoma office in Amsterdam.
Do YOU wanna join our brainstorm? http://www.fipnetwork.nl/burundi/
Ladies of the FIPnetwork
To be continued…
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