Educators, Mentors & Entrepreneurs -- Part 2

Part One is Below.

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I spent the second half of the nineties working in Asia, about six years. While in Asia, I did quite a bit of business in India and worked closely with a company called Blue Dart Express. Blue Dart was founded by three men. One of these men, Clyde Cooper, is the driving force behind the company as well as being an entertaining and unique guy. I was fortunate to follow the founders for many years and have a lot of respect for what they had achieved. Express Delivery is a tough business in any field, imagine trying to make it work in a place like India. The entire team at Blue Dart are experts at making things happen on-time consistently.

I think it was during a drive from the Blue Dart offices to a shareholders meeting when Clyde looked at a beggar on the street (then looked at me) and commented that, “we all do what we can for the poor, but, really, what can one do?”. I think that the comment was for me as Indians sense that many Westerners have trouble wrapping their heads around the nature of poverty inside India.

Clyde’s comment might leave one with a feeling of futility. To me, it struck at the heart of the issue of charity. Because for all of the people that I met while working in Asia, Clyde did the most to reduce poverty. Through his leadership, he created a business that gave education, employment and satisfaction to thousands of people. He held his people to the highest standards. He even banned himself from smoking in his own office because he felt that was best for the business’ standards.

The point of the story is that, for me, contributing to the community has very little to do with giving money to “worthy” causes – money is the easiest thing to give. Giving time, effort and thought to a community on a consistent basis is far more valuable. Creating organizations that facility the transfer of time, effort and though -- also highly valuable.

Teachers, Mentors & Entrepreneurs – these are the people that drive a civil society.

How’s this related to affirmative action? To me, it seems that it is in all of our interests to ensure that we provide the TME skills base to as wide a portion of our society (and the societies of our “enemies”) as possible.

Within our societies, I also think that we should provide the infrastructure (legal, physical, financial…) to support people in these fields.

How best to do that? I haven’t quite thought that through for you – nor do I have to. What I’ve been doing is considering what all this means to me.

For me, I’m spending time putting together a feasibility study for an indoor 50m pool in Boulder, Colorado. The community has a need for a quality swim venue and, I believe, that it will become a catalyst for a lot of positive events in people’s lives. Having seen the impact of Christchurch NZ's indoor swim facility over the last five years -- it is a practical way to have a long term positive impact on the lives of many people.

My grand vision is a world-class multisport training centre – something similar to what’s being created down in Christchurch. Match the two hemispheres up for the elite athletes/coaches; build a local adult and kids program around them; and create a venue for coaching/retailing/massage/medical/other business.

It’s a big project and won't be easy. I figure that I am looking at $5-25 million depending on how far one takes it. Key things that I need at this stage:

** Site – 2-10 acres;
** Development Partner – to assist with build cost projections; and
** Planning Liaison – to work with the city.

I expect that the commercial, retail and residential development around/inside the sports complex would be very profitable, especially if one was able to tie up surplus land and do a high density residential build out. It’s exactly the sort of facility where young professionals and families want to live -- the facility in New Zealand is a large part of why I moved there in 2000.

From the city's point of view, I think that it works because, done right, you provide affordable housing along with a high quality sports complex – privately funded and managed. Responsible development that creates a community of desirable citizens.

I’m also looking at a straight-up pool (re)development. That’s simpler than the training center but doesn’t have quite the same “community of excellence” angle.

Anyhow, if you have any ideas (or a site!) then drop me a line. I want to hear from you.