This week I am excited to be attending the the Global Business Coalition’s annual conference in New York as a Global Health Ambassador.   Myself along with nine others who I am super excited to meet with in person are invited to attend the conference to help drive discussions and awareness for the conference sessions over various social media channels.

I’ve attended several conferences over the past year or so either as a speaker or just as an attendee and always live tweet interesting leanings while I’m there, but what is exciting about this conference is that it will be covering pressing issues at the cross-section of the business sector and public health sectors, two areas I feel very passionate about.  It will bring together NGO leaders, private sector leaders, government, and heads of leading social businesses.

What exactly is the Global Business Coalition?

The Global Business Coalition is an organization that mobilizes the power of the global business community to fight the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics.  Today it is a network of over 220 global companies that help bring the business community together to make a healthier world.  The GBC essentially brings companies, nonprofits, and governments together for collaboration and coordination related to solving pressing global health and development issues.

While I plan to attend most of the sessions during the conference, I will be covering the following two sessions in more detail.

1. Innovative Financing in Health
2. Entrepreneurship in the Social Context: Business Visionaries Who See the “Return” on Health Investments

At Jolkona, two of the most popular categories of projects are education and public health.  That is why I’m super excited to be able to learn about how the business community can play a leading role in tackling many of the problems our global health partners try to address in the community level.  I truly believe, that in order to make a dent in pressing global health and poverty related issues, we need each one of us to do our part, and that includes non-profits like the ones we work with, but also donors like all of you in the Jolkona community, along with the business sector.

Stay tuned for my tweets, leanings, reflections and comments from the conference on June 1 and June 2 from NYC! Follow the conversations on twitter with @GBCnews @nadiamahmud & #GBCHealthConf

Opportunity Collaboration 2010 (OC 2010) was an amazing experience for Nadia and me. For those not familiar with Opportunity Collaboration, it brings together close to 300 non-profit leaders, social enterprises, and funders with the goal of spurring conversations and collaboration around poverty alleviation. It is an un-conference where the focus is placed on getting things done versus hearing keynote speakers and panel talks. I have been reflecting on that experience since my return. For me, often times the best way to make a sense of things is to write down my thoughts and this blog post is my attempt to do just that.

One of my favorite discussions at OC 2010 was actually the first session where we analyzed Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. It was a perfect way to start this un-conference. It set the stage for everyone to bring an open, respectful, and cooperative attitude to the rest of the event. The participants of Opportunity Collaboration brought with them rich stories from the field that really added to the depth of the discussions all weekend.

Opportunity to collaborate

As the name implies, the focus of the event was on collaborations and partnerships. Nadia and I had to wear two hats while we were at the conference – seeking out partnership opportunities that we can fund through our web platform as well as meeting with potential funders to support and fund our operations.

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Whoa, May was an incredible month in the life of Jolkona. We were a nominated for Best Startup Nonprofit in the Seattle 2.0 Awards, our “Kids Give Back” idea was in the Pepsi Refresh Contest, and we hosted our first event, the Jolkona Meet-up.

Thank you for your votes: Seattle 2.0 Awards & Pepsi Refresh Contest

We’d like to send a big thank you out to everyone for helping us vote and get the word out for Jolkona in the Seattle 2.0 Awards. We’d like to congratulate TisBest Philanthropy who won the award.

In April we shared our experience submitting an idea for inclusion in the Pepsi Refresh Contest, and in May our Kids Give Back idea was open for voting. Thank you, again, to everyone who voted for this idea—especially those who voted every day. We finished the month in 341st place.

Jolkona Meet-up: Our First Event

Question: What’s one thing you hope for when hosting an event (especially your first event)? Answer: A packed house.

And that’s exactly what we had the great fortune of accomplishing—a sold-out out event! We were scheduled to host this happy hour event in the private dining room inside Seattle Art Museum’s restaurant, SAM Taste. But after watching the available tickets disappear in the days leading up to the event and counting heads for our staff and partners, we decided an hour before the event that room would have too much elbow-rubbing and not enough comfort. Luckily the great staff at SAM Taste let us move the party to the “patio” which overlooked the foyer of the museum, and provided more space and an incredible backdrop!

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