 Good afternoon. It's really a pleasure to be here and I for the purpose of full disclosure I want people to know that I am Someone who believes that a better world is possible and for that reason I've been a social entrepreneur for over 40 years in different ways and I've been working for the last six seven years on Cuba because I saw something in Cuba that I thought was important for all of us as social entrepreneurs So many of you are probably aware of the fact that Cuba has a world-renowned medical system. There's lots of professors Great educational system not bad rum Salsa, you're probably aware a lot of Americans aware of the famous the classical cars in Cuba Which by the way, how many of you been to Havana have been to Cuba raise your hands, okay? How many of you want to go to Cuba? Okay, that's pretty typical these days, but the cities are full of these old cars and I chose this particular one. It's a 1958 Ford Galaxy now why'd I choose that one to show you because My father had a 1958 Ford Galaxy I remember driving in it, but more importantly was in 1958 that I first heard about the Cuban revolution if you can believe it I was ten years old and I was watching TV and These little kids come on Stage come on TV with beards fake beards and they say I'm a Castro freedom fighter send money Boy have times changed that they they could do that on TV back in those days And I this was weird So I sort of got interested and basically if you had the opportunity throughout my entire life to watch the Cuban revolution and It's been fascinating because Cuba with a fairly small population has had a really outsized role in the history of the last 50 60 years in Cuba in the world I should say so it's been fascinating. I've gotten to see Over time different stages of Cuban development the good the bad and certainly the ugly parts as well so Okay, and I'm still having my problems the slides. Oh, there we go. Okay, so you might ask yourselves Well, does Cuba really matter in the world economy small island? Relatively impoverished or though very well educated and trained people and I would argue that there's two a couple reasons Why Cuba is important? First of all, you can see from the geographic area the map here that Cuba is really in a strategic position And it's been that way historically So valuable is that the United States we you know continues to retain a piece of property there called Guantanamo Coincidence, I suppose So that's important in Cuba's largest economic development project is the building of a superport Which is going to service the expanded Panama Canal and become a trans shipment center of all kinds of goods throughout The two United States to the Caribbean but also to Europe as well from the ships that come through from the Pacific But I would also like to point out to you and this is really the reason I'm here That I think Cuba matters for a different reason that sometimes people don't really think about very much And as I look out in this crowd, I know you're social entrepreneurs. I know you're looking for ways To determine how can we build a different economy one? That's not controlled by the 1% and one that takes into consideration all the problems of global warming and issues that we face what's interesting in 2011 Basically the Cuban model the Cuban government excuse me came out and said, you know what? Our economic model isn't working anymore We've got to make really big adjustments if this experiment we've tried for the last 55 years is going to continue So they embarked on a process of changing their economic model and let me point out This is prior to long prior to relations with the United States. So it's something that was Sparked kind of indigis indigisously as they needed to so the point of this whole project that I've been embarking on with a number of colleagues from different countries particularly in Latin America is Is it possible for Cuba to? Create an economy which takes the best parts of what they've achieved on the social side and Helps build a sustainable economy, which has not really worked very well in their case by looking at what's going on in a Capitalist system and what's worthy of taking that's really what the project is about So, you know, it's a little ambitious, but you got to try these things Otherwise, you know, it won't happen We know of the disasters that occurred in Russia and the eastern block back in the 90s. Is it possible to avoid that? so the Fundamental issue here is can Cuba create an innovative hybrid economy? This is truly a hybrid animal. Is it possible? Well, I think we need to keep in mind That in Cuba you have a very highly educated population and in Cuba you have 55 years of attempting to build a socialist You know environment, I think those really important factors because the reality is I feel Perceivably when I go to Cuba and I've been there probably about 15 times in the last You know four or five years. I Feel there's a very strong commitment to community and to overall welfare and that if they're going to try to lift the economy, it's really going to be Doing it together and in some ways, that's the hardest part is to how do you convey? That sense of the social and social entrepreneurship and and social wealth So maybe the Cubans have a bit of a head start that could be very Interesting for us. So the ways they're going to be creating this innovative economy Hybrid is they're opening up to a point where previously the state controlled most of the business is going to be 5050 in the future In terms of where the business is coming from they're opening up to foreign investment They're opening up new ways of setting up economic structures So for example, there's been a long history of cooperatives in Cuba, but now they're beginning to unleash Non-agricultural cooperatives so Cuba is on the verge of literally becoming One of the societies in the world with the highest degree of cooperative Penetration in the economy, which of course brings along with it social equity as everyone is participating in this sort of ownership model there's also a huge number of Self-employed people that are setting up small businesses as well 500,000 at present count So it's a substantial part of the economy So who will benefit from all these changes well first and foremost it will be the children and the future generations of Cuba if Cuba is capable of leapfrogging the pitfalls of 20th century capitalism and moving in to The harbor of 21st century sustainability. That's the issue But you know what it really goes beyond Cuban children it's really children in the United States children all over because Cuba if it can become a kind of national laboratory and Cuba has been a leader in the past in many issues in human development in in our century If they can do that then it becomes beneficial for everyone where we see a testing of a social economy model That's a blended model taking place So you may ask, okay. Well, what does this mean for us entrepreneurs? Well, it means a couple things first of all that there are opportunities there There are Services and goods that are desperately needed by the Cubans and There will be opportunities for us however We shouldn't you know underestimate the difficulty of doing things This is just now getting worked out after so many years and there are barriers the US embargo is still in effect and It is very limiting factor for some of our access to doing business in Cuba and the Cubans are very stubborn I mean they have resisted The United States kind of invasion for 55 years and it remains to be seen how this will move forward So as I move on at the end of the presentation I'll give you a link where you can see a paper that I co-authored on doing business in Cuba Which is geared towards social entrepreneurs and nonprofit entities. So to kind of wrap up. I Think we need to look at the question of what does the future hold? Well, I don't know how well you can see it But I'm wearing a t-shirt that is a t-shirt of Che Guevara who's wearing a t-shirt of Bart Simpson Okay, and that sort of suggests the dilemma We're going to see now in the sense that what does the future hold? This is a big exchange and a big experiment So, you know, will the Cuban government hold up its end of the bargain and really open the economy and allow these entrepreneurial forces to move forward Rains be seen will the United States You know overwhelmed the economy, you know the traditional US economy overwhelmed Cuba and literally Bart Simpson will replace Che Guevara as kind of an icon those are big questions and you know, I encourage people to go and see things You know for yourselves, but I do want to emphasize one thing at which often doesn't get mentioned. I'm gonna here's the my Website if you're interested in checking out the guy that I put up There's a lot of other interesting articles on Cuba and on social economy that I think you might enjoy reading But just to sort of close out here. My guess is that the Cubans are very resilient They have overcome enormous challenges and they're not going to fall over Dead because capitalism and you know is here They see a lot of the pitfalls and while they absolutely have to improve their economy and create better lives For their people. That's it absolutely essential or the whole thing will fall apart at some point They I think have the potential of doing it in a way, which we will all Benefit from and learn from and I encourage all of you to get involved. So thank you very much