Hi all, This is Dan and I would love to get the discussion started with any ideas or feedback you folks may have! I'm in Peru right now and definitely feel like this idea has some potential to hit people and change their mentality, but maybe I'm just an optimist ;)

Good luck, Dan. Local is essential... it's amazing that we have chosen all of these new economies without realizing that the one's our grandparents' had were the most responsible and healthiest for our communities.

I think it's a great idea! I have a bunch of questions for you though. What kinds of products would you like to market? What kinds of production challenges are presented by different product manufacturing processes? Will these manufacturing processes be more environmentally friendly in addition to sweatshop concerns? What kinds of products would be more easily absorbed into the consumer market in Latin America? Who would you be selling to? Retail stores, or would you build your own stores? Just a start. Awesome idea querido Dan. Espero que te gusta mis preguntas :). Un beso!

Great questions! I see this as definitely being a web-based business to start off with (gotta keep the costs down). I think the key is to market relatively desirable and high end products, but also a brand (i.e. American Apparel) that appeals to wealthier consumers. Hopefully a guerilla/viral marketing campaign to start out with that becomes something bigger!

I think its a really good idea, though it might be hard getting it off the ground. But I think that there is definitely potential for raising consciousness in emerging markets of the real cost (labor, environmental) of the products that we consume. With good marketing depicting such products as fashionable, as well as superior and desirable (as often is done in the US), you could make a profit and create new markets for fair trade, which would be very good.

A great and responsible idea with many challenges. Perhaps finding an iconic way to represent what you are trying to establish would quickly define the effort and could raise the appropriate awareness. For example, liken these efforts or goods to a color such as green goods (eco-friendly) which now has proven notoriety and a good model for organizing movement. Social changes still take time, but it’s something we should all be aware of and promote for the betterment of the global economy we live in today.

That sounds like a really good idea. What would the pricing differential be between these products and products currently on the market? Perhaps celebrity endorsements of responsible consumerism could help to kickstart the process.

Hopefully the price difference would not be large, especially for products that are already at the premium level. Celebrity endorsements do sound like an awesome idea, but that might be getting ahead of the game. But thanks for all the support so far -- top 5 and rising!

I like the part about education. It's one area often ignored when it comes to the Global South. I strongly believe that the only way for these nations to develop and succeed is by first having an educated population. Best of luck

The market that you propose is an interesting alternative, if we take into account the previous market study emphasizing high quality and low costs. I also consider it important that the worker (manual labor) be satisfied and because of this, more productive. With competitive capital and a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) this should be a reality

I think this is a very important idea especially for people in my country of Peru. Good luck!

wonderful goal to do away with child labor. but what about slave labor which still exists too? i am not sure the mind set in countries outside the u.s. is educated enough to go for it but i would vote for it gladly if i saw a place to hit and vote. how do i do this? minka

Hi Minka, Vote at the top of the page by clicking on the thumbs up! I am a little bit more optimistic about people outside of the US. I think the mind set of the population is ripe for change even if some companies will still try to take advantage of the situation...

The successfull company is the one that has transparents and optimistic managers with a vision to make right choices to be able to grow

The successfull company is the one that has transparents and optimistic managers with a vision to make right choices to be able to grow

Y a que mercado te dirigias?

Thanks everyone! Very excited about making the finals and hopefully we can keep building momentum!

Hi Dan, martin b on Pearl St Cambridge here. You know better than I whether your idea would work, but absolutely it should be tried! Energy & enthusiasm like yours make a big diff with any idea. Work w/ this one ... we'll be watching at least. The notion of "responsible choices" should include choices that, maybe indirectly, also include benefitting the regional poor, yes?

Hey, Daniel, I agree with Martin's comment, but I'm glad you're thinking about mixing it up. What is trickle-down in the South? Does it exist, is there a way to engender or aggrandize it, or is there no equivalence (not that it's worked here either). Wonder if you could set up busijness training with your prize, which I'm voting for now .... Jacqueline

American apparel is available in Peru, and I think you mentioned you were there. American products are available on these countries and has been for quite a while. The middle class that is springing in these countries has always been on the move, either going up or down, depending on the government. The unstable situtaion on these countries makes for a very complicated market, which needs to change constantly, more often than here on the states where we are used to consume since we are born and where the government changes are minimal (from democrats to republicans). As an example, ATT&T bought some years ago a peruvian company called TELE 2000. After a few years, the original peruvian owners bought it back for less than what they sold it to ATT&T. On the point that we here in th…moree United States make a responsible decision when buying products, I would have to disagree. Most of the clothing for instance bought at middle class malls, come from the southern countries that you mentioned (Peru, India, etc.). The other day I saw a Lacoste shirt made in Peru and some clothing from the store Express was made in Bangladesh. Both places are known for childlabor abuse. Also, just for your information, Abercrombie & Fitch manufactures clothing in Peru. Blockbuster failed on their voyage to Peru because of piracy problems. Finally the middle class market in poor countries is much smaller than on developed countries and their capital is less than the American one. So you would have to accommodate the prices accordingly, which means cheap labor if you would like to see any profit comparable to the profit of big companies. I think that the wealthier classes emerging that you are focusing on have already options on what to consume and have american brands over there too. So I do not think that they are suffering because of lack of possibilities and are feeling left out because of people focusing on the poor people, which you say we think of too much. Have a nice day.

Corruption is going to be a hard factor to overcome in these countries. You might want to look into Muhammad Yunus' Banker to the Poor. He had developed a way for people to borrow money to support their businesses without being screwed by local money lenders. Have you though about how the funding would revert back to the artisans without being swallowed by corruption?

Dan, A visionary project indeed. I will suggest that you look into avoiding the exchange of cash or monetary instruments as part of the transactions and focus on exchanging labor value for labor value in the products. The prime materials are valued at the open market value..makes it much easier to beat the corruption challenge and the currency exchange fluctuations that are difficult to make understandable to your local providers. If you furthermore look to AMWAY and Forever Living business models you have a neat mechanism to distribute the value and profits equally among the team. Good luck ! Carsten EEUU

Hello Dan, David Cherson here, how are you? Very long time no see, but glad that you are well and generating great ideas like this. I've never given much thought to bi-directional trade. I have been only on the receiving line here, buying coffee and some clothing items. Have you documented any market niches in your plan? Best of luck and I will keep following here, David

Thanks for the comments folks! Some really interesting points ^^^^ being made. I actually have read the Yunus book and have experience working with microfinance in latin america. As for the point about how much americans and europeans actually value fair trade products, I think it is fair to say that we are making progress. At both the retail and wholesale level, fair trade and similar products are growing faster than their overall industries. Same goes for green products. At a minimum people are more aware of these issues now than they were 10 years ago and that is the type of progress that i think it is important to push in developing countries as well!

Don't exactly know what "fair trade" is. The best think to improve the situation would be to end the protectionism in 1st world countries, like the Common Agricultural Policy and all the corporate welfare, and establish a real free trade environment. Neverthless, as long as this doesn't envolve any kind of statist legislation, it's a worthy idea.

projection Good ,congratulation

Dan, you're heading into a final week here, like candidates in Iowa caucuses. I think your idea is more important in long run than caucuses. Long run should start NOW. -- ~martin b.

Dan, I've voted for you! I think you have a fantastic idea and I wish you all the best! -Sheila Chavarría

I really like the idea! Good luck!

dan i try voting but i see that the number wont change, like it wasnt adding my votes or my friends votes. is it because its from the same ip, in any case it didnt add votes of any us 3

Did you answer the security question? You need to put in a valid email address, but not your real address or phone number. You should be able to vote more than once from the same computer as long as you're different users...

And the votes only update overnight!

The concept is brilliant- go green!

I really like this idea, although it is difficult to sell in Peru, where I'm also based at the moment, partly because there is no real coffee culture here, in spite of the fact that this is the home of fabulous coffee beans. A Peruvian told me recently when I was scouring Lima for a reasonably priced electric coffee grinder (you can find them, but only for $150 up to $300!) that most Peruvians drink instant coffee (!) You can buy nicely packaged, raw beans that claim organically farmed, but apparently these are for tourists to take home Comercio justo (fair trade) is not yet a household castillano expression. But, mainstreaming consumer ideas does not take that long (look at wine all over the world in the last 20 years) or changes in behavior (see the growth in personal exercise and gyms…more in Asia - 20 years ago someone jogging would be seen as demented). This is an excellent idea worthy of encouragement.

La inversión en el sector textil peruano es prometedor, ya que a través del ATPDEA (ley de promoción comercial andina y erradicación de la droga) se establece el ingreso libre de aranceles a las prendas de vestir entre otros, siempre y cuando los niveles de inversión pueda satisfacer la demanda del creciente mercado americano.