Blogs

San Francisco - April - see the attachment! see you there!

I received this email today from Nikhil, one of the undergraduates applying for money to start a new market in STL:

Thanks you very much for your letter of recommendation. It has helped us become selected as finalists for the grant! We will be giving presentations to the committee on April 3rd and plan on doing more interviews and research up until then.

Thanks again and I hope the flu has finally left you alone!

- Nikhil Agrawal

LETS HOPE THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL IN THAT PRESENTATION!

March 2, 2009

BBC News has great series from differen types of outdoor style
marketplaces around the world. This is being broadcast in
segments on its BBC World News on TV and is available to see
on the Internet at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7907335.stm

The series is titled: “Fruits of Crisis” and also “Global Markets Feel the Downturn.”

Several of the markets report business is booming. Vendors comment
that customers are going back to the basics.

Video reports come from Beijing, Dubai, Lagos, London Mumbai, Buenos
Aires, Johannesburg; and audio-only reports are from a Moscow flea
market, Cairo camel market, Australian cattle market, and Addis Ababa grain market.

-- Steve Balkin, Roosevelt University, sbalkin-AT-roosevelt.edu

In Markets Journal I've uploaded the draft proposal Nikhil and Sumit submitted to WASH U to support the creation of a new Market in St Louis. I've also uploaded my letter of support!

All best to those students - and to everyone in markets!

Updates as we know more!

...when last we heard from our intrepid undergrads at Wash U they were meeting with community members about the market they want to create...using advice from yours truly, they continued their meetings and drafted a proposal.

They met with Mary Zabriskie who is a member of the board that will judge their grant application - always a good move. She pointed out concerns about finding vendors and foot traffic on Saturday afternoons - when they'd like to have the market. She suggested they investigate further what merchants might sell and how they might capitalize their initial operations.

They needed a faculty sponsor and though they are hard science majors they knew they could use help from another discipline and Mark Rank, a Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at WashU agreed to sponsor them, THANKS MARK.

They also contacted the local Habitat for Humanity chapter and the local street magazine, WhatsUP! Both agreed to help find vendors from their own target population and they suggested other people to contact.

These are the steps one takes - framing the problem in a way others find they can support - and doing the leg work...I supported their application with a letter - we'll see what's ahead!