Meeting Bill

There are two people I've been dying to meet for over a decade, and this was my chance to meet one of them (the other is Bono). And not only was I going to meet Bill himself, but I was going to meet him a week after his announcement that he would, in 2 years, shift focus from Microsoft to the Gates Foundation, an announcement that shook tech world and development community alike. Of course in a group of 50 MBA interns I would probably get at most 1 question off, so I had to have a good one. Should I ask about Africa's most pressing issues? Or the role of technology in development? Or whether the foundation is a more effective vehicle for development than the private sector? I realized, though, that I could find these opinions elsewhere. What I really wanted to know was: what is his plan, and what does he see as his role in the grand scheme?

Questions from the group fell fairly equally into 3 categories: Microsoft, technology, and the foundation. In fielding questions from our group, he touched upon the GF's thrusts in Africa, including health-care, education, poverty alleviation, access to finance, and governance, and reminded us that though a developed country, the US has its own "development" needs as well. To my question about his plan and vision, he simply reminded me of the role of foundations in development and some of the issues which the private sector cannot yet address, because there is simply no profit model (yet). He also talked about innovation as a key driver for development whether it be through technology / computers, innovative health-care models, financial services, or others. To this I asked further about his thoughts on projects such as One Laptop Per Child (http://laptop.org/) and was surprised to find him less bullish than I would have hoped. Otherwise nothing too ground-breaking, but it was good to know we're all on the same page.

For me the big takeaway was this other avenue towards development, which is to keep development as a hobby or interest at my early stage, create wealth for myself (whether through entrepreneurship, finance, or whatever), and come back to development in a non-profit / foundation capacity much later on. Of course amassing that kind of wealth is not easy (and takes luck), but maybe it can be done to a smaller scale. Or perhaps, a group of people deciding to pitch in together to create a foundation. Instead of "doing well through doing good", it's "doing well then doing good". Until then, we'll see where the GF goes.