Photo courtesy of TED Fellows.
Fellows Friday is a weekly series on the TED Blog that profiles one TED Fellow each week. We have asked the Fellows to answer our question below to share their knowledge and advice with other social entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers who are coming up with big ideas that can change the world. Read past Fellows' answers here.
To help journalists and emergency responders, Jon Gosier is developing SwiftRiver, a platform that sorts massive amounts of web and SMS data for accuracy. With his Ugandan innovation hub Appfrica standing on its own two feet, Jon has moved back to the US. Co-Founder of metaLayer, a company that adds visual data to real world scenarios, Jon continues to translate meta-data into digestible pieces applicable to users’ lives.
Question: There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What is one piece of advice you would give to them based on your own experiences and successes?
Answer: If you have a good idea, the most important thing, if you want to be successful, is to execute on that idea, no matter how sparse your resources.
When I started Appfrica, I used my own savings. Although I thought it was a good idea - and people tell me it’s a great idea now - at the time, no one would support it. The only reason it was even moderately successful is because I did it anyway.
I can say that, all across the industry, most success stories come from perseverance and tenacity; not necessarily having all the right resources at the right time.