Welcome to GOOD Ideas, a web series where we talk with people who are doing cool things to make the world a better place. We'll be updating this post with a live stream of the conversation via Google hangout, so remember to bookmark this link. We hope you'll tune in, ask questions in the comment field below, and help us push the conversation forward.
In this episode, Mary Slosson, Global Health and Development Curator at GOOD, will talk with special guests Andrea Coleman, Kim Burgas, and Jamie Ortiz Mariño about using alternative modes of transportation to push the world forward. We hope you'll join us on Friday (5/31) at 11:30 a.m. PST for a live conversation.
Andrea Coleman: As a life-long motorcyclist who grew up and worked in motorcycle racing, Coleman understood early that motorcycles could be the perfect tool in Africa to deliver health care to even the most remote communities. But she knew that the key to making sure they were effective and reliable was good maintenance and management.
Since 1990, Coleman has lead the development of the award-winning social enterprise, Riders for Health. In collaboration with Barry Coleman, she has shaped the growth of the organization to a position where it operates in seven countries across Africa and improves access to health care for 12 million people.The entrepreneurial approach taken by Riders for Health means the organization looks for its programs to be self-sustaining through earning income and removing donor dependency. Andrea has also created an entrepreneurial approach to fundraising, with a commitment to earning as much of their fundraising income as possible.
Kim Burgas: Burgas is a regular bicycle commuter and co-founder of NYCBiketrain, an effort to encourage people to commute together by bicycle for safety in numbers and the social joys of riding with others. With a background in interaction design, Burgas is currently working on technologies to support bicycle commuters, a relatively overlooked and growing segment of the "cycling" market. She is a velojoy.com contributor and TA volunteer.