WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009 - (Page 39)

Profiles In Service PEACE CORPS SERVICE 2.0 A Volunteer-turned-entrepreneur stays on to build Nicaragua’s communication infrastructure by JoAnna Haugen fter their Peace Corps service has ended, some volunteers return home and pursue careers in international development or non-profit work. Many become life-long community volunteers. But only a few venture so far as to stay in their country of service and sink all the cash they have into a new business that provides a sustainable solution to a problem in many developing countries: the lack of communication infrastructure. For Brian Forde, his Peace Corps service was only a pre-cursor for more sustainable work in Nicaragua, where he served as a small business volunteer from 2003 to 2005. As his service came to a close, Forde and Edgard Cruz, the head of information technology for the Peace Corps in Nicaragua at the time, partnered together and formed Llamadas, S.A. a telecommunications Brian Forde, co-founder of llamades, S.a. company that services 75,000 people a month and has changed the face of that industry in the country. “Neither of us had a particular interest in telecommunication,” Forde says Llamadas Heladas a llamadas Heladas store in Matagalpa, nicaragua. through an e-mail interview, “but once we saw Internet phone calls coming to market in the United States, we immediately saw the benefits it could bring to Nicaragua and viewed it as a technology that could truly be exploited to save money and increase efficiency in the developing world.” Llamadas, S.A.began with five phone cabins on one wall of an ice cream shop in 2005; today, the company has 29 call shops around the country and employs more than 80 people. “International communication is very important in Nicaragua because over one million Nicaraguans, or 20 percent of the population of Nicaragua, live abroad,” Forde says. “Affordable communication keeps families connected and provides the local economy with almost a billion dollars in annual revenue through remittances.” “One of my concerns as a Peace Corps volunteer was seeing people from rural communities leaving for Managua or neighboring countries to find better paying jobs,” he says. “Our goal is to create tools that allow people to earn a decent living in Nicaragua instead WorldView 9 Llamadas Heladas

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009

WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009
Contents
President's Letter
Your Turn
Are You Connected Yet? Join Africa Rural Connect
Group News Highlights
Why Investment in Health Is Critical Now
New Hope and Lessons from Rwanda
Turning a Blind Eye
A Question of Capacity
CN U HLP ME? I HAVE A ??
When Water and Sanitation Are a Priority
Could “Peace Care” Lessen the Global Burden of Disease?
One, Two, Three
Translating International Health to Health Care at Home
Turning Tragedy to Opportunity
Costa Rica: Finding My Religion
St. Lucia: Learning about Hunger
Seven Dusty Notebooks
Peace Corps Service 2.0
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index

WorldView Magazine - Fall 2009

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