Monthly Archives: March 2014

This Isn’t Your Father’s Middle East Stupid Wake Up

I am a Lebanese-American, a conservative and a capitalist. I was born in Lebanon, and had one dream and one dream alone – to come to America, and make my fortune as a capitalist. I did just that.

I studied at The Wharton School, went to work at the most entrepreneurial firm on Wall Street, Drexel Burnham Lambert, became a global entrepreneur-financier, and made my mark dealing with some of the largest capital pools in the world, orchestrating large scale buyouts and recapitalizations.

Today, the Middle East is a very different place than the one I left 25 years ago. “This isn’t your father’s Middle East,” a good friend with whom I do business in the region loves to tell me.

And yet he is disappointed that most Americans seem stuck in the 1970s when it comes to how we think and describe the place – as if all Arabs are the same, none worthy of our trust or respect.

How do you gain attention for your Non-Profit?

This is clearly a question every non-profit Executive Director thinks about every day as funds for non-profits have been steadily declining for the last 2 years given the harsh economic realities we’re all still going through.

So these are a few tips I thought I would share with you all.

Whether you are an NPO or not, an integral part of any good marketing plan is defining your goals. When you know what it is you want to achieve, creating distinct marketing campaigns and tactics become much more clear.

The goals of non-profit organizations can be as diverse as the myriad of organizations themselves. There are, however, a few major goals across the board.

5 major goals of a NPO include increasing:

Cause awareness
Brand awareness
Donations
Volunteers
Membership

Share your thoughts…

Ziad K Abdelnour Founder & President of the Financial Policy Council http://www.financialpolicycouncil.org/

What is venture Philanthropy?

I believe Philanthropy is not about giving money but about solving problems. This is at least the philosophy we follow at the Financial Policy Council, I also believe a philanthropist should think like an entrepreneur and think of social challenges as an opportunity to create large enterprises.It’s really easy to create a $1 billion company–you just have to solve a $10 billion problem. Most of these large $10 to $100 billion problems happen to be social problems.

That’s why I think that some of the largest opportunity exist for an entrepreneur in solving humanity’s grand challenges.

True philanthropy requires a disruptive mindset, innovative thinking and a philosophy driven by entrepreneurial insights and creative opportunities.

To disrupt the status quo, drive philanthropy at tremendous scale, and develop long-term economic vitality through giving, we must apply the same models for success in our philanthropic endeavors as we do in business.

As a lifelong entrepreneur and financier, I see philanthropic organizations the same as any other business venture.

Much like today’s start-ups that accept VC money but never turn a profit, a philanthropic venture that does not create a self-monetizing, sustainable financial model will ultimately fail.

In short, philanthropy requires disruption.

This disruptive mindset hinges on a practice I call Entrepreneurial Philanthropy, which is designed to support innovation that creates sustainable, thriving economies in communities with tremendous need. Further, it requires the utilization of several principles rooted in today’s successful enterprises

Read More:What is venture Philanthropy? (http://www.slideshare.net/ZiadAbdelnour1/what-is-venture-philanthropy)

Thank you.

The Merit of Confrontation and Why De Blasio Is Already In Trouble

Much has been made of the worrisome rhetoric in the State of the City speech given on February 10th by New York City’s new mayor Bill deBlasio. Some in our audience, particularly anyone with a connection to New York City, have already expressed fears about what to expect next from the de Blasio administration.

Other commentators have been quick to deride de Blasio as a Marxist; indeed, de Blasio’s hapless Republican opponent used that label on him as early as September 2013. However, concerns should extend far beyond the City and the Financial Policy Council believes the de Blasio speech is a harbinger for the world.

Thank you,

About Closing Oil Derivatives Related Transactions

We at Blackhawk are approached by at least 500 supposed providers and sellers of oil derivative and other crude oil products a year and yet maybe only 2% of such providers have access to real product. Surprised? You shouldn’t be at all.

As you may or may not know, the reality today is that oil buyers are a dime a dozen, real fuel is the issue. The secondary market is for the most part composed of “fake offers” around the world doing a circle jerk on the Internet as people who have the real oil already know where to sell it.

Thank you,

The current VC or Entrepreneurship worlds are In a Mess?

I have finally come to the realization; after 30 years on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, that our capital markets are simply obsolete and that it’s high time for a new technology that allocates money and other resources far more efficiently than both our actual technology and government.

The current VC/entrepreneurship worlds are in a mess, and to their credit, the players are doing some serious introspection. But mostly, it is still business as usual.

I have nothing against VCs and angels. Most are extremely smart people. But the world of problems and opportunities is now so complex and fragmented that any system that relies on “bottleneck star-spotting talent” is doomed to hit its limits in short order.

Thank you Follow Ziad K Abdelnour @