Jakub (and all) - that's really great. i think the more organizations like SolDevelo we can keep engaged on Mifos, the better for the long-term strength of the community.
Totally agree on listening to current users - I think a membership organization can get unwieldy but a huge part of the reason to create a new organization in Africa would be to get the organization closer to actual users. what do you think "technical leadership" of the Mifos platform will entail? one of the challenges i'm finding here is that it's *extremely* hard to find solid architect and senior dev talent - lots of junior talent who have energy and can code, but i'm less confident that we'll find the architect level leadership in the local markets. -g On Jun 15, 2011, at 4:56 PM, Jakub Sławiński wrote: > > Hi George, > > my team is supporting Mifos for almost two years now, when we were quite > active part of a community: > > * http://news.mifos.org/star-contributor-jan/ > * > http://mifos.org/community/news/soldevelo-nimble-java-ninjas-fighting-poverty-poland > > I strongly believe in Mifos and I think that we are able to not only > maintain actual Mifos implementations, but also extend the current > platform to become even more usable and reliable. Moreover, Mifos Cloud > has showed, that MFIs can get a high quality microfinance solution at a > reasonable price. > > Regarding to your questions, I think that the new independent > organization based in sub-Saharan Africa should listen very carefully to > the current Mifos users (maybe each of main MFIs should have their > representative in this organization?). Moreover, this organization > should take a technical leadership of the Mifos platform to ensure its > stable growth and reliability. > > We will always be opened for any kind of cooperation regarding > maintenance, hosting and extensions to the Mifos platform. Moreover, we > can also integrate it with other systems and do any type of > programming/administration activities. > > I hope we will be able to further extend Mifos together. > > > Regards, > Jakub. > > On 07.06.2011 22:37, George Conard wrote: >> Hi everyone - >> >> For those of you who don't know me (and that's probably a lot of you), I was >> previously the Executive Director, Technology for Microfinance, at Grameen >> Foundation. In that role, I led the Mifos team for the last five years. As >> Emily described in her email last week, Grameen Foundation will be exiting >> their activities related to Mifos and as part of that transition, I left >> Grameen Foundation at the end of May. >> >> The work of both the Mifos team at Grameen Foundation and the global Mifos >> community - software developers, microfinance institutions, service >> providers, and others - have created a strong platform for the delivery of >> financial services for the poor. I believe that Mifos can continue to have >> significant positive impact, both for microfinance institutions and as a >> platform for new applications and services. >> >> The global community around Mifos is key to the future of Mifos - no single >> organization will be able to sustain and drive Mifos on its own. This >> includes everyone in the community, from MFIs to service providers to >> software developers, and will require one or more organizations to take a >> leadership role in the community. >> >> For the next few months, I will be exploring options and opportunities for >> the creation of a new, independent organization based in sub-Saharan Africa >> to continue work on Mifos as part of the Mifos open source community. The >> goals for this organization would be: >> to provide leadership to the open source community around Mifos, ensuring >> that the platform continues to evolve and that service providers and others >> can provide strong support to microfinance institutions using Mifos >> to ensure that microfinance institutions can continue to use Mifos >> to explore new business opportunities - new applications, etc. - based on >> Mifos >> to leverage Mifos to strengthen the overall software development industry in >> Africa >> >> This might take any of a number of different forms, from a for-profit >> company to a university partnership, and anything in between. No options are >> off the table. >> >> As part of this exploration, I'd like to speak with as many people in the >> Mifos community as possible - both within Africa and elsewhere - to get your >> perspectives, ideas, and support flowing in a way that strengthens the >> community. I'd like to see conversations and discussions starting on the >> mailing lists, and also look forward to meeting some of you in person. I'll >> be blogging many of the discussions and/or tweeting >> (www.georgeconard.com/blog and @GeorgeConard) to keep the discussion flowing >> in the open. >> >> Please don't hesitate to bring your ideas - wild and crazy ideas welcome! Ed >> Cable, Mifos' community manager at Grameen Foundation, has shared many of >> his ideas in the past (Ed - want to shoot some of those around?) and I know >> that there are a lot of people out in the community who don't always show up >> on the mailing lists. You can always contact me directly by email as well >> (see contact details below). Raise your hand - virtually, here or in email - >> if you'd like to help. >> >> Here are a couple of initial questions to get things started: >> - as community members, where do you want to see the Mifos platform go next? >> - how can we strengthen the Mifos community? >> - what can you do to help strengthen and support the Mifos community in the >> months and years ahead? >> >> I believe deeply in the power of software to create empowerment and >> opportunity for the world's poor, and in the potential of Mifos to continue >> on the path we've started. Together we can build a long, vibrant life for >> Mifos. I look forward to working with all of you! >> >> Cheers, >> -george >> >> George Conard >> US: +1 206 778 7429 >> Ghana: +233 (0) 54 975 4222 >> [email protected] >> www.georgeconard.com/blog >> @GeorgeConard > > > -- > Jakub Sławiński > > SolDevelo Sp. z o.o. > > [email protected] > www.soldevelo.com > Mobile: (+48) 514 780 384 > > Pomeranian Science and Technology Park > Al. 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