Dispatches from Haiti…Meet-up with Cat Lainé and the AIDG

April 13, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.

Business Innovation Factory, 60 Valley Street, Unit 25, Providence, RI 02909

Cat and her partners at Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), are on-the-ground helping people in developing countries get environmentally smart and affordable access to energy, sanitation and clean water. They create these small miracles by creating locally-owned and operated small businesses that manufacture, install and repair green technologies for people living between $2-4 a day. It is social entrepreneurship that works.

Cat was on the island of Hispanola the day the earthquake struck Haiti. Within hours, she was living in the nightmare of what happens when a country literally collapses. She stayed there for nearly two months and intends to return soon. We are lucky to have her in Providence for a few weeks this spring.

Rebuilding Haiti is one of the most daunting challenges the world has faced. There is no question that Cat and AIDG's approach provides an important perspective on how Haiti can be rebuilt in a manner that empowers Haitians to take a leadership role in designing their future.  We are thrilled to have Cat, and AIDG Executive Director and 2010 TED Fellow Peter Haas, at BIF for a powerful conversation about this dynamic and AIDG's global work to combine business success with social good.

(Check out Cat's BIF-4 Summit talk, named by TED as one of “Best of the Web” in 2009)

For the locals: Cat and Pete have relocated to Providence, Rhode Island. We will welcome them to the neighborhood with a casual reception immediately following the formal program.