The birth of Transitional Trade

Greetings,

Recently I started Transitional Trade, a non profit organization that aims to promote socially inclined trade, investment and entrepreneurship in transitional communities and post conflict nations.

All my life, but especially since I moved to New York in March, I have met some very inspiring people that are working on many social issues and it inspired to follow my heart and follow a cause that is dear to me. Last year I traveled to Mozambique, a country that had been in war for years. It was the first post-conflict country I had been to. I was struck by the contradictions of bullet holes in the infrastructure yet the increased trade and development on the other. I was also struck by people's stereotypes of all the trade potential because people still perceived to be reeling from the war and thus an unsuitable location to invest. Despite not having been to a post-conflict country prior to Mozambique, I have, been to many so called "depressed communities", which I prefer to call transitional communities. I found that similar to many post-conflict nations, the stigma of war in countries or the dire situations in transitional communities seem to have an impact on whether people are willing to invest there.

After making those observations I decided to start doing things I feel could make a difference in increasing trade, investment and entrepreneurship in post-conflict nations and transitional communities. I have a few ideas of my own, but I am welcome to your suggestions too.

Thanks.