Ben and I met Gamaliel in Tlaxcala during a meeting of the Tlaxcala Chapter of Academy Alumni. He is still working as an employee, but after his time at the Academy he is constantly thinking of ideas for a business to start. One idea that Gamaliel had stemmed from a lot of the vandalism that happens in his "unidad" (subdivision). He saw a need for security, and is pretty sure people would be willing to pay for it. He wanted to start what would essentially be a homeowner's association that would collect money to pay for security cameras. We talked with him about some of the challenges he would face with this idea: collecting the money (who would do it, what happens if they don't pay - you can't really withhold security...), vandalism to the cameras, etc. We recommended that it might be better for him to start a security company that provides security guards, but that it would have to be separate from the homeowner's association - otherwise it wouldn't really be a business. We didn't talk with him for too long, but hopefully he was able to be more aware of some of the potential pitfalls that particular idea had.
It was personally very gratifying for me to see the open discussion of ideas between the members of the Chapter and the collaboration that is occurring because of the training the people received at the Academy. The fact that Gamaliel is actively looking for businesses to start, and ways to be self-sufficient is great.
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