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Politics Innovator: María Rachid, Argentina María Rachid never wanted to become a politician. But she is responsible for some of the most important human rights bills in Argentina’s recent history, including the 2010 Marriage Equality Law, which legalized same-sex marriage, and the 2012 Gender Identity Law, which allows transgender people to change gender identity on official documents without prior approval. The 38-year-old has served in the Buenos Aires city legislature since 2011 for the governing Frente Para La Victoria (Front for Victory) coalition. A former vice president of Argentina’s Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, la Xenofobia y el Racismo (National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism—INADI), Rachid is a long time social activist who didn’t always see party politics as the best way to accomplish change. “I never thought I would become a legislator,” she says, though she adds that she was always interested in politics “as a tool to construct a more just society.” Born and raised in Buenos Aires province, Rachid came out as a lesbian as an adult—around the same time that she came of age as a political activist, having left her law studies at the University of Belgrano to focus on a new career as an activist for women’s rights and sexual liberation. In the mid-1990s, Rachid says, Argentine party politics seemed to defend the interests only of the wealthy and powerful: “Many of us activists took refuge in social movements because we believed that only from there could we transform rights.” In 1998, hoping to counteract discrimination against lesbians and bisexual women, Rachid founded the community organization La Fulana (in Spanish, Fulana is an anonymous everywoman), where she organized workshops on building self-esteem, promoting women’s health and fighting violence against women. By the early 2000s, Rachid was also honing her skills as a journalist and editor for Gay.com, Revista Fulanas and Periódico Queer. She also helped organize Buenos Aires’ annual Gay Pride parades from 1996 to 2009, and in 2010 cofounded the Mesa Nacional por la Igualdad y Contra la Discriminación, a consortium of minority rights organizations. But it was as founder and president of the Federación Argentina de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Trans (Argentine LGBT Federation—FALGBT) that Rachid made a name for herself. Between 2006 and 2010, she organized the “Los mismos derechos con los mismos nombres” (Same Rights, Same Names) campaign that led to Argentina’s historic Marriage Equality Law, making it only the tenth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, for Rachid, the law still represents only a starting point for LGBT rights. “Just as in the case of women,” she says, “We’ve achieved judicial parity, but we haven’t achieved social equality.” As she approaches the end of her legislative term in 2015, Rachid is gearing up for what may be her hardest campaign: enshrining the right to legal abortion for all. She’s confident that it’s within reach, noting that Argentina’s achievements in passing laws criminalizing violence against women, trafficking of persons, femicide— as well as a law prohibiting antigay “therapies”—have already demonstrated Argentina’s willingness to rethink traditional social norms. “Since 2004,” she says, “we’re practically a different country.” If that’s true, the credit belongs in no small part to Rachid. Back to top Business Innovator: Lenddo, United States and Colombia Getting approval for a loan normally requires an extensive credit check to prove that the borrower is likely to pay it back. But in emerging markets across Latin America, even well-qualified, middle-class candidates often lack a credit history and bank accounts. That is, until Lenddo burst onto the scene in 2011. Founded by Jeff Stewart and Richard Eldridge, two American entrepreneurs in their early 40s, Lenddo is an online platform that allows the burgeoning middle classes in Latin America and Asia to use their social media connections to prove their creditworthiness. The New York City–based company has offices in Manila and Bogotá and hopes to expand. After starting several companies all over the world, Stewart and Eldridge were astonished to discover that some of their most trusted employees couldn’t get traditional loans, despite their professional achievements and education. “We had employees who would come to us asking for loans, and that didn’t make sense to us.” Stewart says. “We knew that they were really hard workers, very smart, educated, dedicated, and very employable[…]so we started digging into how we could help people on our team get access to credit.” The two men decided that assessing creditworthiness needed an update for the digital age. Lenddo—which now has thousands of members in over 35 countries—uses an algorithm developed by Dr. Naveen Agnihotri, Lenddo’s chief scientist, to assess the creditworthiness of applicants based on their social network contacts. Using traditional microfinance loans as a guide, members of Lenddo can use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yahoo! to build a virtual community of Trusted Connections comprising friends, relatives or references who can vouch for their financial trustworthiness. When applying for a loan, aspiring borrowers list their Trusted Connections instead of listing potential collateral or demonstrating a credit history. In the application they create their own Lenddo profile by providing basic personal and contact information and access to their other social media profiles. The entire process, from signing up for membership to applying for a loan, is completely free for users. After selecting their references, users can apply through Lenddo’s website for small loans—usually amounting to one month’s salary—to further their education or the education of a close family member, to pay for health care or home improvement, or to open a small business. As borrowers pay back their loans at a competitive interest rate—usually within three to twelve months—their Trusted Connections can see the loan repayment activity. Stewart and Eldridge acknowledge that Lenddo’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the help of their own social networks. With their business connections, they were able to secure over $8 million in investment from institutional investors such as Accel Partners, Blumberg Capital, Omidyar Network, iNovia Capital, and Metamorphic Ventures, as well as with individual investors knowledgeable about Latin America and social networks. “We wanted investors who could not only validate our idea but give us feedback,” Stewart says. Their gamble paid off. With a repayment rate above 95 percent—roughly equivalent to other microfinance loans—Lenddo’s founders have their sights set on Mexico, Brazil and Peru. Explains Stewart, “What we’re trying to do is give people more flexibility and access to capital so that they can invest in themselves and they can invest in their families.” Back to top Civic Innovator: Antonio Rodiles, Cuba When Cuban physicist turned-political-activist Antonio Rodiles, 41, returned home in 2010 after spending 12 years studying in Mexico and the United States, he was immediately frustrated by the enduring limits on free speech. After a half-century of socialism, modernizing reforms known as “Lineamientos”(Guidelines ) had scaled back the public sector’s role in Cuba’s economy and had given Cubans more freedom to travel abroad. But it was still painfully obvious to Rodiles that Cuba lacked “a public sphere where Cuban citizens can critically discuss our everyday reality.” So in November 2011, Rodiles decided to brave state censorship with the launch of Estado de SATS (State of SATS), a forum for cultural, social and political dialogue among Cuban artists, professionals and intellectuals. He launched the forum with Jorge Calaforra, 48, who served as SATS’ co-general coordinator for the first year. SATS’ name comes from a Norwegian word that refers to the intense moment of concentration and focus right before an artist begins his or her performance. “We want Cuba to enter into a state of SATS, so that it can burst onto the scene as a new awakened nation,” Rodiles explains. The organization is best known for its interview series featuring prominent Cuban activists—like Generation Y blogger Yoani Sánchez—discussing life in Cuba from the perspective of their profession or art. SATS has also organized over 70 panels, mostly in Rodiles’ house in Havana, on social activism, the Cuban economy, arts and literature, the state of Cuban media, and other topics. All programming and content is free, with interviews and events available on SATS’ YouTube page and website (www.estadodesats.com). Due to Cubans’ limited Internet access, SATS’ web content targets an international audience and is available on the island via USB flash drives or DVDs. Organizers fund the low-cost events out of pocket, with occasional small donations from friends and family. The organization also puts on Cinemaa toda costa (Cinema at All Costs), a program that screens domestic and foreign films that are officially censored on the island. The inaugural screening was of Despertar, a documentary about rapper and political activist Raudel Collazo that was barred from Cuba’s eleventh annual Young Director’s Exhibition. The screening was followed by a discussion with Collazo and Cuban director Ricardo Figueredo Oliva. While SATS’ content is not an explicit challenge to the Raúl Castro regime, anything dealing with free speech in Cuba is inherently controversial. Rodiles says the government considers many SATS organizers and contributors to be political dissidents and targets them for surveillance. In response to the harassment he and his colleagues face, Rodiles founded the Por otra Cuba (For Another Cuba) signature-gathering campaign in June 2012 to demand that the Castro government ratify the UN’s International Covenants on Human Rights, which Cuba signed in 2008. The campaign has collected over 4,000 digital signatures. But Rodiles has paid for his political activity. Detained in November 2012 during a peaceful protest in Havana, he was held without charge for 19 days and says he was repeatedly beaten by police. Yet his commitment to changing Cuba from within remains steadfast. Rodiles says the more Cuban citizens demand of their government, the harder it will be for the Cuban leadership to maintain what he calls the “pillars of repression.” As he puts it, “Time is against [the Castro regime].” Meanwhile, after the Cuban government eased travel restrictions earlier this year, Rodiles traveled to Miami at the invitation of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy to engage the Cuban diaspora and other allies abroad. “Democracy is a constant process,” Rodiles says, “and self-expression is a key exercise in practicing one’s democratic right.” Back to top Arts Innovator: Gopher Illustrated, Venezuela and the United States In the age of on-demand entertainment and Internet memes, Latin America’s rich cultural achievements often get lost in the cloud of information available in the English-speaking world. But Michelle Benaím Steiner, 26, and Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz, 31—two Austin, Texas–based Venezuelans—have found a way to penetrate the cloud: start their own print journal. The two editorial and life partners are unapologetic about resorting to what some might consider “old” media. Self-proclaimed “magazine freaks,” they launched Gopher Illustrated, a nonprofit journal of design and literature, in 2010 to start a conversation about Latin American talent in the English-speaking world. Each issue of Gopher, individually hand-numbered and letterpressed by the editors and featuring a carefully selected color palette, is intended to be a keepsake and a work of art. Only 1,000 copies of each issue are printed. “It makes no sense to use paper to produce things that don’t have the permanence of a book,” says Gutiérrez-Ruiz. “Content should determine format, and not the other way around.” While they may be producing “old” media, Benaím and Gutiérrez-Ruiz’ business model is very twenty-first century. Gopher was one of the first 100 projects to debut on Kickstarter, the worldwide crowdfunding platform. In only 12 days, family and friends pledged $5,716 to print the magazine’s first issue in July 2010. Gopher is now funded mostly through grants and private contributions. View a slideshow of Gopher Illustrated below. Benaím and Gutiérrez—who met in Caracas, where the first issue of Gopher was printed—took the magazine a step further after relocating to Austin in late 2010 and discovering the region’s vibrant Hispanic cultural life. There, Benaím and Gutiérrez expanded Gopher Projects to become a platform to promote emerging local talent—from local chefs to Fusebox, an annual art festival—and found a niche market for a high-end magazine that covers issues that, in the words of their website, are “globally local and ultimately timeless.” So far, Benaím and Gutiérrez have produced only two issues of Gopher Illustrated. Although they originally intended to make it a biannual magazine, they believe that, in publishing, quality always takes precedence over quantity. “We think the right timing for an issue is whenever we feel totally comfortable with its content,” says Benaím. The first issue, developed in Caracas, introduced Gopher’s unique look and feel and addressed the question, “What is a legend?”— exploring the impact legendary people and events have on our lives. It includes contributions from Mexican novelist Mario Bellatin and Venezuelan writer Edmundo Bracho. “On City Limits,” the second issue of Gopher Illustrated—and the first issue published in Austin, in 2011—invites readers to embrace urban living. This issue led Gopher Projects to make the jump from the arts to urban design through the CityScript Project, a local initiative to gather stories from communities, businesses, artists, and entrepreneurs that will be made into public artworks. The first two issues can be ordered for $16 on Gopher’s website. The editors are now working on a third issue titled “Risky Business,” which they hope to release in fall 2013. Benaím and Gutiérrez-Ruiz want to keep their audience guessing about the content of the new issue. Curious readers will need to wait until the magazine appears in independent bookstores in the United States.