TOR177 - The mSTAR project with Troy Etulain of FHI360

If you're an ideas person, no matter what your field or expertise, there is nothing I can think of that is more attractive than a clear, tangible problem in need of a solution. As much as we hate to admit it in the social sector, these types of problems are not terribly common and they are almost never the lowest hanging fruit in a given situation.

But in those instances where clear problems in need of solutions are identified, the next most attractive thing to an innovator is funding to play with. I mean that in the most generous way of course, given that, at the end of the day, we don't just want to play, we want to find answers.

As I think you'll agree after listening to today's 177th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast, my guest, Troy Etulain, has a job that seems quite a bit more play than work. He's the project director of FHI360s Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research project, or mSTAR for short, and he's also the head of FHI's digital development unit.

While again, Troy doesn't just have funding to play with, he does oversee a mechanism that is built to identify clear problems and then take action to find potential solutions. We talk about wifi that covers 50 kilometers, financial technologies that are increasing inclusion, the new business models that are driving rural mobile network development, mapping the unconnected areas of the world... and much more.