Kirkland, Wash.

Melinda Gates walks into the Pacific Northwest-themed conference room at Pivotal Ventures, the investment and incubation company she founded to jump-start progress for U.S. women in technology.

Having just finished a recording session, she moves seamlessly through the day at the companys headquarters on the shores of Lake Washington. As she slips onto a stool at the head of a sleek conference table and starts answering questions, its instantly apparent that Ms. Gates professionalism and poise are matched by her easygoing warmth.

Right now, shes talking energetically about one of her top U.S. policy recommendations: paid family medical leave for both fathers and mothers when a child is born. If the father takes time off, we know that over time he builds a deeper relationship with his child, Ms. Gates says. Her broader agenda? Incentivizing men to do more household work a burden now primarily borne by women. It would kick a door open that has been shut in this country, she says.

Author of a new bestseller on womens empowerment, Moment of Lift, her first book, Ms. Gates would later give a talk in London that was sold out within 48 hours. After that, she would jet to Paris to speak with finance ministers of leading industrial nations about digital financial inclusion for women: a plan to link mobile phones to digital bank accounts that she says will add $3.7 trillion to emerging economies by 2025 and create 95 million jobs, boosting opportunities for women.

Large numbers and superlatives tend to accompany Ms. Gates wherever she goes. She has been at the forefront of some of the most important technological advances of the past half-century, partnering with her husband, Bill, at Microsoft Corp. in the shared belief that writing software for personal computers would give individuals the computing power that institutions had, and democratizing computing would change the world.

With their Microsoft fortune, the couple in 2000 founded what is now the worlds largest philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As co-chair of the foundation, which has an endowment of $46 billion, she funds programs that support and drive major government initiatives around the globe.

A self-described perfectionist who wants to have all the answers, shes confident enough to joke about her failures and times she didnt have a clue, such as when a major HIV prevention program in India used foundation funds to build community centers for sex workers. Bill and I never thought in a million years we would be building community centers or renting tiny little spaces that were refuges for sex workers and their children, she laughs. (Still, it worked, helping to curb the AIDS epidemic in India and save millions of lives.)

Prashant Panjiar/Courtesy of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Melinda and Bill Gates enjoy a moment with women of the village of Jamsaut in India in 2011.

But it wasnt always this way. For more than 20 years after marrying Americas wealthiest man in 1994, the naturally shy Ms. Gates shunned the spotlight and fiercely guarded her privacy. A 1995 Seattle Times article about her, headlined A Microsoft Mystery, raised the question: Equipped with youth, brains and wealth, her power to do good seems vast, but she has yet to make a significant move. What will she do with the tools in her hands?

Little did anyone know that behind the wall of privacy Ms. Gates was struggling uncertain not only of her voice but of who she was.

It was Feb. 28, 2001, and Ms. Gates and a few female confidants had gathered at friend Emmy Neilsons home in Seattles lakefront Laurelhurst neighborhood for the first official meeting of their spiritual group.

Suddenly, as if an omen, a large earthquake rocked the area a 6.8 magnitude temblor, felt as far away as Idaho, that would be named after the nearby Nisqually River delta. I thought that was a very good sign, says K. Killian Noe, a Yale Divinity School graduate and close friend of Ms. Gates who organized the group. Because the spiritual journey should involve inner earthquakes and inner landslides.

At the time, Ms. Gates, a Roman Catholic and mother of two young children, was wrestling not only with spiritual questions, but also with what to do with her life, and even more fundamentally, with her identity.

Her early trajectory had earned her accolades as a quick learner with a knack for science and math. Growing up in Dallas the daughter of an aerospace engineer and a stay-at-home mom, she thrived under the mentorship of liberal nuns at an all-girls Catholic high school, where she first learned computing and was valedictorian of her class. In five years, she earned a degree in computer science and an MBA at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. College for me was coding with the guys, she writes in Moment of Lift. After summer stints with IBM, she got a job offer in 1987 from the much newer and smaller firm Microsoft, where she was the only woman among the first class of MBAs hired.

She rose swiftly, and by 1996 was general manager of information products at the firm. Glass ceilings seemed a thing of the past. I had thought mistakenly as a young woman that we had broken through [gender barriers], she says. I was in computer science. I had a great career at Microsoft. Yes, I faced issues at Microsoft and slights here and there, but I didnt see the hidden biases, she says.

But her promising tech career came to an abrupt halt when she decided in 1996 to leave her job managing 1,700 employees at Microsoft. Instead, she stayed home to care for her first child, daughter Jenn, because, she thought, thats what women do. Overnight, Ms. Gates found herself isolated in the 66,000-square-foot mansion that her husband had started building before their marriage. Everything came crashing down.

A lot of things cascaded together that caused that crisis of self, Ms. Gates recalls. The shift from having been a working career woman, to all of a sudden I am living behind a gate, with people who have a certain image of my husband, and I am living in a big house ... when I grew up in a tiny little home. And then I am a young new mom, she says, her voice trailing off.

Jonas Bendiksen/Rockefeller Foundation/AP/File

Farmers gather in Malawi under a program funded by the Gates and Rockefeller foundations to help small farms across Africa.

On a scale of difficulty, the crisis of self felt like a 10, the numerically minded Ms. Gates says. It feels like [the] bottom is falling out of your life, like who am I?

Slowly, she began making friends outside work, and in 1999 started jogging with three other women on Monday mornings after they got their children to school. One of them was Ms. Noe. Right off the bat ... we went deep really quickly, Ms. Noe recalls of Ms. Gates. Ms. Noe realized the women all well-off materially could come together powerfully in a journey of faith and purpose.

In all, nine women joined the spiritual group that first met on the day of the 2001 earthquake. They encouraged one another to be vulnerable, to tap into their inner wisdom and pain. In that way, Ms. Noe says, they could discover how to best be an instrument of love in the world.

We worked a lot on that in this spiritual group that Melinda was part of and still is a part of, Ms. Noe says. What does it mean to go inward to the places of your own pain and brokenness and woundedness, and from there, go outward into the world?

Buoyed by her intimate friends and spiritual discovery, Ms. Gates would carry the question with her that year as she made her first trip to Asia for the Gates Foundation.

From dirt-floored huts in India to windswept fields in Africa, Ms. Gates launched into a series of trips over the next decade that would fundamentally shape her priorities for the foundation, her views on feminism, and her own voice. The goal of saving childrens lives in developing countries drove the early work of the foundation. But Ms. Gates quickly learned family planning was also an urgent priority, by listening directly to impoverished women.

None spoke more powerfully than Meena, a young woman Ms. Gates met in 2010 in Indias northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where infant mortality is high. Meena stood in the doorway of her mud hut, cradling her infant. The baby was born at a health center and was breastfeeding both goals of a foundation-sponsored health program. But when Ms. Gates asked if she wanted more children, Meena, despondent, said no. Hopeless about educating or even feeding her infant and her other son, Meena pleaded with Ms. Gates to take them both.

Courtesy of Gates Archive

Meena, a young mother from India who Melinda Gates met in 2010, influenced the philanthropists views on family planning.

It was a heart-wrenching encounter for the foundation executive who realized that, despite the programs successes, it had tragically failed to meet Meenas need for family planning. It was really a catalyst on her own journey, recalls Gary Darmstadt, former director of family health at the Gates Foundation, who was with Ms. Gates when she spoke with Meena. Here is a stunning example of how we kind of missed it.

Family planning using birth control to prevent or space out births is what women were asking her for, and in many cases, they literally were dying as a result of not having the access, says Dr. Darmstadt, associate dean for maternal and child health at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Convinced family planning was vital for the overarching goals of health and poverty alleviation, Ms. Gates decided to take a major public stance. She announced at a 2012 London conference that the foundation would double its investment in family planning to $1 billion by 2020, leading a huge reinvestment by governments.

The truth spoken by ordinary women that Ms. Gates delivered to high-level government officials and international conferences was unusual. She would be sitting in a circle on a dirt floor in a hut one morning, and then in the afternoon would be talking to the president of the country, says Dr. Darmstadt. Being able to bring that voice from women from the field into the room at that level, that was definitely new.

For Ms. Gates personally, it was a turning point, as well. She overcame her shyness to take a bold public stance, braving criticism even from the Catholic Church. Having witnessed the frailty of newborns, she disagreed with the Vaticans opposition to contraceptives. My conscience at the end of the day says, I dont want babies and moms to die, she says.

The more she learned about the struggles of poor women in Africa and Asia including the discrimination and abuse they faced from husbands who, for example, beat their wives for using birth control the stronger her voice became.

It wasnt until I saw these other women and what they were up against that I could turn the question back on myself and say Wow, we have a long way to go in the United States and all over the world, she says.

After years of doubt, Ms. Gates emerged as an ardent feminist. I realized that many of the things that had been said earlier in the feminist movement were true that all these barriers existed.

Connecting with women overseas also helped Ms. Gates look deep inside and confront an earlier abusive, controlling relationship before she met Bill that she felt silenced her for many years. I really explored that with the help of a therapist ... who could support me to even go back through what had happened to me, she says haltingly.

Courtesy of Frederic Courbet/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Melinda Gates visits a baby at a health care center in Dakar, Senegal.

Ultimately, that allowed her to speak up more forcefully within her marriage to Mr. Gates, whom, she notes, was pretty used to running things at Microsoft. It wasnt until I could face that [earlier] abuse that I could understand why in certain places in my marriage I hadnt used my voice as strongly as I would have liked.

In a dark room in a village southwest of Dakar, Senegal, Ms. Gates was listening to a woman sob. She was expressing regret over her past role restraining girls undergoing traditional genital cutting. Back in her hotel room later that night, Ms. Gates, too, couldnt stop crying.

It was 2012, and the further Ms. Gates delved into the struggles girls and women faced in the developing world from child marriage to forced prostitution the stronger her convictions grew about the overarching importance of womens equality.

If you want to lift up humanity, empower women, she writes in Moment of Lift. Year by year ... I see more clearly that the primary causes of poverty and illness are the cultural, financial, and legal restrictions that block what women can do and think they can do for themselves and their children. When women have power and use it, societies prosper. No other single change can do more to improve the state of the world than elevating women to equality with men, she writes.

Ms. Gates views male-dominated culture, religion, and law as the roots of much oppression of women. But instead of seeing such forces as immutable, she has sought out and promoted grassroots programs that have carefully ended practices that harm women and girls.

One such program is Tostan, which in the Wolof language in Senegal means breakthrough or, literally, when a chick cracks open its eggshell. Launched in Senegal in 1991, Tostan is a community-led empowerment project based on empathy and understanding between those providing aid and the people they serve. In the Tostan model, a small team of facilitators fluent in the local language moves into a village for three to five years. The team invites the villagers to discuss their ideals, while teaching them about health, reading, math, and human rights. The conversation often sheds light on the gap between villagers own ideals and practices that hurt women and girls.

Our whole approach is reinforcing the positive values of the community, says Tostan founder Molly Melching, who arrived in Senegal as an exchange student in 1974 and has devoted her life to humanitarian projects in Africa. Tostan, now active in eight African countries, has achieved striking results: More than 8,000 communities where the program is operating have decided to abandon child marriage and female genital cutting.

Ms. Gates credits Tostan with changing how she thinks about development work, showing the best answers to problems are already present in the locals drive for a better future. You have to go in and really listen, then design solutions with the local community, she says. You do not get cultural change unless there is openness and ... discussion.

Even religious practices can be changed from the inside, Ms. Gates says. Senior imams in Senegal told her there is this mistaken understanding that the Koran doesnt allow for family planning, but it does, she says. They said ... we can use our network so the imam all the way down at the local village level in Senegal is giving the right messages to women, she says. Thats a great change from within.

Ms. Melching and other development experts say theyre impressed by Ms. Gates thoughtful questions and ability to listen, as well as by her willingness to make anonymous, extended stays in the field that are rare for a wealthy philanthropist.

Its the head and the heart that come together in a very powerful and unique way, Dr. Darmstadt says of Ms. Gates. On one hand, Melinda is very data driven and evidence driven, but on the other hand she is very relational. ... She wants to sit down and hear these womens stories. She wants to really understand what life is like for them.

In 2014, Ms. Gates and her daughter Jenn spent three days living with a family in a village in Tanzania. It was the first time Ms. Gates stayed overnight with a family in the field. They slept in a former goat hut. Ms. Gates helped chop firewood and cooked over a fire. She walked half an hour to fetch water, carrying it in a bucket on her head. I learned more on that homestay than ... on any previous foundation trip, she writes. Seeing the mother, Anna, labor 17 hours a day, Ms. Gates says she gained a visceral appreciation for the massive burden of unpaid labor that weighs on womens futures.

Increasingly, such insights from abroad galvanized Ms. Gates to act on problems in the U.S. and even closer to home. At the foundation, she has moved to ensure women and girls are at the forefront of global development initiatives, a decision announced in Science magazine in 2014. It was, she writes, the strongest lever I ever pulled to direct the focus and emphasis of our foundation. For American women of her daughters generation, she sees hidden biases as a big challenge, particularly in the workplace. Through Pivotal Ventures, which she started in 2015, Ms. Gates is working to boost opportunities for women where they are badly lagging in technology and venture capital. If women are not in tech, women will not have power, Ms. Gates writes.

All such efforts are amplified by Ms. Gates heavyweight role in directing the worlds largest foundation. They use their size as leverage, says Brad Smith, president of Candid, a nonprofit that researches foundations work. Mr. Smith lauds the Gates Foundation for leading by example and collaborating with other foundations around the world. They have been refreshingly good about sharing what they have learned about the work, including failure ... saying what they have done wrong, and what they could do better.

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The Gates Foundation, which has given away $50 billion since its inception, has contributed to a significant decline in child deaths and poverty worldwide. Still, important targets remain. When asked what keeps her up at night, Ms. Gates doesnt hesitate: contraceptives. In 2012, the foundation spearheaded a global partnership that set the goal of giving 120 million more women and girls in the worlds poorest countries access to modern contraceptives by 2020. So far, the initiative has reached about 50 million women and girls. When you move forward for women and you start to provide contraceptives, there are things that chip away at that progress all the time, she says.

As with the foundations trials and errors, Ms. Gates is more forgiving of her own imperfections and willing to speak out a sign her activism on the world stage has just begun. Maybe my best self is when Im open enough to say more about my doubts or anxieties, admit my mistakes, confess when Im feeling down, she writes. Maybe my best self is not my polished self.

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Melinda Gates: What shes learned - The Christian Science Monitor

In an attempt to bring campus-wide awareness to sexual assault at Binghamton University, the Student Association (SA) will be implementing a sexual assault education campaign.

The campaign will work toward developing a dialogue regarding sexual assault by improving educational programs and creating a more accurate perception of abuse, according to SA President Emma Ross, a senior double-majoring in political science and psychology. The SA office is aiming to partner with other student groups to create collaborative programs and reach out to organizations in the Binghamton community, such as the Crime Victims Assistance Center, Inc. (CVAC).

CVAC, according to their website, welcomes victims into a safe environment to talk about their experiences while also providing counseling and support throughout the process. Haley Murphy, coordinator for the Enough is Enough program through CVAC, said the center is partnered with the University to make resources more readily available to students.

We partner with a lot of different student groups at BU as well as administrative departments on campus to make sure that students are informed about their community options to report as well as their on-campus options to report, Murphy said. We are open to every opportunity to become more accessible to students. It is really the mission of our program to serve everyone who is in Broome County, even if they dont live here full time. We just really want to spread the word for them and let them know that our services are always available and confidential.

Ross wrote in an email that she has a personal connection with the issue and stressed the importance of expanding the conversation around sexual assault while encouraging the empowerment of survivors with resources and safe spaces.

When I was dealing with my experience I felt alone and lost, and we dont ever want anyone else to feel like that, Ross wrote. Connecting survivors and their supporters is one of the most powerful things we can do. Attending [the Womens Student Unions] Take Back the Night event my freshman year was when I realized the power of conversation, and how badly I had needed an outlet for my story.

According to Ross, the campaign will strive to address a wide variety of voices and stories while also addressing how sexual assault may affect several different aspects of a victims life, such as mental health, body image, social relationships and education.

We want this to be intersectional and address how sexual assault differs for people of color, the [LGBTQ] community and people who have a disability, Ross wrote. We also want to address information surrounding sexual assault and validate the people who have gone through this horrible experience.

Melanie Cruz, a junior majoring in psychology, said it is important it is for all students to feel safe expressing their stories, no matter the circumstance.

Being a student with a disability, it isnt that I dont feel safe, I just dont feel accommodated, Cruz said. I feel like the University is struggling to kind of make it feel like everyone has a voice, which is why it is important for the SA to fight back on that and give students a voice where they feel comfortable and empowered.

Ross added there are many myths surrounding sexual assault that students need to be educated on in order to put an end to certain misconceptions.

One of the big things for me is dispelling myths around sexual assault, Ross wrote. Its not the scary man in the [alley. Eight out of 10] times, a college woman knows the perpetrator. It can be very difficult to look at someone you know, someone you may have trusted or someone you may love, and identify what they have done as sexual assault. Talking about these kinds of issues with peers is something that is missing on this campus, and we strive to fix that.

The campaign is expected to start announcing events sometime in mid-to-late October. Ross said the initial events will focus on informing students about intervening when they see something wrong and promoting awareness of sexual assault.

We are essentially trying to fill in the gap between [If you see something, say something] and everything that happens, if thats not enough to prevent it, Ross wrote. What my office is starting this year is not something we view as a one-time conversation, but rather we are hoping to lay the groundwork for intersectional programming on sexual assault for years to come.

As the program is in its beginning stages, the team is still looking to hire interns to help get it off the ground. The application can be found online and in the SA Newsletter from Sept. 9.

Read the rest here:
Student Association to implement new sexual assault education campaign - Binghamton University Pipe Dream

After months of advocacy by feminist activists and organizations working with college students, the California state legislature last week passed four billsSB 24, SB 464, AB 963 and AB 59that together will expand access to abortion care on college campuses, address disparities in maternal health care and increase civic engagement among young voters.

Feminist Majority Foundation, the Womens Foundation of California, ACLU California, ACCESS: Womens Health Justice, Act for Women and Girls, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice and NARAL: Pro-Choice California all played major roles in making these laws possibleand so did the student activists who mobilized to get them passed by their lawmakers.

SB 24 passed 55 to 19, with five absent voters. The College Student Right to Access Act, if signed by Governor Newsom, would require all on-campus student health centers at public universities and colleges to offer abortion medication to students by January 1, 2023. Currently, none of the student health care centers at Californias public colleges and universities provide medication abortion services. Students seeking this basic care must travel off campus to access itoften with serious logistical and financial barriers. For low-income students, especially, paying out-of-pocket at a clinic, securing reliable transportation and missing school and work to access timely care are huge obstacles.

Getting SB 24 to become a law has been my goal for the past year, said Feminist Majority Foundation Campus Organizer Emily Escobar. Working alongside student activists to organize, rally and speak out has shown me that real change begins with elevating marginalized voices and bringing them to the forefront of the movement. Student-led activism is the real driving force behind Senate Bill 24.

SB 464, The Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act, aims to reduce pregnancy-related preventable deaths, severe illnesses and associated health disparities by addressing implicit bias among perinatal health providers. It passed 40 to 0, with all members voting.

In the U.S., at least 700 people die from childbirth each year, and 50,000 more suffer from severe complications. Additionally, in California, women of color, particularly Black women, experience maternal mortality at rates three to four times higher than white women, and evidence points to implicit bias as the culprit.

SB 464 requires all health care providers involved in perinatal services at hospitals and alternative birth centers to undergo evidence-based implicit bias training through a program that tasks medical professionals with addressing personal, institutional, structural and cultural barriers to access health care; requires the California Department of Public Health to track and publish maternal mortality and morbidity rates, including information about the underlying causes and the racial or ethnic identities of patients; and adopts the U.S. standard death certificate format regarding pregnancy.

AB 963, the Student Civic and Voter Empowerment Act, which was written in consultation with FMF National Campus Organizer Carmen Liero-Lopez, passed 67 to seven with five absent voters. In an effort to empower a new generation of voters, it requires all 147 California public colleges and universities to designate one faculty member as a Civic and Voter Empowerment Coordinator who shall convene a committee of relevant administrators, faculty and students to develop a Civic and Voter Empowerment Action Plan for a campus-wide effort to increase civic learning and democratic participation; facilitate a minimum of four events each academic calendar year that includes a focus on civic engagement, voter turnout and community building; and require all relevant civic and election dates be included on the annual academic calendar and notify students through email and social media of these dates.

AB 59, also written with input from Liero-Lopez, passed 65 to 11 with three absent votersand if signed by Governor Newsom, AB 59 would prioritize the placement of vote centers and satellite elections offices on California university and college campuses, therefore increasing access among young people. Together, AB 963 and AB 59 would promote democratic participation and civic engagement of California students, a population of roughly 3 million people.

The passage of these bills is truly an important step towards an intersectional framework not just in activism but also in legislation, Escobar said. From promoting civic engagement to reproductive justice, they directly address the need for access for everyone in the communityespecially for people of color, women, and low-income individuals.

Originally posted here:
How Campus Activism Shaped California's Legislative Agenda - Ms. Magazine

Bankole Thompson Published 11:00 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2019

In the midst of a federal corruption probe that has lead to multiple convictions, UAW leadership casts its nationwide strike against General Motors as a way of seeking economic justice for its members.

We stood up for General Motors when they needed us most. Now we are standing together in unity and solidarity for our members, their families and the communities where we work and live, said UAW Vice President Terry Dittes.

UAW Vice President Terry Dittes(Photo: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News, File)

That narrative would stand if you believed in the self-righteousness of a leadershipfacing scrutiny over its financial integrity and allegations that it used membership dues for personal gain.

It is difficult to accept the demonstration against GM as a righteous quest to secure the financial interests of its workers. It has already idled some plants and could prove costly for UAW members.

Dennis Johnson pickets outside the General Motors Plant in Arlington, Texas, Monday, Sept. 16, 2019. More than 49,000 members of the United Auto Workers walked off General Motors factory floors or set up picket lines as contract talks with the company deteriorated into a strike.(Photo: LM Otero, AP)

If UAW leadershipwas really that concerned about protecting benefits for its rank and file, there would have beenno indictments, noconvictions.

Standing in solidarity with the members of the UAW during their strike means condemning the lavishlifestyles of the greedy leadership.

The UAW has long castigated corporate America for exploiting workers and accused CEOs of extravagant living at the expense of those who make the products their companies sell. But the federal probe reveals that the unions own leadership livedthe same way as the corporate fat cats they call out during their bullhorn protests.

Exploitation of workers for little or no benefit anywhere should be condemned in the strongest terms. But when the actions of those who are demanding equity and fairness in the workplace are no different than the business elites they routinely accuse of being insensitive to the needs of workers, we need to call out their hypocrisy and contradictions.

What is remarkable is that the UAW leadership receivedlittle attention from Democratic powerbrokers in the state during the string of indictments and convictions thatplayed outin federal court. Hardly any prominent Democrat went on the record to denounce the corruption tales that readlike Shakespearean drama.

But those same powerbrokers were quick to endorse the strike. It makes political sense to do so, but failure to register public disapproval of unionleaders'poor financial stewardshipis not in the long-term interest of labor.

Labor has often gone off the rails, especially the UAW.

Harry Belafonte, the legendary entertainer and activist, who was a confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., sought to drive home that point during a 2006 National Black Peoples Unity Convention I attended in Gary, Indiana.

Belafonte bemoaned the state of the working poor, and scolded labor for being complacent and how it has forgotten its mission to protect its members before conference attendees, who were returning to Gary after the first 1972 gathering designed to map out a national strategy for black political empowerment and increase black elected leadership.

Detroit is referred to as the home of organized labor because of the unique role that unions have played in this town and during the Civil Rights Movement.

But that does not inoculate the UAW from criticism when it reaches the point of being too big to fail, while its members wallow in economic misery. Their noble history should not deter us from demanding accountability of its leadership as corruption reports show their members are being taken advantage of.

With thousands of workers on strike this week, the UAW cannot preach populism on the streets while endorsing graft and patronage inside the corridors of power at UAW Solidarity House.

After all, the arrogance of power breeds corruption.

bankole@bankolethompson.com

Twitter: @BankoleDetNews

Catch Redline with Bankole Thompson, which is broadcast at 11:00 a.m. weekdays on Superstation 910AM.

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Bankole: Condemn hypocrisy in UAW ranks - The Detroit News

The world of corporate travel is dynamic, and poised for continuous growth and expansion.

More people are venturing around the world in pursuit of not only personal development, but professional too, viewing travel as a vehicle for self-empowerment, career advancement and business success.

In fact, WorldBank suggests that international travel departures have more than doubled in the last decade, from roughly 600 million to 1.3 billion.

Despite the rise in digital tools that allow for easy, global communication, the value of face-to-face meetings is still holding true. In-person meetings help to grow and foster professional relationships and ultimately help to grow businesses. However, this has also added increased pressure on procurement professionals. To relieve some of the burden and support them in their roles, those responsible for corporate travel are turning to technology.

Aside from the benefits that implementing technologies such as AI, chatbots and the Internet of Things (IoT) can bring to the corporate travel industry, as with many industries, there is still the need for a balance between technology and the human touch.

AI is firmly leaving its mark on a wide range of industries, and corporate travel is no exception. Now embedded in nearly every part of the travel process, from booking to the trip itself, AI and machine learning technologies can support travellers in organising their trip, seamlessly recommending preferred flights, accommodation and services based on their location.

With masses of data now available to us, AI is being used to process much of it seamlessly and provide insights to the user. For instance, if a traveller is on a flight thats been delayed, meaning they will miss their connecting flight, AI can take control of the situation. While the traveller is in mid-air, AI can be used to automate the handling of a flight delay by accurately predicting what alternative flight the traveler would choose. Once landed, theyll receive an alert updating them on the situation, relieving them of all the stress and pressure that comes from disrupted travel.

Above all, AI has the power to make the whole process more personalised and tailor offerings to each individual traveller. For instance, when booking travel, the most used flights and hotels are often front and centre and visibility into logistics is enhanced. This means whole trips can be booked in minutes, as opposed to hours. AI also helps support agents to sort problems more efficiently as their insights are more personalised. This means there is considerably less back and forth when adjusting bookings as the travellers preferences will already be noted, helping to foster the relationship between the traveller and booking platform.

Chatbots have undoubtedly revolutionised the corporate travel industry. As technology made its way into all aspects of our everyday lives and as consumers became more demanding, travel companies met the demands of the new-age traveller by adopting technologies such as digital assistants. Their popularity is only set to grow, as according to Salesforce, the use of chatbots in travel, transportation and hospitality is expected to increase 241% by mid-2020.

In the travel industry, chatbots have the potential to deliver a user-friendly, consistent and intuitive solution that can make travelling more efficient. For instance, when it comes to booking travel, chatbots are able to respond to basic queries almost instantaneously, and passing off scenarios that require human intervention In this way, they are complementing the human touch, not replacing it, freeing up humans from lower value, easily automated tasks, for higher value interactions with travellers.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way we send and receive information, and the way we conduct our personal and professional lives. As consumers and professionals we are demanding end-to-end experiences where processes are simplified, making our busy, overworked lives easier. When it comes to corporate travel, IoT has huge potential, with companies at every stage of the travel experience investing in IoT technologies. For instance, in hotels the check-in process can be simplified, with hotels sending electronic key cards to guests phones. Once used, the traveller is checked in, skipping the check in queue at the front desk. Even in airports, sensors can send information to a travellers phone, alerting them where their baggage is once theyve reached the baggage hall.

With the ability to link together the fragmented pieces of the corporate travel experience, from booking the trip to real-time customer service, IoT promises to improve traveller comfort, safety and experience.

Despite the abundance of positives technology has brought to the world of corporate travel, the demand for a return to humanity has been a growing theme among business travellers. They are beginning to tire of robotic customer service operators and longing for a human connection. Even those travellers, dubbed the early adopters, avid and demanding travellers who are most likely to engage with the latest technology, likely still want help from a person when a serious issue arises.

In fact, TripActions recent Business Travel Report revealed that 70% of travellers have felt like they had to fend for themselves when something went wrong while travelling. Even if an hour away from home or the other side of the world, when a problem arises, its reassuring to know that someone a real, live human is there for you should you need them. Where a chabot lacks the ability to take control of a situation. For instance, a person can call an airline or hotel with a query about a booking, whereas a chabot can convey the message that this has been done.

The benefits that technology brings the corporate travel industry are undeniable, but the organisations retaining the most satisfied customers are the ones that know when its ok to provide automation and when to provide help from a real-life human being. Theres a fine line between balancing the two, but when it comes to corporate travel, one shouldnt exist without the other.

Ilan Twig is CTO at TripActions. We believe being there in person is powerful. It enables employees to build relationships, close deals and drive growth. Fast becoming the default for corporate travel, TripActions is the modern business travel platform that combines the latest AI-driven technologies with unrivalled inventory choice and global 247 365 live human support to delight employees, finance leaders and travel managers alikeall while empowering organizations to seize travel as a strategic lever for growth.

Featured image: Miki Studio

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Corporate travel: Striking the balance between tech and the human touch - TechNative

By MUSTAFA YOUSIF More by this Author

The National Assemblys committee on ICT is set to collect views nationwide on the Data Protection Bill in a bid to achieve the wide public participation missed in others, like the Huduma Namba Bill.

Data is the new oil. The oilfields are not in the earth, but in the data collected through everyday activities, such as using a mobile phone or applying for a drivers licence.

Data protection will, hence, be the biggest issue in the next decade. It therefore requires a strong institutional framework to ensure a functioning data economy.

The institution has to be independent and fully empowered to enforce the law.

Given the governments ambition to collect copious amounts of very sensitive data, such as during the Huduma Namba registration and the national population census, there is a horde of sensitive personal information that sits in the hands of state agencies.

Private companies and political parties similarly hold such data. Sadly, they have shared this data with third parties without the consent of the subjects.

Yes, we have independent commissions, but most lack enforcement powers, reducing them to mediating and reporting progress rather than the more robust role of holding stakeholders accountable.

In Estonia, the government holds the agency overseeing the biometric identity system in high regard and the law creates a data protection inspectorate, similar to our Data Protection Commission.

The inspectorate has powers to warn controllers and processors where their operations are likely to infringe on data protection and order rectification, erasure and termination of processing of personal data, including destruction or archiving.

The body also has powers to prevent damage to rights and freedoms that protect personal data, implement restrictions on processing of personal data and fine data processors and controllers contravening the law.

That would empower our commission to conduct such duties and be easily accessible even to those not tech-savvy.

However, our draft law envisions, under Clause 33(1)(d), to only receive and investigate complaints on infringement of peoples rights.

This limits it to a reporting body in case of violation by the State to which, ironically, it reports. So how would it play its role?

Instead of mere reporting roles, the agency should be similar to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

The EACC has a prosecution department that investigates and prosecutes corruption cases, which is complemented by the Judiciarys specialised High Court Anti-Corruption Division and Anti-Corruption Magistrates Court.

Data has become central to our lives and, with the rise in data breaches, cases of related litigation will increase. As the bill is implemented, the Chief Justice should create cyber, data and adjudication divisions.

Since the commission would be in charge of prosecution of data crime cases with the aid of the Director of Public Prosecution, it should train a special team of police officers on handling cyber and data evidences and investigations.

We need a fully functioning data protection system with a good policy that is actualised.

Mr Yousif is a senior programme and advocacy officer, citizenship at Namati, a human rights NGO. [emailprotected] @MustafaM_KE

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Make data commission fully functional - Daily Nation

Rajesh Gupta, Founder, Cash Suvidha

The online lender for business and personal loans, Cash Suvidha, is planning to raise $5 million -$10 million equity funds in the next six months.

Founded in 2016, Cash Suvidha is the trade name under which NBFC Usha Financial Services extends business loans to SMEs and MSMEs and personal loans to individuals particularly in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Rajasthan. It also deals with women empowerment on a micro level.

The New Delhi-NCR based company had raised about $1 million in March 2018 to expand its loan disbursal capabilities to the entrepreneurs and individuals. The new funding will help the company expand its operations, increase its loan books and to further strengthen its technological infrastructure, the company said in a statement. The company has also raised a total of $10.5 million in debt funding so far.

Rajesh Gupta, founder of Cash Suvidha said, We are one of the fastest-growing NBFC and FinTech companies. Within a short time, we have tied up with over 25 players to expand business across India and are targeting a 4x increase in terms of growth this year. This capital infusion would help us in widening our horizon and in extending our best alternative lending services across geographies.

Cash Suvidha works towards ensuring the availability of credit for MSMEs that either do not have access to credit or are capital deficient currently. The company is known for its quick digital processing, easy lending services and disbursing loans within three working days.

The company uses technology to determine the best leads for credit and match them with the perfect kind of product. Since its inception, the company has disbursed loans to over 49,000 SMEs and MSMEs. Its average loan ticket size is INR 15,000- INR 500,000.

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Online lender Cash Suvidha is planning to raise $5 million -$10 - IBS Intelligence

Karen Bailey welds for a metal fabricator. It's honest work with decent pay, but the 55-year-old Akron grandmother is tired of throwing her money away on rent every month.

Raised in East Cleveland, Bailey struggled financially without a lot of family help. After the first of her seven children was born, she dropped out of high school and took a series of factory jobs. She lost a couple jobs, she recalled, when she brought a child to work after she could not find or afford a sitter or daycare.

The children have since graduated college or picked up a trade like their mother did. One has a commercial driver's license. Another is a public accountant. Finally able to focus on herself, Bailey decided last June to seek that long-sought financial advice at a recently shuttered Huntington Bank on Kenmore Boulevard. The branch location had just reopened as the Akron Financial Empowerment Center.

There, she thought, she would get the financial help and attention she missed growing up.

I want to buy my own house, she said, having lifted her credit score to a respectable 620 after a year of pulling her credit report, learning how to read it and then pulling it again, over and over. I am going to buy my own house.

Bailey checks her 401k each month. She pays her bills on time and always makes more than the minimum payment. She understands how the big three credit reporting agencies monitor different aspects of her borrowing. And she watches her FICO score like a hawk.

Hooey, she said. Its going to go up higher. I can do some things at my age.

Bailey, now attending home-buying and credit-building classes at East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation, is a first-year success story in a effort to empower local residents with financial skills that could reap dividends for them, their children and the entire community.

With five offices operating throughout Greater Akron and two more opening next month at Robinson and Helen Arnold Community Learning Centers, Akrons Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) program has so far helped 708 clients budget their money and bank accounts by understanding how to manage debt and access safe credit. To meet more clients, the center prepared 2,400 income tax returns in the past year at no charge.

According to figures released by FEC, the first 708 clients have collectively saved $258,563 and reduced their debt $289,384. The program is free and open to anyone in Summit County, regardless of income.

The operation is run by Angela Lowery, whose background is in nonprofit management, under the auspices of the United Way of Summit County in collaboration with the city, county and dozens of partners from low-income housing providers, community support organizations, libraries and employers that refer or help clients.

At 37 percent white with a median household income of $25,000, the first-year clients are skewing minority and low-income. This is the population civic and business leaders hope to uplift with economic equity plans like Elevate Akron.

Nearly two-thirds of clients enroll with no savings. About one in seven lacks a bank account. Many live in neighborhoods that lack banks with low or no fees, which the FEC is delivering to clients through partnerships with financial institutions in the Bank On program.

On Thursday, a staff member at the Kenmore location copied a 0% loan application from a program partner that helps borrowers with bad credit. A woman took some advice then grabbed the application and raced out to get to another bank before it closed.

Moments later, an older man in a button-up dress shirt and slacks walked in from the heat. An ad for the program arrived in his water bill. Everyone got the marketing ad, which the city pushed on social media.

Im overwhelmed in debt, said the man, who sat in the waiting room, too proud to give his name to a reporter asking about his personal finances.

For some, its not about servicing debt. Its dealing with collections, said Lowery. People accustomed to dodging debt collectors distrust banks, which can make them even more vulnerable to predatory lending.

Sometimes people bring envelopes (from debt collectors) that they have just not opened, because they have such a fear of these things, said Lowery. Just having [a financial coach] open it with you, sort it out with you, explain what it is, help you come up with a plan that can be such a huge relief.

The FEC comes at no cost for taxpayers or clients. It was launched on grants of $20,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies and $250,000 from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. That money runs out in 2020, after which the United Way, which has contributed $300,000, has agreed to sustain the program.

Most people need to know about this program, said Rufus Willis, who is getting help from FEC.

He said "there are so many of us out there" who, for a variety of reasons, don't have access to financial services.

Willis said he grew up in Chicago, making a living the wrong way with money coming in one hand and out the other. He doesnt recall financial life lessons at school or home.

Whatever you want, it takes money to get it. That's what he remembers. They dont tell you nothing about credit or anything else, he said.

Willis moved to Akron and started a carpentry business in 1990. He made good money, he said, until a lung disease diagnosis in 2012 ended his hammer-swinging days.

He now drags an oxygen tank and lives on Social Security disability benefits and a few thousand dollars he's saved. His girlfriend, who worked 30 years in a local pie factory, played her financial cards right. She just bought a house in East Akron for $40,000.

Willis didnt even think about co-signing for the loan. Applicants who try to get homes with his 540 credit score face high interest rates, hefty down payments or flat-out rejection.

He's at the FEC learning the value of creditworthiness. The center helped him get a secured credit card through KeyBank. He draws down his deposit and replenishes the account monthly to show the big boys at national credit agencies that he can be trusted with a loan.

That makes all the difference in the world, said Rufus, whos looking forward to the day he can buy his grandkids something nice from a magazine without paying too much on interest. Thats what credit is all about.

Reach Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.

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Residents cash in on free financial counseling - Akron Beacon Journal

Hearts and Bones stars Andrew Luri, Bolude Watson, director Ben Lawrence and star Hugo Weaving.

For director Ben Lawrence, the reaction to his feature debut Hearts and Bones at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was both emotional and overwhelming.

Lawrence reports the standing ovations at every screening and the outpouring of praise for the cast, particularly for South Sudanese immigrant Andrew Luri in his acting debut, made a huge impact.

Of the films Canadian reception, Liane Cunje, TIFF Discovery and International programming associate said: Ive run the gamut of audiences reactions here at TIFF for films we programme from around the world, and Ive never witnessed such an emotional celebration after a screening as the one I saw after Hearts and Bones.

The film, which made its world premiere in competition at the Sydney Film Festival in June, screened as part of the TIFF Discovery program, which highlights outstanding feature debuts globally. It was one of only four international premieres in this category.

Overall, the Canadian festival was a strong showcase for Australia, with five other local projects also on the line-up: Justin Kurzels True History of the Kelly Gang, Unjoo Moons I Am Woman, Daniel Gordons The Australian Dream, Gregor Jordans Dirt Music and Blackfella Films series Total Control, directed by Rachel Perkins. It was a diverse slate, covering the personal impact of inherited trauma, the political and social toll of toxic masculinity, and female empowerment and racial parity all with a unique Australian twist.

TIFF, as well as being one of the worlds premiere film festivals is also a bellwether for the North American market and it was fantastic to have six very diverse and distinctively Australian titles selected to screen this year, Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason tells IF.

Black B*tch, known here as Total Control, was the first Australian television series to be selected for the festival, and it was incredible to be in the room and witness the audience reaction.

Mason reported that the Total Control premiere screening, which featured a Q&A with cast and producers, garnered a powerful and emotional reception with members of the audience crying.

He was also impressed with the international impact of The Australian Dream. It is a uniquely Australian story and to see international audiences respond the way they did was very moving, it gave me goose bumps.

Two historical biopics, the trailblazing feminist rise of Helen Reddy in Unjoo Moons I Am Woman and Justin Kurzels anarchic True History of the Kelly Gang, were embraced by critics and audiences alike.

The public screenings for Unjoo Moons I Am Woman were huge hits. It is such a feel good film and Tilda Cobham-Hervey gives a career defining performance as Helen Reddy. True History of the Kelly Gang received rave reviews.

Mason adds that Ben Lawrences moving refugee story Hearts and Bones continued to impress international audiences following its Australian premiere and Dirt Music put Western Australias dramatic landscapes on show in this iconic book adaptation.

Written by Lawrence with Beatrix Christian, Hearts and Bones follows a war photographer (Hugo Weaving) and a refugee (Luri), who discover a photograph that threatens to destroy them both.

Produced by Matt Reeder, the film was made on a $2 million budget and received funding support from Screen Australia and Create NSW, who were attracted to the authentic portrayal of cultural diversity.

It wasnt conscious that I wanted to portray diversity, but this story was important as it was not being told, Lawrence says.

Lawrence wanted to cast authentically and found Luri, a 58-year-old bus driver who turned up to an open casting.

He completely gave himself to the process and to the nuance of the character. He has fled South Sudan twice and this story resonated to him personally on multiple levels which contributed a whole lot of gravity to his performance and he did an amazing job.

Coming from a documentary background, telling the untold story is in Lawrences DNA, as is exploring the effects of trauma on the psyche. Hearts and Bones is his first move from documentary to drama but plays in the same thematic territory. For Lawrence its a progression of the many of the issues he has worked with in the non-scripted world.

The director started his screen career creating testimonial-styled campaigns as a commercial director at Exit Films. In 2016 he co-directed the ABCs Man Up documentary which focused on Australian mens mental health and suicide and more recently worked on the ABCs Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane. His 2018 debut feature length documentary Ghosthunter, supported by Good Pitch, was a multi-layered meditation on abuse and the generational damage of male toxicity.

Hearts and Bones is essentially about two men Daniel Fisher (Weaving) and Sebastian Ahmed (Luri) and their relationship to the other. One has a horrific experience that he is trying to out run and one has problems facing his future. It is in the dynamic of how they help each other story comes about, Lawrence explains.

While Hearts and Bones covers very distinct Australian multicultural terrain, Lawrence says he set out to make a universal story that resonated across borders and straight into personal experience. I wanted to create a story that showed our connection to the rest of the world but at the same time could take place in any part of the world.

A core part of the universality of Hearts and Bones is centred around the use of music, inspired by a story Lawrence was working on for Amnesty International on a Bosnian refugee choir that met every week to heal themselves through song.

The choir in Hearts and Bones provides that same refugee solace in a suburban hall in Western Sydney. It is a central part of the film and works to not only provide community but to shake up pre-conceived ideas of culture.

Lawrences aim is that by providing this vision of a community, the film will help to disarm fear-based control, and change the way the other is treated in our society and the way we communicate with each other.

From my work on ABCs Man Up and exploring the issues around the abnormally high Australian male suicide rate to the generational effects of childhood abuse, I wanted to explore trauma and how to deal with it. In writing Hearts and Bones the issues of war trauma and domestic violence all fed into the story along with the lack of ability of men in handling it.

Hearts and Bones will open theatrically in Australia via Madman Entertainment. Visit Films is handling international sales.

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'Hearts and Bones' creates an emotional stir at TIFF - Inside Film

Personally, I am over the top excited that we are on the cusp of turning the page on not only a new year but also on a new 10-year window of opportunities and possibilities!

You may be thinking, whoaI am just embracing the fall seasonyikes it is tough to think about a new decade!

Yet it is this groundwork, this forward thought that you put in place TODAY that will propel you and lead you into greatness in 2020 and beyond. Designing a new decade rests in your ability to vision, in your willingness to be curious, in your awareness of where you are now and what you most want to curate. Essentially, curating what's next is about tapping into today with confidence, conviction, and decision. Leading YOU starts now. This is your new next. It is your choice.

Sometimes to get to that 'next', you need to take a step back to reflect. Please pardon my asking you to spend time in yesterday. Those who know me personally, know that I created and continue to grow my business based on enabling the present moment as a springboard for living your legacy. So, indulge me here! True, I am asking you to peek into the past, yet it is only in order for you to bring the essence of that past forward into this moment called NOW.

What worked? What were my successes?

Make a list of your achievements big and small. Don't type them, but rather use ink and paper and sit with and savor them. Move your thoughts and your successes from your head, to your heart, to your pen, to the paper. Remember that on the flip side of goals not attained and New Year's resolutions abandoned, there was more than likely some traction and action that moved you forward, even if the end result was not what you expected. Once you have a full list of a decade's worth of personal and professional accomplishments, think about how this makes you feel. Do you remember celebrating all of them? My guess is no. So, celebrate them now. Give them new life by validating them. Circle the successes that resonate with you most right now. Where can you lean into those accomplishments as you power into the decade ahead?

If it were 10 years ago and nothing were standing in your way, no fear or excuses to contend withwhat would you do?

Don't overthink it. The brilliance of this question is that it refocuses purpose. Whatever first came to mind when you answered this for yourself is at its core a powerful insight into defining and redefining the FUTURE decade. Bring your answer into the light of today and what small piece of it is actionable NOW? Where is this resonating and aligning with a 2019 version of yourself?

Then, based on your success list and your answer to the above question, what is your 2020 vision for your business and for the business of YOU?

Designing a new decade begins as a collection of 3,650 opportunities. 3,650 blank slates of new days ahead in which to pivot and propel yourself forward. Every single one of those days is a window into your legacy. An invitation to be, create, explore, and chip away at this thing we call life. One 24-hour segment at a time.

While you have a decade ahead to work on design improvements, you have the ability to begin manifesting this project of YOU Version 2020 right NOW. Based on exploring the exercises in this post, begin executing your vision. Ask questions. Be present. Let go of 2019 and the past 10 years so that you can embrace the next 10. Position acceptance and self-trust at the forefront of how you lead you. One choice at a time.

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Miss USA Cheslie Kryst and Eboni K Williams Get Real On Race, Success, and Empowerment - SWAAY