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EA Learning
At EA Consultants, we get our hands dirty. We develop products, services, and processes for reaching low-income households with an attractive value proposition, by engaging users. We are learners, teachers, and coaches who build on our shared knowledge to better serve our mission. This is a space for sharing some of our learning both internally and with a broader community with the aim of furthering the thinking and practice that can be transformative to benefit all segments of society.
Level Ground Guide: Before You Pitch: 13 Questions to Ask Yourself
What you need to prepare when you're pitching your company to a funder or investor EA Consultants For Founders & Investors A pitch deck is not a presentation. It’s an argument. Every slide is a claim, and investors are listening for the holes. The question isn’t whether your slides look good — it’s whether your thinking holds up when someone pushes on it. Most pitch frameworks tell you what to cover. This one asks you to go one level deeper: not just “do you have a slide on t
Level Ground Guide: Plan Backwards
A Letter From My Future Self Start Backwards Most financial planning tools ask you to start with today. What do you earn? What do you owe? What can you save this month? These are important questions. But they’re the wrong place to start. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to make decisions about how to get there. Should you hire that person or wait? Take the loan or not? Pay yourself more now or reinvest? These feel like financial questions. They’re actually
Using AI without losing the human side of the work
Artificial intelligence tools are becoming part of everyday professional work, including in international development consulting, where they raise some particular questions about confidentiality, analytical rigor, and professional responsibility. In our case, the shift toward using AI has been gradual and practical. The goal has never been to automate thinking, but to make it easier to keep up with the volume of information that complex assignments generate without losing the
Level Ground Guide: Public Speaking 101
Don’t Be Afraid to Get Out There: Public Speaking Tips for Small Business Owners May is Small Business Month, and with it comes a calendar full of local fairs, pop-ups, pitch events, and networking opportunities. If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve been invited to attend—or even speak—at one of these events. For many, that invitation comes with a mix of excitement and dread. You're not alone. Public speaking is one of the most common fears. But for small busi
Level Ground Guide: Why Small Businesses Matter to Our Communities
May is Small Business Month, a fitting time to reflect not just on the economic footprint of small enterprises, but on their distinct long-term approach to building value—in contrast with the short-term financial incentives that drive most large corporations. Small businesses do more than sell products or provide services—they show up for their communities. They hire locally, treat employees like people rather than numbers, and often create spaces where customers feel recogn
Level Ground Guide: Attract and Retain Talent Through Purpose
Attracting and retaining talent goes beyond offering competitive pay—it’s about creating a sense of purpose that resonates with employees. For small businesses, aligning around a shared mission can be a powerful way to build loyalty and commitment. When staff feel connected to the "why" behind the work, they’re more motivated, engaged, and likely to stick around. Purpose gives people a reason to invest their energy and ideas in the company’s future, transforming a job into a
Small Businesses grow when they learn
I was so excited that my intuition that training is useful for small businesses was finally validated by the economist David McKenzie, a...
Level Ground Guide: Aligning workers incentives with those of your small business
Wondering how to attract talent as a small business? Here are some reflections from my cousin, Francesco De Mojana who has a wealth of expertise in value creation and investments globally. Recently, he came to speak to students at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where I teach. Here's a first reflection. To attract talent, businesses need to differentiate themselves. One way is to align incentives of workers with that of business owners
Can small businesses save us and if so, how can we help them?
When we think about small businesses, it’s easy to overlook just how much they do to keep communities strong and vibrant. These local...
Engage kids and you will have the parent's attention forever
When we plan focus group discussions, we always need to take into account that if your environment is not child-friendly, our sample will...
Level Ground Guide: Before You Pitch: 13 Questions to Ask Yourself
What you need to prepare when you're pitching your company to a funder or investor EA Consultants For Founders & Investors A pitch deck is not a presentation. It’s an argument. Every slide is a claim, and investors are listening for the holes. The question isn’t whether your slides look good — it’s whether your thinking holds up when someone pushes on it. Most pitch frameworks tell you what to cover. This one asks you to go one level deeper: not just “do you have a slide on t
bmagnoni
Level Ground Guide: Plan Backwards
A Letter From My Future Self Start Backwards Most financial planning tools ask you to start with today. What do you earn? What do you owe? What can you save this month? These are important questions. But they’re the wrong place to start. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s hard to make decisions about how to get there. Should you hire that person or wait? Take the loan or not? Pay yourself more now or reinvest? These feel like financial questions. They’re actually
bmagnoni
Using AI without losing the human side of the work
Artificial intelligence tools are becoming part of everyday professional work, including in international development consulting, where they raise some particular questions about confidentiality, analytical rigor, and professional responsibility. In our case, the shift toward using AI has been gradual and practical. The goal has never been to automate thinking, but to make it easier to keep up with the volume of information that complex assignments generate without losing the
bmagnoni
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