New York International recently met with Christian Ruehmer on The High Line in Chelsea to talk about NYC’s startup scene and why New York is a great base from which to operate an international charity.Christian is an entrepreneur, co-founder of a charity, and a consultant for microfinance and small banks. Having built a life in New York City as a successful banker, he decided to change paths and now fully dedicates his time and passion to the projects he has started. He is the co-founder and president of Proyecto Horizonte, a non-profit, non-government charity based in Bolivia which helps local communities with healthcare, education, and sustainable development.New York International: How did you first come to the U.S.?Christian Ruehmer: Since I was 12 I had a poster of the Manhattan skyline on my wall, but my first visit to New York wasn’t until 1991. After going to college in San Diego in 1994, I returned to New York for an internship. When I was living in Germany again, my desire to return to the U.S. only grew stronger. So I “played” the Green Card Lottery, won, and landed in New York in 2001.NYIntl: Wow, the Green Card Lottery?
Christian: Yes, this is actually quite an interesting concept. Every year people from all over the world can apply. The process is very simple and if you are lucky, you receive a letter stating that you won the right to apply for a Green Card. After that it only takes a year or so and the collection of dozens of documents and confirmations. By early 2001 I had the card in my hands.NYIntl: And when you made it to New York, you were working as a banker?Christian: From the beginning I focused my career in the finance area. When the preparations for the Green Card were finished, I moved to New York to work for the same bank I did in Germany. It was really an exciting time. We developed concepts that were rolled out to the bank globally.I was fortunate to have been able to work in various countries and gain experience before moving. Right before the move I had the opportunity to participate in a consulting project to support a microfinance organization in Latin-America. This was at a time when microfinance was not yet discovered by mainstream social impact movements. For me, the idea to give back and share my knowledge was a positive thing and I felt a lot of personal satisfaction in my work.NYIntl: Today, microfinance is seen by many as a great tool to alleviate poverty but also criticized for its lack of impact. What did you discover? Christian: Through my first project I became fascinated by the concept: small local organizations establish themselves and provide authentic financial services, such as collecting and distributing funds and taking risk. If they do it right, they develop a local economy for the benefit of a community. Microfinance organizations have very valid business models and I was excited to explore those more, so I founded a consulting company in Bolivia with a team of local consultants. We now support organizations around the world.NY Intl: That is a great story. So you were able to achieve your goal, and give back?Christian: Not fully. Microfinance is much more like a business than a charity. If conducted within the guidelines of responsible finance, they create a positive economic impact. But they do not prepare the clients to be healthy, educated, and smart business people – a pre-condition for economic success. There needs to be more than just microfinance to alleviate poverty on a broader scale.In an attempt to solve that, I started Proyecto Horizonte, a community development program in Bolivia. In a suburban environment we work with over 800 children and their families with a full education program from nursery to high-school, providing them with a health center and a broad range of community programs like arts and sports, psychological support, professional training, security, and microenterprise development.
NY Intl: And how is that going?Christian: The results of our work at Proyecto Horizonte have been amazing. We are now a little over eight years old and have already had a huge impact. Last December, the first students graduated from high school, and the community is actively engaged in increasing their contribution. We are very confident we will reach our goal of lifting the community from extreme poverty to lower middle class within one generation.A few factors help us: Our team of 75 employees is almost completely local and some are from the same community, we are working very efficiently with no admin expenses outside Bolivia, and we are persistent in our approach, knowing that we need to break some habits to achieve change! We also just finished our strategic planning for the next five years and the team is ready and motivated to replicate the project in other locations.NY Intl: A charity in Bolivia and a consulting company in developing countries. How does New York fit in to that picture?
Christian: New York is an excellent basis for all of these activities. Initially it was the place where I conducted my traditional banking career. I changed to become a full time consultant; New York offers so many opportunities for creative work with an international focus.For Proyecto Horizonte we are looking for better ways to raise funds and to prepare the project for replication in other towns. We are also working with a Google team in the city to build a way to collect micro donations in an efficient manner. Our goal is it to make donating fun and interesting to share with friends. We are also experimenting with other technologies to bring international education to places like Proyecto Horizonte. Another project we are trying to get off the ground is a cloud based database to track the performance of our kids so that they can be better served while navigating through school.The same is true for my consulting business. Right now, I have in-progress projects in risk management for small banks and microfinance in countries like Nigeria, Romania, Jordan and Ghana. I am working on creating synergies through cloud computing and the ideas and projects I stumble across here in New York are just amazing.NYIntl: So New York City is the creative center of your work? Christian: New York has an amazing pool of creative and motivated people. You can evolve your ideas, discuss them with others, and then develop and integrate them with other concepts. Collaboration and mutual support seem to rank very high among the people in the startup environment. In addition, there are also people ready to donate and sponsor concepts. I am sure, there are also other cities in the world where similar work could be done, but for me, New York combines all this in a very exciting way.
NYIntl: What do you think makes New York different?Christian: New York has so many faces and an impressive ways to combine them. Yes, New York is an expensive place, but it offers you the choice. You can get into town from the airport with a black car for $75 including tips or you pay $7.50 and get there with the subway in a comparable time. You can join an exclusive gym or you exercise for free along the Hudson River or in Central Park.I also feel that New York is continuously evolving. Just take the High Line park as an example. We are sitting here in one of the hottest neighborhoods of the city, driven by technology, art and other creative ideas. This is a neighborhood which was considered a no-go zone, a terrible place not long ago. It was developed by a private initiative in a creative manner and made free to the public – now, small businesses are opening up and people are coming here with ideas.On a broader scale, the city is doing a lot to steer development, especially with a tech focus. I have the feeling that learning and education will face a technology revolution in the next few years, and I think New York is very well prepared for that.NYIntl: So New York is an encouraging place to start a business?Christian: Here people are much quicker to say “let’s just try it and if it doesn’t work, then at least we tried,” and you can be encouraged about the fact that many things actually do work.NY Intl: What is the next project you’re working on?Christian: We are trying to encourage more employees of companies to donate to charities and take advantage of the generous “matched-funding programs” that many companies offer. This will also help us breaking into areas which were only covered by larger non-profit organizations. A large company usually donates to a large organization, but if we can convince the employees to contribute to smaller projects like Proyecto Horizonte and use the matching programs, then we have achieved a lot for all sides!