Sandboxers, you humble crowd of grains united inside (but thinking outside) the box! First, why are we here?

We are the Camel Cheese Team (http://www.whattookyousolong.org) heading into the desert; one of many we have filmed in on our current documentary project. Sebastian Lindstrom says: ‘Drink Camel milk and live your dreams’. We have seen a lot of sand and we have met a lot of Sandboxers along the way.

During October and November, 2010 we dedicated 38 days out of our filming schedule to screen our 2009 documentary about aid effectiveness and grassroots non-profits in Africa through the Sandbox platform. The concept originated organically with Sandbox, always a supportive proponent of WTYSL projects, and flourished after Fabian Pfortmuller beautifully concurred with our idea to launch this tour.

Despite frowns from sensible Philippa Young we gave ourselves a just-manageable single day to transport ourselves between each hub. Manageable became almost impossible after Yale-based Sandboxer Manouchehr Shamsrizi added locations to our Europe schedule semi-forcing us to borrow a car to transport ourselves from Zurich to Vienna, Prague, Hamburg and finally to meet Manouchehr and Christian Busch at the Muhammed Yunus Global Social Business Summit in Wolfsburg, Germany. Apparently nothing is impossible – even zigzagging across Europe to attend conferences we had no tickets to….

Thousands of people have joined us from all walks of life during the 20+ events and Open Space Technology-based discussions in 8 countries. Development students, activists, Africans, non-Africans, business-men, artists and curious-minded people who want to meet with fresh ideas on how they can take action.

We decided to collect all the energy from the Open Space conversations as much as we could. These discussions from around the world are now online; please learn from the people at: www.whattookyousolong.org/open-space

Next step: figuring out what the next step is! Screenings and Open Space dialogues are one step in the right direction – but what comes next to drive action to another level?

One thing is certain; we have met a lot of Sandbox members around the world face-to-face. They have set up events and invited their networks. They have provided floor space and beds for the night. We have met their friends. We have cooked with them. We have connected with these dynamic little grains, great alone, even greater together.

On top of our screenings and events we filmed our host Sandboxer, asking them the five WTYSL questions. Three are already out online (here, here and here) and we are in the process of editing another 8 profile videos, released weekly. Below is the list of Sandbox members with profiles:

Fabian Pfortmuller, NYC

Jaap Ruoff, Providence

Danielle Tomson, New Haven

Dalumuzi Happy Mhlanga, Harvard,

Artur Majsterek, London

Hannes Kloepper, Berlin

Lilly Bussmann, St.Gallen

Michel Bachmann, Zurich

Sarah Stamatiou, Vienna

J. Amadeus Waltz, Hamburg

Christian Busch at the Global Social Business Summit in Wolfsburg

Following an old tradition, we recently organized another dinner at Obika, conjointly with our London ambassador Paolo Rigutto. We were excited about welcoming travelling Sandboxers from allover the world, from Delhi to NYC. Gustav Borgefolk, who recently passed the selection process, joined us from Stockholm with great energy, and we’re convinced that he’ll make the Stockholm hub even stronger in complementing our partners from the Young Entrepreneurs of Sweden. Artur Majsterek, president of the LSE entrepreneurship society, told us about his latest promising venture, a student discount provider for restaurants allover London, while planning an exciting conference (more about this soon).

We were  honored to have David Rowan with us, the Editor of Wired UK, who apparently left inspired and wrote a great article about us, which nicely summarizes some of the other exciting stories that were shared during the evening.

Chris is co-founder of Sandbox and still euphorized by the recent media-attention that has been triggered by the Wired-article, which might explain his current hyperactivity.

For the first event in London, potential Sandboxer Michaela Wood invited Sir Paul Judge, Sandboxer Rajeeb Dey (CEO of Enternships), and Victoria Lennox (Founder of NACUE).

Inspiring and aspiring entrepreneurs, start-up enthusiasts, intrapreneurs, engineers, consultants, inventors, investors, VCs, business angels, advisers, mentors, and researchers will be there to meet and enjoy refreshing drinks and conversation. Sandboxers can book their place for 10 pounds here. The talk will be called “Democratising Entrepreneurship” and takes place on Wednesday 21 October 2009 – 6.30pm at the Royal Society in London.

We’re sure that Michaela will make this event and the whole series a success and are looking forward to seeing some other Sandboxers there!

In June, I attended a 3 days-strategy workshop of the European Human Resources Forum in Lugano, Switzerland. The event gathers every year about 20 senior HR executives from all over the world, who take the occasion of this event in a paradisiac location to pause and reflect about their function and the challenges they’re facing in their businesses.

This was a great opportunity to learn more about talents from a corporate point of view and to learn about their needs. I also had the chance to present the Sandbox project in detail and talk to many potential partners, who are interested in supporting us with building up the network. We are currently talking with potential partners from all around the world and are happy to see that corporates show strong interest in Sandbox, even though we’re not a recruiting platform but a global playground & community for the smartest and most active young indidividuals from all fields.