Executive Input

Siegfried Woldhek’s dream of Web-based communities where everybody helps everybody is based on a simple idea: identify a problem, get everyone online and have them all contribute. His brainchild, Nabuur.com (Dutch for neighbour) consists of 55 communities that do everything from selling goods to solving environmental problems.“People want to be more than just a member (of some charitable foundation). They want to offer their ideas,” he says. One such Mexican-based community sells jewelry but its facilitator lives in Canada. “The energy out there is huge and all you need is the Web to harness it.”