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Borderless Blog
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An MBA Without Borders: Ravi Sreenath
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My name is Ravi and I have just arrived in Kampala, Uganda to work with PATH as a Sales and Marketing expert on a pilot project to promote the use of the TLUD (Top Lit, Up Draft) cook-stoves in peri-urban Uganda. PATH has been ranked as the #6 in Global Journal’s list of top NGOs in the world for 2012 and this project is a really great opportunity for me to be involved with such an innovative organization. Read More >>
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Partnering For Increased Access to Finance
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Kiva, a great financing connector! Buen Manejo del Campo (BMC) has recently formalized its partnership with Kiva, a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Our first month experiences with Kiva have been exciting for us and for this reason it is the topic of my blog posting today. How does our partnership with Kiva work? In summary we upload to the Kiva website the profile of a preliminary lender, a Sistema Biobolsa potential client that requires financing for purchasing our equipment. The lender is then given a 30 day window of opportunity to receive small individual loans from Kiva lenders around the world until its funding needs are fulfilled. A Kiva lender can be anyone, willing to lend as little as $25 to someone with an investment opportunity that can help them improve their current condition. Participating with Kiva will allow us to expand our opportunities to small farmers that otherwise would not have access to Sistema Biobolsa because of our limited credit options, it will help professionalize our staff to work with microfinancing alternatives, and it will create more exposure for Sistema Biobolsa and the benefits that it presents. Read More >>
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International Corporate Volunteerism: A Game Changer
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This guest blog article, by Paul Klein, Founder of Impakt, originally appeared on Forbes. In 1960, President John F. Kennedy proposed “a peace corps of talented men and women” who would dedicate themselves to the progress and peace of developing countries. Today, the Peace Corps has company. The IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC), PepsiCorps and Pfizer‘s Global Health Fellowsare at the leading edge of a new wave of social change called International Corporate Volunteerism (ICV) that has the potential to be a game changer in the development sector. Read More >>
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International Corporate Volunteering: Experiential Learning Advances Diversity And Communications
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This guest blog article, by Alice Korngold, a leading CSR consultant, originally appeared on Fast Company. “In spite of there having been a translator to help facilitate conversations, I have never been so keenly alert to my client’s body language and every nuance of expression, as well as my own,” explained Susan E. Wedge, partner, IBM’s Global Business Services Public Sector, about her experience as a member of a pro bono consulting team deployed by IBM to help Bucharest, Romania’s civic government to create a Smarter City. Read More >>
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An MBA Without Borders: Eleazar Ortiz
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Hi everyone! I am new here and it is great to have a platform where I can share a few of my experiences with MBA’s Without Borders. My name is Eleazar Ortiz, I am of Mexican origin and I recently concluded my studies at New York University. About a month ago I started collaborating with MBA’s Without Borders. My assignment is in Mexico with Buen Manejo del Campo, S.A. de C.V., a corporation that produces, distributes, and installs Sistema Biobolsa, an award winning high quality biodigester system designed for small and medium farmers. The company also manages a small loan fund, carbon offset assets, and works closely with a non-profit partner that focuses on education and research... Read More >>
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Seeking Insight for Innovation
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This guest blog article, by Laura Asiala, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Dow Corning, originally appeared on Dow Corning's Citizen Service Corps website. “Discover; Serve; Innovate” became our theme for the Citizen Service Corps as we developed and launched our first group in 2010. I’ve mentioned before the importance of understanding the order of that priority, and for us, it was driven by innovation. With that clarity, it was easy to see that we would need a direct link to our business development group, known at Dow Corning as the “Business & Technology Incubator,” and we had it, in the person of Chip Reeves, manager of Discovery in the B&TI. Read More >>
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ICV Conference Preview: Key Components of Learning Development Part 1
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This guest blog article by Matthew Farmer, keynote speaker at CDC Development Solutions’ 3rd Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference and Managing Director of Emerging World, is the first in a three-part series. Emerging World works with global corporations to design and manage learning experiences across Africa, Asia and Latin America. I‘m really looking forward to April 12th and being part in CDC’s International Corporate Volunteering conference. Emerging World works with global corporations to design and manage learning experiences across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Making sure we gain maximum business benefit for these experiences is out top priority. At the conference, I will be outlining Emerging World’s six steps to achieving impactful learning from an international corporate volunteering program, based on the experience we’ve had with clients such as Microsoft and Ernst & Young... Read More >>
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George Washington University Capstone Adventure - Part 2
International Corporate Volunteerism | March 20th, 2012
This is Part 2 of an on-going series of guest blog articles written by a group of students at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, who are completing their capstone project with CDS in India. Click here for Part 1.
Namaste from Mumbai! Our team has spent a busy few days interviewing client organizations and exploring the lasting impacts of international corporate volunteer (ICV) assignments. In our short time here, we’ve met with a striking diversity of Indian organizations working in a variety of sectors:
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An Important Lesson About Relationships: Never be Surprised by Surprises
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This guest blog article, by Laura Asiala, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Dow Corning, originally appeared on Dow Corning's Citizen Service Corps website. It turns out Dr. Phil Mirvis was right: relationships are one of the most important things we gain through an international corporate volunteer (ICV) program, like the Dow Corning Citizen Service Corps. In 2010 we were just getting started, and I had written a brief for CDC Development Solutions for our first program that was very broad.. As a specialty materials manufacturer, we were looking to immerse ourselves in under-served markets: no desk jobs for us! No teaching (well, at universities anyway). No information technology system or data base development. We wanted to be in the field. And, we wanted to work on projects that would lend us the greatest amount of insight for our future business: renewable energy, affordable housing, sustainable agriculture, and/or sustainable transportation. Read More >>
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Our Story: Starting an International Corporate Volunteer Program
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This guest blog article, by Laura Asiala, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Dow Corning, originally appeared on Dow Corning's Citizen Service Corps website. I am often asked how the Citizen Service Corps got started at the Dow Corning Corporation. The truth is that there isn’t one answer. While many individuals have answers and worked hard to finally bring this idea to fruition, these are my recollections. In the summer of 2009, then Dow Corning CEO, Stephanie Burns, returned from a meeting at GlaxoSmithKline where she was a member of the board energized by a presentation she had heard regarding their new international corporate volunteer program, PULSE, presented by Ahysia Posner Mencin, Ph. D. We sat discussing the program and its approach with vice president Marie Eckstein, and I mused, “I’ve often thought a service-learning approach would help us to see opportunities at the ‘Base of the Pyramid.’” Stephanie turned to me, pointed, and said emphatically, “I want that.” Read More >>
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International Women's Day: Empowering Women in Business
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In celebration of International Women’s Day CDS would like to highlight the work of two organizations in Morocco that are empowering women in business. “This is a place where women can come – and celebrate themselves – openly and have other women celebrate them.” Manal Elattir, a young and ambitious social entrepreneur from Morocco, tells us as we sit and listen to describe why her and a group of dedicated women were working tirelessly afterhours as volunteers to help build L’Association du Réseau de femmes pour le Mentoring/ Networking (MWM). Read More >>
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George Washington University Capstone Adventure - Part 1
International Corporate Volunteerism | March 8th, 2012
Quantifying impact is the bane of many industries' existence - CSR, impact investing and development NGOs striving for more rigorous program assessments come to mind. Until two months ago, we had only vague ideas about how difficult it is to turn anecdotes and output measurements into impact values.
We're four graduate students in international development at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. During our final semester, we complete a capstone project that is essentially pro bono consulting for a development organization. Having formed a team based on our mutual interest in private sector engagement in development, CDC Development Solutions (CDS) was top on our list of organizations to approach with our proposal.
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International Corporate Philanthropy Day and Skills-Based Volunteerism
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Community service is nothing new to corporate America – spending a day contributing to the betterment of a community is an excellent way to build teamwork and re-invigorate staff. Painting a school or cleaning a park are necessary activities for our communities to be their best – but are they the best way for corporations to positively engage? Increasingly the answer is no, there are much more impactful and sustainable ways for this interaction to occur, namely skills-based volunteerism. Read More >>
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3rd Annual ICV Conference: Revisiting 2011 & A Preview of What's to Come
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CDC Development Solutions’ 3rd Annual International Corporate Volunteerism Conference is just 2 months away. We are hard at work confirming a great line up of speakers and sponsors in the public and private arenas. With this year’s expanded agenda, the Conference will include interactive sessions that will look at how different companies derive business value from ICV programs. This includes linking ICV into your core business, integrating HR and leadership development into an ICV program, learning the public relations and media strategies of industry experts, as well as an update on the Center for Excellence in International Corporate Volunteerism (CEICV) and an intro to the Global Health Fellows Program II. Read More >>
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How Dow Corning Uses Innovation to Further CSR and Business GoalsAmanda MacArthur | February 7th, 2012 |
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This article originally appeared on Triple Pundit, February 7th, 2012. View the original article. In the 21st century marketplace, innovation and the need to constantly seek out new ideas is critical – as we’ve seen across industry sectors, stagnation is the one of the fastest ways to lose customers and forgo potential profit. This is true in the mature markets for that require either completely new products or adaptation of existing ones to meet emerging consumer demand – whether it’s repackaging products to reach the market at the base of the pyramid or it’s redesigning a battery to withstand power surges and disruptions. Read More >>
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The Right Stuff: How To Select Local Partners for ICV Programs
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As implementers and managers of International Corporate Volunteer (ICV) programs, one area where we have not spent a lot of time on is how we identify our local partners. My colleague, Jailan Adly, in her post from Coimbatore, India correctly stated , “The key is to partner with organizations that have the capacity and innovation to capitalize on the resources they receive from their advisors.” I would like to spend some time explaining how we embark on identifying partners with these attributes and developing fruitful working relationships. Read More >>
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A Newfound Respect for Teachers and Getting Busier and Busier
Triin Visnapuu | February 6th, 2012
Recently I have, instead of simply advising of the most appropriate steps to be taken, also started to work hands on with the members of the “Al Kawtar” management team and to insist on implementing certain regular routines. When I tell my friends that I work with the ladies of the association to improve their managerial routines etc., I imagine that people sometimes get the idea that I’m putting together an elaborate training program. The truth is much simpler – I find that the first key to success in such a situation is time management and that is the first thing I am trying to teach the ladies. By putting together a weekly plan and then following up on this we also need to cover issues such as deadlines and prioritization. By highlighting the abundance of tasks to be performed we also take the next step and start working on improving the efficiency in performing certain tasks.
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IBM’s Partnership for Employment-Focused Education
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“We don’t have a jobs problem in this country; we have a skills problem.” This was how Stan Litow, quoting Thomas Friedman, began his presentation to the participants at CRO’s CommitForum! last September. As President of the IBM International Foundation and a former Deputy Chancellor of the New York City schools, Stan has been following the startling education statistics in this country – an overall high school drop-out rate of 25%, with only 30% of high school graduates ever completing a bachelor’s degree. The global economy is increasingly knowledge-based, with an associated increase in the need for workers with post-secondary educations. Because of this, IBM and more than half of US employers report that they cannot find qualified workers. Read More >>
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A Win-Win-Win (Win-Win...)
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An NGO, Business Against Crime, in Mpumalanga South Africa reported: “While the corporate teams were here, our networking web expanded and still does so today… The greatest impact was expanding the network that our company depends on -- including partner funding possibilities. The ICV teams had amazing people and negotiation skills. It made approaching organizations like our local government far easier.” It was great to see the Wall Street Journal article, Doing Good to Do Well by Anne Tergesen (1/9/12, B-7), which clearly illustrated the multifaceted benefits companies such as IBM, Pfizer, FedEx, Intel and others receive through International Corporate Volunteering (ICV). As a win-win-win partnership, it’s also critical for us to look at the many benefits to the local organizations who host these volunteers. Read More >>
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Nigeria Forum and the Evolution of Local Content
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Earlier this month I was in Port Harcourt, Nigeria representing CDC Development Solutions (CDS) where I led the final day of the CWC Practical Nigerian Content Forum. It was my first time in Nigeria, but immediately I could see that Nigeria is different from the other countries I have worked in. First the intelligence and technical abilities of the participants were remarkable, and the size and scope of services provided by the Nigerian suppliers is impressive. Second, there is a strong commitment by government and they are becoming more active in ensuring that local content plans are documented and followed. Finally, the international oil companies (IOCs) are committed to maximizing local content where feasible and have staffed their Nigerian Content positions to implement their strategies. I was deeply impressed, but why then was almost everyone not satisfied with the current level of local content in Nigeria? Read More >>
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Challenges in Local Supplier Development
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CDS was invited to present on Enterprise Development Centers and conduct a workshop at the IQPC 7th Annual Local Content Summit in London on September 26th. The event was heavily attended by international oil companies (IOCs), government representatives, program implementers, and consultants. Based upon CDS’ experience in Supplier Development in Russia, Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola CDS has been able to identify some key drivers for successful programs. One of the major ones is that coordinated, comprehensive programs require extensive collaboration between government, industry, multilaterals, and NGOs which is complicated and takes time. Read More >>
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IBM Coimbatore: ICV Success Factors
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One of the key elements to a successful International Corporate Volunteer assignment is matching the highly-skilled volunteer advisors with highly-impactful organizations on the ground. Through its management of ICV program, CDS has found that the opportunity for deep private sector engagement in development lies in strong public sector partners. This does not mean that they should only work with large NGOs or organizations - it is not the size of an organization that matters - but the quality of its leadership and services. The key is to partner with organizations that have the capacity and innovation to capitalize on the resources they receive from their advisors. In Coimbatore, India IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) is partnering with three organizations that exemplify this success factor. Read More >>
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IBM South Africa: Enhancing Education
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I recently traveled to South Africa to the launch the 8th IBM Corporate Service Corps team in that country and was impressed to see how the Corporate Service Corps is being utilized to further expand IBM’s public sector relationships in South Africa while still providing needed assistance to local communities and organizations. The IBM team of 14 employees are based in Polokwane, South Africa for one month and are working on various skills- based projects with 3 organizations: UNDP, The Limpopo Department of Education, and the Peakanyo Manufacturing Co-operative through the Limpopo Business Support Agency. Read More >> |
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The Misconceptions of Skills-Based Volunteerism
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A couple of Fridays ago, I had the opportunity to lead a “tabletop discussion” on International Corporate Volunteer (ICV) programs at the Society for International Development’s World Congress. Our table seemed to gather all kindred souls—development professionals who had worked with volunteer advisors on skills-based assignments within international programs, and who had found the volunteers to be excellent resources. As the conversation progressed, we all acknowledged that we were fighting an uphill battle to convince the development world that volunteers really provide value. One participant asked me why I thought that was the case. I did not have an easy answer, since the ongoing resistance to volunteer assistance appears to defy reason. Over the past few weeks, I gave that question lot of thought and there are several answers that came to mind. Read More >>
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Peer Learning in Impact Investing
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I just returned from delivering a five day training for impact investment professionals in Mexico City for ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs). What a great group of talented and committed professionals seeking to make the world a better place through sustainable investments in social enterprises! During this training, it was clear that there is a need for mechanisms for impact investment professionals to share their experiences and approaches on conducting due diligence, structuring and valuing companies, adding post-investment value and so forth... Read More >>
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International Corporate Volunteerism Builds Better Leaders
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"By placing future leaders into an unfamiliar situation, the (assignment) forced us all to stretch and learn a great deal of coping, leadership and team work skills. With all the ambiguity with the SOW, we each learned how to deal with the unknown productively, rather than looking for excuses and being stalled. These are crucial learning points for an organization's future leadership team and being in a completely different culture also forced us to re-evaluate our assumptions and perceptions on things we took for granted. Bottom-line is we all came out of this learning experience more equipped to lead a global multi-national company.” --ICV participant, Immediate post-assignment survey The above quote is from a participant in one of CDS’ International Corporate Volunteer Programs. I think it does a great job of highlighting how these types of programs encourage professional and personal growth... Read More >>
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How Much is a Local Content Development Program Worth?
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One emerging topic in the area of sustainable development is the creation of tools which can help value investments in sustainability programs. This can include standard CSR programs such as education, environment, or health; but most interestingly (for me) is the application to local content development programs. Local content development is the investment in programs to train and educate local suppliers so that they can participate in the procurements of international companies in their home country. For example in Angola we had a local content development (LCD) program which trained Angolan suppliers on the quality and safety standards required by the oil and gas (O&G) industry. This capacity building allowed these Angolan suppliers to qualify to bid on potentially lucrative O&G opportunities in their home country. While this is an example about O&G the model can be applied to numerous industries including mining, agriculture, and tourism. Read More >>
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Can A Hotel Save a Village?Jailan Adly | June 22nd, 2011 |
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In its June issue, Travel+Leisure asks, “Can a hotel transform a village in order to save it?” and sets out to tell the story of the revival of borgos or Tuscan village through tourism. While in more developed countries the idea that a hotel can save a village is a romantic ideal, in emerging markets tourism can either be a true lifeline to the people in a local community or their worst enemy. In emerging markets the question of “saving a village” becomes murky as the lines blur as to who the hotel is saving the village for – the community or its clients. There are however excellent examples of community revival through tourism across destinations in emerging markets... Read More >>
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Importance of Local Content Programs in Post-Conflict CountriesShaun Doherty | June 22nd, 2011 |
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On June 14th I presented CDS’ Angola supplier development program at the VEGA Post-Conflict Workshop which was facilitated by Dr. Jay Smith – a major contributor to USAID’s Guide to Economic Growth in Post-Conflict Countries (USAID Office for Economic Growth, January 2009). Our exchanges got me thinking about how Supplier Development Programs are relevant to oil producing post-conflict countries such as Liberia and Uganda. An eye opening statistic I took away is that 40% of post conflict countries slide back into conflict. So the importance of getting it right in these countries cannot be overstated. So what works? Professor Paul Collier at Oxford Studies has demonstrated that besides external peacekeepers, robust economic development is most critical to preventing a return into conflict... Read More >>
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Meeting the Needs of Local SMEs: A Risk Capital Franchise Model
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Rapidly growing small businesses (“gazelles”) are vital for national job creation and improved standards of living, both in developed and developing countries. These gazelles need expansion financing to support their growth. While bank credit can provide some of this growth financing, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) really need risk capital (venture capital, private equity, mezzanine financing, etc.) to reach their growth potential... Read More >>
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Sustainable Value Creation and Corporate VolunteerismAmanda MacArthur | June 22nd, 2011 |
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I recently had the pleasure of attending the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy conference in New York City. This year’s theme was Sustainable Value Creation – how companies can have a positive impact on the communities in which they operate, on their employees and on the environment without out sacrificing the bottom line. What struck me most was the variety of ways in which companies were creating sustainable value through programs that that not only targeted external communities, but also engage their employees and made them feel proud to be associated with the business.... Read More >>
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