EOS International

What we should know about you

Questions answered by Wesley Meier, Co-founder & CEO

1. Imagine yourself/yourselves 5 years ago in comparison to the situation you are in today. Which achievements surprise you the most?

Looking back five years, I would have placed more emphasis on minimizing risk, and/or including more of a buffer when the unimaginable happens. Our work takes place in an emerging market (Nicaragua), and we have always been prepared for market changes or adjusting to meet client needs. However, we did not plan for national political instability to take place for a significant amount of time, really affecting our work. To minimize this risk, we opened up our operations to a different country (Honduras) to diversify the operations. 

2. What is your biggest success as an entrepreneur?

I feel that being a social entrepreneur is extremely rewarding as it provides a lot of challenging opportunities to scale your impact and grow your business, while the satisfaction of the positive impact that is being created from your work. 

3. What recommendation would you give to someone who thinks about starting a social enterprise?

I always encourage social entrepreneurs to focus their solution, especially when they are first starting with minimal resources. We started our work too broad and tried to offer several different solutions to clients. We quickly learned that we became generalists in several products, but experts in nothing. Once we narrowed down our product offering, we were able to be the leading expert and go much deeper in offering solutions. This strategic focusing has allowed us to significantly scale our current offerings.

Additional achievements

Awards

• Stanford Social Innovation Review Publication 
• Nicaraguan Water and Sanitation Network (RASNIC)
• Honduras Water and Sanitation Network (Para Todo Por Siempre)
• Agora Partnerships Latin American Accelerator
• Skoll World Forum Delegate