Martin Burt

Burt founded Fundación Paraguaya in 1985, while Paraguay was still under the authoritarian rule of General Alfredo Stroessner. Fundación Paraguaya has developed several programs designed to solve poverty through entrepreneurship. They pioneered micro-finance in Paraguay, helping small businesses below the scope of traditional banks. In 1995, Fundación Paraguaya established their implementation of the Junior Achievement Program in Paraguay, which focuses on teaching concepts of entrepreneurship and financial literacy. The foundation acquired the San Francisco Agricultural School in Cerrito from the government in 2002, turning it into a self-sustaining agricultural high school that serves rural poor youth. The foundation has since worked to replicate their model in 50 schools worldwide. In 2006, Burt co-founded Teach a Man to Fish with Nik Kafka, a former intern with the foundation, in order to spread the student-led school business model. Fundación Paraguaya has been the recipient of several high profile awards and acknowledgements, including awards from the Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation, and Inter-American Development Bank.[5][6]

Burt founded an organization based on his Poverty Stoplight model of the same name, produced as a project of Fundación Paraguaya. The Poverty Stoplight takes a multi-dimensional approach to conceptualizing poverty, allowing families self assess their situation through 50 different indicators on 6 different dimensions. These indicators, such as access to clean water or clothing, are rated at three levels, green, yellow, and red, allowing an easy to read scorecard to be developed. This helps both the family and supporting organizations to develop a plan to meet their needs and help them out of poverty, as well as giving organizations a map to assess programs and needs at a community level.[7][8][9]

Burt served as Chief of Staff, Cabinet Secretary and close adviser to President Federico Franco from 2012 to 2013, where he helped lead the government's adoption of the Social Progress Index, an alternative economic indicator to the Gross Domestic Product.[10] Burt was twice elected as the President of the Paraguayan-American Chamber of Commerce.[11] He also served as Vice Secretary of Commerce from 1991 to 1993.[12] He cofounded Pro-Paraguay, Paraguay's Export and Foreign Investment agency, in 1992.[13]

On December 17, 1996, Burt began his five-year term as Mayor of Asunción, Paraguay's capital and largest city. He came into office leading a political alliance of his party, the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, and the National Encounter Party. As mayor, Burt's new policies for the city, including the first deployment of municipal bonds, and securing loans from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. He used these funds for a number of infrastructure projects, such as acquiring property for the city to build 80 public parks, developing pedestrian shelters, and recovering and developing a number of public spaces. In concert with the Salesian Works and Ministry of Social Action, he helped build collective housing for families displaced from the Chaco. His administration also restored and expanded a number of public arteries, constructed docks for public transport, renewed city automotive fleets, restored historical houses and sites, installed internet into classrooms in popular neighborhoods, and built urban walking trails, among other contributions to the public.[14]

Burt has held a number of academic positions, including visiting professor of social entrepreneurship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine. He was a professor of business administration at the Catholic University of Asunción. He is currently a visiting professor of social entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific in California, USA.[15]

Burt was co-founder of two of Paraguay's leading environmental non-profits. In 1988 he co-founded the Moises Bertoni Foundation, an environmental NGO that focuses on preserving biodiversity and sustainable development. He also co-founded the Mbaracayú Biosphere Reserve Foundation, which established a permanently protected biosphere in the Mbaracayú subtropical rainforest located in the northeastern region of Paraguay near the Brazilian border. The Mbaracayú Reserve is managed by the Moises Bertoni Foundation.[16] This area of 65,000 hectares is home to Paraguayan and Brazilian cattle ranchers and small holdings, two indigenous groups, and a wide variety of species and ecosystems.[17]

Burt has been involved in a number of other organizations as a co-founder, such as the Asociación Paraguaya de la Calidad, Paraguay Educa, Club Universitario de Rugby de Asunción, and Sistema B Paraguay.[18]

Martin serves on the Board of Directors of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship[19], and is also a member of the board of the Global Foodbanking Network.[20]