By Bert Zethof

Don Simpson of Innovation Expedition Inc. (http://www.innovationexpedition.com/) was our guest at Surge's High Voltage Business Dialogue Breakfast in Victoria yesterday. He told us about the amazing story of Virtual City Ltd. in East Africa. http://www.virtualcity.co.ke/index.php

Virtual City has transformed the way "business is done" by using smart phones and other mobile devices for end-to-end business processes across remote geographical stretches of Africa.

For example, supply line players for hops distributed from the farm gate to the brewery can do all their transactions with smart phones reducing costs significantly while eliminating corruption. Virtual City's processes have leapfrogged how we do business in North America.

The story was a mind bender for many in the audience and reminded me of the importance of right attitude when we interact with foreign countries, companies, and people. We can hold the attitude that we know what's best and that we are here to show you how to do it.

Or we can take the attitude that we don't have all the answers and that we have something to learn from everybody. The latter provides an opening, a space for innovation to happen.