Happy new year. This January update is our fifth since the Barefoot MBA became an idea to teach basic business to anyone, anywhere. That idea quickly became a curriculum, and that curriculum continues to touch every inhabited continent. Thanks largely to our partner organizations, we’ve reached tens of thousands of participants. And our numbers continue to grow.

In 2011, we reported progress on existing partnerships in Rwanda and Rhode Island. Behind the scenes we continue to explore additional partnerships (and welcome your ideas). As 2012 begins we look forward to sharing updates from two trips run by the Stanford program that first supported us, one teaching Barefoot MBA lessons in Kenya and the other visiting the Thai social entrepreneur who inspired our work.

As always, we welcome updates on how others are using the Barefoot MBA.

We also reiterate our plea to you, our readers, for two things:

1. Website redesign and relaunch: Our blog-turned-website was adequate in the Barefoot MBA’s infancy, but a well-designed, robust site could help expand our reach
2. Adaptation and translation assistance: Our curriculum can go only as far as it’s understood, which for now means locations that can leverage existing adaptations. Spending a few days in local markets should generate enough information for a new adaptation, and fluency in local language means translation should take no more than a few hours

If you’d like to help, or know someone who might, please comment on this post or e-mail us at info@barefootmba.org.

And if you haven’t already, feel free to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.