How ziplining nomadic tribesmen could help to change people's perception of entrepreneurs

An Iranian who built a zipline to carry nomadic tribesmen and their livestock across a river and an unemployed person who grows vegetables in the centre of Detroit may seem to have little in common.

But both have a shot at being featured in a book that aims to change the way Hongkongers think about entrepreneurs.

While neither is likely to be featured in the Forbes 100, both are among the 2,000 submissions for The Other Hundred, a not-for-profit photography book by the Global Institute For Tomorrow (Gift), a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organisation.

Gift began the project last year to provide a "counterpoint to the mainstream media consensus about some of today's most important issues". The first edition focused on "people who are not rich, but deserve to be celebrated", while the second edition - to be published in December - focuses on entrepreneurship.

"Ninety-nine per cent of entrepreneurs never went to business school and never had a franchise ... who are they?" asked Gift's founder, Chandran Nair, yesterday.

Nair wants to challenge the conception linking wealth to successful entrepreneurship and instead give credit to the unsung heroes who support society's daily operations.