The Challenges of Fundraising

OK - I admit - non-profit fundraising is a thousand times harder than I had given credit for. After years of working for high powered consulting firms with seemingly endless amounts of capital and resources, I now find myself on the complete flip side of the spectrum with no job, few contacts, and very limited resources. Raising money for profitable organizations is challenging in itself. Even though you have developed a fail-proof, fully profitable forecasting model you still risk being turned down by investors because they "don't see enough in it for them" or "the return on investment isn't in line with our growth model". These are corporations with relatively large access to capital and who understand their line of business very well,yet fail to invest internally because the returns are not profitable enough and they don't see the value of investing. In hindsight, raising money for SAI is exponentially more difficult and requires way more creativity to achieve even half the results.

In entrepreneurship, raising capital is the second hardest part to developing any new business venture. The hardest is, of course, developing a product or service that people truly want. This seems to be the deadliest inhibitor to any start up company, as more and more ventures fail to develop a product that directly solves their customers problems. Thankfully the Sauder Africa Initiative has developed a service that is truly unique and inspiring. Our mission helps develop the essential fabric of entrepreneurship amongst those who are passionate about starting / growing a business but lack some of the necessary tools, resources and knowledge to accomplish their goal. Our group is extremely passionate and desperately wants to help our fellow students achieve professional and personal success, but how do we enlighten others with similar passion in order to generate the voluntary donation that supports our cause? One solution is to share success stories of the program with those who may be on the fence in donating to our cause. This helps people understand your passion and the cause to which they are investing. Telling stories is a powerful method to establish a link between the intrinsic value of our program with the inherited social benefit that one receives when donating to the program. I encourage everyone to get excited by reading some of our success stories on the Sauder Africa website. I know these stories will inspire you to give, and support our wonderful cause.

A History Lesson

I’ve never been to Kenya. I don’t know much about it. My only interactions with Kenya over the years was having a couple of Kenyan roommates (I showed them how to clean and they gave me a lovely traditional Kenyan dress) and hearing about the elections in 2007. As part of the SauderAfrica Initiative, I hope to learn more about the history, culture and lifestyle in Kenya. So I decided to share some Kenya trivia - my preliminary learnings:

• Population is around 41.6 million
• Kenya was a British colony between 1895 and 1963
• Kenya has large income disparities. Most people fall into either very rich or very poor. There isn’t much of a middle class
• Kenya has only two seasons: rainy and dry
• Capital of Kenya is Nairobi
• Primary religion in Kenya is Protestant
• It’s been described as the “cradle of humanity”because some of the oldest human remains have been found here
• The majority classifies itself as Christian
• Languages: Swahili, English
• Life expectancy is 57 years (men) and 59 years(women)
• 1 Kenya shilling = 100 cents
• Main exports: tea, coffee, horticultural products, petroleum products
• The “Great Rift Valley” bisects Kenya. It is a geographic fault line

The Great Rift Valley (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a massive 6000 km trench on thesurface of the earth that runs from Syria to Central Mozambique - within it are some deepest lakes, highest mountains and most beautiful parks in Africa. Kenya is bisected by the Eastern Rift.

In Kenya, it appears that the rift is not just a geographical divide but a political rift as well. In the controversial andviolent elections in 2007, the Rift Valley towns such as Nakuru and Naivasha became hotbeds of dissention. The opposition accused the government of havingrigged the polls. The root cause of the violence, however, is said to be the hunger for the fertile rift lands.

The Rift Valley was dominated, before the advent of largescale commercial farming, by Massai herders and Kalenjin people. They weredisplaced from the most fertile land in the late 19^th century byBritish settlers. When independence came, the white farmers were replaced bythe politically well-connected Kikuyus, who played a large role in gaining that independence, according to a Nairobi historian. Some people viewed the violence not just as ethnic clashes but as the results of the deep, long-running income inequalities in Kenya.Where land ownership is seen as a means of survival in a rapidly growing population.

The post-election violence in 2007, during which over 1200people died and some 600000 were displaced, was thought to be catalysed by thepoliticians and their supporters. They are now accused by the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC) of planning attacks on supporters of the opposition andfostering hate and violence amongst the people. Recently, Kenya’s FinanceMinister, Uhuru Kenyatta, resigned following a ruling that he will face crimesagainst humanity.

On a more upbeat note, Kenya is a major flower exporter andthey seem to be commanding more and more of the market recently. Small scale growers that specialize in local flowers are also starting to become sustainable small businesses.

I also thought that the flag was an interesting piece. The black represents the majority of the people; red, the blood shed during the struggle for freedom; green, the fertile lands. Thegraphic in the centre is a Masai shield.

I think is a decent base but I’m looking forward to ferreting out in my next blog popular Kenyan culture, music and video.

Kwaheri! Nimefurahi kukutana na wewe.

Digital dumping grounds: Do you know where your electronic waste ends up?

With million tons of electronic waste produced every year, have you ever thought of where will all of the waste go? How will all of them get

Most of the” e-waste” that we produce in North America will eventually end up in three developing countries: Ghana, Indian, and China. According to a documentary, which won the 2010 Emmy for Best Investigative Magazine, the disposal of e-waste does not only create health and environmental issues, but also a concern towards security threats. Let us dive deeper into these issues.

Health and Environmental Issues:
After the e-waste arrives to their designations, they will be sent to smoldering wastelands that are filled with old computers and televisions. The workers on these wastelands are often children, whose job is to smash and burn the e-waste. After burning, the children will then collect the left behind coppers and irons for sale. Many of the children are forced to do this to scavenge a living.

In the burning process, tons of toxic substances are released because the boys sometimes have to mix old foams with the e-waste in order to melt away the plastic. Under these working conditions, the health of these boys is highly concerned. The amount of toxic chemicals released into the atmosphere has also drawn the attention of many environmental-friendly organizations.

Security Threats:

In some cases, if the electronics are working, the children will store them for future resale. However, because the owners of those old electronics are unknown, social security numbers and personal data of original owners may be recalled from the computers’ hard drives. Some people may take advantage of this to perform crimes and to use in scams.

Not only Ghana, but a lot of countries in Africa are also facing the same problem. In Kenya, the increased amount of e-waste without a proper disposal mechanism is proposing a serious threat to a country’s environment as well as giving rise to new diseases which will cost many lives. These all link to the one of the missions of the Sauder Africa Initiative that by sharing what we know, we hope that youths in Kenya will be able to earn a living by starting up their own businesses instead of having to work in an undesirable environment.

Sauder Africa at the SLC!

Hello! My name is Stephanie and I am a member of the 2012 Sauder Africa Initiative travelling team.  Saturday, January 14^th 2012 was a very exciting day for Martina and myself as we were selected to present as one of the highlighted projects at the well-known Student Leadership Conference at UBC. 

The conference is known to be one of the biggest conferences and so we were definitely very grateful for being selected.  I’ll admit that I was definitely nervous however; Martina’s confident vibe influenced me and calmed me down.  As expected, the presentation ran smoothly. 

Personally, I was always very passionate about social entrepreneurship and thus was involved with Sauder Africa Initiative.  I was surprised that the delegates at the conference were very interested in our project and asked very meaningful questions.  It was very encouraging and motivating to see how much interest we were able to spark about our project and that we are spreading the word out about who we are and what we do.  Many of the participants were deeply inspired by our mission to uplift the lives of African youth and their communities through sustainable entrepreneurship.

Overall it was a great experience and was definitely worth all the time and effort put into it!  If you’re interested in seeing the SLC highlighted project teaser video for the Sauder Africa Initiative, please click on the link below:

http://slc.ubc.ca/conference/concurrent-session-1/highlighted-projects/session-5/