What Brought Us Here

Last year, I travelled with the Sauder Africa team to Kenya to teach the local youth about writing business plans. This year, due to work commitments, I am unable to travel again. Instead, I am staying on the ground team. 


There were so many times I got asked why I joined Sauder Africa Initiative (SAI). My reasons have included the passion for travelling and meeting new people, the goal of making a difference, and the idea of diversifying my experiences, etc. 


After I decided to stay with SAI after last year, a lot of people asked me why staying? The answers to this questions really cannot be as simple as my answer to the question of why joining SAI at the beginning. There are just many reasons why I chose to stay:

• I enjoyed working with a team of awesome and enthusiastic people
• I learned so much during my stay in Kenya, way more than what I could learn in a month here in Canada
• I met great and generous people in Kenya, and the three-week stay was just eye-opening
• The most significantly, I was truly inspired by some of the students I taught in Kibera

The Kibera class was composed of eleven students and of the eleven students, only four of them are girls. The average age of the class was around 20 years old with the youngest aged 19. Almost all of them have not completed a high school education, so the learning ability of the class really varied. Out of all students, there was a young guy name Augustine. He was a really sharp student with a great working habit. Although students were late for classes most of the times, he was the one who came to class early compared to the rest. He was one of the few students who always completed homework on time. Because we had to ensure the whole class was at the same pace, at the beginning of every class, we would spent time helping those who did not have their work done. A always finished his work before coming to class, so he was always willingly helping the others. In class, when I introduced new materials, he would be the first one who understood the concepts. Because he looks like a "cool" kid, he does not usually raise up his hand to answer questions. However, when I asked him questions, he was able to answer correctly. 

After talking with Augustine several times after class, I learned that he only finished high school, and because he had no money to pursue a further education, he is still very far away from his goal of becoming a lawyer. Looking at students like A, who really had the potential to become successful make me think how we, those who live in such privileged environment should really utilize the resources we have to make a difference.

After I left Kenya, I still maintained a connection with several of my students via Facebook, which was unsurprisingly the most popular "entertainment" among Kenyan youth. These are just some of the examples of the feedback we got from the students, and these feedback is really what keeps all of us motivated...

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The Face of Social Entrepreneurship

The Face of Social Entrepreneurship

Recently, I did a financial request presentation to our student society, and for the first time, understood the difficulty in accessing publicly available funds for our venture. The idea of entrepreneurship is quite different in Africa than in North America: people here become entrepreneurs by choice; people in Africa become entrepreneurs out of necessity. Many of these young entrepreneurs come from the slums, and have learned the hard way, that they cannot afford to sit around and wait for the government to do things for them. That is why there is tremendous significance in supporting a social program designed to help entrepreneurs of these developing countries, but unfortunately this idea still relatively far back on many priority lists.

Most of Africa’s growth in the last several years has been stimulated by entrepreneurship. Young people are seeking to become entrepreneurs rather than finding employment, either tempted by overnight millionaire stories, fueled by a passion to succeed, or driven by the determination to improve conditions around them. Therefore, business ideas pitched by these youths seems to gravitate towards several patterns:

• Businesses are clones of pre-existing ones.
• The business is intended to “make a name” for the owner.
• The business has a valuable and viable idea.

 

Our mission is to work with young entrepreneurs of all backgrounds and goals to help them develop a viable business plan, with a strong emphasis on social entrepreneurship ideas. The objective is to look for more than just monetary profit, but innovative answers in social problems. These entrepreneurs will represent the upcoming faces of Social Entrepreneurship in Africa, and in a way we, as North American students of higher education, are also the grassroots social entrepreneurs of the West. There is no accounting profit to be had in our initiative, but the value that it generates for each student involved is immeasurable.

I feel like there are several important aspects to nurturing entrepreneurs in Africa:

• Mentorship: Ensure that the entrepreneurs have the education and assistance they need to run their business sustainability.
• Localization: Think “local”. Encourage the youths to establish businesses that are for the benefit of the local people, that would solve local problems, and would employ locally available resources.
• Financial Assistance: Start-up financing for social initiatives, as well as micro-financing (for a must-read on this topic check out Muhammad Yunus' book "Banker to the Poor").

With the emergence of international programs, academic interest, and workshops in Africa, mentorship and idea generation is becoming less of a burden, whereas finance assistance is still heavily sought after. I hope that in time, more people would realise the importance of social entrepreneurship in developing countries, understand why students and volunteers choose to dedicate their time to these initiatives, and consequently be more willing to invest capital into programs like ours, so that our teams in 2013, 2014, and 2015 will have better luck securing the necessary funds to expand the Sauder Africa Initiative.

Flying Toilets: An Opportunity for Business?

In a recent discussion with our team, we began identifying problems in the slums that could turn into opportunities for our Kenyan students to build businesses on. With every problem, there must be a solution to it. And what better way than to solve a problem with a business so the students can enhance their living. Health care was brought up, and we all know that with improper sanitation, it is difficult to prevent the spread of diseases.

A major problem with improper sanitation is the use of "flying toilets." Due to congestion and toilets being inaccessible, residents in the slums turn to throwing plastic bags containing human waste as far as possible out their houses at night. It is said that it is not safe to go out at night since the toilets are far and their only way of disposing waste is to dump it outside. Not only are those public toilets inaccessible and lack security, but they are also overcrowded, unhygienic, and usually poorly lit. Because there is waste everywhere along the streets, it is no surprise that diseases are easily spread. With children playing around the slums, they are essentially playing around the waste, which poses a huge threat for these children.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for business to take care of this problem. Our team brainstormed and thought our Kenyan students could potentially start a business which would have a system similar to our garbage pickup trucks in Canada. Each day, a garbage truck could stop at different locations to pick up the waste. Human waste can then be recycled through composting, which can then be used for gardening or agricultural purposes. So this waste could potentially be sold to farmers or other businesses that would use this fertilizer. Not only will the business be making some money, but they would be providing opportunities for employment.

Interestingly enough, upon further research, I found something very similar to what we had thought of had already been implemented. A Swedish company actually thought of this solution. It's called the Peepoo, which is a biodegradable plastic bag which is designed to fit over a small pot. The bag contains granulated urea, which is an ammonia that removes germs within two to three weeks. So after this bag is used, the family would tie up the bag and bring it to a drop off point, where they would also get a small refund. These would then be sold as fertilizer. Quite similar to a recycling depot for bottles and cans we have in Canada. They are currently testing this in Kibera, and among many other developing countries which is good news!

Pay per use toilets are also being start up in Nairobi, Kenya. They offer toilets and shower facilities including two in the slums for five shillings a use. However, I would assume that start-up costs for these businesses would be quite high since toilets are an expensive investment. But again, this is a great start to removing the use of "flying toilets" and reducing the threat of widespread diseases and improper sanitation. What do you think? Are there other opportunities to turn this problem into a business?

Learn more about the "Humanure System"
Video about Peepoo