IT’s AFRICA’S TIME
SEASON 2
A TV series that proves shared value drives growth. Told in our signature cinematic style. Companies driving growth while creating shared value.
AECOM
The civil war in Liberia destroyed the country’s educational infrastructure. It left a generation of school-goers traumatized and forced out of the classroom for more than a decade. Schooling came to a halt as parents feared letting their children outdoors, bombs destroyed schools and still committed teachers had no safe place to ply their trade. Scores of young Liberians were kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers and school for them became a pipe dream.
In this episode of It’s Africa’s Time, our crew journeys back to Liberia to gauge progress in a unique educational partnership between the Global Fund for Education, The World Bank, The Liberian Ministry of Education and AECOM to deliver more than 40 schools to post-war Liberia and up-skill Liberians in the building trade in the next few years. Our guide is a remarkable former child soldier, Kelvin, who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and returned to school after the war.
In this episode of It’s Africa’s Time, our crew journeys back to Liberia to gauge progress in a unique educational partnership between the Global Fund for Education, The World Bank, The Liberian Ministry of Education and AECOM to deliver more than 40 schools to post-war Liberia and up-skill Liberians in the building trade in the next few years. Our guide is a remarkable former child soldier, Kelvin, who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and returned to school after the war.
AECF
This is a wonderful story about a Zimbabwean farmer with a big vision, a newly married farming couple, a remarkable 70-year grandmother who has adopted 11 orphans, and an enterprise challenge fund that’s helping change all of their lives forever.
Zimbabwe has faced many challenges over the past years and continues to do so today. But beyond the headlines are stories of hope and transformation. Partnerships that are challenging the country’s cycle of poverty and bringing economic growth and opportunity to those who need it most.
A key to profitable, sustainable agribusiness in Africa is when strong businesses enrol rural farmers into their supply chains, offering agri-training and secure markets. Partnerships like these often attract the attention of development funds such as the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) who selected Sondelani Ranching, a Zimbabwean tomato, chicken and maize feed agribusiness, as the beneficiary of a $750 000 grant and interest-free loan. This arose out of Sondelani founder Peter Cunnigham’s commitment to developing young Zimbabwean farmers and drawing them from life in the cities back to the land. It’s a strategy he believes is fundamental to real economic and social development in his home country…and AECF agrees.
AECF’s support is helping Sondelani build a state of the art tomato processing plant on the outskirts of Bulawayo which will buy the crop from young emerging farmers, most of whom have been trained in crop management, business and life skills at Sondelani’s Ebenezer Agricultural College in Zimbabwe’s magical Matopos region.
This is a story filled with hope, lots of model farming and wonderful characters woven in between. Enjoy!
Zimbabwe has faced many challenges over the past years and continues to do so today. But beyond the headlines are stories of hope and transformation. Partnerships that are challenging the country’s cycle of poverty and bringing economic growth and opportunity to those who need it most.
A key to profitable, sustainable agribusiness in Africa is when strong businesses enrol rural farmers into their supply chains, offering agri-training and secure markets. Partnerships like these often attract the attention of development funds such as the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) who selected Sondelani Ranching, a Zimbabwean tomato, chicken and maize feed agribusiness, as the beneficiary of a $750 000 grant and interest-free loan. This arose out of Sondelani founder Peter Cunnigham’s commitment to developing young Zimbabwean farmers and drawing them from life in the cities back to the land. It’s a strategy he believes is fundamental to real economic and social development in his home country…and AECF agrees.
AECF’s support is helping Sondelani build a state of the art tomato processing plant on the outskirts of Bulawayo which will buy the crop from young emerging farmers, most of whom have been trained in crop management, business and life skills at Sondelani’s Ebenezer Agricultural College in Zimbabwe’s magical Matopos region.
This is a story filled with hope, lots of model farming and wonderful characters woven in between. Enjoy!
AMSCO
Join us as we travel to the foothills of Tanzania’s West Kilimanjaro to discover how the strategic placement of skilled experts supports the growth of SMMEs.
Africado, a Haas avocado farm in Sanya Juu, approached the African Management Services Company [AMSCO] whose African Training and Management Services Project [AMTS] helps place key personnel across Sub Saharan Africa when local experts cannot be found.
The project, an affiliate of the UNDP, helps ensure succession and is geared at addressing the skills shortage gap on the continent. Duncan Page, an engineer and agri-expert placed at Africado through Amsco, says: ‘When I’ve worked myself out of a job I know I’ve completed what I was sent here to do!’
Join us as we meet all the roleplayers, including characterful local farmers benefitting from Africado’s increasingly successful out-growers programme. While all this activity is going on, the great Mount Kilimanjaro looks down benevolently, no
Africado, a Haas avocado farm in Sanya Juu, approached the African Management Services Company [AMSCO] whose African Training and Management Services Project [AMTS] helps place key personnel across Sub Saharan Africa when local experts cannot be found.
The project, an affiliate of the UNDP, helps ensure succession and is geared at addressing the skills shortage gap on the continent. Duncan Page, an engineer and agri-expert placed at Africado through Amsco, says: ‘When I’ve worked myself out of a job I know I’ve completed what I was sent here to do!’
Join us as we meet all the roleplayers, including characterful local farmers benefitting from Africado’s increasingly successful out-growers programme. While all this activity is going on, the great Mount Kilimanjaro looks down benevolently, no
ARYSTA
Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world’s cocoa and its neighbour, Burkina Faso, is amongst the top producers of cotton in West Africa. Despite this, farmers in these regions are not wealthy. They don’t own large swathes of land, have access to limitless crop protection inputs or even insurance in case of a bad harvest. Hundreds of thousands of small-scale growers are desperately reliant on their yields to feed their families, send their kids to school and, if possible, provide basic healthcare to those under their charge.
So what does it take to ensure steady, high-quality yields and sustainable land management within this context? How should global companies engaging with farmers in Africa help make agri-business a powerful prospect for all?
Our IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew brushed up on their French and travelled to Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso to witness Arysta LifeScience’s Applique Bien and ‘Yield Enhancer’ stewardship programmes in action. Building on earlier successes in Brazil, the company uses outdoor classrooms, hands-on training at farmer co-operatives, one-on-one engagements and farm visits to help farmers enjoy healthy sustainable yields and remain safe when using crop protection products.
With the focus on Africa as a key agricultural player in the years ahead, partnerships such as these are crucial to the continent and to the lives of its all-important growers.
So what does it take to ensure steady, high-quality yields and sustainable land management within this context? How should global companies engaging with farmers in Africa help make agri-business a powerful prospect for all?
Our IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew brushed up on their French and travelled to Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso to witness Arysta LifeScience’s Applique Bien and ‘Yield Enhancer’ stewardship programmes in action. Building on earlier successes in Brazil, the company uses outdoor classrooms, hands-on training at farmer co-operatives, one-on-one engagements and farm visits to help farmers enjoy healthy sustainable yields and remain safe when using crop protection products.
With the focus on Africa as a key agricultural player in the years ahead, partnerships such as these are crucial to the continent and to the lives of its all-important growers.
CITI IHS
In mid-2000, South African banking and development expert, Soula Proxenos, came up with a plan. She created a property fund that partners with South African building developers to create affordable housing and rental stock in the low income, gap housing sector . As the country moved into its new democracy,the focus was understandably placed on the huge shortage of housing for the poorest of the poor. But what about those who fall beyond this sector, and make up 30% of the population? They too want an opportunity to live a better life, in homes they can afford to own or rent, in well-run urban apartment blocks or neat serviced suburbs.
With global investors like CITI, Proxenos’s $230 million South African Workforce Housing Fund has so far developed over 25 000 urban and suburban homes and apartments and is looking to expand the model into the rest of Africa. ‘For us social impact investing is about creating housing stock for the low-income market as well as healthy financial returns for our investors’, says Proxenos, ‘It’s a wide-open, very attractive market for all concerned’ . She and her team at International Housing Solutions are determined to provide great returns to their investors and, in the process, change lives.
With global investors like CITI, Proxenos’s $230 million South African Workforce Housing Fund has so far developed over 25 000 urban and suburban homes and apartments and is looking to expand the model into the rest of Africa. ‘For us social impact investing is about creating housing stock for the low-income market as well as healthy financial returns for our investors’, says Proxenos, ‘It’s a wide-open, very attractive market for all concerned’ . She and her team at International Housing Solutions are determined to provide great returns to their investors and, in the process, change lives.
CITI KICKSTART
The vast majority of people in Africa are poor rural farmers. 96% of them survive on rain-fed agriculture, which results in small-scale farmers harvesting the same crops at the same time, and then being forced to sell them into the same over-crowded market. However, the solution is as simple as moving from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation.
In this episode of It’s Africa’s Time, we travel to Kenya to meet inventor Dr Martin Fisher who, through his not-for-profit organisation, Kickstart International, has created a line of human-powered irrigation pumps that have, to date, lifted 170,000 families out of poverty. The pumps allow water to be drawn out of a shallow source and be pumped to the fields, all year long. Through their partnership with Citi and a subsequent line of credit, Kickstart International’s irrigation pumps have progressed from an inspired idea on paper to a highly effective intervention that is transforming the lives of thousands of farmers across Africa.
In this episode of It’s Africa’s Time, we travel to Kenya to meet inventor Dr Martin Fisher who, through his not-for-profit organisation, Kickstart International, has created a line of human-powered irrigation pumps that have, to date, lifted 170,000 families out of poverty. The pumps allow water to be drawn out of a shallow source and be pumped to the fields, all year long. Through their partnership with Citi and a subsequent line of credit, Kickstart International’s irrigation pumps have progressed from an inspired idea on paper to a highly effective intervention that is transforming the lives of thousands of farmers across Africa.
CITI MOBILE CHALLENGE
At Regency we get a kick out of making beautiful micro-films for relevant brands doing inspiring work. The quality of our work reflects our love for story-telling. The Citi Mobile Challenge was a virtual accelerator that invited developers across the world to build and present bold and transformative banking solutions based on Citi’s digital platform. We got to go on this roadshow of events and to make these incredibly exciting stories.
COCA COLA
IT’S AFRICA’S TIME is passionate about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and we like to report on stories that show progress across Africa. In this story, we check out MDG 3 which focuses on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
We travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to meet some of the amazing women who have become role models in their communities, enabled by one of the biggest brands on the planet, in partnership with local stakeholders.
Our entry point is Coca-Cola Company’s 5by20 Project, an extraordinary global initiative focused on developing effective entrepreneurship and growing small businesses amongst 5 million women by 2020. We travelled to Nigeria in Season 1 to explore the project and now, in Season 2, find a very different context to see how it is progressing.
We meet Korach, a former pavement trader in Addis, who now owns her own store and whose income has improved dramatically since being trained in business and life skills by a 5by20 local implementing partner. We also meet Tiruwork, who for years has worked tirelessly with her fellow sanitary workers keeping the capital’s streets clean. Now, with new skills and confidence gained though the programme, she and a group of almost 1000 women have partnered with the local government and a recycling company in a pilot programme that sees them separating waste and earning each time they deliver recyclable plastic to the local business partner. They also make jewellery and decorative items to sell. These former garbage collectors have expanded their skills and have increased their income while contributing to the city’s environmental improvement goals. The plan is to have 4000 sanitary workers in the programme via 5by20 in the years to come.
We travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to meet some of the amazing women who have become role models in their communities, enabled by one of the biggest brands on the planet, in partnership with local stakeholders.
Our entry point is Coca-Cola Company’s 5by20 Project, an extraordinary global initiative focused on developing effective entrepreneurship and growing small businesses amongst 5 million women by 2020. We travelled to Nigeria in Season 1 to explore the project and now, in Season 2, find a very different context to see how it is progressing.
We meet Korach, a former pavement trader in Addis, who now owns her own store and whose income has improved dramatically since being trained in business and life skills by a 5by20 local implementing partner. We also meet Tiruwork, who for years has worked tirelessly with her fellow sanitary workers keeping the capital’s streets clean. Now, with new skills and confidence gained though the programme, she and a group of almost 1000 women have partnered with the local government and a recycling company in a pilot programme that sees them separating waste and earning each time they deliver recyclable plastic to the local business partner. They also make jewellery and decorative items to sell. These former garbage collectors have expanded their skills and have increased their income while contributing to the city’s environmental improvement goals. The plan is to have 4000 sanitary workers in the programme via 5by20 in the years to come.
INGENICO
Imagine not having access to a bank account. Imagine being excluded from formal banking services completely. For millions of rural Kenyans, and others living in Africa’s remote regions, this has been the case for years. People have been hiding money under mattresses, in tins buried in the ground outside their homes, and in all manner of places to secure their cash and savings.
For the past few years, branchless banking has been changing the status quo and empowering the rural poor. Financial inclusion and banking for the unbanked is giving people security, financial confidence, leverage to save and a powerful mechanism to transform their lives.
Equity Bank has led the field by training independent agents and using their existing business outlets in rural areas to offer easy, convenient services to customers, many of whom have never had a bank account in their lives. It’s a cost-effective partnership that allows services to be offered without the expense of opening up new branches.
Equity asked INGENICO, a global leader in seamless payments, to created robust, simple banking handsets and bespoke technology to make these life-changing services available. The results have been extraordinary with growing numbers of people now banked and enjoying the dignity and benefits of being part of the formal financial system in an easy to use high-tech way.
Our intrepid IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew travelled to Gakindu in rural Kenya to witness this for ourselves. We share the story through the experiences of Francis, an Equity Bank Agent, and two of his clients: Patrick, the local wedding photographer, and Josephine, an airtime saleswoman with big dreams for the future.
For the past few years, branchless banking has been changing the status quo and empowering the rural poor. Financial inclusion and banking for the unbanked is giving people security, financial confidence, leverage to save and a powerful mechanism to transform their lives.
Equity Bank has led the field by training independent agents and using their existing business outlets in rural areas to offer easy, convenient services to customers, many of whom have never had a bank account in their lives. It’s a cost-effective partnership that allows services to be offered without the expense of opening up new branches.
Equity asked INGENICO, a global leader in seamless payments, to created robust, simple banking handsets and bespoke technology to make these life-changing services available. The results have been extraordinary with growing numbers of people now banked and enjoying the dignity and benefits of being part of the formal financial system in an easy to use high-tech way.
Our intrepid IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew travelled to Gakindu in rural Kenya to witness this for ourselves. We share the story through the experiences of Francis, an Equity Bank Agent, and two of his clients: Patrick, the local wedding photographer, and Josephine, an airtime saleswoman with big dreams for the future.
KINROSS GOLD
Rising from the vast desert sands of northern Mauritania is Kinross Gold’s mining concession, Tasiast, an open-pit gold mine located 300 kilometers north of the country’s capital Nouakchott. Tasiast means ‘place of thirst’ in the local vernacular, aptly describing this sparsely populated region peopled by just a few nomadic camel herders and their families.
Tasiast is Mauritania’s only gold mine and IT’S AFRICA’S TIME visited it to explore this public-private partnership and the impact it is having on Mauritania and its people. Mostly, we went to investigate how Kinross Gold has committed itself to and is enacting responsible mining and strong corporate citizenry in the region.
There’s no doubt that a mining concession brings huge benefits to a country and its GDP through taxes & concession fees. However, beyond this, job creation and the up-skilling of local Mauritanians is a priority with Tasiast targeting 90% of its workforce from areas surrounding the mine and from across the country. Also at play is the setting up of procurement partnerships with communities in the region and committing to best practice international environmental standards.
Don’t miss a fascinating trip into the desert, travelling into a space of new possibility, where modernity and ancient cultures cross paths and work together to create a better life for all.
Tasiast is Mauritania’s only gold mine and IT’S AFRICA’S TIME visited it to explore this public-private partnership and the impact it is having on Mauritania and its people. Mostly, we went to investigate how Kinross Gold has committed itself to and is enacting responsible mining and strong corporate citizenry in the region.
There’s no doubt that a mining concession brings huge benefits to a country and its GDP through taxes & concession fees. However, beyond this, job creation and the up-skilling of local Mauritanians is a priority with Tasiast targeting 90% of its workforce from areas surrounding the mine and from across the country. Also at play is the setting up of procurement partnerships with communities in the region and committing to best practice international environmental standards.
Don’t miss a fascinating trip into the desert, travelling into a space of new possibility, where modernity and ancient cultures cross paths and work together to create a better life for all.
LAFARGE
Zambia’s housing deficit stands at between two and four million homes, particularly in the middle to low-income market. Compounding the problem is a lack of access to finance for low-income families, as well as a dearth of effective, affordable housing solutions for them to choose from.
It’s the perennial problem: How do people on the lower rung of the socio-economic pyramid gain entry into the housing market with the ability to build and own their own homes with repayment terms that don’t cripple their every move? How do they get out of the trap of high rentals in favour of paying for an asset that offers leverage and infinitely more long-term security?
What was needed was an effective plan to bring together various players for mutual benefit. Lafarge, a world leader in building materials, has done just this, initiating a partnership that strategically and sustainably addresses the problem in one fell swoop.
Joining forces with Zambia’s BancABC, Lafarge have partnered to create a turnkey solution where everyone wins. The bank offers financing options with flexible repayment terms to potential homeowners in a model that allows them to build and plan their project incrementally. Lafarge in turn assigns an architect to help design the houses; supplies house plans & bills of quantity as well as technical assistance and safety training during the building process; and access to their materials at competitive prices. It’s a practical, step by step, win-win solution for all stakeholders: homeowner, bank and materials supplier, streamlining costs and opportunities for all.
IT’S AFRICA’S TIME went to meet the players and find out more.
It’s the perennial problem: How do people on the lower rung of the socio-economic pyramid gain entry into the housing market with the ability to build and own their own homes with repayment terms that don’t cripple their every move? How do they get out of the trap of high rentals in favour of paying for an asset that offers leverage and infinitely more long-term security?
What was needed was an effective plan to bring together various players for mutual benefit. Lafarge, a world leader in building materials, has done just this, initiating a partnership that strategically and sustainably addresses the problem in one fell swoop.
Joining forces with Zambia’s BancABC, Lafarge have partnered to create a turnkey solution where everyone wins. The bank offers financing options with flexible repayment terms to potential homeowners in a model that allows them to build and plan their project incrementally. Lafarge in turn assigns an architect to help design the houses; supplies house plans & bills of quantity as well as technical assistance and safety training during the building process; and access to their materials at competitive prices. It’s a practical, step by step, win-win solution for all stakeholders: homeowner, bank and materials supplier, streamlining costs and opportunities for all.
IT’S AFRICA’S TIME went to meet the players and find out more.
LION OF AFRICA
Decades into its democracy, and despite the country’s leading edge on the continent, South Africa is still faced with the challenge of growing its band of young professionals, and even more so in the insurance industry. So what does it take? IT’S AFRICA’S TIME flew to vibrant and dynamic Johannesburg, the economic heart of South Africa, to witness sustainable, professional upskillling in action.
Lion of Africa CEO, Adam Samie, is a passionate proponent for professional development and has made it his business to transform the insurance industry as we know it. He shares with us how the lessons learnt from his apartheid past has led him to partner Lion of Africa Insurance in a Learnership Programme with the Government to develop young South Africans and set them off on a career path that will not only change their lives but the country’s as well.
Transforming a country means building an entirely new middle class of skilled professionals. We are introduced to Wonderboy Siphamandla Ndawonde, one of the shining stars of the Learnership Programme. His uplifting story, which tells us how he overcame a difficult childhood and instead used it as motivation to lift himself out of his less than positive circumstances, is a shining example of the success of the Learnership Programme. Don’t miss this uplifting illustration of how one man’s passion and commitment is leading to true and sustainable transformation.
Lion of Africa CEO, Adam Samie, is a passionate proponent for professional development and has made it his business to transform the insurance industry as we know it. He shares with us how the lessons learnt from his apartheid past has led him to partner Lion of Africa Insurance in a Learnership Programme with the Government to develop young South Africans and set them off on a career path that will not only change their lives but the country’s as well.
Transforming a country means building an entirely new middle class of skilled professionals. We are introduced to Wonderboy Siphamandla Ndawonde, one of the shining stars of the Learnership Programme. His uplifting story, which tells us how he overcame a difficult childhood and instead used it as motivation to lift himself out of his less than positive circumstances, is a shining example of the success of the Learnership Programme. Don’t miss this uplifting illustration of how one man’s passion and commitment is leading to true and sustainable transformation.
MAERSK APMT
For 14 years, until 2003, Liberia was gripped by a shockingly violent civil war. Infrastructure collapsed, thousands died and the country all but came to a standstill. Monrovia Port, the gateway to the Liberian economy and once the pride of the region, was destroyed.
Then, in 2010, a 25-year concession between APM, a division of Maersk, and Liberia’s National Port Authority was struck and APM Terminals took over operating and developing the port’s terminal. $120 million has since been invested in terminal infrastructure, with more to come, and trade through the port has increased by 30% in just 2 years due to the concession.
Then, in 2010, a 25-year concession between APM, a division of Maersk, and Liberia’s National Port Authority was struck and APM Terminals took over operating and developing the port’s terminal. $120 million has since been invested in terminal infrastructure, with more to come, and trade through the port has increased by 30% in just 2 years due to the concession.
MICROSOFT 4AFRICA
How can companies engage with young Africans wanting to make their mark across the continent and the world? How can they enable strategic and sustainable growth via young entrepreneurs and SMEs through tech, online platforms and mentorship?
The Microsoft 4Afrika initiative focuses on just that, with a macro approach that’s about engaging Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness. The project, founded on the belief that technology is fundamental to growth in Africa, seeks to empower every African who has a great business idea and help turn it into reality. This, in turn, provides jobs, builds communities, countries and the continent as a whole.
In this episode, we meet South African online entrepreneur, Carl Wallace, and see how his business and personal vision have been enabled through the programme and its affiliate projects. Carl, like Microsoft, wants to make a difference but also wants to build a successful business. By the looks of things, he’s well on his way.
In its broadest sense, the 4Afrika initiative is about growing the company’s bottom line in the long term. It is a win-win strategic approach that understands that the more entrepreneurs and SMEs there are in the marketplace across Africa, the bigger their potential customer base. That’s what sustainable partnership is all about. Everyone benefits and works together in a symbiotic relationship focused on common goals and the common good.
And that’s what we celebrate on IT’S AFRICA’S TIME!
The Microsoft 4Afrika initiative focuses on just that, with a macro approach that’s about engaging Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness. The project, founded on the belief that technology is fundamental to growth in Africa, seeks to empower every African who has a great business idea and help turn it into reality. This, in turn, provides jobs, builds communities, countries and the continent as a whole.
In this episode, we meet South African online entrepreneur, Carl Wallace, and see how his business and personal vision have been enabled through the programme and its affiliate projects. Carl, like Microsoft, wants to make a difference but also wants to build a successful business. By the looks of things, he’s well on his way.
In its broadest sense, the 4Afrika initiative is about growing the company’s bottom line in the long term. It is a win-win strategic approach that understands that the more entrepreneurs and SMEs there are in the marketplace across Africa, the bigger their potential customer base. That’s what sustainable partnership is all about. Everyone benefits and works together in a symbiotic relationship focused on common goals and the common good.
And that’s what we celebrate on IT’S AFRICA’S TIME!
PROCTER & GAMBLE
Coleridge’s lament from the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is a reality for millions of Africans who have access to water but suffer the life-threatening effects of contamination if they drink it. As thirst overrides the risk of illness and even death from diarrhoea, cholera, and respiratory tract infections, to name a few, what should be a source of life has tragically become a leading cause of illness and fatality across the continent.
In one of the most inspiring public health stories of the past decade, Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW), which promotes the use of water purification sachets, has delivered over 7 billion litres of clean drinking water to the global poor, resulting in over 290 million disease-free days and around 40,000 lives saved. With over 1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and an estimated 1.6 million children dying each year, it’s a powerful intervention, particularly for turgid water which, when treated with the product, becomes clear and decontaminated.
Our IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew visited the Kisumu and Bondo regions along the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya to meet local communities, individual change-makers and the invaluable NGO implementing partners, SWAP & Care International, who are ensuring the programme’s success through schools, clinics and women’s groups.
We were privileged to meet the people and film the partnerships that are changing and saving lives.
In one of the most inspiring public health stories of the past decade, Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW), which promotes the use of water purification sachets, has delivered over 7 billion litres of clean drinking water to the global poor, resulting in over 290 million disease-free days and around 40,000 lives saved. With over 1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and an estimated 1.6 million children dying each year, it’s a powerful intervention, particularly for turgid water which, when treated with the product, becomes clear and decontaminated.
Our IT’S AFRICA’S TIME crew visited the Kisumu and Bondo regions along the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya to meet local communities, individual change-makers and the invaluable NGO implementing partners, SWAP & Care International, who are ensuring the programme’s success through schools, clinics and women’s groups.
We were privileged to meet the people and film the partnerships that are changing and saving lives.
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK GHANA
One of the most challenging problems for SMEs across Africa is cash flow. Imagine delivering goods or services to a client and having to wait for 30, 60 or even 90 days for payment. In most instances, you’d have pre-financed the deal yourself and now you need money fast to settle creditors, pay salaries and service growing company running costs. In the meantime, you hold out nervously, feeling the powerful pinch of the cash-flow gap. It’s a vulnerable, nail-biting time when many a good company has undeservedly gone bust.
Everyone agrees that Africa requires healthy, cash-positive SMEs and entrepreneurs to boost development. So what will it take to remedy the problem and allow good businesses to grow and thrive?
IT’S AFRICA’S TIME travels to Ghana where over 80% of the economy rests in the hands of SMEs and where Standard Chartered Bank has come up with an inclusive Vendor PrePay solution to this all-pervasive problem.
Everyone agrees that Africa requires healthy, cash-positive SMEs and entrepreneurs to boost development. So what will it take to remedy the problem and allow good businesses to grow and thrive?
IT’S AFRICA’S TIME travels to Ghana where over 80% of the economy rests in the hands of SMEs and where Standard Chartered Bank has come up with an inclusive Vendor PrePay solution to this all-pervasive problem.
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK KENYA
SMEs contribute to a massive 60% of the GDP of Kenya. Standard Chartered Bank has seen this opportunity and is one of the few banks in Kenya to have developed a dedicated department looking after this sector.
In this episode of IT’S AFRICA’S TIME, we travel to the foothills of the magnificent Mount Kenya to meet Major Silas Mwiti on his farm, Sunland Roses. Major Mwiti and his partner, Peter Viljoen, started Sunland Roses in 2000 and have developed it from a small enterprise into a hugely successful rose export business. Their partnership with Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has assisted Sunland Roses to access new markets as well as mitigate their foreign exchange risks, assisting it to expand from a mere 4 hectares to a massive 20-hectare farm.
Today, Sunland Roses exports to countries all over the world, their biggest market being Holland. It’s an inclusive partnership that has not only seen a huge growth in the company’s bottom line but has also increased jobs and the health of the industry as a whole. Apart from running a successful business, Major Mwiti and his partner also give back to the community, supporting a local orphanage and several environmental conservation projects.
In this episode of IT’S AFRICA’S TIME, we travel to the foothills of the magnificent Mount Kenya to meet Major Silas Mwiti on his farm, Sunland Roses. Major Mwiti and his partner, Peter Viljoen, started Sunland Roses in 2000 and have developed it from a small enterprise into a hugely successful rose export business. Their partnership with Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has assisted Sunland Roses to access new markets as well as mitigate their foreign exchange risks, assisting it to expand from a mere 4 hectares to a massive 20-hectare farm.
Today, Sunland Roses exports to countries all over the world, their biggest market being Holland. It’s an inclusive partnership that has not only seen a huge growth in the company’s bottom line but has also increased jobs and the health of the industry as a whole. Apart from running a successful business, Major Mwiti and his partner also give back to the community, supporting a local orphanage and several environmental conservation projects.
TERANGA GOLD
Our crew visited Teranga Gold’s Sabodala Mine to discover first-hand what’s possible when a mine comes to town. Sabodala is the only gold mine in Senegal and is set to be there for decades to come. It has upskilled locals and provided hundreds of jobs since beginning operations in early 2009. This number is likely to increase to the thousands in the decades ahead as the mine expands. However, beyond jobs and upskilling, as well as tax dollars and concession fees paid to the Government, what inclusive partnerships are benefitting local communities and paving the way ahead for a brighter future for all?
There has been a great deal of activity: The mine’s Social Fund has invested millions of dollars into a range of community interventions in close consultation with local leadership and the people of surrounding villages.
Water provision and infrastructure, new and improved roads, agricultural land transfer, the successful and mutually agreed to relocation of a small village into a new and expanded homestead cluster with brick homes and other amenities, as well as strict compliance with environmental regulations, are some of the initiatives that speak to the notion of ‘Responsible Mining’. Others include income generation programmes such as market gardens, demonstration farms and poultry husbandry. All of these offer regular, stable income opportunities and a tangible alternative to the backbreaking work and risk of arrest from illegal artisanal mining.
Newly established granaries, support for local schools and clinics, a malaria prevention programme and building a local radio station all illustrate partnership and dialogue that speaks to the heart of what it means to be a responsible mine. Since the mine arrived, solar energy and mobile communication have popped up across the local landscape, as have motorbikes – a welcome relief from walking kilometres on end in the searing heat and waiting hours on end for public transportation.
Mostly though, these and future initiatives are held within a framework of mutual participation and mandatory local input. A ‘social contract’, so to speak, that not only builds trust but offers a powerful model of working together for a brighter future in which all can benefit.
There has been a great deal of activity: The mine’s Social Fund has invested millions of dollars into a range of community interventions in close consultation with local leadership and the people of surrounding villages.
Water provision and infrastructure, new and improved roads, agricultural land transfer, the successful and mutually agreed to relocation of a small village into a new and expanded homestead cluster with brick homes and other amenities, as well as strict compliance with environmental regulations, are some of the initiatives that speak to the notion of ‘Responsible Mining’. Others include income generation programmes such as market gardens, demonstration farms and poultry husbandry. All of these offer regular, stable income opportunities and a tangible alternative to the backbreaking work and risk of arrest from illegal artisanal mining.
Newly established granaries, support for local schools and clinics, a malaria prevention programme and building a local radio station all illustrate partnership and dialogue that speaks to the heart of what it means to be a responsible mine. Since the mine arrived, solar energy and mobile communication have popped up across the local landscape, as have motorbikes – a welcome relief from walking kilometres on end in the searing heat and waiting hours on end for public transportation.
Mostly though, these and future initiatives are held within a framework of mutual participation and mandatory local input. A ‘social contract’, so to speak, that not only builds trust but offers a powerful model of working together for a brighter future in which all can benefit.