Opportunity Snapshot
- Country: Cameroon
- Industry: Charity, Non-Profit
- Stage: Initial growth (first revenues)
- Investment size: $15,000 / min. $10,000
- Type of investment: Debt, Equity
Investment Opportunity
Charitable humanitarian services organization needs financing for the education of kids and launching of the widow employment scheme in Africa.
Most children are orphaned in Africa because their mothers die from preventable or treatable medical problems such as AIDS, malaria, dysentery, TB and death in child birth. We aim to train the local women to grow and utilize medicinal plants that will decrease the death rate of the people in their villages.
We have a five step plan for the future that includes real solutions to real needs and thus change the world, at least for those children in Africa.
Step 1: Formation of an orphan prevention program.
Issue: Most children are orphaned in Africa because their mothers die from preventable or treatable medical problems such as AIDS, malaria, dysentery, TB and death in child birth.
Solutions:
1. Empower the women to grow their own medicines
Train the local village women to grow and utilize medicinal plants that will decrease the death rate of mothers & children. Establish a medicinal plant growing center at our 2 orphan bases, to raise cuttings and seeds for distribution to the local women.
• Train the local women to grow & prepare these plants for medicinal use.
• Train these women to diagnose & treat their children when they are sick.
• Train those interested in starting a business to prepare & sell these plants to others.
We have been given the training manuals and 5000 seeds to get this project started, but will need assistance in getting it operational on a large scale. By growing 6 different tropical plants, we will be able to empower the local women to produce teas & powders that will:
• Assist mothers with AIDS & TB by giving them a better quality of life (& thus not orphan there children as soon).
• cure cases of dysentery
• cure cases of Malaria
• Provide rapid recovery for malnourished babies & breast feeding mothers. (thus reduce the number of babies that are orphaned or needing milk formula)
Materials needed:
• Irrigation system for large scale plant production at our mission station.
We have starter seeds, that will provide us with cuttings & seeds to distribute to the mothers for their own fields by November, the planting season in Africa.
• Irrigation system cost: $10,000
• Water well to support the irrigation system: $3,000
• Labor to install the irrigation system & maintain the fields for 1 year:
$3,000
Total: $16,000
2. Clean water projects:
• Water transmitted diseases are the greatest single killer in this area of Cameroon. More than 600 children in our program were orphaned due to their mothers drinking dirty water & dying of a related disease (cholera or dysentery).
• Water purification packets are being distributed as an interim measure until water wells can be established in the villages where the children live. This supply must be replaced yearly, at a cost of $6,500/year for the product.
• Water well drilling. A little beaver water well drilling rig, was donated to us and arrived at our mission station in January, 2008. Water well drilling was due to start in May, 2008. Water well sponsorships are needed for 50 water wells to be drilled over the next 5 years.
• Cost of a water well drilling $1,000
• Cost of hand pump, casing, cement is $1,500 Total cost for 1 water well: $2,500
Step 2. Breaking the poverty cycle:
Issue: Current schooling in the area only goes through the 10th grade but there are few job opportunities for graduates. This creates a poverty cycle that is hard to break.
Solution:
• The following 2 programs are top priority for 2013 as we have many orphans graduating in 2013 with no job possibilities:
• Build a technical training center that includes a jobs creation/small business loan program for graduates.
Skills sets taught would include:
• Auto/ maize mill mechanics - greatly needed throughout the country.
• Maize mill management - need management skills to run the maize mills.
Use of financing
Financing will be used for the education of kids and launching of the widow employment scheme in Africa.
(cc) Image courtesy by James Emery
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