An update from Executive Director Brian Rants during his service learning in Kenya.

One resounding lesson from this experience is something built into the DNA of The 1010 Project: it is more important to have the right questions than the right answers.

Exempla Gratis (E.G.)

Over the week I’ve spoken with two Kenyans possessing 30 years of development experience between them. One of the first partners I visited was Pastor Brown and his wife Josephine, founders of Fair Oaks Academy and leaders of Redeemed Gospel Church. I also joined Michael Nyangi of LOMORO in visiting the small businesses started with capital he lent, and discussing the role of The 1010 Project.

I asked them each some form of this question: “How can The 1010 Project improve our partnership with social entrepreneurs in Kenya.” The answers I received were remarkably consistent. Chiefly, that partners have access to business training, and create solid business plans for their ventures.

My former business coach Chuck Blakeman explained this principle to several Nairobian women. Business is like water; you simply need to know where you are and where you are going. Michael Nyangi pointed out that many social entrepreneurs have not received any kind of business training, and some very little education at all. Having access to training and building a business plan first both defines sucess and increases the likelihood of reaching it.

This confirmed and clarified for me my belief that in any culture, three things are needed for the success of a social entrepreneur

• Skill: this could be a private sector skill like jewelry making, or a social sector skill like building an orphanage
• Capital: access to startup funds either from one’s own means, or an outside source; e.g. small grants from The 1010 Project
• Training: acquiring basic competence in fundamental business practices like marketing and accounting

Questions are Primary

As you can see above, the end result was an “answer:” business training being essential to fostering social entrepreneurship. Discovering answers to the challenges of poverty is both noble and essential, but questions must always be primary. In other words, it is impossible to answer a question for someone that has never been asked of them.

Here is an update from Executive Director Brian Rants in Kenya.

Half-Built Houses and the Problems of Credit

The growing Eastlands of Nairobi is dotted with half-built houses. As you walk through the brick/cement/stone structures so typical of the developing world, you will see neighborhoods where perhaps 3 out of every 4 houses is roofless and vacant. The doors and windows will be piled up with loose rocks, to discourage squatting. One of my hosts explained that Nairobians build as they have money. So the building process is lengthy and at times unpredictable.

This was another of those visual reminders of the importance of credit in a healthy economy.

The United States is coming off triggering a massive global recession for the opposite reason: the excess of credit. Multitudes of homeowners were sold mortgages they had no business receiving, without having to prove adequate income.

The density of population here is staggering. And unlike the dense urban centers in the US like New York, there is vastly inadequate infrastructure. That last sentence just doesn’t convey how utterly overburdened Nairobi is, like a bicycle carrying 40 mattresses. Fred Afwai, our Kenyan Country director, explained that the city planning for Nairobi was for 200,000 people. Think Boulder, Colorado. The current population is somewhere close to 5 million. Think the entire population of Colorado.

Bank accounts and loans are only available to those who already have money. To open an account is costly, and simply out of reach of our friends here in the eastern, poorer part of the city. This means that overcrowded population centers in Nairobi will remain crowded while half-built houses remain empty.

The “Problem of Credit” is Simply an “Opportunity”

Charles Owino of YOCHAN (Youth Challenge Network) corrected one of his youth when she spoke of a “problem,” saying it was not a problem but “an opportunity.” I imagine he would similarly advise here. Partners like Mother’s Concern and LOMORO are tackling this “opportunity.” Michael Nyangi is already “The Banker to the Slums,” as one Swiss newspaper called him after he met with a Swiss banking colleague. He has provided savings and loans services through his organization to 210 growing LOMORO so he can become a bank someday.

The good news: The solutions, and the social entrepreneurs who have devised them, are already present here in Nairobi. That is why The 1010 Project is here: connecting these social entrepreneurs with capital. Additionally, as part of this trip we are establishing grassroots business training to help increase their capacity for success.

The 1010 Project continues to grow because the opportunities here are…well, endless. And because our supporters in the United States continue to seize these opportunities for contributing their time, expertise, and resources towards breaking the cycle of poverty for life.

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