Dare to Innovate

If you have been reading my blog (this one or OsezInnover.com), you probably know that I think social entrepreneurship is the bees’ knees. The current system of aid is not sustainable. Countries cannot just throw billions of dollars at problems and hope that it helps. Over the past few decades, Africa has been the recipient of literally trillions of dollars of direct aid and some countries over the same period of time experienced negative economic growth. (If you are interested in this topic, check out Dead Aid). What does work is social entrepreneurship. You give an entrepreneur a loan. He or she starts a social business- for this example let’s say a girl’s magazine promoting literacy, employment, nutrition, fashion, and reproductive health- and makes a profit through advertisements and sales. The magazine employs 5 people and the loan is paid back after one year. The magazine is financially sustainable and the original loan goes to a new business. Instead of throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at a sensitization campaign condemning female genital mutilation, the loan money is generating interest and being reinvested for an equal or stronger social impact.

Unfortunately, social enterprises don’t really exist in Guinea (see my previous post on Guinea coming in last). The Schwabb foundation celebrates successful social business people and supports the whole industry. They publish profiles on these people and there is not one Guinean on the list. In fact, there is only one business on the list that operated in Guinea and only on a small scale. We are trying to change this with “Dare to Innovate”. By the end of the summer we hope to have 20 new young social entrepreneurs and we hope their mentors, themselves successful business people, will start to think even more about the social impacts of their businesses. We want Schwabb’s list to be full of Guineans.

In brief Dare to Innovate will foster a community of socially-minded business leaders, teaching them to see challenges as opportunities for innovative solutions. Through partnerships with thought-leaders, the conference will be an opportunity for Guinean youth to access top-level training and jump-start a social enterprise sector in Guinea. The youth of Guinea have the motivation and intelligence to succeed; this conference will provide them with tools to excel in the field of social entrepreneurship and lift their country out of poverty.

The conference has four phases. The first is a training program that introduces youth to social entrepreneurship and innovatively generates ideas for businesses. In the second phase, they return to their communities to apply all that they have learned. The third part provides funding for the most promising ideas and the pitching skills necessary for all participants to find funding and advocate for their projects. The fourth stage is implementation. With strong Guinean mentors phase four has no fixed end. Some ideas will come to fruition providing a livelihood to a young entrepreneur while alleviating a social pressure. Realistically, some will never come to light, but the new mind-set gained over the course of the conference will have inspired a youth to innovate no matter where their personal or professional lives take them.

We need your help to make this possible. The community is covering 60% of the costs, but we need to fundraise the remaining 40%. You can make a tax-deductible donation at tinyurl.com/DTI-CSE. The dollar goes far in Guinea, so even the smallest of donations can make a difference. Don’t hesitate or delay. With one click you will help Guinea realize a brighter future. If you work for a company and would like to sponsor one of the prizes, please email me at Meghan.m.mccormick@gmail.com.

If you aren’t in the financial position to make a monetary donation, please consider following our blog OsezInnover.com or our twitter @DareToInnovate. Starting a movement takes more than money. We’d love to hear your ideas!