Dear all my kinspeople on this planet who have some spare money,
Specifically, every single black person in this world who has a few extra bucks — both those in Africa, and everyone across the African diaspora,
I am humbly asking you to help me create only one solution to stem the scourge of poverty where I live. Working together that way, is really the only way we will be able to rid our motherland, Africa, of endemic poverty. It is why I am appealing to those of you who may have some spare cash.
A number of writers have even argued, like here, that true black dignity will only come when all black people work together to transform Africa.
My name is Anthony, a farmer in Namisita, a village in Kamuli, in remote eastern Uganda. Like most people here, my life has been defined by ultra poverty, but I really want to see some lasting change. I am also founder of the UCF, a nonprofit social enterprise that aims to end extreme poverty.
My purpose of writing to you:
I am requesting you to help me raise $15m, but in fact a little more, either by personally chipping in (however little), or by only lifting up my voice, to enable me create one solution to stem the cycle of poverty in our region.
This is specifically an appeal to every single black person the world over.
I really understand this is quite a peculiar request, but our motherland, Africa — and the grip of poverty in Africa’s remotest rural communities like Namisita, where I live, and where am seated now — is peculiar too.
In addition:
I am only turning to you, my kinspeople across the world, after 5 years of trying everything else, and after 5 years of looking for people who believe in the collaborative framework laid out by the Global Goals (i.e. SDG 17), in vain. But all the same, it is high time we worked together as Wakandans.
The kind of poverty that is opening up for people like us is just insane:
Remember, even before COVID-19 was here, Sub Saharan Africa alone was home to over 50% of the world’s extreme poor. That number was only rising, and had been projected to account for more than 90% of the extreme poor globally (or 400m+) in 2030, before the pandemic set in.
What is even more unsettling is: while Sub Saharan Africa is made up of 46 very vast countries, over 70% of the extreme poor in the region are packed in only ten of those 46 countries, according to the World Bank. Uganda is one of the 10. Worse yet, even among the 10 poorest, Uganda still has the sluggishiest poverty reduction rate overall, as shown here.
Still, even in Uganda itself, our region (Kamuli & Buyende, or Busoga as a whole), is also arguably the most miserable. And today, the pandemic has impoverished every single household here even more, and people like us simply have nothing to count on in the recovery process, post COVID-19.
The intended solution:
The solution that am requesting you to help me create is: a fully-fledged agro-processing plant that shall both reverse poverty and create jobs in our region, by minimizing post-harvest food losses; creating new market linkages for rural poor smallholder farmers, and linking our produce with agri-value chains. Please learn about the intended plant on our website.
Also, if you hover over “Action Plan” on that website, there is a lot more information, like our envisaged Business Model; our intended Ownership Structure for this plant; how we plan to offset all our CO2 emissions, etc.
Funding needs:
Altogether, we are seeking a threshold of $15m to get this plant off the ground. This is indeed an amount that sets the bar high, but it is one that is warranted, considering the ever-spiraling grip of poverty in our region, not to mention that this money is actually nothing compared to what the aid sector regularly spends here in Africa, only to leave nothing in place.
As shown under “Funding Targets” in a fundraiser that I have created to raise part of the needed support, we will install a specific portion of this plant once the money we have raised is at intervals of $240k; $620k; $1m and $15m. That’s, we will begin developing this plant once we raise $240k and we will complete it once we have raised $15m in total. So, every little support that we can raise will make a strategic incremental beginning.
But that’s not all:
Most importantly, I really believe we can even do better, that is, we can even develop a more superior plant, and roll out our planned community work in an even more strategic way, if only we could find enough helping hands to help us raise a little over $15m (ideally $45m), as detailed here.
The latter, in particular, is a figure that has never been uttered by any other rural poor African farmer of my type, but that is exactly the kind of thinking it will take to stem the unending cycle of poverty in remote poor places like ours, for once. And with your help, I am sure this is raisable.
Remember, Oprah alone once single-handedly managed to put together $40m of her own money for a Girls Academy here in Africa, and has since injected a lot more in that school. I really think, if someone like me, who is only emerging from ultra poverty, and who lives in a place where nothing is happening to end poverty, work together with an entire family of blacks who want an end to poverty in Africa, there’s no way we can’t raise $45m.
How that money will be used:
There are 3 pages that explain how that money will be used. This page details how that money will be used if we only raise $15m, while this page and this one describe what we can do better, if we raise $45m instead.
How you can help:
a). Share my current fundraiser for this plant via social media, so we can leverage the power of the masses to raise part of the needed support.
b). Make a personal contribution, or recruit your network to help us raise part of the needed funding. We need $15m or $45m altogether, but every little support that we can raise will make a small incremental beginning.
c). Embed one or two people from your team and place them directly at the UCF (even if only intermittently), to work with us on this plant, once COVID-19 has relented. This will let you see our progress at every step.
As described on this page, (and in another version of the same page that has been worded in terms of SDG #17), we would like to join hands with anyone who may be willing to work directly with us as one team, from start to finish, to help us develop this plant, once COVID-19 has abated.
d). To see other ways you can help, please visit the UCF’s support us page.
What you shouldn’t expect of me — by supporting me as requested:
a). Proficiency (or perfection):
The work that I am developing to end poverty in our region, in particular the intended plant, is the sort of work that is typically developed by elites, or more savvy entrepreneurs like Tony Elumelu of Nigeria. But that is not the kind of person I am. I am an ordinary rural poor farmer whose primary motivation is simply my own protracted struggle with poverty, and the fact that I live in a place where nothing is in place to end extreme poverty.
So, by supporting me as requested above, please don’t expect to see high-level proficiency from me in terms of business acumen, at least not from the start, and please don’t ask me technical business questions.
b). A Return on Investment, or a Repayment (for you personally):
If you read our envisioned Business Model for this plant on our website, you realize that the best thing this plant will do is to enable us consolidate an approach that will place the ultra poor on a self-sufficient path from poverty, and also make our own work self-sustaining. But in the process, all the support that we plan to provide to all the participating farmers, at least during each farmer’s first 4 planting seasons, will be entirely free.
This is because most farmers here are very impoverished, and can’t afford initial inputs on their own. Many are chronically poor that even the idea of providing them with inputs in the form of a microloan where they have to repay at harvest, only impoverishes them even more. This makes it hard for us to operate in a way that requires repaying our supporters. As such, I am only asking you to help me raise $15m or $45m as a grant, the same way Oprah raised the same figure for a Girls Academy in S. Africa.
– –
Conclusion:
The only way poverty will end, particularly here in our motherland, Africa, is when those of us who live at the very bottom of the pyramid are given the chance to directly take the helm of ending poverty. I am kindly asking everyone of you, my kinspeople across the world, to help me do just that.
And just to be clear, it is not like I am trying to write off all other global citizens, or the help that they could offer. No, I just wanted the message on this page to be a special appeal to black people, after years of running through nothing but rejections everywhere else. But, I really appreciate any help I can get from any other global citizen, regardless of skin color.
