Bigger than us
How much thought do you give to the footprint you leave? In your family? Circle of friends? Business or place of work? The community? What about the footprint we leave as an organisation or a country?
Ease of global travel and trade, whether actual travel by car or plane or virtual (via the internet), means that we leave our footprint in places we may not even think about. If the world is becoming a virtual village then what we see as our community must include all the places we connect with. Including connections that feel more removed like those through the internet and the places we trade with (directly or indirectly).
With nearly half the world’s population living on less that $2.50per day , something’s not right.
High poverty levels in one sector of society, spell disaster for the whole country. With country boundaries blurring (eg the bit-coin) none of us can escape the impact of poverty in other parts of the globe. It is no longer something that only affects the developing world. The developing world is part of our world and what happens their will impact all of us, increasingly over time.
% of population living on less than $2 per day.
Your Footprint IS bigger than you
15% of all our fees goes directly towards uplifting those in the poorest countries in our global village. Just in this last year we spent over $16,000 towards economic empowerment.
This means that, through the simple act of choosing us as a service provider, all our clients have helped uplift those in the poorest sectors of our global market.
Here’s how:
Freedom through Business Development
Our aim is to end economic oppression, one family at a time, by giving families the means with which to participate in capitalist economies. As business leaders, we understand the advantage we have is largely due to an accident of our birth and desire to create opportunity for potential business leaders born to less fortunate circumstances. To this end over $7,000 of the $16,000 has gone directly as loans to individuals to aid them in starting or expanding their businesses. ($5,100 to Hope International and $2,066 in loans through Kiva.org)
Since Oct 2014 (when we started our CSR program) we have lent $4,557 through Kiva and we keep re-lending it as it is paid back. It has now financed $13,825 of loans to 64 small businesses in 18 countries. If you’d like to contribute directly to it, please join our lending team or choose someone to lend to on your own.
Freedom through Education
South Africa has some of the worlds best schools, yet the majority of its schools are under staffed and under resourced.
In 2013 we began supporting the leadership development of school principals in disadvantaged schools in South Africa. We are partnering with an amazing organisation Partners for Possibility (PfP) who are equipping the school principals to turn the schools around. They partner with a business leader who mentors them and develop skills to engage their staff, the parents and the local business community.
They are taught leadership, community engagement, strategy and so much more. Some of their schools are seeing their pass rate go up from 30% to over 80%. I have seen their work first hand and am seriously impressed. It costs $6,000 to sponsor a school and in 2013, we set aside $8,900 of our CSR towards it.
There is a direct correlation between quality education and ability to partake in a capitalist economy. We see this as investing in the next generation’s ability to participate in the economy.
Learn more about how our mission and values drive us
Thank-you
A big thank-you to all our clients who have contributed, through our fees and, perhaps without realizing it, directly to improving the quality of life of hundreds of people around the globe. Not through once-off hand-outs, but by helping us fund their access to the tools for self-improvement. Thank-you for helping us leave a positive footprint.
Something Fun
Below is a very entertaining and interesting video on how the world has moved in 200 years. I would be very interested in what thoughts it provokes in you. Please use the comment field to leave your thoughts.
Interesting Facts
- Hope International is “home grown in BC” and was recommended to me by a friend who works in a similar field in South Africa.
- 100% of money loaned through Kiva.org is used to fund the loan. They rely on donations and volunteers around the globe to keep running.
- PfP started 4 years ago with one school and now has over 150 schools with more on the waiting list – driven mostly by the impact both business and principles are seeing.