Poverty Alleviation vs. Prosperity, a Lesson from Uganda
This week we speak with Emmanuel Trinity on prosperity vs. poverty alleviation and the role social enterprise plays. Trinity is a social entrepreneur from Uganda with a powerful story and a mission to create 10,000 jobs for African youths. He’s the founder of era92 Creative- a Subscription Creative Services Social Enterprise, which has already created 1500 jobs for youth from the slums of Uganda.
Show Links:
https://era92creative.com/
Imperfect Show Notes
While these notes are not perfect (computer transcription is still a work in progress), they give you the gist of the conversation. Enjoy!
My conversation with Trinity:
Morgan Bailey 0:02
Hello, and welcome to the profit meets impact Podcast where we explore the intersection of doing well and doing good in the world. I'm your host, Morgan Bailey. And I'm excited to bring you the wisdom of entrepreneurs and thought leaders that are using business to create sustainable and meaningful change across the globe.
Hello, and Happy New Year. I hope you're coming into this year with some hope and some momentum despite all the challenges happening at a global level, I think one thing that I've really been focused on coming into this year is the impact that I'm making. And I think it's obvious a conversation I'm having with myself, that's a kind of cornerstone of, of my life,
and how to do so and not feel overwhelmed. It's the challenges we're facing are so big, and sometimes it's easy to feel so small, and not know what to do. But to really focus on, you know, what are the small things that you can do on a day to day basis, I think something that's grounding me, I think a key thing for me is taking that time to recharge.
Also, just being nice and caring, I think sometimes we think about, we have to make this big impact when something as simple as a smile, something simple being caring to someone can have such a big impact. And if we all did, that will be the collective impact of that.
And the last thing I'm really obviously trying to be conscious about you know, as a consumer as well, as is what I buy, and what brands I support. And I think that's you know, if we all kind of collectively made these very simple shifts, I think it would make such a big impact towards the world.
But let's dive into the matter at hand in the podcast. Today, we're going to hear from Emmanuel Trinity. He is a social entrepreneur from Uganda with a really amazing story about his youth in his upbringing, and the challenges he faced and how he turned that into something truly positive that's making such a big impact on others within Uganda, and an on a broader scale within Africa. He is the founder of Aaron 92, a creative agency. And he's on a mission to create 10,000 jobs. He's already created 1500 jobs for Africans living in Uganda, primarily in slums.
He's a really vibrant individual really enjoyed this conversation. And one thing we really focused on is this difference between prosperity versus poverty alleviation and his experience with charity, and how that focus on poverty alleviation, but didn't lead to prosperity. And we talked about the role social enterprise can play in creating jobs and building skill sets to really tap into the power and the creativity of, of the African community, and the African economy. So really appreciate this conversation. Hope you do as well. Trinity man, I've really been looking for this conversation. Great to have you on the show.
Emmanuel Trinity 2:55
It's a blessing to be here. Thank you so much. My brother Morgan. It's gonna be nice.
Morgan Bailey 3:01
So I've really been thinking about this conversation and about your story. And I'm really curious, maybe maybe just start from the beginning for a little bit to share with our listeners a little bit about, you know, what your life was like growing up and how that started shape. How you're approaching life and business right now.
Emmanuel Trinity 3:20
Yeah, thank you so much again. Yeah. I mean, I think I had a rough beginning of my life. At the age of three months. I'm sure I was unconscious. I didn't know what was happening on life in life. But
my mum was kicked out of my parents house, and also
my father denied to take care of us. So my mom ended up in one of the worst slums in Kosovo, called Kosovo. And it was named after the Kosovo rush, actually. And because of the killings, the crime, the diseases that were happening in that particular slum, and so ending up in that slum, that means that it was really hard for us to get education. So my mom could do casual jobs, just for the sake of providing food. And I think that the notion of where people are living under a door like them came from churches making about $1 a day to buy food and then provide for us. And so that meant to me education was coming in as a luxury. And they will, there was no way that I would get a quality education. And so, but my mom had promised that she would do everything to put me through school. And so one day, she had a radio ad on radio, and it was advertising a school that was relevant to the cheap at $10 a year. And my mom got so excited and she invited other people into the community to come and also bring their children to the school. We're all excited that I was seven years old and I was excited to be in school and
Call on my friends were super excited. So they took us and they took us to the school Konosuba primary school with the hope that we'll get some quality education. When a bad note, on the first day of school was, our parents dropped us, they told us you drop your children. In fact, worry, you pick them in December. So on the first day of school, everything down to the shoes on our feet was stolen, they don't meet us had not those, we had no beds, and we never entered the class, not even once. So for me, it took me like, two, two months. But in one week, I realized that when a school neglected abused street children. So this was a school of where the council used to pick children from the streets, and then it dumped them into one school. And so in that school, I didn't get an education, I had to adapt on stealing. And being a rough kid agenda, gangs, and we started doing the rough stuff to survive, I was sleeping outside in the bush for almost six months, and to a good friend from the neighbor who took us on and give her shelter. When is that not many of my friends have three or four of them didn't make it. Some of them were killed in a fight, some of them were just drowned in water. And that really had in our hearts as normal kid as a kid who came in as a normal kid. So I was predicted, and luckily enough, I made it out of that school. And so one of the saddest days of our lives is when we were picked from the school. And most of our friends, we couldn't tell our parents that they didn't make it. But it was obvious that they were not going to go back with their children. And so coming back to Kosovo, then another was place, there were no any other opportunities, and whether I'd reached out to go for an education, it didn't work out. So the natural thing I was resented to do is joining the streets. So are you in the streets at the age of nine, even though I wasn't a street child, had become a street children child. So I do in the streets. And as I do more than this, but I'd staff the gangs, and I used to do the things that we're doing in that school, then I brought them here in Kosovo. And the same stuff happened, you know, fight prison or jail, and the entire story went on. But one day, I knew very well, me and my friend who I was on the street with, we really want it to have a better life, we really had a hope that maybe one day we'll get some rescue that would cross over and be normal kids and live a life that wasn't on the streets. And, you know, the the prayer was answered. When we're 13 years, one of the group of missionaries that were coming from Northern Ireland had come to be the school of neglected streets through urine on the streets. So when they had come, they were doing a community to around the community. And so the one who was leading them knew us. And so they say, let me take you to one of the boys that you want to transform. So they brought them to us. So hiding in a ditch, malnourished, sick, you know, high on drugs were picked out. And one of the ladies phoned me when I was doing some sketching and drawing some things at a table. And one of the ladies asked me, What's one thing that we can give you that never go back on the streets. And for me, that was one of the most life changing moments of my life is that when they asked me that thing, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to put my hands in a computer. And so it happened. The lady promised to give me this computer and they gave me the computer the next day. So I use that computer to become a software designer, developer and a graphic designer. So I trained myself for six years, using the internet at a local community church to become what I became until I was discovered by Coca Cola through a coke Italian campaign that we had come to the Kosovo slums. So when they picked us out on that day, with my experience, they offered me a paid internship to work at a marketing agency that was working with a Coca Cola. I got this nice job. I went out of the slums. And here I was, I was making $300. During that time, that was a lot of money. A big jump from $1 a day at least. And so that opened up a lot of doors for me. I was working in a corporate world. I was able to help out my mom. Occasionally I was able to rent a home outside Sam's and that's how my life was in different trajectory. But during that specific time, I started developing a strong sense of responsibility and realizing that actually, my friends are not where I am, my friends were still trapped up in the vicious cycle of poverty in the slums. And when you look at the scale of how many poor crossing over, it was one out of 1000s, one of the 1000s, who made it out to the slums. And I realized that there is no any program in the slums, that is providing solutions for young people to cross over to overcome the slums. But there are programs that provide us, you know, immediate solutions. But we stay in the slums. So I wanted to start a an organization, a company that would help young people crossover that would help young people get the skills they need, the opportunities, they need a safe place they need for them to cross over to their careers, to their dreams, and also to go to beta communities. And yeah, that's exactly what I did. I quit my job. And I went back to this cause of slums. And I picked up a few young boys and girls, and I told them, If you come with me, I'll tell you what I know. And once you do it, well, we'll be able to get a job for yourselves. So they worked so hard, and three of them became our first employees. And one of them was called Megan. And so we started working around small jobs, contracts and stuff like that. And that's how we started a company called era 92. Creative with a vision to create employment and provide skills 21st Century Skills for young people living out in the slums across Africa. So to date, we have over 60 employees. And we've created over 1500 skilled jobs for young people living out in the slums of Gaza, one Katanga. And, yes, we are on a mission to create 10,000 skilled jobs in the next five years. But the reason behind all of that is that we want to provide long lasting solutions to the problems that have caused that have been caused by poverty, and in Islam, so that people from the slums can actually get out of the slums, but not as provide solutions while they still stay in the slums for the next five years. ordained Islams. So that's the nutshell of how my story influences my business.
Morgan Bailey 12:33
Thank you. That's, I mean, I'm sorry, excuse me. edit that part out. That's, I mean, it's a really powerful story you have there. And I mean, I imagine how much of that experience shaped you and I'm curious, what are the things that you think you may not have seen or may not have understood? Had you not gone through that experience?
Emmanuel Trinity 13:01
You Yeah, I wouldn't have understood the pain of an organization that comes out and provides food, which most of us really see as something nice when you go out in the slums, provide a meal for the streets, children, take some pictures and go, I think if I wasn't one of those children, I wouldn't have felt the pain that I go through, when I have to sleep on the streets, the same day that I've been provided a meal, a nice meal. And for me, I really became against the fact that the solutions we are providing, they're just not seeing the wounds of poverty by not providing a lasting solution. So for me, I think that's the biggest perspective that I got out of being a recipient of charity in the first place.
Morgan Bailey 13:56
And so it sounds like that really shaped you in terms of, you know, when, obviously, the business that you're creating, it's not based on, it's not based on charity. And I think it's something we've talked about before is, you know, this idea of, of, it's not about poverty alleviation, it's about prosperity. So when you know, what is, you know, what does prosperity mean to you?
Emmanuel Trinity 14:22
Um, I think prosperity for me means a society in a society where people are able to change through these social mobilities when people are able to gain social mobility whereby they're coming from places where they can't make a living to a place where they can now provide themselves and their families to the point where they can actually invest in the future. So that's social mobility. If I don't see it in the community, I really don't think there is any prosperity being created on the The Other Side of poverty, the line is linear, that if you find someone who and you give them food today, the next month, they're going to be poor diorama, they're gonna be poor, because there's no social mobility in their life on their family. But if there is, the social mobility that could be created through prosperity, would be someone be able to get a job, where they get a job, they're able to now get some money into their family, they are able to pay their bills, they are able to pay their school fees for their children, they are able to save some money to go and buy land for a house, they able to invest in something give able to start a business. And with that social mobility, we see that we can also break the generational curse of poverty through that. And so I've seen that happen in so many countries, you know, when you look at countries that Uganda was feeding in the, in the in the 1960s. And now these countries have become, you know, first world countries, what has changed when you look at those countries, the main focus in those countries wasn't charity programs. It was a strong focus on market creating innovations. And so I have this example that I always give of Henry Ford, I read in one of your book about from a fossa. And this book talks about market creating innovations that lead to prosperity creation. What it means by that is that for most places like America, when Henry Ford started this car, there wasn't anything like that. But the ripple effect that created to make cars affordable to everyone created jobs, in mechanics, dealerships, distributors, it created the improvement of infrastructures that led to the construction of roads, which also created jobs. So for me, I see that through that lines lens of creating prosperity, we shift our focus from just creating these poverty easing schemes, but also invest in things that are going to change the poverty lines forever, that are going to change the societies forever.
Morgan Bailey 17:35
Yeah, I mean, I think that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, and I think that's been one of the big criticisms of charity for so long is that charity creates dependency, it doesn't actually get to the root challenge. And, and I think that, you know, globally, when we look at the job market, and we look at things like the informal economy and things of that nature, we've seen a lot of jobs coming out of Southeast Asia, India, a lot of remote work happening there. And it feels like though in Africa, that still kind of in the in the beginning phases. And it sounds like one of the things that you're doing and your business is focused on is actually creating that tapping into the digital economy. So I'm curious to hear from you, when you look forward, and you see the the evolution of the African economy, what does that look like? And how does that look like in terms of like the global context?
Emmanuel Trinity 18:29
Yeah. First of all, I would just start with the statement that I think the entire world has to first change the way they view Africa. So I don't know you've been to Africa. So this question might be hard to ask you. But I go on, ask people, you know, what comes to your mind when you think about Africa? And 90%? With the answers that I get? Is it Oh, yeah, zebras, animals, the big seven, the big and the big three animals. Right. And I think that's the first step that we need to approach is to shift the image that we have about Africa, in Asia, in a nutshell, that right now, Africa, we have one of the youngest population in the entire world, and our population is growing at a rate whereby by 2050, our population will be bigger than that of the entire world. But what does that mean? That today, the population is growing at a very high rate, where there are no opportunities and that is going to lead to a catastrophic event. Because things like riots crime is also increasing at a higher rate. But when you look at the countries that you mentioned, countries like China and Asia, when the the world was looking at them as a source of talent, them as so I think that different energies that We're going to that country, things like investors, companies that need at least relevant to cheaper labor. And that's not happening to us right now. So for us, our role as r&d to create you first, is to also create a workforce that is able to deliver work on a global scale. Because there are two components there. Because I believe like all the donor money that has been coming to Africa, if it was channeled to improving the workforce, providing infrastructure for young people, to have the skills, they need to be able to provide services on a global scale, I think the results will be different than where we've been investing the money that was coming from donations. So as our part we realize that, yes, someone would want to tap into the African talent, but it's not really they don't have the skills, they need to be able to deliver services, they don't have the goods, the assets, they need the computers, the internet, for them to deliver on a large scale. So in our areas that we come from, we want to provide all those elements so that young people can have that opportunity. And then on the other flip side, is also so the world to know that yes, there is talent here. And we are going to be maybe the solution for the talent shortage that is across the world right now. But we have to look at it as an investment, we have to take on the boat before it's too late. So I think that's what I have in that in that space. And I think many companies are starting to realize it. You know, companies like Google are starting to bring their headquarters in Ghana, Kenya, and stuff like that. But those are the ones that can see the the, the opportunities, we want this to be able to spread to each and everyone who lives in America to know that, could they bring the investment to Africa? Could they try to outsource out to Africa? Could they try to come and bring their business here in Africa?
Morgan Bailey 22:07
So where do you see the quickest growth? I mean, you see these these companies coming in? Where's that? What's the lowest hanging fruit that you see right now, when it comes to building the, you know, the momentum of the African economy?
Emmanuel Trinity 22:22
I think it will be the potential of the young people, and how they can easily grasp onto the advancing technologies, which can eventually provide a technology workforce for the entire world. We see right now that you know, the the euro, the European countries are aging, right? Canada is aging, right? And in the next 10 years down the road, where are they going to look out for talent, and their population growth is just plumbing. So the opportunity we have right now, is this surging population of young people that are smart, and brilliant. And so if companies, if other people don't, even big, large corporations can see that potential, rather than seeing the other visible poverty problems, because it's visible, there is poverty in Africa, but it's going to take someone to see the potential. And so the low hanging fruit when someone decides to see things different, is the potential that we have, that we can really offer to the global scale.
Morgan Bailey 23:32
And I hear you mentioning the investment piece, which obviously, it sounds really critical, both in terms of time and in terms of finances. And, you know, it's it's known that when it comes to global investment in business and, and global investments on social entrepreneurship, Africa is usually just a small fraction of that. Right, and which I think, is something you mentioned, like it's a shift in mindset, that there is this great potential there. But I'm curious, as you're looking forward for the, you know, there's both the external, you know, the external business world investing in Africa, and there's also those investing in entrepreneurs within Africa. And I'm curious, what does that look like right now you as a as a social entrepreneur, looking to make an impact? How is the dynamic right now for Africans to build and develop businesses to shape the economy?
Emmanuel Trinity 24:27
I think the first the easiest thing Africans can do. They can raise funds. If I in my programs, I realize that it's easy for me to raise money for when I put up a picture and they say we need to feed the hungry. That resonates to the west easy. In Africa, they still want to help. But as Ginebra now faced huge challenges in terms of raising capital. For my end, Add. And actually, that's what also led to us starting one of our social enterprises within our ecosystem, which is called Araneta, to fund, which is aiming at democratizing capital for young enterpreneurs, who have ideas to be able to start their ventures and fund them to scale. Because me personally, it was very hard to access, investment and even up to now, it's, it's been hard for us to get external investment into what you're doing. However much we have proven, proven profit and loss, you know, documents, we have enough profit, we am profitable, it's been hard. But then one of the things that I've realized in this space too, is that if Morgan, you come and buck this entity, and you become one of the founders, it's going to happen faster. So there's still some stereotype is that most of the unicorn that you see, most of the big companies that you see that are African, they actually not backed by Africans. So there is someone who is coming from the west, that has actually set it up here to do some of the most big corporations. And that is one of watching the most worried that people say that Africa is the next big thing. But then it's hardly going to be that that growth of Africa becoming a global workforce, global economy, is not going to trickle down to the people in another spectrum, because someone who comes from America right now and said, Oh, I want to start a company to help people in Africa, they're gonna get capital faster than I have, who has been building it from the grassroots. And that has been a huge, huge challenge, not facing me alone. But many entrepreneurs across Africa, but those ventures, there's a few ventures that have really invested in Africa. And so I wouldn't say that it's at zero right now. Because countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, have attracted huge amount of money in the recent times.
Morgan Bailey 27:22
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's a really, I think that's a really important point. I mean, I think the access to capital issue is, is probably one of the biggest inhibitors to the organic growth of of any economy, and specifically within within Africa. And I think, you know, the point that you're raising, that you have, you know, large foreign backers coming in investing in these organizations, and reaping the rewards from it in a way that maybe it doesn't trickle down to, to the average citizen. They're not they're not seeing those benefits. So me what? So what is the model for that? Yeah, you've mentioned that there there are some there are some entities which are actually investing in an African entrepreneurs. So what, how does that model need to shift in order to actually organically grow this in an equitable way?
Emmanuel Trinity 28:19
I think there has to be, there has to be a special requirements for who, which entities that can qualify for this investment. Because at the end of the day, it will still trickle down to people who have who are coming from the other side. So the problem here, if I, if I strengthen it a bit is that most entities that get capital are still not African, right? That they went on to become a unicorn. They're still not African. And so there has to be. And then on the other side, that country is coming in, but still going to people who are not coming from Africa. But on the flip side, there is also still money coming in from charity is government's, that is still funding, huge capital that is more than the investment capital that is going into donations, right. So there is a huge imbalance. And the shift has to happen at a global scale at the entire Western world. It doesn't have to happen on big corporations, because they can only affect big corporations in Africa. But if people like you, if other individuals, they grasp onto the thing that actually right now, the solutions for Africa should be investing in enterpreneurs should be investing in grassroot companies. That's where the impact is gonna come in. And more importantly, leave alone the big corporations. They the SMEs, the small medium camp bunnies are the ones that are contributing to almost 90% of jobs creating in Africa. They're not big corporations. But if these corporations like Arun ended to and other mediums, small businesses, can Small Medium Businesses can access capital from individuals, small corporations. That's where the impact can be created. So the call is for whoever that is listening, that may be sending donations to Africa. Could they think about investing? Could they think about investing in small businesses in Africa? I think that's where the most impact is gonna come from. Why? Because if a company like mine gets cut, Peto, and it scales, its employment to 100 people, if you have a million companies that Karen added to that list of employing 100 people, how many jobs are those? Right? That is almost 10 million jobs, in our in Uganda alone. So the scale has to be trickling down to small medium businesses, it has to be scaling down to whoever that is trying to do work in Africa, that they should think about investing, rather than giving just money. And so the big corporations are doing it, but the rest of the world is not doing it.
Morgan Bailey 31:26
Yeah, and I think that's a really good point, particularly like, Yeah, I think the larger corporations within within Africa are, are having limited reach at this time. And that the it is at the small medium businesses, you know, and just thinking for my time and experience in Africa, and, you know, following social entrepreneurs there, you know, and I think there has been a lot of criticism of investors funding social entrepreneurs in Africa, who are not actually from Africa. And, but but I think there is no point that as you're talking, I'm thinking about, which is that, you know, there's still there's still this mentality, even when it comes to funding social entrepreneurs in Africa, that everything is focused on solving problems and problems within Africa. And to me, I feel like there's this mindset that needs to shift, which is, you know, which is what is what is Africa offering the world? What's, what solutions are they offering for the rest of the world? And not so focused necessarily on? What are the problems that they're trying to, that they're trying to solve for within Africa? So I'm curious, when you when you think about that, and you think about, hey, when Africa is a point where they're playing on the global stage, developing technology, leading technology, right, what do you think is, you know, what do you think that looks like for the world? Or what needs to shift so that the African economy can get to that level?
Emmanuel Trinity 32:54
Yeah, I think that's a very, very good point. When you look at the scale, right now, we are on the consuming side of the curve. Africa is just consuming the technology that is coming from the west rate. And so few of our products are really going up to the scale of the global scale. And what does that mean is that everything that we do is through profit, repatriation, all the things that Google will make, is going most companies are getting on Google right now in Africa, and that money is just on your credit card is going to the United States. And what fraction of that is actually saying, Okay, someone is using a product in America. And it's, the money is directly going to a company in Nigeria. Few. But let's leave around that, when I just go down to make it easy, you know, because we have to make things easy to the normal person, when we started out, we really wanted to make sure that how can we offer a service? Yes, it can be offered here in Uganda, but how can you just offer it to the people in the US. And so for us coming from my work, it was easy, because I'm a graphic design. And this thing is needed by companies everywhere in the world. And when you look at our model, it's exactly what you're saying is that we are providing this service and putting it to the to the global market, the companies are doing what I'm doing. But they've raised huge money. We raised money with just a subscription service model. But we haven't gotten there. When you look at companies that export, let's say coffee to UK, those companies are hugely backed by people from that side. And so actually don't have an answer for your question, because I think on my side, there is still love. The capital is not democratized. Very well. I know many people who are doing well other stuff that you're talking about that all these products that could go up to the to that scale, but because the solutions that are able to be linked to the Western world are going to be produced by local people like me, we are the ones who are going to say, we can sell this to an American, if we are gonna sell this to an American, and it's gonna be hard for me to raise the capital to put that product on market, I'm not gonna be able to get my business off the ground, it still takes us back to the question that it has to be that enterpreneurs access to capital and access to funding is still a big issue for many other printers to be able to scale their services and products to reach a global scale.
Morgan Bailey 35:45
Yeah, it sounds like and that, that really confirms a lot of a lot of stuff that I've read in conversation that I had, that it is the the access to capital thing is one of the biggest issues. And I think when it comes to access to capital for Social Entrepreneurs, it's something like Africa gets about, you know, less than 5% of the global capital that goes towards social entrepreneurs. Whereas, you know, that's when you look at the population of Africa that, you know, that's, that's not equitable in any way. So, you know, I'm curious what, so where currently, where is that capital coming from? And what sort of organizations are investing in social entrepreneurs within Africa?
Emmanuel Trinity 36:30
I know a few of them. Companies like organization like the global good fund. Yeah, but I think let's put it right there. There's, there's a problem with that most of the people that are investing in social entrepreneurs in Africa, they want to call accelerator programs. Do you know, have you heard of this one. So these are programs that young enterpreneurs, like me, jump on for money. And they take you through this vigorous learning and stuff like that, and at the end of the term, they give you credit that underlies it is good. But that's not the solution. Because at the end of the day, right now, at least I know exactly what I want for my business. I know, the capital that I want to put in, I know, I've learned a lot. But still, for me to get access to at least $30,000 have to go to app going green price study for one year for me to access $30. Right? If someone just asked my business, and they say, okay, at these scale, if we had programs that are just assessing intrapreneurs, like me and say, okay, Trinity is making $30,000 a month, and every year is about 300 $300,000. Okay, this is Barclays valuation, he's eligible for capital of $100,000. If that was a program that was intensified on looking where you are, and where you're going, I think most of us would be far away, you know, but we every year, most of the intrapreneurs, I know, they're jumping through program to program Echoing Green Africa's price to price. And after five years, you've raised $100 million. But your business is not able to scale because you're not putting all your energy into the business, you're putting the energy into learning, joining programs, reading grants, and stuff like that. So I think even the programs that are doing, that are supporting printers should change their focus to find what is intrapreneurs and just inject, inject, inject. Right now, when you look at America, many startups are just getting funding, right? Crypto, what? They're getting the funding there, and most of them don't make it right. Could we just do that bid on these social enterprises across Africa? Could we just bet because I see right now most enterprises in America, it's like also betting right now, let me bid on this app. Let me bid on this app is not the it's not what happened to here in in Africa, they are not betting on us. They are just going through everything and make life hard way to do business I just supposed to be doing even when you profitable.
Morgan Bailey 39:30
Yeah, that's actually a really interesting point. Because in some way, it still sounds, it still feels like this paternalistic framework of where it's still it's still feels like a charitable model. Right? That you know, we need to take you through this program. We need you to do X, Y, and Z. And then when you achieve that, then we'll trust you enough to give you this money. Whereas you're saying, hey, if I can demonstrate business value, and I can demonstrate a history of success And then why not just let's cut the red tape? And let's just get to business and make the investment? It, it feels like I mean, again, I feel like there's a lot of this comes down to is a mindset shift for for those with access to financial capital to view to view the African economy and African social entrepreneurs differently, both in terms of how they offering their services, you know, the global scale of their services. And the the maturity and possibility of where these businesses already at
Emmanuel Trinity 40:38
1% is a no that's that's the thing I started with that the West has to change how they see Africa, how they see the people in Africa, let me say, you let you raise it in a nice point. Someone can easily trust someone, okay, you're going to feed people by they cannot trust them. And someone can just donate to the GoFundMe, the GoFundMe gets $100,000 Right, but put one that you're supporting is agenda price that is going to provide a core skills to women in Africa. $0 put one that you're raising money for people in Karamoja Northern Uganda show pictures of people hungry people can easily instant gratification do that. So that means the mindset is entrenched in having sympathy to Africa, rather than seeing potential in Africa.
Morgan Bailey 41:40
Yeah, I think that's I mean, that's a really important point. And, you know, there is this, there's this thing in psychology where people are often more afraid to, they're afraid to lose. So if they're, you know, they see investments as a bet. So it's almost like I would rather have $100, go somewhere. And maybe you're may not make an impact, but I don't know, as opposed to give $100 and see that in two months, it's only worth $50 or $20. Again, which is which is a very short sighted model. And, you know, I'm hearing that Yeah, with that mindset shift. And I think it's happening, it's happening, maybe not as fast as it needs to be happening, but it is happening. But with that mindset shift of seeing the potential for Africa, and where that investment can be going, that that's something that will rapidly accelerate. Now, I think the big question is, as you mentioned, populations increasing, you have one of the youngest populations in the world? Will Will the business investment in the economy be able to keep pace with that growing generation? Or as you said, if if it doesn't, then that means, you know, a lack of opportunity for a larger population, which that creates social instability. So I think that's the big question. And I mean, looking forward, I mean, how do you see the what is needed right now, if you were to give the give the advice, what's needed right now for the economy to be able to keep pace to add that value to create that prosperity? For African economy?
Emmanuel Trinity 43:15
Yeah, I think there are quite a number of solutions, you know, it's not going to be one thing, it's not going to be one solution that is going to lead to Africa becoming this global powerhouse. But there are elements that we have to strengthen right away. The number one thing is we have to throw back ourselves at the right full education. When I say the right flavor question is that right now, anything that we have to do is, first of all going to be based on the education that we have. Most of the curriculums we have right now in Uganda, Kenya, everywhere, they are still entrenched in the 1960s, that type of colonial education, right, where we are still learning about the Alps, the Canadian Alps, the prairies and stuff like that. And that education is known, trickling down to what these young people need for the 21st century. So the other solution, the other problem that comes from that is a trend now we have universities that are producing over 500 Young people every year, that don't have the skill the market needs. And so we have to throw back ourselves that education fast enough, but this time, again, it has to be the right for education, is that should be the education that is connected to the market needs. What does the market need? Okay, we need software developers. Are we right now teaching sciences and making sure young people are learning coding in high school and primary school in Uganda? No. So over 16 years, young people do not are not running things that actually they're going to face in this world. So that's number one thing, and that's the biggest thing that we have to do. The other thing is that we have to really focus on what we call market By creating innovations, market creating innovations, I would term it as when the phones, the mobile phones came to Uganda, or maybe come to Africa, when the mobile phones came to Africa. During that time, still Africa was lamented as people are living under $1 a day, but this innovation came. And people started using what we call mobile money. Right. And that impact that one company created. In just a few years of studying this ones, it was able to spread over the 20 million people across Africa, and now to almost a billion people have phones. And now they're able to use a thing called Mobile money. And I think that if we can focus on marketing, my marketing, market, creating innovations, I think we're able to do that one thing, what market creating innovations do? It's one thing, we either create products that are already not existing in the market, or get those ones that are already existing, but they're not affordable to a large scale. That's what phones were in, you know, almost 20 years ago, and is the same thing that we have to do right now, those things that are not accessible to the majority of the population, how do we make it cheaper, that it can go down to those people create jobs, create profit, and also change the culture for the good. So we have to innovate. And the other the last thing is finance, the private sector, the government sector, we have to ease financing for young enterpreneurs, we have to create institutions that are providing capital for these so called social entrepreneurs. And that's why we actually, on our side, first, we started aironet. To fund we believe that this one will grow enough that in the next five years, we'll be able to fund substantially good amount of money to social enterpreneurs that are coming from Uganda, on East Africa. And so we need to bridge the gap of financing that if someone has an idea right now, how long is it going to take them? If they're profitable, they're proving the model, how long is it going to take them to get the financing before they close their doors, because most of them have good ideas. But it before they reach to the point of raising their first seed round, they are not able to pay their their rent, and they're closed those. So for me, I think those three aspects and also to strengthen leadership, leadership is going to be another key factor in terms of getting Africa to where we want right now. So this leadership is going to be mainly focused on leaders that understand the importance and the needs of young people right now, the leaders we have somehow really disconnected, I will give an example of our leader there kind of disconnected to what is happening in the lives of young people what is happening in the real world, what what are we supposed to be doing to compete. So I think in countries where you see a strong leadership in Africa, there's strong evident growth and development look at, you know, Rwanda right now, which was very far poorer country than us, you know, you know, previously, and look at how it's progressing to catch up with the entire world, you know, good roads, good infrastructure, safe environment, making it easy for people to start businesses and running businesses, cut tax ties, and all that stuff, has will also help the thing so it's two sided, we have to do our job as Africans. And that's why for me, I just frontline, the Africans that we have to prepare ourselves, we have to invest and prepare ourselves to be able to compete in the market level on a global scale. But on the other side, the West has to shift their mindset. They have to shift their, how they see Africa, they have to shift their mindset about Africa. And so do they think that the key thing that I really think that can really help us achieve the results that we want as Africa?
Morgan Bailey 49:25
Well, Trini thank you so much. If so much of that resonates, and it resonates with my own experience. I mean, I went through a mindset shift. You know, I think when I first went and traveled to Africa, you know, I had ideas of helping and charity. And it was actually essentially you mentioned the cell phone piece, because there was one moment when I was I was in Kenya interviewing this Maasai leader. Often he had a mud hut and a tin roof and he didn't have access to water sanitation. And as I'm sitting there interviewing, he stops us and He pulls out his cell phone and starts talking on it. Now this was almost 15 years ago. So I don't even know if I had a cell phone at that point. And I'm sitting there watching this guy with his cell phone being like, everyone would argue that this guy can afford a cell phone. But he's out here in the middle of nowhere. He's got cell phone service. He he's somehow he's got money to put on it, someone's thrown up solar panels on a roof to charge it. And in business made this impact innovation made this impact. Yeah. And, and, you know, he didn't, he didn't have a latrine. He didn't have these things. And it's like, a lot of those things were pushed as charity, not as innovation. So when innovation is brought, it changes things. And that's that's actually that was actually the moment that I started to shift away from charity and think, Well, I think business can make a much bigger impact. And that was really important moment for me. And the other thing was, is, as you mentioned, the leadership, as I was looking at the things that were like, what was really needed, and a lot of these projects within Africa, it wasn't better ideas. There are plenty of good ideas out there. It was leadership. Leadership was one of the key elements. So I'm just really, really appreciating everything you're throwing out there. And, you know, so as we kind of come to a close, you know, to questions where you want what's what's next for you? What's next on your mind? And how can people find out more about you?
Emmanuel Trinity 51:22
Yeah, what's next, in my mind is definitely a skill my program. So we have what we call a CTC. These are called Community Transformation centers. And they're more like, I would say, business centers. So like where we are right now, community driven transformation, Community Transformation Center, we have a place where young people work, we have a place where young people and 21st century skills we have when people were a place where people find financing originally to fund, we have a co working space, and we have an employment space. And so with that dynamic, I think I want to scale that model to you know, place other places in Africa. And that will contribute to the first jobs obtained data and jobs that want to create in the next three, five years through our model. But then from that, I want to inspire others agenda printers, I want to be able to echo the voice of we are ready to you know, take on the world, we are ready to build you know, really amazing stuff. And any entrepreneur, social entrepreneur in Africa, that is out there, just taking what you're doing, do the right thing, and do the right thing every single day until we get there. And if someone would love to, you know, get to know about what we are doing. Our website is just simple. You can go at WWDC era 90 two.com And from there you can see all this agenda prices that we are running. It's a conglomerate search enterprise that is focused on creating prosperity rather than alleviating poverty.
Morgan Bailey 53:05
Amazing. Thank you so much. And I'll put the link in the show notes there. journeyman really could talk to you for hours on this topic. So really appreciating everything you've done and just what an amazing story and impact you're making. Thank you so much for this conversation.
Emmanuel Trinity 53:22
You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me.
Morgan Bailey 53:25
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