A lot of the current discussion (whatsapp and soon, slack channel) is about solving/answering some of the things you’ve mentioned.
First, This is not something I want to do or manage alone. It’s not about me. Its something I want us to discuss, plan and organize - by getting the right people and agencies involved. I could keep this idea to myself and wait till I have x years experience but ideas are nothing without implementation, what matters is that it gets to the right people and we/they implement this because it has the potential to help African countries grow.
Second, The primary intent is not to have this operated as a business. I’m not thinking about money or returns here, I’ll gladly donate N10k each year to any initiative that makes this happen knowing my money is going to help build Nigeria. I want it to be something that people, passionate about their country can get behind with proper agencies and regulatory bodies as our foundation. We can organize ourselves and get something done. But as you hinted, even charities/similar organizations have to operate - logistics and advocacy alone will require a lot of funds, at least to get to X and tell people about it (though the internet helps make spreading the word easier).
I mentioned this in the doc - my initial idea is to do separate fundraisers for this before we begin actual advocacy and funding drive as I want 100% of the funds to be invested as stated in the docs. But I realize I’m just ‘one head’. We can discuss this and come up with something better so lets discuss and suggest solutions.
If you have ideas on how we can make that part easier/better, share.
WHO WILL MANAGE YOUR MONEY: The plan is to get banks, monitoring/regulatory agencies involved. If you know any investment banker with x years experience who can help, share the doc with them. They have to be our foundation/guide. And transparency is key. I also want EFCC et al to ensure that the public is confident about the project. If we can get banks and these agencies involved, it’ll be a smoother and open ride from fundraising to funding the 100 initiatives.
SELECTION PROCESS: Research and startups can’t be selected the same way, and private selection is how we kill trust. Everything will be open. I mentioned that in the doc, I also mentioned that we will get institutions involved - Invite universities to help with nomination and selection of research projects, partner with VCs and seed investors during their open day/pitch events (note: concerns have been raised about that so we’ll probably host separate events), etc. And right now, with regards to startups, the current idea is that they have to be capable of employing people rather than just the founding team from onset.
REFUNDS: This will depend on which channels we can raise from. If we can do online payments, it’ll be smoother. But with the way things are, we may have to do offline raises - like going on campus, which will make refunds harder and will add to costs. As with everything, suggestions are welcome.
REVENUE MODEL/PROCEEDS: Revenue model hasn’t been decided upon, right now, everyone is invited to contribute and share their thoughts. Note also that not every initiative can bring revenue. Our strongest focus is on funding what needs funding, not on getting big returns on equity. We want to fund education and research as much as we want to fund startups and SMEs. Some thoughts;
STARTUPS: If we decide equity investment is the best way to go here, proceeds can be used for funding the organization and extra rolled over to subsequent years so we’re not starting from zero.
RESEARCH: On initial research, proceeds may not be direct or financial, but we still intend to fund these because without them, development won’t happen. For those that have to do with outcome of research i.e turning the results of research into businesses, we treat them a bit like startups.
HEALTH: Depending on the equipment or facility, there could be potential for revenue here but the strongest focus is that those are bought/built especially with regards to equipment that causes people to travel abroad or facilities required in poor communities.
EDUCATION: As with research, not direct but beneficial.
NOTE: We’ll have to keep the books open to ensure that the entire public sees how every cent, even proceeds are been invested.
MARKETING CAMPAIGN : For the initial campaign, I’m hoping we can get 1000 people to tweet the ‘I pledge to donate N1,000’ button in a single day, that would generate a lot of interest/curiosity and from there, we can start building stronger campaigns.
Once we get the right people behind this and formulate a strong plan of action, channels will open. We will have access to networks that you and I may not have. I’m hoping we can also get ad agencies, speakers to help with this pro bono at the onset. In future, we will have a better way to do this but if you have a better plan, please suggest.
CURRENT STAGE: I think some people (@Godmode) imagine this is doc about a crowdunding business already ironed out or a plea to have you crowdfund me, please, its not. This is an idea that I want us to discuss, plan and bring to light. You can join the discussion, suggest and raise your concerns.
Right now, we have some developers(myself included), designers, a lawyer, willing to work on this. @abcubed3 read the doc and helped with the domain name/hosting and got a website up and running over the weekend (http://letsfundafricans.com), thank you. A few people are tweeting it and are interested. We have a Whatsapp group up for discussions. The slack channel which we’ll move to soon is http://letsfundafricans.slack.com - Its not about whether we can get personal rewards. Its about doing what can help to our country grow.
Please join us if you wish to contribute and make this happen. A lot of questions need to be answered. A lot of legal and other obstacles need to be found and removed. Please share the doc with others, tweet about it and join the discussion.
Thank you.
