Success STORIES

SC3 Goes to Malawi

Gift Mungula, born and raised in Malawi and currently enrolled in the M.Div Program at Moody Bible Institute, took a Social Entrepreneurship class Spring 2018 taught by Brian Jenkins using the StartingUp Now: 24 Steps to Launch Your Own Business workbook and Skillcenter 3.0 (SC3) online platform. The class met Gift’s passion to launch his own organization in Malawi that would help develop small ministries operating alongside small businesses, enabling him to develop a business plan for a real estate business in Mzuzu City, Malawi.

Gift appreciates that SC3 is a multipurpose platform able to guide a person’s development of an idea into a complete business plan. He was able to watch videos and read stories of successful examples through each stage of business plan development. He found it fascinating that the entire content of SC3 was available in over 120 languages and was excited to find that the Malawian language of Chewa was available!

In December 2018, Gift was tasked with teaching a group of young adults in Malawi on the challenges that hinder progress in life and ministry. Gift has believed for a long time that the number one challenge in Malawi is that of not preparing. “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

“I could not find any better resource for helping my fellow Malawians prepare to win in life than Skillcenter itself.”

Gift plans to continue to use Skillcenter to teach small scale entrepreneurs in Malawi. “I want us to help each other make progress with our own resources and to be able to sustain our own projects. I know that Skillcenter is the perfect fit for my mission.”

Little by Little: Growing Your Savings in the New Year

• eating healthier (37%),
• exercising more (37%), and
• saving (more) money (37%). [1]

Automate your savings programs. Determine how much you will save on a monthly basis, and then make it automatic. By taking this step, you make only one decision for a ten-year period instead of 120 monthly, individual decisions.

Save for retirement. If you are an entrepreneur, set up retirement accounts for you and your employees. Find out what retirement plans are available where you work. If you own a business or work for a business, it there a 401k-retirement plan? If you work for non-profit organization, is there a 403b or 403b (7)-retirement plan? If you work for the government, is there a 457-retirement plan?

You can also save for retirement using Roth or traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The Roth IRA is a really great vehicle. You can put in after-tax money, let it grow tax-free, and then eventually withdraw funds tax-free. Some businesses have started to set up Roth 401k plans for the owner and employees. With all of your retirement accounts, you should review your beneficiaries annually. With proper use of beneficiaries for IRAs, you can build up wealth for future generations.

Costs matter. With your retirement savings and other investment programs, the costs you pay for fees and expenses are critical. Investments with high fees and expenses can significantly erode the value of your long-term savings. Choose financial institutions that have lower fees and expenses. 

How much should you save for your goals? This depends on a number of factors including your personal financial information, other family data, short-term goals and long-term goals. A great way to address this question is to develop a financial plan. Regardless of this process, it is critical to start saving something, even initially a small amount. You can increase your regular, savings in the future when your income increases.

Best wishes as you implement your goals for 2019! 

Lyman Howell, MBA, CFP^â is the President of Regal Oak Financial, LLC, www.regaloakfinancial.com, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm in Illinois. His firm provides financial planning and investment advisory services.

[1] “The Most Common New Year’s Resolutions for 2018”, Martin Armstrong, Jan 2, 2018

RICAFRICA

Overflow Afterdark provides an opportunity for artist entrepreneurs to showcase their skills and products to a diverse community of people, as well as network with other artists, entrepreneurs and small business owners. Each Afterdark event features a performing artist and a vendor. At our September event, Kimberley Mbayiwa, founder of Ricafrica, was our featured vendor.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Kimberley has always had a passion for the African continent. After moving to the United States for college, Kimberley's passion for Africa only increased. She gained a greater appreciation for the contributions and impact the continent had and continues to have on the rest of the world.

Kimberley's believes the opportunity is ripe for continent-based African designers, artists and artisans to participate in socially, culturally and economically enriching exchange with those outside of Africa who seek to celebrate African heritage and innovation. Unfortunately and ironically, many African entrepreneurs face barriers to entry that prevent them from participating in global celebrations of African heritage and innovation. The barriers are many--financial, physical, political, social, and more. Consequently, it is commonplace to find contributions of many African's being exploited, stolen, replicated, and appropriated. The impact of this is deep reaching. Not only are African contributors not getting the recognition they deserve, but the resulting economic loss is detrimental--lives are literally lost because Africans are being excluded from the global economy.

Kimberley founded Ricafrica.com to address the problem of those barriers. Ricafrica includes a unique online marketplace that makes goods made in Africa accessible to the global marketplace. African businesses showcase and sell their products on Ricafrica so that people around the world can learn more about, celebrate and purchase their designs and innovations. Ricafrica facilitates a global celebration of African heritage and innovation that is authentic, respectful and allows Africans, particularly those who are continent-based, to fully benefit from their contributions to these celebrations. This is an ambitious endeavor cluttered with obstacles. However, being at the intersection of all things African and lovers of all things African makes it clear that Ricafrica.com is a worthwhile endeavor that many desire and support.

Entrenuity was honored to feature Ricafrica at the September Overflow Afterdark event. Find out more at RICAFRICA.COM.

Inspiring Entrepreneurs

Boogaali is derived from two separate words: "Boo" from the last letters of the word bamboo and "gaali" from the "Ganda" word meaning bicycle.

Kasoma Noordin, Director of Boogaali Bikes Uganda, has a passion for bamboo--what he believes to be nature's perfect plant. Strong, light and durable, it can be used to create a wide variety of functional and beautiful products. It is all natural and easily renewable. When crafted into a bicycle, it helps promote an environmentally friendly and healthy lifestyle that reduces the number of vehicles clogging crowded roadways and helps improve air quality for all.

Kasoma learned the art of crafting bicycle frames with bamboo in vocational school in Kampala. He handcrafts each frame from hand-picked, mature bamboo stems, to exact specifications. Each frame is a beautiful, unique, highly functional work of art. His frames are not only beautiful, but provide an exceptional quality of ride that has amazing vibration dampening characteristics and incredible durability.

Kasoma's workshop has assembled over 2,000 bamboo bicycle frames, mostly for European customers. The bicycles haven't really caught on with the Ugandan people, who Kasoma says are not really bicycle riding people. But he is hopeful that more locals will enjoy the thrill of riding the bamboo bikes and that the bikes will become more affordable for the local people. 

Black Her-Story Matters

Artist Emma Craigen designed the "Black Her-Story Matters" t-shirt currently sold at Overflow Coffee Bar. The t-shirt is actually a screen printing of a piece of Emma's original artwork titled, "Grow from Your Roots, " a combination Black History Month/Women's History Month art piece critiquing and satirizing what is, or rather, what is not, taught in schools. This piece specifically highlights the history of Black women in America, which is even more overlooked, and therefore what Emma wanted to celebrate and emphasize. 

"The past few years of middle school, my adopted black sister has lamented and been frustrated by a lack of recognition, relevance, and realism in schools when it comes to Black History and current events. A group of multiracial middle schoolers don't just want to learn about the old white guys who wrote the constitution, they want to know the stories about people that look like them, too. It's time that curriculum was changed to reflect a full and diverse reality.

Black History Matters. Black Women Matter. Representation Matters. Especially in schools.

Model: my beautifully ferocious and ferociously beautiful budding social justice princess warrior little sister: Trinity"

~Emma Craigen

INSPIRING ENTREPRENEURS

Entrenuity's Angela Jackson lives an inspiring life and lives her life to inspire. Incorporating her love for business and community, Angela is currently utilizing her expertise as a business consultant/coach to develop and empower marginalized communities throughout Nairobi, Kenya. As a Certified StartingUp Now Facilitator, Angela is teaching the SUN curriculum to service and support startup organizations and entrepreneurs in multiple social enterprise efforts:

• Angela is currently teaching business classes at IJM--an organization that specializes in social services and recovery for victims of police brutality, unjust imprisonment, and survivors of sexual exploitation. IJM developed an aftercare plan that supports survivors with economic empowerment along with a fund to kick-start small enterprises. Angela assists IJM’s staff in providing practical business training to help these small businesses become self-sustainable. Angela works with the IJM staff so they can assist their clients in creating excellent business plans and equips them with the proper tools to coach their clients for success.

• Alongside an organization like IJM, Angela is passionate about working with HAART, an organization that raises awareness against human trafficking. Kenyans are trafficked as a result of child labor and exploitation. Men, women, and children are all subject to such heinous crimes. Angela equips and coaches survivors, supported by HAART, to recover and start their own businesses in the midsts of adversity and emotional trauma.

• Between her time teaching business classes to the staff of these organizations and helping in the recovery process of sex trafficking survivors, Angela volunteers her time at Christ Hope International, serving children and orphans affected by aids. Angela recognizes the importance of strengthening families and teaches business classes to both children and their parents. Angela uses simple life illustrations to teach children the importance of recognizing problems in their community and coming up with lasting solutions.

• As a strong and empowered women herself, Angela uses her business skillset to partner with Woman’s Hope, a community that provides the women of Kenya with relevant social-economic information to uplift their society. Angela helps nurture and cultivate a culture of strong female leaders, assisting them in developing strong and stable social enterprises.