Ms Carlye Singer, President of Acumen Globally said that the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) touched 380 million lives through investment programmes in building capacity that would solve poverty in West Africa region.
Singer said this at the ongoing Acumen West Africa Fellows with the theme: ‘Harnessing The Power Of Us’, holding from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30 at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos State.
The West Africa countries participating in the fellows are: Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
According to her, Acumen West Africa started in 2019 and had already made a cumulative investment of 11 million dollars in leaders who are driving change in various sectors across West Africa.
“We invest in social enterprises because they are innovative companies that have built models capable of providing service and impacting the life of the poor.
“So, we invest a dollar in these companies and over a long time, get 90 cents on the dollar back which is an amazing achievement.
“For every dollar we invest, the company impacts three to four lives and that is an incredible accomplishment considering the impact that investment is making over thesame time,” Singer said.
The president said that one important component that the academy focuses on was on training and equipping leaders of the future with the right skills, tools and moral imagination.
“This component is the tool that they need to make the change required to build a society that is just and equitable.
“We have built a diverse of corporative people across government, civil society, private sector, race, ethnicity, tribe and religion and given them the opportunity to sharpen their moral compass.
“The academy is an important school for social change moving towards a movement for many leaders to build the society that we all believe can happen,” she said.
The president said that Acumen had created new markets particularly in offering energy and given backing to companies fixed by inequities from years of impactful investment focused on the poor.
“One of the most important inequities is for small holder farmers who take the highest degree of risks but for the lowest return.
“We have modelled partnership that has been successful with government and have about 20 percent of our companies that are scaling and making an incredible difference for the poor,” Singer said.
Also speaking, the organisation’s Program Manager Oghenekome Oruade, said that being a part of Acumen felt like being a part of a powerful coalition where entrepreneurs pull strength from and give strength to the coalition.
“Looking around West Africa, you will find an abundance of human and natural resources, yet injustice and poverty reign in a magnitude that can no longer be ignored.
“This is evident in moments like #Endsars in Nigeria, #FixTheCountry in Ghana, and more recent protests in Sierra Leone.
“At Acumen Academy West Africa, we believe any real answer to change this narrative will include practicing self-leadership,” she said.
Oruade said that the approach to this would be to shift focus from the individual to shared prosperity and enhance self-awareness to see others as an extension of ourselves.
“So, we will continue this practice of demonstrating a new type of leadership for West Africa through plenary conversations, micro talks, and workshops.
“Our community is well-positioned to create a more inclusive region, infact, we are already leading various interventions from agriculture and health to ensuring people access education in their dialect or even from prison,” she said.
Niniola Williams, Managing Director of the Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh Health Trust said that on with the biggest challenges in the health sector was funding and recently, insecurity in the areas where they worked.
“My team are working in very remote areas of the country at some of the border points in the north and south-south, where there is a lot of violence and insecurity.
“So, being able to do our world more successfully has become much more challenging due to this issues,” Williams said.
Prince Agbata, CEO Colibar Recycling, Ghana said that the fellowship had helped in building his character as a leader and inspired him to solve issues of poverty collectively as a people.
“Today we have built structures and we are the largest collectors of plastics in Ghana; recycling and ensuring that we are addressing plastic pollution one piece at a time,” Agbata said.
