Martin Fisher: a possible business plan[edit]

Martin Fisher started KickStart International with Nick Moon in 1991 as a "non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies for use in Africa".^[17] It develops technologies advocating understanding the cultural factors surrounding making money in Africa rather than an approach of giving away technology with expertise that has little to do with Africa's ability to make a living. Moon and Fisher believe that "the poor people don't need handouts, they need concrete opportunities to use their skills and initiative".^[18] Fisher further states that "[o]ur approach is to design, market, and sell simple tools that poor entrepreneurs buy and use to create profitable new small businesses and earn a decent income".^[19] He also stresses the need to build tools that can be supported in Africa using limited materials and assembly methods. They have designed and marketed a number of tools focusing on farming in African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Mali because 80 percent of the poor are farmers having only two assets: land and the skill of farming. For example, KickStart had created a Hip Pump selling for $34.00 allowing a farmer to use the motion of her or his hips against a lever as a drive mechanism. The pump is capable of lifting water from six meters below the ground to 13 meters above it to allow a farmer to irrigate about three-quarters of an acre in eight hours. Other technologies have included pressing oil seeds, making building blocks from compacted soil, baling hay and producing a latrine cover. These technologies are being mass-produced in Africa. The company has successfully sold over 63,000 pumps (Perlin, 2006) and estimates that 42,000 new micro-enterprises have been started using KickStart equipment such as this pump generating more than 42 million US dollars per year in new profits and wages. Fisher and Moon further estimate that they have helped 200,000 people escape from poverty. They have been successful in Africa because they have focused on:

1. Understanding the culture and environment. 2. Providing income producing tools to create new wealth. 3. Building tools that can be supported in the environment.

While KickStart has not talked something as technically challenging as computers, its business plan can be easily adapted to the introduction of computers in Africa. For example, the Smart Cape Access Project has shown widespread success understanding the culture and environment of Cape Town, but still is concerned about sustainability and use by women. Most notable, the project needs to consider how access to the Internet can provide income producing tools to create new wealth and pursue a better maintenance plan. Also of importance is inclusion of women and girls' positive impact in the roll out of technologies for the eventual introduction of computers to Africa.