KickStart Combined Feed

PBS' NewsHour Features KickStart

2010-07-14T17:27:38Z

Fighting Poverty in Kenya by Selling Water Pumps to Poor Farmers - Spencer Michels reports on the story of how a California man sees the chance to increase access to clean water in Kenya through the use of foot-pumps.

Africa is Hot. Africa is Cool

2010-06-24T23:19:09Z

And KickStart's Co-Founder Nick Moon tells you why in his new blog.

A Better Way to Make a Living

2010-06-24T22:47:54Z

Brain-Fed Agricuture

2009-11-06T23:45:47Z

Can Africa feed itself?

Absolutely, writes KickStart co-founder Nick Moon writes in the African Executive . But only we can move from rain-fed agriculture to "brain-fed" agriculture.

An SMS “kickstart” for Kenyan Farmers

2009-10-30T21:16:20Z

KickStart's Rita Kiloo explains how we used Frontline SMS software to reach out to Kenyan Farmers.

www.kiwanja.net

New MoneyMaker Pump Bundled Kits Empower Farmers to Start Irrigation Immediately and Increase Their Income

2009-10-29T21:10:44Z

KickStart Launches Bundled MoneyMaker Pumps that Include Everything Needed for Cash Crop Farming

Dar es Salaam, November 1, 2009. KickStart Tanzania is now packaging its award-winning MoneyMaker pumps with everything a smallholder farmer might need to quickly set up the equipment and start irrigation. In line with the government’s focus on Kilimo Kwanza, KickStart has modified the MoneyMaker line of pumps so that farmers across Tanzania can now quickly and easily set up human powered farm irrigation schemes to get higher yields from their farms.

KickStart has tracked the results of farmers using MoneyMaker pumps in Tanzania, and data indicates that they quickly move from having farm income of Tsh 120,000 per year to more than Tsh 1,000,000 per year by using irrigation. The pumps are a proven vehicle for farmers to move toward greater food and income security.

“Now the pumps will come with both the hoses and spare parts, so farmers know that they’re getting the right pieces to kick start their rise to prosperity,” says Anne Otieno, KickStart’s National Sales Manager. The Super MoneyMaker Pump and MoneyMaker Hip Pump kits will now include the MoneyMaker Pump, a 7.5m inlet hose, a 25m outlet hose, spare piston cups, rubber straps, and an operating manual in Kiswahili.

The company is responding to long-time demand from its customers and dealers to offer a complete product solution. When they buy a MoneyMaker pump, farmers now can go straight to their field, unpack the pump, attach the necessary components, and quickly put it together using the assembly instructions.

MoneyMaker Hip Pump Kits are being sold for Tsh 99,000 and Super MoneyMaker Kits are available for Tsh 167,000 at Authorized MoneyMaker Dealers nationwide. KickStart estimates that by buying one of the Bundled Kits, farmers can save about Tsh 30,000 over buying the individual components separately.

“I am happy to hear that finally we will be selling bundled pumps. This will make it much easier for farmers to get something complete with all the right sized hoses, and at a good price,” says Mama Azama of Azama Agrovet in Urambo Tabora, a longtime Authorized MoneyMaker dealer.

KickStart has sold more than 36,000 pumps across Tanzania, lifting more than 150,000 people out of poverty. KickStart has approximately 200 dealers nationwide, primarily leading Agro dealers, serving the needs of rural farmers.

About KickStart

KickStart International is a social enterprise with a mission to take millions of people out of poverty. Since 1991, tens of thousands of poor families have used KickStart products to create sustainable businesses, and live more independent and fulfilling lives.

The organization has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Burkina Faso and as well sells to other African countries and NGOs. The Irrigation Pumps are sold through independent farm shops including Agrovets, hardware stores and other retailers that serve small-scale farmers.

www.kickstart.org

Contacts:
For questions, please contact Alfred Wise, +255 783 321001.
For information on becoming a dealer, please contact Lilian Meena
at 0786 081 911.

KickStart at the Clinton Global Initiative

2009-10-01T00:18:42Z

In 2006, KickStart made a commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative to help create 80,000 new businesses that would lift over 400,000 people out of poverty forever.
We were invited back to present an update on our commitment during a session called "Becoming Embedded, Creating Businesses with the Local Community.
Watch the video on the Clinton Global Initiative Website

(Martin comes on around the 10:00 mark)

High Speed Fiber Optics Come to Africa At Last!

2009-09-16T17:28:31Z

The first fiber optic cable landed near Mombasa, Kenya recently, significantly increasing Africa's connection to the world.

BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones spoke with KickStart's IT Director Martin Rogena about what this means for KickStart, Kenya, and East Africa.

Day Two: Water or the web?.

What does Africa need more - easy access to fresh water or better cheaper internet connections? A no-brainer you might think, but a journey I took out from Mombasa into the countryside set me thinking.

My guide was Martin Rogena, a Kenyan working for an organisation called KickStart, which supplies irrigation pumps to farmers across East Africa. Martin is also a big believer in the power of the internet to transform countries like Kenya...

Our destination was a little settlement among some low hills about 10 miles from the beach where the Seacom cable bringing broadband to the region comes ashore.

We watched as they watered their crop of tomatoes which, along with a field of maize and some other vegetables, was the means of support for around 20 people. Then we visited their homes - simple mud huts, with chickens and dogs sharing the yard where the children played.

Then, as we sat outside one of the huts, Martin Rogena got out his laptop, plugged in a broadband dongle, and went online at a reasonable speed - he was picking up the signal from the nearby mast, which is in turn linked to the fibre-optic cable at the coast. But why, I asked, did a faster internet connection matter to a charity which was trying to alleviate the impact of drought?

He explained that Kickstart collects data from every pump it supplies across the region, sending staff armed with laptops to talk to the farmers and make sure they are getting the right results. From its Nairobi office, It also needs to communicate with donors around the world and with its branch office in Tanzania.

The charity is already finding that faster broadband is making communication easier - and is cutting costs, though perhaps not to quite the extent that has been promised.

"Any dollar we save means we get more pumps to the people," says Martin, "and our mission is to end poverty."

KickStart Launches Real Good Not Feel Good Campaign.

2009-02-14T00:58:52Z

Part of KickStart's mission is to challenge and change the way the world fights poverty. Why? Let's be honest. "We" (the developed world) have spent the past 50 years and billions of dollars trying to "help" the developing world. With a few exceptions, "we've" made little lasting change. Poverty in Africa, for example, is deeper and more widespread now than ever before.

The problem is not, as some claim, that "we" are not doing enough. The problem is that "we" are doing the wrong things. The current economic crisis makes this problem even more acute. With governments, foundations and individual donors drastically cutting funding, now is the time to focus our efforts and funding on those organizations with efforts that have proven results, a pathway to sustainability and the potential for world-wide adoption.

Real Good Not Feel Good is a simple framework donors can use to focus their giving. We hope that Real Good Not Feel Good becomes a movement of donors and social entrepreneurs committed to creating lasting change in the world.

Check out our new website: www.realgoodnotfeelgood.org.

Ordinary People. Extraordinary Heroes

2008-12-08T23:17:01Z

Victor Agisa, one of KickStart's salesmen, tells of his ordeal during the worst of violence last year, and of the heroic efforts of one family to save his life.

Victors story.pdf

KickStart on Facebook

2008-11-18T18:02:46Z

Join us on Facebook Causes!

Use the "Share This" link to post to Facebook, Digg, MySpace and other social networking sites.

KickStart Receives Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

2008-09-25T00:45:51Z

CLAREMONT, Calif., Sep 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University has announced this year's winners of the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation.

KickStart International, a San Francisco-based organization that fights poverty in Africa by creating and selling simple tools that help poor entrepreneurs increase their income, was awarded the $35,000 first-place prize. Among its innovations is the MoneyMaker irrigation pump, which allows small-scale growers to produce high-value crops year-round and make the transition from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

This year's runner-up (to receive $7,500) is Hidden Harvest, based in Coachella, Calif. The program employs low-income farm workers to "rescue" produce that is left behind in fields and orchards after harvest. This fresh and nutritious food is, in turn, delivered free of charge to more than 60 local agencies that serve the poor and hungry. The third-place winner (to receive $5,000) is the Bethesda, Md.-based Calvert Foundation. Its Community Investment Notes raise capital from individual and institutional investors and lend it to nonprofits and social entrepreneurs working around the world to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.

"Peter Drucker was among the first to articulate that innovation--change that creates a new dimension of performance--is essential for all organizations to thrive," said Rick Wartzman, director of the Drucker Institute. "This includes businesses, of course, but it's also true for nonprofits. This year's crop of winners illustrates precisely what Peter was talking about."

The Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation has been given annually since 1991 to recognize existing programs that have made a real difference in the lives of the people they serve. Cash prizes are designed to celebrate, inspire and further the work of innovative social-sector organizations based in the United States.

KickStart officials noted how pleased they were to receive the Drucker Award. "We are extremely honored," said co-founder and CEO Martin Fisher, Ph.D. "Nick Moon and I had two goals in mind when we founded KickStart: to get millions of people out of poverty and, in the process, change the way the world fights poverty. When we first started, the idea of using business models to solve social problems was considered crazy--if not complete heresy. Today social enterprise is the most vibrant sector in philanthropy. Peter Drucker's work was a real inspiration to us."

KickStart International impressed the judges, in part, because of the extraordinary results it has demonstrated. More than 66,000 profitable enterprises have been created using its MoneyMaker pumps. Farmers utilizing the pumps see, on average, a 10-fold increase in farm income. KickStart estimates that its pumps have helped lift 330,000 people out of poverty. (For more, please visit www.kickstart.org.)

"Peter taught that for any nonprofit organization, the bottom line must be measured in changed lives," Wartzman said. "KickStart's bottom line is most impressive in this regard."

The Drucker Institute will honor the winner and two runners-up on Oct. 28 in Los Angeles at a gala dinner. Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America, will be the keynote speaker. The dinner will be preceded by an all-day conference: "When the Bottom Line is Changed Lives: How Do We Know Whether Nonprofit Organizations are Effective?"

To attend the dinner or the conference, which will feature leading experts in the field and a keynote address by Karen Baker, California's Secretary of Service and Volunteering, you must register at www.DRUCKERinstitute.com.
About the Drucker Institute

The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University is a think tank and action tank whose purpose is to stimulate effective management and ethical leadership across all sectors of society. It does this, in large part, by advancing the ideas and ideals of Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management.

The Institute acts as a hub for a worldwide network of Drucker Societies, volunteer-driven organizations that are using Drucker's teachings to affect positive change in their local communities.

In addition, the Institute maintains a digital archive of Drucker's papers; undertakes research that builds on Drucker's writings; offers a major prize for nonprofit innovation; producescurricular materialthat distills Drucker's decades of leading-edge thinking; applies Drucker's work to current events (including through a regular online column in BusinessWeek by Institute Director Rick Wartzman); presents a slide show exploring the "Responsibility Gap"--society's collective failure to be good and ethical stewards of our resources, people and institutions; and hosts visiting fellows with Drucker-like insights and values.

The Institute is a close affiliate of the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management. For more on the Institute and its programs, go to www.DRUCKERinstitute.com.

Martin Fisher Named Engineer of the Year

2008-09-14T00:59:15Z

In September, Martin was honored by Design News magazine, a leading publication for design engineers, with their Engineer of the Year award. Click here to read the article.

Martin Fisher Wins Lemelson-MIT Prize for Sustainability

2008-04-23T17:57:27Z

INVENTOR’S IRRIGATION PUMPS HELP LIFT

AFRICAN FARMERS OUT OF POVERTY

KickStart Co-Founder Martin Fisher Receives

$100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 23, 2008) – Dr. Martin Fisher is transforming the lives of thousands of poor African farmers through a combination of technological invention and system-wide business development. In collaboration with his co-workers, Fisher, the 2008 recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability, has already enabled over 310,000 people to rise out of poverty.

Fisher will accept his award and present his accomplishments to the public at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the second-annual EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit, June 25-28, presented by the Lemelson-MIT Program.

“By learning and understanding African societal needs and cultures firsthand, Fisher has harnessed the entrepreneurial drive of many Africans and empowered them with sustainable technological inventions,” noted Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program.

According to the United Nations, more than 40 percent of Africans live in poverty, subsisting on less than US$1 a day. As co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit social enterprise KickStart, Fisher develops and markets moneymaking tools such as low-cost, human-powered irrigation pumps that improve the lives of small-scale rural farmers ¾ the majority of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa.

“These poor rural farmers have one asset: a small plot of land; and one basic skill: farming. The best business they can pursue is irrigated farming,” Fisher explained. “Once they employ irrigation, the farmers can grow and sell high-value crops, like fruits and vegetables. They can grow year-round and reap four or five harvests, instead of waiting for the rain to grow a staple crop once or twice a year.”

Making a Difference with MoneyMaker Pumps

Among the tools and devices designed and produced by Fisher and the KickStart team, the greatest impact comes from their line of MoneyMaker manual irrigation pumps.

Inspired by a treadle pump used in Bangladesh and India, these pumps are distinguished by features, which include easy installment and maintenance, portability, and pressurization to facilitate irrigation on hillside landscapes.

The Super MoneyMaker Pump, the most widely used model of these pumps, can pull water from a source (such as a pond, lake, stream, or well) as deep as 30 feet below the pump. It can then pressurize the water and spray it continuously to a height over 40 feet above the pump. It can also push water through a hosepipe for as far as 1,000 feet on flat ground, and it has the ability to irrigate as much as two acres of land. It retails for about US$100, and its users are each earning an average of US$1,000 profit per year.

More recently, Fisher and his KickStart team invented the MoneyMaker Hip Pump, which is more affordable than the Super MoneyMaker Pump to lower barriers of entry to commercial irrigation. Unlike a treadle pump, its unique pivoted design allows the operator to pump water using his or her arms, legs, and body weight in an easy-to-use rocking motion. More than 4,300 farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mali are using this pump. The Hip Pump retails for about US$35, and its users are each earning an average annual profit of US$650.

“The MoneyMaker pumps Martin designed are inspirational on many levels,” said award nominator David M. Kelley, IDEO chairman and founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. “The inventions are remarkable in the huge impacts they have had on poverty and the lives of hundreds of thousands of poor farmers in Africa. They are an exceedingly simple solution to a very complex problem.”

At present, nearly 62,000 small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali are running profitable businesses by using MoneyMaker pumps. On average, farmers double or triple their annual net household incomes. Current pump users generate total new revenues equivalent to 0.6 percent of Kenya’s GDP, and 0.25 percent of Tanzania’s GDP.

KickStarting Sustainability

In 1984, while a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, Fisher traveled to Peru where he first witnessed rural poverty. The experience motivated him to explore ways technology and engineering could be applied to alleviate poverty. After completing his degree he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study technology-oriented solutions for rural poverty in Kenya. Fisher went for 10 months and stayed for 17 years. As he worked on traditional development projects for the first five years, he became increasingly disillusioned by the lack of sustainable impacts on poverty. In collaboration with fellow development worker Nick Moon, Fisher established ApproTEC – the organization that would become KickStart.

“The vast majority of development is about giving things away, and most development agencies see the poor as victims asking for help,” Fisher explained. “At KickStart, we have a very different opinion of them. We see them as entrepreneurs. We see them as extremely hardworking people seeking the opportunity to get out of poverty.”

Inventing something is only one step in the process of a successful innovation. Fisher knows this well ¾ he supports his inventions with a market-based development approach that ‘kick-starts’ a sustainable cycle of wealth creation. Fisher commercializes his inventions through a private sector supply chain, which is profitable for everyone involved, including local wholesalers and retailers. Centralized manufacturing brings high quality, economies of scale, and locally available parts. KickStart will soon break ground on a new technology development center in Nairobi.

“In creating KickStart, Martin has created a model that is, by design, sustainable and easily replicated nearly anywhere in the world where people suffer grinding poverty,” said award nominator Frances B. Emerson, vice president of corporate communications at Deere and Company. “Because of the quantum leap in income brought about by these technologies, the journey out of poverty is a one-way trip.”

ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM

The Lemelson-MIT Program recognizes outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. This June it will announce the 2008 winner of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize.

Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history’s most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by the Lemelson Foundation, a philanthropy that celebrates and supports inventors and entrepreneurs in order to strengthen social and economic life in the U.S. and developing countries. More information on the Lemelson-MIT Program is online athttp://web.mit.edu/invent/.

For more information:

Lemelson-MIT Program

Melissa Makofske

melm@mit.edu

617-452-2170

Kayla Willis

kwillis@mit.edu

617-258-0632

Real Good. Not Just Feel Good

2008-03-01T22:04:07Z

Brief Guide to High Impact Philanthropy - M Fisher K Starr.pdf

International giving is motivated by very human and humane impulse to improve the lives of the people we see as less fortunate.

Too often this means that giving is driven by emotion rather than by rational evaluation.

To make real progress in tackling the worlds most pressing problems, donors need to be able to distinguish between the "Real Good" and the "Feel Good."

Feel Good solutions address symptoms. Real Good solutions attack root causes. Real Good solutions often seem counter-intuitive. They may appear, at first, hard headed or hard hearted. But this is because the feel good solutions we’ve to which we have become accustomed, usually position an organization as a “rescuer” of people, animals, or habitat. Real Good solutions recognize that the world’s poorest people are able and eager to improve their own lives. They create opportunities rather than dependence.

KickStart founder Martin Fisher, and Kevin Starr of the Mulago Foundation put together this brief guide to help donors separate the Real Good from the Feel Good.

Mahmoud Guindo

2009-09-11T01:07:47Z

Mahmoud Guindo has struggled for years to make ends meet. The 48-year-old Malian from Dogon Country was a victim of living on credit and borrowing from friends. He moved to Mali’s capital Bamako eleven years ago in search of work to support his wife and children. He began working as a security guard in a private residence and gardening a 150 sq meter plot of land not far from his home. But he says it was never enough to cover his basic needs of food, clothes and medicine for his four children.

Mahmoud’s average salary as a security guard is 200,000 CFA per year, or approximately $US400. To increase his annual income, he decided to build a bigger garden, but he was skeptical about how he would water a larger plot of land. Then he said he saw an advertisement about Kickstart's Money Maker irrigation pump, known locally as “nafasoro,” on television and decided to buy it. He didn’t have the money, so he approached his boss for a loan. Both men agreed it was a tangible asset that would provide a profitable and quick return of investment.

Mahmoud bought the pump in October of 2008. Since then he has almost doubled his annual income from $US400 to $US700 by selling fruits and vegetables.

The additional cash flow is allowing him to pay off some debts while being able to provide for his family.

Daniel Karanja Njenga and Nancy Gathoni

2009-01-19T07:48:56Z

“We lost everything we had worked for, but now we are getting back on our feet. Our children are not going to bed hungry anymore.”

In Eldoret, farmers Daniel Karanja Njenga his wife Nancy Gathoni see the MoneyMaker pump as their most important investment. Their home and farm were looted during Kenya’s post election violence in March 2008. Daniel saw the MoneyMaker Hip Pump demonstrated at the IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp where his family of five children were placed after their house burned and Daniel’s arm was injured. They lived in a government tent for over 5 months. The camp was where he heard about KickStart’s Imarisha Maisha promotion.

“When I saw the MoneyMaker Hip Pump demonstration and heard about it on the radio, I knew it was the answer to how we could earn an income quickly and get back to farming.”

His first purchase with the relief funds from the Kenyan government (US $130) was the MoneyMaker Hip Pump and hoses. The manually operated pump is lightweight, lower cost than other pumps and easy to use. It does not require electricity or fuel. With it, he could irrigate his small plot of 1/8th acre and grow crops during the dry season when most farms are bare. They now earn a decent living growing and selling sukuma wiki (kale), a staple food for Kenyans. They are helping hungry neighbors and friends struggling to get back on their feet again after the violence

Daniel has plans to expand his plot and grow cabbages, tomatoes and purchase a dairy cow. An average farmer can make about 9,000 - 10,000 shillings (around US $120) or more per month selling crops produced using the MoneyMaker pump.

Daniel and Nancy, like thousands of farmers in Kenya and Africa, are becoming successful businessmen and women able to feed their families, pay school fees, and medical expenses.

After Kenya’s post-election violence, escalating food prices and difficult global economic times, MoneyMaker pumps are giving hope to an otherwise desperate situation; a permanent solution that tackles the root of poverty, a way to make money.

Catherine Gwambie

2008-04-08T23:30:02Z

Catherine Gwambie and her husband Hawzi Mwmami are a very entrepreneurial couple from Tanzania. They had dreams of being successful shop owners in Dar es Salaam. They farmed in their native Kigoma, growing and selling maize and beans to save enough to open a shop selling household supplies.

The shop was reasonably successful, but it did not generate as much income as they needed to support their family. Mr. Mwami decided to buy land to raise chickens and for Mrs. Mwami to start growing and selling vegetables. It was a good business but difficult because irrigation with a bucket took a lot of effort.

Early 2007 Mrs. Mwami heard an ad for the Super MoneyMaker on the radio. She excitedly told her husband about this new pump that was affordable and made irrigation easier and quicker. Mr. Mwami was not convinced. Mrs. Mwami insisted and since she was using her own money she would make the decision. Together they went to the Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam to buy a Super MoneyMaker at the shop owned by Mama Songa (another KickStart Success Story).

The pump worked so well Mrs. Mwami increased her production. She expanded with another plot to increase her business. She employs her daughter (left in the picture above) and young sister (right). They have three young children and they plan to send them to good secondary schools now that they have money.

The Mwami’s have plans to build a nicer house for their family.

Mr. Mwami freely admits that his wife was right about the pump, and between their two businesses, they see a bright future for their family.

Maurice and Josephine Simatei

2008-04-08T23:11:24Z

Maurice is a youthful 70 year-old Mzee (old man), a wise farmer whose neighbors and fellow farmers respect as a mentor. He farms a small plot of land in the green, lush hills near Eldoret, in the northern Rift Valley region of Kenya.

When Maurice's father died in 1994, he inherited his family land, along with a very steep loan his father had taken out on the farm. Maurice could not repay the loan so the family was forced off their land. That same year, they lost all their livestock. Destitute and landless, Maurice and his family became squatters on government owned land.

In 1995, they started again, built a small hut and starting irrigating their tiny plot with a bucket. With the few crops they raised they saved enough money to buy a cow.

In 1999, Maurice saw a Super Money Maker Pump being used along the side of the main road into Eldoret, and he was amazed at how easily his fellow farmer was able to irrigate his crops.

He instantly realized that a MoneyMaker pump could change his life.
Maurice visited his local retailer where a KickStart salesman demonstrated the pump, and even brought it to his shamba (farm) so Maurice could show his wife Josephine who was using buckets to scoop and carry water from a stream to their crops. They were convinced to buy, seeing the potential to increase output and improve the quality of their crops.

Maurice sold the cow to buy the pump and, in addition to maize, began growing tomatoes, kale, and cabbage which all sell for a good price in his local market.

Prosperity came quickly. Within the first year, he was able to save enough of his earnings to buy a milling machine for grinding maize. Josephine sells the flour, a staple ingredient in the Kenyan diet. As his profits grew, he also bought an expensive motorized fuel pump to irrigate his crops. In 2005, he gave his pump to his brother-in-law to use in his tree nursery business. Although he now owns a petrol powered pump, Maurice plans to purchase another MoneyMaker pump the next crop season after he pays his children's school fees.

Maurice has become a leader in his community and an inspiration to his neighbors

The day we visited Maurice, nine other farmers gathered around to meet us. Three of them had already bought pumps because they saw Maurice's success. One neighbor told us his own success story. He too was a squatter irrigating with a bucket. But once he saw the success Maurice was having, he saved and bought a pump too. With the money he made with his pump, he was able to buy a tractor and trailer and now, in addition to farming, he has a transport business.

Toward the end of our visit, Maurice and Josephine insisted we come inside their home to rest. Josephine graciously served tea and chapatti (a traditional Kenyan flat bread). She said "The MoneyMaker Pump was a breakthrough for our whole family. We are so happy to meet the man, Dr. Fisher, who designed his pump!"

Samuel Ndung'u Mburu

2008-04-02T00:16:14Z

Samuel Ndung'u Mburu was raising seven children on his 1.5 acre plot he inherited from his father. With no prospects for employment in his village, he went to Nairobi to look for work that paid enough to keep his family alive.

Salaried work was hard to find, so he tried to support his family by selling roasted corn on the roadside, sending home the little he earned. But the city council did not like peddlers, so he was constantly harassed by local authorities. He tried to open a fruit stand but that required a license which he could not afford.

Frustrated, but not defeated, he returned to his family (this was in 1999). In his village, he saw our then brand new Super MoneyMaker Pump outside a local shop. Samuel's friend knew the shopkeeper and was able to convince him to let Samuel have a pump with a down payment and allow him to pay the balance after his harvest.

Prosperity came quickly. Before he bought his pump, he earned, at most, $50 twice a year when he harvested his rain-fed crops. But with his pump, he now grows high-value tomatoes and French Beans and earns between $250 and $500 every three months. He has rented more land to farm and now has six acres under cultivation.

His oldest son just graduated from the local technical college. Samuel was able to pay for tuition and buy his son a bike so he could get to class. His second oldest son is studying to be an electrician. The other children are in primary or secondary school. When asked about his achievement, Samuel's son points to the MoneyMaker pump and says that it he never could have gone to school if his father had not bought the MoneyMaker.

Samuel now makes enough to afford a petrol pump to irrigate his land, but he still uses his MoneyMaker on some of his land loans his pump to his brother and his aunt.

His next goal is to buy more land so he can leave each of his children a substantial plot of their own--and he is well on way to achieving it.

Standing in his field, you can see three other MoneyMaker pumps which were being used by his neighbors. Samuel said that after observing him work for a number of seasons, his neighbors were inspired by his success. They saved up their money to buy their own MoneyMaker pumps and are now enjoying prosperity as well. A few years ago, Samuel was one of the poorest men in his village. Today he is a leader and role model.

James Ingunza Malondo and Loretta Malondo

2008-04-01T01:27:21Z

"Don't give me a fish, teach me to fish. This pump is our fishing net, our future. Whoever designed this pump had the common man in mind. Thank you."

James is an eloquent speaker with a strong commanding manner. He retired last year at 55 yrs old from teaching for over 30 years. His mud brick house was built from the proceeds earned using the MoneyMaker Hip Pump he purchased October 2nd 2006. The day before, he had leased a small plot of land outside Eldoret and began a new life as a farmer. He farms a half-acre and plans to lease more land as profits from his crops increase.

After James retired, he had no savings, pension or income. Providing basics for his thirteen children, multiple grandchildren and elderly mother was very difficult. Living in the very poor and densely populated village of Vihiga in Western Kenya, poverty was high and opportunity low. Farming was not a good business.

He moved his family to Matunda in 2006, hoping to make a go of farming and create a better life for his family. His small plot was covered with grass and weeds. After seeing a MoneyMaker pump being used at his friend’s farm, he knew it was the answer. He went to the dealer and bought a MoneyMaker Hip Pump that very day. James couldn't believe how durable and easy it was to operate, and that it did not require fuel. The pump, sprinkler, seeds and hard work got him started.

Only one year later, James and his family are growing vegetables and corn continuously. He proudly showed us his tomatoes, sukuma (kale), kunde (cow peas - a delicious green leaf similar to spinach); maize (corn) and sorghum they grow for their family and also sell to a vegetable broker. He plans to lease more land the next crop cycle to expand.

"Our neighbors are very surprised that in just one year we are growing all this, as if the plot came with the vegetables," James told us. "I've decided when my next child marries, I will give a MoneyMaker pump and some spare change for seeds. I will have given them all they need."