LIKELEMBA WITHOUT BORDERS ( LI-WI-BO )
Likelemba is an African system of solidarity savings mechanism where several members put a certain sum of money in a "pot" and every month, the total amount contained in the pot is then donated to one of the participating members ( Wikipedia ). My solution is LI-WI-BO, this is a global networking platform that provides financial aid and resources to small-and medium sized enterprises.
About You
About You
First Name
Maria
Last Name
Pedro
Website
Your Organization
Country
Angola, XX
About Your Organization
Organization Name
LI-WI-BO
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Organization Country
Organization Type
Private Institution
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Your solution
Name Your solution
LIKELEMBA WITHOUT BORDERS ( LI-WI-BO )
Describe Your Solution
Likelemba is an African system of solidarity savings mechanism where several members put a certain sum of money in a "pot" and every month, the total amount contained in the pot is then donated to one of the participating members ( Wikipedia ). My solution is LI-WI-BO, this is a global networking platform that provides financial aid and resources to small-and medium sized enterprises.
Country your work focuses on
If multiple countries, please list them here. If your solution targets an entire region, please select it below
Sub-Saharan Africa
Region(s) your solution focuses on:
.
Range of turnover in your target firms, in USD
Less than $1 Million.
Average turnover in USD of your target firm
$ 500,000
Number of employees in your target firms
5-24.
Average number of employees of your target firm
15
Specify the size, average and range of expected loans or investments in each target firm
Approximately 100 words left (800 characters).
What stage is your solution in?
Idea phase
Innovation
What makes your innovative solution unique?
LI-WI-BO is a global internet / networking platform that provides financial aid and resources to small- and medium sized enterprizes from African countries by bringing people and together through technology and assists them in cooperating and supporting small- and medium enterprises by collecting money with various persons who do believe in the enterprise.
How does LI-WI-BO work?
We are looking for investors, other business owners, employees, people with a monthly salary anywhere in the world. Those persons can subscribe to the platform, LI-WI-BO will look for candidates that can form a group to do likelemba.The small enterprise will be presenting itself through the website, we will be the spokesperson of the enterprise and will give all information about the founder, the location, the product that he's selling or producing and the revenues or estimated revenues and the estimated finances needed. Then the candidates that are subscribed to the platform can decide if they want to put a certain sum of money in the "pot" that will go directly to the enterprise they want to support, the point is to finally have a group of people who want to support the same enterprise. When the group is formed we request the candidates to each send their part od the sum, when we receive it we will send it directly to the founder to invest it in his enterprise. The founder itself will also put a certain sum of money to invest in his own enterprise.For example if they are 10 persons in the group and each persons put $ 2,500 in the "pot" the founder will receive $25,000 at once so that he will be able to invest in his enterprise, the next mont another participant will receive this amount and so on until every participant of the group receives his share. In that way they will be helping each other. Every 6 months the network will interview one of the founders who could realize his dreams with the help of LI-WI-BO.
How does your proposed innovation leverage public intervention in catalyzing private SME finance?
By putting investors and other people together to support and invest in a small enterprise in Africa so that the enterprise has a chance to succeed.
What barriers does your proposed solution address?
Lack of competition / incentives for financial intermediaries to serve SMEs, Underdeveloped local capital markets (term local currency funding, exit options for SME equity), General barriers to SME development related to investment climate, Lack of financing to women entrepreneurs.
If you checked any of these barriers, describe how your solution addresses them
My proposition adress solutions for the lack of financing to beginning entrepreneurs who can not afford to go to the bank and have nowhere else to go. For example in the rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa many people don't have bank accounts which makes it difficult for them to abtain a loan from a bank, this is the kind of barriers myb proposition adresses. Although many people in rural areas have great ideas and successfull businesses, they don't have the access to finances or capital to start or expand their businesses so my proposition also adresses the underdevelopped local markets.
Impact
Provide empirical evidence of your proposed solution's success/impact at present. If your project is in the idea phase, please provide evidence that speaks to its potential impact
In kenya likelemba is know as "chama"
The power of 'chama' culture
BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING
An official with Kenya Power and Lighting Company takes notes at a sub-station in Nairobi. Photo/FILE
By AL KAGS (email the author)
Posted Friday, April 10 2009 at 20:51
In the Aberdare ranges, villagers got together and formed the Gatiki Electrical Company and bought shares for Ksh10,000 ($125) each.
he villagers’ plan was to develop three electricity generating plants along the Gikira River — Chiki, which is set to produce 0.75MW; Kiawambogo (0.375MW) and Gacharageini (0.25MW) — thereby light up their households, and pay between a mere $ 0.65 and $1.25 for their electrical usage, a minute fraction of what most Kenya Power and Lighting Company customers have to pay.
This is an exciting initiative for Kenya because it could portend the beginning of the adoption of a microgrids strategy for Kenya’s power problem.
Kenya’s power problems — and indeed all of the country’s problems — are also its opportunities.
The Gatiki project is a clear example of how the chama culture that Kenyans have so perfected can be taken to the next level so that they will aid in Kenya’s transformation efforts.
The idea here would be that communities could form companies such as Gatiki and generate power from wind, solar, water and biogas for themselves.
Under existing law, communities will be able to generate a maximum of 1MW per installation – beyond which the extra power would need to be shed into the national grid and a power purchase agreement be signed between the national electricity company and the local one.
The payoff for such radical ventures on education, health and small businesses cannot be underemphasised.
The chama culture that Kenyans have embraced would come in handy when Kenyans in remote villages come together to build a dispensary near them and go as far as take responsibility for their running and sustainability.
ill be revolutionary when villages in Loitoktok, Kijabe and Pokot — to name three examples — set aside a piece of land and build a police station near them and then go to the police commissioner and ask him to staff it.
The idea here is that for Kenya to be a middle class nation by the year 2030, then some fundamental changes must be made in the way the challenges are handled.
Gone must be the days when the villagers look to their parliamentarians to sort out their problems.
While it is true the government has a lot to do for the with regard to the transformation of the country and the provision of essential services to the people, we must accept that the most aggressive of transformational efforts will take years — especially, when governed by the government’s rules on procurement and so forth.
Assuming that we can accept that neither government, business, the citizens or any other person can effectively sort out the country’s challenges, it is incumbent upon us to take on a more transformational perspective to our approach to solving Kenyan problems at a local level.
Al Kags is the Programme Officer at the Kenya ICT Board and a prolific writer. alkags@alkags.comwww.alkags.com
How many firms do you expect to reach?
We want to reach as many firms as we can, since we will also be able to advertize through mobile phones it will be easier to reach many more small -and medium enterprises.
What is the volume of private SME finance you aim to catalyze?
The intention is to go global and to reach as many people as possible in the world.
What time frame will be required to reach these targets?
At least a year or two will be needed to reach those targets. One to two years will be sufficient to attend our targets. Thanks to networking, the internet and mobile phones, the business will reach as much entrepreneurs and small firms as we can in a small fragment of time.
Does your solution seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
What would prevent your solution from being a success?
Many countries in Africa still don't have the system of paying through a mobile phone and this can prevent my innovative solution from succeeding since this will be one of the ways people will be able to send and receive money.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Describe the social impact of your innovation. Please include both numbers and stories as evidence of this impact
Soon paying through mobile phones or sending money overseas through mobile phones won't be something new, but it will be something used daily in the future in Africa. Well what does this have to do with likelemba? Likelemba is a way to help people in financial difficulty, through solidarity the person can start or expand his enterprise. Especially if they can also do likelemba with people overseas, with the help of mobile phones they will be able to receive and send money in a couple of minutes. This will be especially very necessary in rural areas so that people will be able to participate in LI-WI-BO even without a bank account since many people in the rural areas don't have access to a bank account.
The people in Africa will be able to start a business or expand it, they will be able to do this through cooperation and solidarity. LI-WI-BO encourages people to show solidarity towards others. It is a new concept and because of mobile phones and internet, it will be easier to spread the news. So it will have a great impact if we go global through internet.
A man wants to start a business, he wants to sell hot-dogs and beer at night ( this is a business with a lot of success in Sub-Saharan Africa ) but he does not have the capital to start his business, well with the help of likelemba he will be able to start his business and the best part is that he will make profit that wil be only for himself and he won't have to get a loan to start his business since everyone will get the same amount every month.
Now with LI-WI-BO people will be able to achieve their dreams or have at least a financial support.
Sustainability
List all the funding sources that are required for the sustainability of this solution
- Individuals from all over the world
- Companies, enterprises
- entrepreneurs
Demonstrate how your proposed solution has the capacity to graduate from dependence on public finance. What is the time frame?
Approximately 450 words left (2400 characters).
Demonstrate how your proposed solution will survive a potential loss of its largest private funding source
We will have revenues by:
Direct advertising:
Making advertising for existing african enterprises as well as up-coming African enterprises.
Please tell us what kind of partnerships, if any, could be critical to the greater success and sustainability of your innovation
A partnership with a company who make payment through mobile phones possible.
Are there non-financial issues that could threaten the sustainability of your proposed solution?
Yes, not implementing paying through mobile phones in oth African countries.
Please tell us if your proposed solution aims to scale up through a high growth sector, expand immediately to multiple sectors, and/or scale up geographically
The goal is to start advertizing this business in kenya were this method is already known and highly recomended and paying through mobile phone is very popular and then we will expand in all of the other Sub-Saharan African countries.
 | 96 weeks agoMaria Pedro updated this Competition Entry. |
| 96 weeks agoMaria Pedro submitted this idea. |
