World Ball
Hundreds of thousands of footballs are bought and disposed of each year in Africa. Although footballs are often used until they’re beyond repair by traditional methods, WorldBall is developing solutions that extend their lifespan and exponentially increase quality of play and sports for development activity.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Duncan
Last Name
Penn
Website
Organization
Country
United States
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
United States
Your idea
Name Your Project
World Ball
Country your work focuses on
Rwanda
Describe Your Idea
Hundreds of thousands of footballs are bought and disposed of each year in Africa. Although footballs are often used until they’re beyond repair by traditional methods, WorldBall is developing solutions that extend their lifespan and exponentially increase quality of play and sports for development activity.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
There are a number of organizations working throughout Africa using sports and football as a means to important life skills such as conflict resolution, gender equality, and HIV awareness. The footballs required to run these camps are often very expensive and wear out quickly. Our research reveals costs as high as $75 USD per ball in land-locked East African countries. Seventy-five US dollars is the cost of a football that has a projected life span of merely one week to three months after use on the rough terrain prevalent in African. As a result, development organizations have a limited number of balls they can purchase each year without becoming dependent on outside donations of footballs.
WorldBall is addressing this issue by creating solutions that extend the lifespan and play-time of traditional balls, either by rehabilitating them or by creating a secondary, non-football life to extend their value. We are leveraging local ingenuity and the propensity towards re-use to create new job opportunities and decrease the program materials budgets of the growing number of sports for development organizations. As a result, WorldBall will help facilitate new football activities and programs and enhance existing activities and programs.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
World Ball is project designed in partnership with a Founder of OA Projects, Duncan Penn, and the social design firm Catapult. As the project is still in the R and D phase, there is no measurable impact to date. However, through our experiences with OA Projects, and seeing the impact of locally-driven and soccer-based peacebuilding programs in Rwanda and Uganda, the social and economic impact potential of this project is limitless.
Problem
WorldBall’s co-founders have all witnessed first hand the power of football in uniting communities in incredibly impoverished areas. In 2006, Duncan and Gavin Hollett co-founded OA Projects (OA), a Canadian NGO employing the unifying power of football to create stronger communities for children and youth affected by war. Through our experience building, operating, and expanding OA in South America and East Africa, we observed a need for cost-effective ways to provide sports equipment to organizations like ours. Footballs shipped in from China – even brands such as Adidas or Nike – lack the durability required to survive daily use on underdeveloped streets, slums, rock/dirt fields, or a refugee camp. Consequently, organizations spend a substantial amount of money and/or time getting footballs donated from the outside or replacing them locally. The problem with the latter is the enormous added cost to a football as a result of trade and tariff laws.
Actions
Our first step towards addressing this problem was research-focused. We looked for ways this problem was being addressed and found footballs that claimed extended lifespan or local-production. What we did not find was an organization that specifically addressed repair and re-use, which seemed the most cost-effective way of remedying the problem.
We then brought on Catapult Design, a non-profit design firm with experience in emerging markets, to help explore the market numbers and opportunities. Together, we spent three months interviewing and accumulating data from other sports for development organizations, aid organizations, manufacturers, and local entrepreneurs to strengthen our understanding of the issues and costs associated with moving footballs into and around Eastern Africa. With this information, we were able to hone in on the opportunities surrounding football repair. In August 2010, Catapult and WorldBall are developing a pilot program in Rwanda that includes further field research and identification of local partners.
Results
Through the creation of local repair centers, repair kits for individuals, or the identification of an afterlife for football reclamation, WorldBall will build a profitable business that creates strong social value both in its operations and through the products it produces. The results of that achievement include:
* Providing opportunity for economic development through a progressive work environment where youth in developing and under-developed countries have an opportunity to learn a skilled trade and earn a fair wage.
* Use the WorldBall brand, social network and footballs to unify youth in developed countries together with youth in underdeveloped and developing countries
* Aid other sports for development organizations in financial self-sufficiency by reducing their budgets associated with program materials costs.
* Enable the increase in football-based activities.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Our success over the next three hinges years on three things: 1. the team behind our effort, 2. the need for cost-competitive solutions for football acquisition, and 3. our repair and re-use program as a viable solution.
1. Our founding team includes Duncan Penn and Gavin Hollett, both of whom have experience establishing and operating a sports for development organization as well as a strong in-country network required to establish WorldBall, and Tom Williams, a seasoned entrepreneur bridging the tech and philanthropy world with 15 years of consulting experience and as CEO of GiveMeaning.com. The team we have built has experience with on-the-ground needs as well as the capacity to build effective partnerships and raise the capital required to get our business up and running. Additionally, our relationship with Catapult Design will support us through product development and implementation of our solutions.
2. The need we’ve identified for cost-appropriate solutions for increased longevity of footballs is rooted in our years of experience working in this field. Our research and interviews with sports for development organizations throughout Africa have further validated that need and given us a stronger sense of the customer base.
3. Working with Catapult, we plan to prototype a variety of solutions and test them on-the-ground with our partners, vendors, and customers. WorldBall’s business model engages the local community to determine an appropriate, adoptable solution. We believe our long-term success is built on how successfully we can engage community members and other sports for development organizations in local training programs, and ultimately the extent to which our solution and business model replicates in neighboring regions and countries.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
There are a variety of hurdles that could hinder WorldBall’s success. Several of these hurdles are things we can anticipate and mitigate while others will be unexpected. However, we have built a team with the experience to effectively address these potential hurdles.
When working in risk-averse and impoverished communities, there’s always the challenge of developing an appropriate cost model and incentive for the collection and re-furbishing of spent footballs. Our goal is to build a strong, trustworthy brand that produces products and provides services that does not require financial subsidies.
Although the East African Community has plans for a common currency and common market, distribution models in emerging markets can be challenging. However, organizations distributing goods to rural areas throughout Eastern Africa exist and can be leveraged to scale WorldBall’s efforts.
Our pilot program in Rwanda introduces some risk due to the limited manufacturing capacity and materials resources. Conversely, because our goal is to build local capacity and promote economic activity, we see this challenge equally as opportunity.
New competitors in the market also present significant risk. They could undercut our cost, provide a lower quality product that taints consumer perception, etc. On the plus side, competitors are also an indication that our solutions are in demand. WorldBall will retain its advantage by building a strong brand and through our association and commitment to local partners.
How many people will your project serve annually?
1001‐10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Less than $50
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for less than a year
In what country?
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Catapult Design
How long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
The key partnership requirement for World Ball will be with existing manufacturing and weaving centers in Rwanda. Through an integrated partnership with established local experts, our soccer ball repairs and afterlife products will be built on a relevant and sustainable basis. Moreover, this will help to provide the necessary understanding and platform to develop the manufacturing process for creating an improved soccer ball for sale and distribution throughout the region and continent.
Our non-monetary partnerships with NGO's already using football to build community with provide us with the ideal vehicle for product testing, impact assessment and for relevant programs to support.
Our Advisory Board is there but still needs to grow. We are actively seeking partners to help fill some of the gaps in our current structure.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1. An increase in Research and Development in Rwanda about existing manufacturing capacities and locally available materials. This will be carried out at the beginning of August.
2. An increase in financial and organizational support to facilitate a rapid execution of our go forward strategy post the remaining R&D in August.
3. Partnership development with experts in product marketing in Rwanda, Africa and the USA.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
During a needs assessment to Rwanda and Uganda in 2008, I was trying learn as much as possible about existing (and locally-driven) soccer-based programing that were focused on building peace and community. During this time, I would rarely walk through the streets of Kigali without seeing some children playing with plastic bags tied together. I decided to give a ball to a group of boys that were always playing right outside our guesthouse. After a week, the ball was basically destroyed. At the moment, I knew that the existing soccer equipment situation in Rwanda was a hurdle to sustained levels or structured play.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Duncan Penn is a 26-yr old who splits his time between film-making and raising support for soccer-based peacebuilding in northern Uganda. He came out with the idea for World Ball in 2008 and is keen to see it take off in 2010.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Friend or family member
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
50 words or fewer
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Before and After 4 days of play.JPG | 976.74 KB |
 | 157 weeks ago Duncan Penn updated this Competition Entry. |
| 158 weeks ago Duncan Penn submitted this idea. |
