Entrepreneurship Grants – Previous Winners

Every three months from March 2017 to March 2018 I give away three no-strings-attached grants of $1,000 each to help budding entrepreneurs. That’s $12,000 in total.

All grants have now been awarded. Here are the previous winners:

 Here is the original post announcing the spring winners.

Non-Stop Lollipops – Caffeine Infused Lollipops

Joshua Byers is a law student who has been working on this idea for a while. Coffee and energy drinks are expensive and get boring quickly. So he has come up with an interesting alternative, caffeine infused lollipops. Check out his infographic above. He is a great example of what I was describing in the introduction. Joshua has done everything needed to launch but is just short of money. He has a manufacturer ready, has launched his website, incorporated a company, done some branding and quite a lot of market research. All he now needs is money to place those first few orders and get his prototype refined.

What the grant will do: Joshua will probably need some more funding before his product hits the shelves, but he is at the stage where getting an investor or interest from a crowdfunding campaign would be difficult. The $1,000 will pay for the prototype to be refined and improved, including putting it in front of focus groups. With that done and provided the feedback is good getting funding or a large pre-paid order should be much easier.

We followed up with Josh six months later, and a lot has happened: How To Start a Confectionery Brand From Scratch

 

Afrikstart- Crowdfunding Site for African Entrepreneurs

Edwige Boum is a financial consultant turned entrepreneur who has spent the last two years working on her brain-child Afrikstart. In her own words:

I have created Afrikstart out of a real desire to give an alternative source of funding to entrepreneurs across Africa who struggle to get access to capital from banks and investors. Years ago, after seeing my brother give up on his dream to create a retail business in Cameroon (West Africa) for lack of funding, I thought then there must be an easier way to provide easily accessible and affordable financing to entrepreneurs in Africa. Like my brother, I came to realize that many fellow ambitious entrepreneurs in Africa bootstrap for their business, or rely on family and friends. Those who apply for business loans face over 20% interest rates on average. Crowdfunding came to me as a solution to reach many underfunded entrepreneurs in Africa.

Afrikstart is the solution, a crowdfunding platform dedicated to fund African entrepreneurs. After two years of work, countless hours of work and lots of great press, it is almost ready for launch. It just needs some money… What the grant will do: The grant will have two uses.

• Pay a three-month subscription for a white-label crowdfunding platform to launch the first 15 pilot crowdfunding campaigns.
• It will fund a 12-weeks crowdfunding training program for entrepreneurs looking to use the platform.

I love that it is for a good purpose, I love that the grant will be crucial, and it really tickles me that my small grant to help one entrepreneur will enable investment for lots more entrepreneurs.

 

Hollie Burgess – Blog

Hollie has been working on her blog for the past three years all while working a full-time job. And she has made it a success. The blog is now very well read, has won numerous awards and been featured on countless sites. Including:  The Mirror, Daily Mail, The Sun and Look Magazine. But it isn’t doing well enough to pay her a full-time income. Hollie is currently on maternity leave with her first son and is faced with the tough choice of going back to work and a stable income, or taking the risk and trying to make the blog a financial success, but without the income to support her family. What the grant will do: Hollie is due to return from maternity leave and the grant will allow her to not go back to work, but instead dedicate herself full-time to her blog and to looking after her son. She has proven she can make the site work, now she just needs the time and headspace to take it to the next level.

The Autumn Winners were chosen by a public vote. See the voting here.

Colin Hayes – M50 Mobile Toll Payment Platform

York Circus School – a Social Enterprise

I am applying for this grant to help me purchase the initial equipment required for setting up the York’s first ever Circus School.

About Me: I am currently a High Performance Computing Manager for the University of York; however, through a cost-cutting centralisation process I am about to be made redundant thus enabling me to start something new and exciting!  Since my hobbies include circus related skills, and the fact that I very much enjoy working with children I have had the very exciting idea to start a circus school in York (the nearest circus school is 25 miles away in Leeds)!

Initial Aim: To provide an amazing learning experience for primary school aged children through being taught various circus skills in fun and exciting workshops.  These workshops will be designed to be more than just “different” PE lessons: since I am also a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador, students will find themselves learning about gravity, patterns, logical thinking and choreography, both individually and in group work.
In the first year, I will aim to deliver these workshops to as many primary schools in the York area as possible and I will prioritise visiting schools that can be visited on a regular basis.  However, in the first couple of months I will start with targeting 2 schools that already know me well, and offer them free sessions in order to test and refine the lessons.  This will help build credibility for the business and allow word of mouth to spread the news of what my business can offer other schools.

Medium Term Aim: After the first few terms I hope to build up enough enthusiasm in the children to consider opening after-school clubs in order to be able to start teaching some more advanced skills such as unicycling and slacklining.  At this point I will seek out potential volunteers to help teach juggling and slacklining.

Longer Term Aim: Once the business has grown I will then aim to find a suitable venue to hire/buy as a permanent base.  This will give the York Circus School opportunities to introduce aerial circus skills and acrobatics.  At this point I will be seeking to employ instructors to join the teaching team.   It is also hoped that the venue can be shared with the York juggling community and the York slacklining community.

Seed financing: My imminent redundancy pay-out will help cover the initial start-up salary costs for the first 6 months.  My application for your entrepreneur grant, if successful, will enable me to buy the equipment needed for the schools’ work and after-school clubs.  I will aim to get funding from PE and Sport Premium government funding so that I can provide the workshops at little or no cost to the schools.

Looking further ahead, when I am at the stage of buying/renting a building for the circus school, I plan to apply to charities for funding.  Because of this long-term goal I plan to start the business as a Community Interest Company, CIC (a CIC is a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders), which will then enable the York Circus School to apply for charitable grants.

Research: I am currently a regular visitor to 8 York schools through running either lessons as a STEM Ambassador or as a York Schools and Youth Trust volunteer helping to run assemblies and lessons.  From all the staff I have talked with over the past few months, including 6 friends who are teachers (2 of which are acting heads), there has been overwhelming enthusiasm concerning the idea of the business, including several who have already asked “when can we book you in?”.  I have done broader searches in the York area and there appears to be no individuals or organization providing circus training for schools.

I have looked around at the UK national scene, and broadly speaking there are scattered pockets of either individuals or small companies providing circus training around the country, and most of these are charging in the order of £200-300 a day with the schools paying for this from their PE and Sport Premium government fund (an average 200 pupil Primary School receives £18,000/year from this fund).  Therefore, there is much potential for starting a financially viable York Circus School business.

Personnel: Initially it will be just myself.

Personnel Skills: juggling of scarves, balls and clubs; club, flag and poi swinging; hand walking; unicycling; slacklining

The Timetable

Year 1

1.0 Create business plan

1.1 Seek investment and grants

1.2 Open the York Circus School as a Community Interest Company

2.0 Contact primary schools and gain interest

2.1 Check school insurance cover

3.0 Buy initial equipment and insurance cover

3.1 Plan trial lessons for up to 2 schools

3.2 Run PE lessons

4.0 After initial trial lessons seek possibilities of running after-school club

4.1 Look to involve local slacklining and juggling communities

Year 2

1.0 Seek further funding

1.1 Look to hire/buy building for after-school/evening with possibility of slacklining and aerial work

1.2 Investigate insurance for building and associated circus work

1.3 Buy year 2 equipment

1.4 Advertise for teaching staff to join the team

SUMMARY:

Thank you very much for reading this plan for my start-up business.  If you should award the grant to me, it would be an extremely gratefully received boost to getting the initial equipment bought for this exciting new adventure.

Yours gratefully

Stuart Priest

York, UK

Jenny Lachs – Digital Nomad Girls

The Winter Winners were chosen by a public vote. See the voting here.

Jemma Elizabeth – Let’s Go Eventing

I have a small yard of 8 stables, 12 acres, 2 menages, SJ field and great hacking. I employ a full time groom and 2 riders. I have another 2 horses at Somerford Park Farm ( an amazing place!) and 1 in Hampshire. In total I own 11 horses – crazy I know! I am very into Eventing (see here for more info on what eventing is https://www.britisheventing.com/asp-net/page.aspx?section=20&itemTitle=The+combination+of+Dressage%2c+Showjumping+%26+Cross+Country+in+one+competition ) I breed and produce event horses and ponies. One of my homebreds is currently in Hampshire with a lady who leases her from me. They are doing very well together having gone from 90 to 1* in one season. They also completed their first 3 day event which was held in Oxfordshire. They were both graded through the BEF Futurity program and both gained first premiums in the Eventing section. (http://www.britishbreeding.org/Home.aspx) So, on to my business idea and why I would like the grant and what I would do with it…. I have bought the domain name ‘Let’s Go Eventing’ and I would like to use the grant to pay for the website to be designed and produced because I am struggling to find the time to build it myself. I need the website so that I have an online base and a reference point for potential members to check me out and make sure that we look like a professional outfit. I gave you a brief run down of what Let’s Go Eventing is at the match betting conference in London. But it’s basically going to work on the same business model as the race horse syndications/clubs. People pay for the experience, the privilege, the excitement of being part of something. Eventing is a sport that the general public don’t really have much knowledge of but I would like to aim my business at the naïve folk and offer them a new experience that they will hopefully enjoy more than being part of a horse racing club. The difference between a racing club and this eventing club would be that this is more personable. Members will be invited back to the lorry for pimms (or gin!) and a picnic, they will get to meet and stroke the horses, they will get to meet and chat to the riders, they will get to walk the XC course, they will get to watch their horse compete in both dressage, show jumping and cross country. The horses I have that will be part of the club: Margaux – Hampshire – 1* level Drake – Cheshire – 5yo classes, BYEH Lola – Cheshire – 5yo classes, FEI Event pony Hendre – Cheshire – 8yo – Racehorse to Riding horse classes, BE90 I would like to approach some of the 4* riders to get them on board so that there are more horses in the club, which will mean more options for the members in terms of dates they are running and the location, but also the prestige of getting to meet and rub shoulders with the top riders and their horses. So I have a viable idea and I have the horses, I just need to put it all together. Thanks Jemma

Mark Cole – Vintage Refurbished Electronics

It was a cold morning, I drove myself to the office like a typical Wednesday. It was the middle of January 2016. I found myself in an interesting situation, I was sick of the office. Sick of trading time for money. Unlike most people I put in my two weeks’ notice a few weeks after this. This is where you would expect me to start my new business to change the world, instead I headed off to Georgia. The southern terminus of the Appalachian trail to be specific. Every day for the next four months, I would wake up and hike; having plenty of time to think about life and what my next goal would be. After hiking 2200 miles, I decided that I couldn’t go back to work for someone else. I had plenty of ideas like most people but I had never fully committed to any of them. After integrating back into civilization after a few weeks I got to working on the project that provided me feelings unlike anything I have ever had working for someone else. Most people have sold some items online before if that be things you no longer needed or things you imported from a different country. I began working MCO Electronics and Collectibles where I sell any electronics and different collectibles I can get my hands on. Most online market places are specializing in taking products from China and selling them without ever touching the product. This could be a good model but I was more interested in getting my hands dirty and putting in real work to create value. Coming from an electrical engineering background finding out what I wanted to deal in was pretty easy. I could fix vintage electronics and was familiar with a lot of different electronics so I decided to start out by doing what I know. If you scan craigslist or any other online source you’ll see plenty of people offering to buy your old iPhone but you aren’t going to see many offering to buy your old digital cameras, DVD players, and radios. That is where I differentiate myself. I use my expertise to both fix, restore, and flip older electronics. Not only does it have a monetary value, it is keeping these items out of landfills and getting them to customers who enjoy the products. As I continue my business, I find am constantly increasing my knowledge and product offerings. One issue I have that drop shippers do not is that I am constantly in need of new sources for items. My business takes a decent amount of man power at its current state to generate a large profit. I have to research upcoming sales, buy at the sales, restore the products, list the products, ship out the product, and finally deal with customer service. I find most people in this business end up slowing their scaling because there is only so much one person can do. Since I am applying for the grant, I have a detailed plan to what I would do with the influx of cash. I have bootstrapped the business to this point and wish to continue to organically grow but there are some aspects that I could greatly improve on. Currently I have minimal test equipment and am forced to buy chargers for all electronics I test. I am in the market for new testing equipment which will allow me to streamline this process at a cost of about $200. I have been focused on working within the business and need to focus energy on the business itself. In doing so I need basic logos and branding which will increase my return customer rate which will likely cost another $300. I plan to move from a sole proprietorship to an LLC in 2018 as I am beginning to reach sales volumes of over $5,000 a month. I would use the rest of the grand money to help cover some of the legal expenses. Ultimately, I am currently still in the infancy of my business. It’s not a glamourous business like creating the next Facebook or Uber. Instead it is a tangible business that can scale to provide a comfortable lifestyle for myself and hopefully future employees. I appreciate your time for reading it and offering a grant entrepreneurs as it makes a big difference.

Hanna & Edwina – Au Pair, Oh Paris

Biju Simon – Ether India

Website: www.etherindia.org (under construction)

Name: Biju Simon

Name of the Organization: Ether India Charitable Society

1. My personal profile

Can you just summarize what Competitive Markets for Goods and Services?

My professor asked me after finishing the lecturing on Economics. I stood up and looked blank without understanding the question. It sounded Greek and Latin to me. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he said why don’t you go back to school and learn? You don’t fit to be here. This was not the first incident in college where I didn’t understand what the professors or the fellow students said in English. It was a double obstacle for me. Neither did I understand the language nor the subject that was taught. Professors continued their lectures and the gap grew as well. I searched for the books in my language to fix this gap, but it ended up in vain. Finally I dropped out of the college in the first year itself.

Next year, I joined in a seminary, where students were molded for priesthood. What I have seen there is that many of the students are from rural background. And the atmosphere they provided us is entirely different from my previous institutions. They did not judge rather they encouraged us to speak by saying if he can, she can why cannot you? I learned English with fun. We were encouraged to make mistakes. Seminary life provided an environment which is conducive for me. There I could find the transformation from embarrassment to an opportunity to express myself. It is a transformation from feeling ashamed to feeling confident, from running away from task to running behind it. Gradually it gave me confidence to take challenges. It encouraged me to have fun, laugh and learn. It empowered me to see the world in different angles and analyze critically. Here I was afraid neither of the language nor of the subject. Rather I was concerned about my society; people living out there.

I was more concerned about social work. Hence I left the seminary and joined Loyola College Trivandrum to pursue Sociology and know more about society, its culture and practices. Later I worked with Don Bosco Trivandrum, a shelter home for the homeless and abandoned children. I joined here to provide my quality time for the children who need my support. There I could see many of the lives which are very similar to me. Majority had the background of dropping out from schools. Unlike me, the children living here are coming from much marginalized sectors of the society. And struggling with English is not the only problem they face. Rather they struggle with their own vernacular language, neglect from the family, neglect from the schools and societies and they struggle with their own life.  And I found that the educational system and the atmosphere are not conducive for them. Also it is not providing them to connect with their life. In Tivandrum, 97 such registered institutions are there. Hence, I want to provide a platform and a system where children can learn with lots of fun and transform themselves and integrate in to the society.

2. My proposed Organization

Over 5400 vulnerable children live today across 97 registered Child Care Institutions (CCI) in Trivandrum according to the Social Justice Department of Kerala.  The categories of children in Trivandrum are those who are orphaned, abandoned, destitute, living in extreme poverty and abused. Before coming to shelter homes, they worked as child laborers, were involved in begging or robbery.  You would find them with delinquent groups or roaming around railway stations. Once the child is admitted in the shelter home or any other correctional homes, the society believes that they have thus gotten rid of these delinquent children. People as well as the children believe that this is the end of their life.

A child care institution means Children’s Home, Open Shelter, Observation Home, Special Home, Place of Safety, Specialized Adoption Agency and a Fit Facility recognized under the Act for providing care and protection to children, who are in need of such services (Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015). From the Child Care Institutions, children are sent to public schools for education. But these children have poor academic performance and low motivation levels. Since these children don’t have proper formal education before joining the care homes; they lack basic literacy and numeric skills and not interested to sit in public schools. And very few of them foresee good career opportunities and a bright future for themselves.

At Ether India, we want to transform the lives of these children.

For these children, the need of the hour is to evoke interest and generate curiosity to learn. Through this, they need to be integrated with the larger society. Education should facilitate the children to identify their interests, skills and set up their goals. Ether India a registered Non-governmental Organization provides the children to achieve this through different levels of interventions: Education, Empowerment and Engagement. To accomplish this, we also provide support to the staff and management of particular Child Care Institutions and the parents of the beneficiaries.

We envision a world where the vulnerable children learn with joy and happiness; and become integral part of the larger society, contributing to its growth. We prepare vulnerable children through inspiring education; empowering them by developing their cognitive, life and social skills; engaging them to integrate with the society by mentoring, networking and follow-up activities.

Ether India believes that education should facilitate children to identify their capabilities, skills and set up their goals. Hence we focus on 3 Es: Education, Empowerment and Engagement.

1. First level: Education

The aim of this stage is to create curiosity and interest to learn. We facilitate the learning process by providing learning environments which is conducive by including

• Science Lab
• Maths Lab
• Language Lab
• Smart Class
• Skill Training
• Motivational Classes

1. Second level: Empowerment.

The goal of the stage is to assess the talents and skills of the kids and provide opportunities to improve the same. In this stage, we will offer courses in technical and vocational skills such as:

• Arts and Crafts
• Film Making
• Video Editing
• Photography
• Graphic designing
• Web Designing
• Driving
• Stitching
• Sports and games
• Trash to Treasure
• Competitive Exam preparation and many more.

1. Third level: Engagement.

Here we aim at integrating the kids with their families as well as the society. We offer the following supports.

• Mentoring
• Networking
• Follow-up

3. Pilot project

The first step I would take would be to offer training on Education through setting up Science Lab, Mathematic Lab, Language Lab, Smart Class, Skill Training and motivational classes in 10 orphanages in Trivandrum, South India. These children are faced with low motivation and lack of interest to going to school and they come from much marginalized backgrounds.

The objective of this training is to invoke interest and generate curiosity among the children from the orphanages through interactive learning and teaching methods; and identify their learning abilities and facilitate them to develop their capacities.

During the training the beneficiaries will be able to secure minimum 30% improvement the subjects like science and mathematics. They also are able to speak English very confidently.

This project will provide training on every Monday to Friday in the morning and evening on every academic year.  The training would be offered by Ether India trainer that is me, the founder of the organization and two hired trainers that is one trainer each from science and mathematics. The project also gives training to the staff in a particular orphanage, who will be the main mentor to facilitate the project in such orphanages.

Finally, towards the end of the project in March 2019 the beneficiaries would be given an opportunity to conduct an exhibition on Science and Mathematics that they learned during the academic year.

After this one year training the projected outcome of this pilot project is to see 25 marginalized children be improved in their subjects like science and mathematics. Also they are very confident in speaking English. Their area of interests will be identified and they are facilitated to set up their goals.

What I will use this money for?

This money will be used in implementing the pilot project in one orphanage. I intend to spend the money on buying Science Lab Kit, Mathematic Lab Kit, Language Lab Kit its courier charges and the trainer’s fee.

Budget

Science Lab Kit                  –              338.46 USD

Maths Lab Kit                     –             85.34 USD

Language Lab Kit              –             152.69 USD

Courier Expenses             –            69.23 USD

Trainers’ fee                      –             307.69 USD

Total                                      =             953.41 USD

Note: I am also currently working on a fundraising plan and sending out proposals to other organizations, foundations, friends and family. Through this, I hope I can fund other needs and aspects of my organizations. This 953.41 grant will go a long way in helping me start and it will go a long way in impacting the lives of children in one orphanage in Trivandrum.

I am grateful for this opportunity. I hope that my application will be considered. I also look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Biju Simon

Founder – Ether India Charitable Society

www.etherindia.org (under construction)

Felix Milome – Milome Comics

Website: milomecomics.com

SALVAGE KENYA THROUGH VISUAL ARTS.

Objective

Through the use of African superhero comic books, Milome comics addresses societal issues, which mostly affect third world urbanized cities in Africa. Such issues include poverty, terrorism, political rivalry, morality, crime, social cohesion, insecurity, economic crisis and many more others.

In the past 2years, my country (Kenya) has witnessed unbelievable vices and challenges that have almost crumbled her foundations. Hundreds of youths have been recruited to the Alshabaab Terrorist Group, over a hundred teenagers have been brutally gunned down by the police due to indulgence in crime and numerous jobless youths have been used by politicians to cause political rivalry and violence.

Sample Photos of youths who were gunned down in Eastland Nairobi-Kenya by police due to gang related crime.

Sample photos of youth being involved in political violence in Kenya

Screenshot of Baby Pendo in hospital: A victim of police brutality in Nyanza-Kenya.

Unfortunately, the effects are so grave that innocent infants aren’t spared. Many youths avoid ‘head-on’ youth education programs; therefore I strive to educate the urban African youth through the avenue of visual entertainment.

Sample Project

We subtly address these societal issues via superhero comic books. A sample project that I recently did is Fikira.

The story is about an underpaid nurse who becomes a superhero, and later manages to stop a terrorist group that has been forcefully recruiting African teenagers. To spice up the story, I made her teenager sister to be one of the victims. The story also addressed how the government is reluctant in solving the state of insecurity. The overall superhero theme helps to bring out the aspect of responsibility and obligation, which our readers are able to resonate with. Moreover, most of the urban youth/ teenagers identify with popular superhero characters like Batman and Superman. With Milome Comics in place, they will have characters who they can directly identify with.

Summarized Background

Milome Comics is a non-profit startup comic book establishment based at Nairobi-Kenya in East Africa. Since its official launch in December 2016, I have been able to make significant strides despite having limited resources. So far I have managed to launch a website, www.milomecomics.com, and also an entire series of Fikira (My first comic book).

Creation Process

I do all my illustrations/drawings using outdated software, an old laptop and a mouse. Unlike most artists, I don’t use a sketch pad. Moreover, my artistic skill was not academically acquired but was self-taught through watching tutorials accompanied by trial and error.

Marketing and distribution are done online, where I gather a consistent audience of over 1000 readers. I believe that an ample supply of resources can help me achieve more, hence the application for a grant.

Project Description and Analysis

In the year 2018, I will officially launch 4 new superhero comic book series, each series containing 4-6 episodes. 3 of the four will be solo main characters while the fourth shall be a combination of all the three main characters. Every month, I shall be releasing a new digital issue, which shall be accompanied by a motion comic trailer/ promo. The digital versions shall be distributed for free via social media and our website. In every quartile, I shall release both printed and digital versions of a comic book which shall be distributed for free in youth hangout joints like arcades, malls and movie libraries. At the end of the year, we shall have a youth empowerment program whereby we shall discuss the issues addressed in the comic books. Our target audience are urban cities mostly in Africa.

Project Summary

Monthly Goal: 1 digital comic book and 1 motion comic book promo

Quarterly Goal: 4 digital episodes (randomly selected from the 3 solo main characters), 1 combined issue (Combination of the characters), 5 motion comic promos.

Yearly goal: complete 3 digital comic book series (12 digital episodes/ 4 episodes each), a complete combined series; which shall be a combined story of the 3 characters (3 issues), 15 motion comic promos, annual youth empowerment program

Amount Needed

To efficiently apply the one-year strategy/ project, I request for a grant of 20,000 US Dollars. The money shall mostly be used on production equipment and social media marketing. If the total grant

cannot be issued, any contributed amount will be highly appreciated and recognized. Estimated Budget

-Youth Empowerment Program: 2000 USD

-Annual Printing Charges: 4000 USD

-Laptop: 1000 USD

-Sketch Pad: 1000 USD

-Annual Online Marketing: 3000 USD

-Annual Outsourcing Manpower: 4000 USD

-Annual Support Allowance: 5000 USD

Grand Total: 20,000 USD

Conclusion

With all these in place, I believe the project shall be a guaranteed success. Any contribution shall be appreciated. I hope to receive positive feedback from you. To view my portfolio, simply visit www.milomecomics.com or visit my Instagram account @milomecomics

Yours Sincerely,

Felix Milome,

Peter Adeeko – Soulace Peace Academy

My Personal Story.

I remember my wife and I visited an orphanage with lots of children in 2009. There was this child who was specially laughing and playing with me. The beautiful afternoon ended abruptly when we were set to leave. This little girl held unto my leg as she cried relentlessly that she wants to go with me. We would come back was the only word we could muster to appease her as we departed with tears in our eyes. This striking experience had me flash back on my childhood dream. When I was telling my mother how I would have a very big house and adopt many children. Little did I know that I will end up becoming an orphan myself.

Being a war child, I was raised by my teenage brother. My father was a soldier. He was injured during a peace keeping mission in Mogadishu. His right shoulder was disjointed and this prompted his early discharge from the army. Subsequently, he suffered partial paralysis which eventually resulted to total paralysis. He was bedridden for two years. During this period, his pension didn’t reach us. The family representative who was nominated to collect this pension, never remit it to us. The change in family structure subsequent to my father’s incapacity and death plunged my family and most especially my mother into serious economic turmoil. Raising seven children without help and any sustainable means of livelihood was a struggle. She became ill and passed on afterwards.

My brother and eldest sister could not continue with their education. Subsistence farming became our only means of survival. My brother became the ‘father’ of our family by default. And that was not without an adverse effect on him. The responsibility was too much for an adolescent. And so, he became very violent and an alcoholic. My third year in secondary school was the most critical period. I remember, my school principal once stripped me of my school shirt, sandal, and socks and I had to go barefooted for days which is a punishment for being late with the school fee. This was humiliating.  I cannot forget all the times that I was either flogged or punished and chased out of the class room for defaulting in school fee. I would cry but encourage myself and returned to school the following day. I was never tired of going back to school.

A turning point came in my 4th year, during the commemoration of Nigerian Armed Forces Remembrance Day, a scholarship from the Nigeria Legion. The honour at that event remains with me forever. By and large I completed my elementary education. The struggle was not any different for my tertiary education but I made it through all the huddles. This dreadful and precarious path to survival could be avoided if we had peace in and around our country. But through my dream venture, a peace academy, I hope to prevent war and violence and thus the existence of more war orphans and widows in Nigeria and beyond.

To this effect, my organization Soulace Africa envision a peaceful Nigeria where human dignity and access to social justice become the norms. My mission is to mitigate the incidence and impact of extreme violence and armed conflict in Nigeria through participatory methods of advocacy and engagement of people that are vulnerable and mostly affected by violence in Nigeria.

To achieve this vision, Soulace Africa intends to setup a community-oriented training and development project called Soulace Peace Academy. This academy will have within its umbrella, the leadership training program otherwise “Peregun” which will focus on non-violence communication, conflict resolution, diversity and reconciliation. Peregun is regarded as a peaceful plant among the traditional Yoruba people of south western Nigeria. This evergreen shrub grows in the rural backyards in Nigeria and was believed to have a spirit that could calm a raging God. Peregun is noted for its bayonet like leaves which is regarded as a sword sheath in traditional Yoruba culture.

The aim is to create mindset shift on armed conflict and violence and to deepen knowledge and research about peace. Alongside this is the establishment of audio-visual library containing resources related to non-violence that will help create exposure in community peace-building efforts and conflict resolution.

The participants are to be known as peaceniks and will be chosen on the basis of their passion for community development and peace advocacy. Individuals who are survivors of violence will be given preference over others. For the success of this programme, we shall engage with breed mediators who share the ideology of peaceful human coexistence.

Moreover, Soulace Peace Academy will establish collaboration with existing schools and colleges to start exposing the students to the culture of peace and non-violence. Extracurricular activities such as Peace Festivals and Awards that recognizes nonviolence and peer mediation among youths will be introduced to promote the importance of peace and also to motivate the children to adopt conflict resolution as a conscious practice in their daily lives. The schools where these programs are to be established would be called Olive Schools.

Our peaceniks will also be exposed to One-Month Internship/Community Service in any of the olive schools. This internship will help to sharpen the participants’ skills and prepare them as better citizens for the society. One of the immediate outcome of this training is to increase participation in peace building efforts among different communities across Nigeria. It is expected that at the end of this training which will last for three months, participants will become the peace building ambassadors in different parts of Nigeria.

This project will also provide a platform for the victims of armed conflicts and those who were internally displaced to narrate their experiences. To this effect, we intend to create multimedia platforms called Podium and Coexist. Podium will run as a weekly media talk show where war affected persons will be invited to tell their stories.  A monthly conference called coexist will be held to revive community leaders’ participation in peace building. Each edition will be marked with the signing of the peace register as an evidence of the leaders’ long-term commitment to maintain peace in their community. These platforms will also provide a learning opportunity for our peaceniks in public speaking and storytelling.

Besides, this platform will also serve as a medium for soulace Antiwar Campaign which would explore Storytelling, Photo voice, Performing Art as tools for peace advocacy and conflict prevention in Nigeria.  More importantly, these platforms will be used as medium to strengthen women inclusion and participation in post conflict restorative programs.

Similarly, like Peregun, Soulace Peace Academy will explore community development initiative called “Odundun”. “Odundun is a succulent plant that has high medicinal, ecstatic, cultural value across Africa. it grows with very little water. In traditional Yoruba Culture, Odundun is believed to be a spirit plant that helps prosperity and peace.” This program is designed to advocate for the inclusion of war widows and orphans in social welfare schemes. They will be provided opportunities to learn and acquire skills for sustainable livelihoods. For a start, I will organize one-year apprenticeship along with a six months vocational skill training program that would run concurrently. At the end of this training, it is expected that 24 widows would have gained valuable life and vocational skills in catering, interior fabric design and decoration, housekeeping services, making, livestock farming. This will enable them to live an independent and self-sustained life. We also would organize Soulace Survival Network – a community that will provide mentoring, networking and self-support initiatives for war orphans and widows across Nigeria.

To crown it all, Soulace Africa will strive for the establishment of a peace commission and advocate for the introduction of peace education into the school curriculum in Nigeria. The peace commission will be in charge of fostering true reconciliation efforts and resolving all communal conflicts and act as a neutral mediator in interstate disputes. Everyone is a victim.  I am of the opinion that my country could cut down on military spending and redirect the vital resources for better social and economic development of the country.

Being a startup, this $1000 grant investment will make my dream of conducting the inaugural capacity building workshop for 20 young veterans war widows in Nigeria this April come to reality. The transformation I want to see is a wretched widow become a survivor and advocate of a peaceful and inclusive society.