Tedi Africa

The Elevate Prize targets the next generation of social impact leaders who are committed to making our planet better than it is now. That aligns perfectly well with my cause and purpose. My initiative and myself are at a crossroad; we are now at that moment in time where we need the support in terms of financial resources and technical/professional advice on the best practices going forward. The Elevate Prize funding and support provide my initiative with the financial muscles it requires to advance our purpose either supporting a low-income business woman in Nairobi’s slum settlement or providing an equal learning environment for a refugee girl in Kakuma, funding support does come in handy for Tedi Africa. Overtime since our inception, we have had pressing challenges in areas of material support largely because of limited funding and shortage of technical outputs. The two years professional incubation session will ensure that my team and I receive the practiced wisdom from the Elevate’s highly skilled trainers which then help my initiative to recalibrate so that we can attack the problem of poverty with confidence.

I describe myself as a product of a God-fearing single and uneducated mum. I was born into a humble family in a rural South Sudan where abject poverty dominates daily conversation. I have witnessed the incidence of household poverty at a very young age. Without formal education, my immediate family and neighborhood have encountered poverty in its multidimensional setting. As a child, I have always wanted to change the course of my generation, creating opportunities for the less privileged in any way or form I can possibly do. As a result, I am committed to advancing socio-economic justice around the world by empowering communities and creating a future for the world’s more than 1.6 billion poor. Tedi Africa on the other hand, is aimed at tackling poverty through innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship for 1 million South Sudanese people by 2030. We work 24/7 to achieve this ambitious goal. Tackling poverty today requires a multidimensional approach. My initiative came to be in a tumultuous year where the humanity was confronted with more questions than answers. As the road to 2030 fast approaches, our interventions are equally prepared to meet the obstacles along the way.

We are in a battle with poverty. The world without a modicum of doubt, has made huge strides in overcoming global poverty. Since 1990, more than 1.2 billion people have risen out of extreme poverty. Now, 9.2% of the world survives on $1.90 a day or less, compared to nearly 36% in 1990. That sounds great, right? Well, it does and as someone who has been involved in this space throughout my lifetime, I do agree; our world is getting more prosperous, and wealthier. But the progress is not uniform and part of the world where I reside tells a different anecdote. Combined with the threats posed by Covid-19, the developing world is backtracking. The World Bank data estimates that an additional 88 million to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021. In South Sudan, poverty is endemic with at least 80 percent of the population defined as income-poor and living on an equivalent of less than US$1 per day according to the United Nations. Illiteracy, repressive socio-cultural norms, and a large rural-based population of more than 83% contribute to this existential threat.

Tedi Africa’s social disruptive models include putting women in the frontline. In South Sudan, socio-cultural practices have denied women for centuries – making the poverty battle evasive. We arm the women with technology to drive and manage their own lives. Research shows that household poverty is a woman’s battle first before it reaches the man. Therefore, enabling these women to access simple technologies such as a mobile-money transfer, operating basic computer programs or social media marketing is a critical intervention. Through co-creation, we involve our beneficiaries in the design, building, iteration and launching processes. This intervention works quite differently from other programs where participatory approach is either lacking or ignorant of the traditional factors that hinder socio-economic progress. South Sudan presents a daunting challenge to entrepreneurial progress particularly for women. Our work ensures that repressive socio-economic roles are exposed, discussed and a durable solution is found. 

Tedi Africa’s women and youth economic programming ensures that low-income, less privileged strata of the society find the space to thrive. We are engaged in providing innovative service-based solution to our target beneficiaries as well as supporting individuals with creative twists to their social problems. For example, our women economic empowerment plan enables both urban and camp-based women to run livelihood initiatives that generate additional income for them. We provide curated training programs both technically and vocationally for the displaced so they can engage in sustainable economic pathways.

Through our incubation labs, we provide scholastic outputs and educational technology to refugee girls and women, so they remain in classrooms despite the threats of Covid-19. The combined effort of these activities and programs ultimately enable achieve our goal of creating a just, prosperous, and sustainable socio-economic ecosystem. 

Our methodology is simple; we provide education to low-income groups; we then transform their environment using our disruptive social techniques. After that, we develop unique solutions with the groups and finally reach a solution that can be replicated elsewhere.