Third world exploitation

o Diablo o

I've been reading and watching documentaries about the third world and I'm feeling very sick. It’s only in the last month or so that it’s really dawned on me that the west has its foot on Africa's neck.
I'm now determined to try to improve things and make a difference and I feel I've found something that I can devote my life to.

A theory I’m running through my head now is that a good way to help is not through non profit aid organization but through a non profit business. If I was to set up a company to sell African products and run it just like any other business but pay the workers what to them would be astronomically high wages. Any profit then made we could invest in local infrastructure.

A big part of the theory is the idea of charity through skills and services. We try to convince business here in Ireland to help us for free but put the capitalist spin on it. Show them that they can help us and help them selves because their public image will be greatly improved by this charity. We should aim this idea firstly at advertising and PR companies, try to market ourselves in a big way as a new kind of charitable organization.

The benefits of starting with this strategy would be two fold;

1. It would soon be a more appealing idea for businesses to get involved and help us out. We could get a logo that companies could attach to their products/ advertising that signifies their affiliation with us, much like with fair-trade. At this point we would target the agricultural and engineering industries and attempt to get their help in actually making a big improvement to the company and therefore to the workers and to the area in which we operate.
2. Our product itself will sell much better if we generate a good image of ourselves as a new kind of charity, of moral business.

I’m looking for opinions on any naivety that might be present in what Ive said as well as improvements that could be made on the idea. Mainly though I want to talk to like minded people as I know of no one in my social circle that holds similar views. I’m wondering if anyone would actually get on board and see if this is a viable idea.

edanto

Good luck with what you've started. Traidlinks are currently doing what you're suggesting, and are about to ramp up imports to supermarket levels, expect to see 'Heart of Africa' branded dried fruit/nuts/tea/coffee from Uganda in a store near you soon.

There are a lot of likeminded people working in the area - if you want to stay in touch with everything that's going on, send an email to [email]anna@<nospam>dochas.ie[/email] (take out the nospam bit, that's just to stop her address from being harvested) and ask to join the mailing list. She sends out a list every week of events, jobs, news, training etc.

Some advice - try and channel your enthusiasm in a particular direction for a while. Figure out what skills/contacts/resources that you might need in the next few years to turn your idea into reality. Then try and get a volunteer placement at somewhere like Traidlinks that is in the same space.

You will have to put a lot of time into this, and that would put a lot of people off. But I know why you've come to this junction in your life, I was at it a little while ago and it was as a result of the same kindof realisation about the political and economic system that we have in the world. Trust that conviction to see you through the times when it feels like nothing is happenning.

Other than that, just get involved. Are you at college? There are some societies that might be good to join if you are.

o Diablo o

Wow that was very helpful thank you. Id prefer to get involved with a project thats already running, if only at first. I dont really know where to begin. I'll e mail her tomorrow. Thanks again