Fati is one of the water business entrepreneurs in Tohinayili. This business was implemented here in January of 2013 by past Field Reps Caroline , Iyi & Amanda, a Master’s in Public Health student studying at George Washington University.
Fati was born and raised up in Tohinayili. She met her husband there and has lived there her entire life. She gave birth to four kids: a boy and two girls, one is deceased. Alongside running the water business, Fati collects shea nuts, which she uses to make shea butter and then sells.
“I am very happy to make sales and am thankful for this opportunity,” stated Fati. “Our kids used to complain of stomach pains and many people used to have runny stomachs. But now that we have clean water, all those complaints have stopped.”
Last week the Field Rep Alumni participants in Round 2 of the The Saha Challenge submitted video pitches for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ecuador, India, Malawi, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru. Our panel of judges met on Wednesday to watch each pitch and select which countries would move on to Round 3 of the competition.
The panel of judges consisted of Kate Clopeck, Mark Moeremans and Alison Hynd. Kate Clopeck, as most of you know, is Saha’s Executive Director and Co-founder. Mark Moeremans is a Board Member, was a 2012 Water Field Representative and piloted the first Solar program after winning the Saha Global Social Enterprise Competition in 2013. Alyson Hynd is the Director for Program & Fellowships at MIT’s Public Service Center, where she reviews hundreds (maybe thousands!) of students international project proposals for funding. Each judge’s insight in this round was EXTREMELY valuable! Their knowledge about travel and program logistics in each of these countries combined with their personal experience were amazing perspectives to have when considering Saha Global operating in each country.
For this round of the competition, the participants focused on a specific region and worked on quantifying the need for clean water and electricity in the rural communities in that region. They found partners on the ground who helped paint a better picture of the needs of the rural villages, which are often hard to extrapolate from general country statistics. They then used the information they gathered to put together a 15 minute video pitch.
Our panel of judges was extremely impressed by each of the participants pitches and they each presented strong cases. After much discussion, the judges selected Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Cambodia and Ecuador to move on to Round 3. We are extremely confident in our judges decision and are even more excited about the possibilities in Saha Global expanding to one of these countries!
Nicaragua will be represented by Bryant Foreman & Lucas Hilsbos , Panama by Kirsten Abel & Katie Rumer, Ecuador by Maxine Auzerais & Kiana Kawamura, Peru by Leah Staschke & Aly Carr and Cambodia by MJ Rice & Sarah Steinke.
For Round 3 of the competition our participants will be coming to Boston in May to give a live pitch in front of another panel of judges. The countries chosen to move on from Round 3 be visited by members of our Team this Summer!
A huge thank you to Katie Spruill, Danya Kiernan, Matt Sullivan, Jake Ballard, Melissa Quinn and Julia Kapit for your participation in the Saha Challenge. We appreciate all of your hard work and look forward to exploring Malawi, Bangladesh and India for Saha Global in the future!
My name is Caroline Collins. I am a twenty two year old senior about to graduate from Connecticut College. At Conn, I study biological sciences and anthropology. I am originally from Cohasset, MA which is on the south coast of Boston. I was lucky enough to participate in two of Saha’s global leadership programs. I first travelled to Ghana during my sophomore year for their winter program in 2013. I gained an incredible amount from being a Saha Global Leader and valued their program goals immensely. I was itching to return to Ghana, so when Saha announced that they had an opportunity for past leaders to return for the following summer program, I jumped at the chance! Saha was looking for Field Reps to help implement their water business model in Salaga, a new region for the organization.
My two experiences in Ghana were truly life changing and they have shaped my academic pursuits. One of my strongest memories is from my first trip, when my teammates and Shak, our translator were educating our community’s school children about the importance of clean drinking water and the differences between clear water and clean water. Educating children about healthy hygiene is one of Saha’s initiatives toward creating a sustainable clean drinking water model. So after we had implemented the water business, my team and I spent a day in the school teaching the children songs about clean water to help them remember healthy drinking practices. I distinctly remember a group of about thirty children singing and dancing excitedly about their water. One of the kids came up to me while we were all singing the clean water song and told me that he used to have headaches every day, but after drinking the clean water for a few days he felt so much better and was thrilled to have energy to run around play soccer with his friends. This was one of the most influential moments of my trip, as it was a direct and concrete example of the benefits that the clean water system will bring to the community.
My biggest take away from being a Field Rep is the power of little changes to bring significant impact. Before traveling to Ghana, the thought of bringing a water business to an entire community seemed quite daunting, however as a Field Rep, I learned that the procedure is really simple and with attention to education and prompting clean habitats my teammates and I were able to create a system that the community ran completely independently and were proud of. When I left Ghana after the program, the women in charge of the business were excited to develop the system and I knew that they would do a tremendous job building a sustainable source of clean drinking water for their community.
My time with Saha has encouraged me to study the connection between human health and the environment. I am particularly interested in bacteria and what environmental factors lead to the proliferation of bacterial diseases that pose a significant public health risk to developing countries. Saha gave me great experience in the field and has left my very excited to learn more about the prevention of waterborne diseases. I graduate from college in May 2015 and look forward to pursuing a doctorate degree in microbiology and environmental toxicology. Hopefully, this educational path will bring me back to countries like Ghana, where I can further study environmental health.
I have enjoyed staying in contact with Field Reps from my trip and my translators as well. There is an active facebook group where the Saha team and past field reps post about exciting things going on within the Saha network. It is great to stay connected with the incredible and inspiring group of global leaders as they go out and do interesting things around the world.
Want to learn more about Caroline’s experience or have any specific questions? Caroline would be happy to tell you more and can be contacted at ccollin1@conncoll.edu Also check up to see what Caroline is doing here!
Every year for World Water Day, we invite some of our women entrepreneurs to our office in Tamale for a little celebration. Although many of these ladies have worked with Saha for years, they rarely get to meet other water entrepreneurs since their communities are far from each other. We love having an excuse to get some of the women together so they can share ideas, discuss issues and have fun getting to know one another. It’s one of our favorite days of the year! Read about past World Water Days here, here and here!
Since n oone from our American team was in Ghana for World Water Day this year, I’m turning the blog over to one of our managers, Eric. This is Eric’s first blog post!
Picking which women to invite to World Water Day is always a hard decision. This year, the staff sat at a meeting and decided to cast lots to pick the women to invite. All Saha Global villages were written on pieces of paper. Each staff member took turns to pick a village till we got to the number needed. The chosen villages were later visited by staff to formerly invite the women for World Water Day.
On the day of the celebration, when they got to town from their respective villages, the women called the office of their arrival. They were told to grab any available cab and directions were given to the driver and they were brought to the office.
When the first batch of women arrived, a movie was played with the projector whilst the other were waited on. Anytime a batch came, they were served with drinks. Sachet water was also available. Later we gave the women a tour and they were excited to see their pictures displayed in the office!
Once everyone arrived, presentations started. Peter started by welcoming the women and talked on World Water Day. It’s celebrated all over the world all in the aim of bringing awareness on the need to drink safe,clean drinking water. Wahab talked on why dugout water is not safe to drink. He talked on how the dugout gets contaminated with human and animal excrement, and also sewage from households. That causes bacteria which make people sick. I then talked on sales and savings. I explained the ways they can make sales anytime water is treated, like making an announcement at the mosque or going round households to tell people that water is ready. I also talked about how savings is important so that parts can be fixed or replaced when spoilt. Next, Shak encouraged the women to keep up the good work. He spoke on the need to always contact the chief and elders to update them on the progress of their work. Finally, Amin finished the presentations by telling the women to keep their centers clean and attractive. He spoke on the need to keep centres up and running and finished with a poem on water.
We then help lead discussions among the women. The women from Moya talked about how their village has taken the centre seriously. People come to refill their safe storage containers anytime they run out of clean water. Awabu from Kulaa said “Saha is the best!” Although other two water projects have been set up in Kulaa,the people still come to the center to refill their safe storage containers. Djelo women are happy that solar has been added to the water centre. Now at night, their kids read and do their homework. The village is now bright at night and they are grateful. Women from Laligu said how people, especially the kids, used to complain of stomach ache. But now, thanks to the water treatment center, they don’t experience such again.
After three staff members gave their presentations, we went for break. Food and drinks were served. Presentations continued after the break. After presentations,the women were thanked for making it possible. Women were given transport money. Later went out and took a group picture of the staff with the women. The cab drivers were called and and the women departed the office to their various stations. It was a great day!
Shak, Eric, Peter, Wahab, Amin, and Mark, with Fusiena, Zelia, Azara, Zaharawu, Sharatu, Awabu, Fati, Kusumi, Memounatu, Latifa, Moshi, Memounatu, Sharatu, Fatima, Fatimatah and Hamshaw.
As you know by now, 2015 is going to be a big year for Saha Global. We’ve already begun planing our expansion to a new country and launched our Advisory Board made up of some awesome Field Rep Alumni. But, that’s not all! We have also welcomed two new people to our Board of Directors! Patrick Cahill and Mark Moeremans joined our Board this past February and have been amazing additions to our team. They both bring unique skill sets that have proven to be extremely helpful as we plan for our growth. Without further ado, meet Mark and Pat:
Patrick Cahill principal of rally point webinars & beep! directed voicemail Patrick was elected to Saha Global’s Board of Directors in February 2014 after spending a year advising the organization on marketing. Patrick strongly believes in the power of entrepreneurship as an agent of change and empowerment having founded beep! Directed after starting and finding success in his first marketing services firm and through his work at The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. At beep!, start-ups to publicly traded companies look to Patrick on how to implement, measure, and systematically improve scalable outreach campaigns that directly impact revenue. Patrick brings this focus in his work with Saha, ensuring the organization is implementing best practices tested and perfected in the ‘for-profit’ world. Patrick holds a B.S. degree from Babson College where he focused on Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management.
Mark Moeremans consultant at deloitte consulting Representing Saha Field Rep Alumni, Mark was elected to Saha Global’s Board of Directors in February of 2014. Mark first got involved with Saha Global as a Field Rep in 2012 and piloted the first Solar program after winning the Saha Global Social Enterprise Competition in 2013. Mark works as a Management Consultant at Deloitte Consulting and has brought his management expertise to the organization. Mark has a passion for global development having worked across Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America in a variety of fields including education, resource management, technology, and community leadership. Mark believes that business and entrepreneurship are the keys to lifting communities out of poverty. Mark holds a B.S. in Philosophy and Communications from Boston College.
Saha Global has launched 82 businesses, which empower 178 women entrepreneurs who provide clean water and/or electricity to about 40,000 people in Ghana. With a 100% success rate of these business, we believe that we have a strong model and are ready to expand our impact outside of Ghana. But then there’s the big question: “Where?” Could our model work in a neighboring country? In Central America? Southeast Asia? India? And that’s the thing. There are so many options. Luckily the process of expanding internationally is becoming easier thanks to cloud-based software, which allows you to control operations remotely from a central point. One example of this is Cloud Pay (visit cloudpay.net for more information), which allows you to administer payroll in this way so you can manage an ever-growing international workforce. So, the possibilities really are endless.
Last August, Kate & I were having one of our typical check-ins and like many of our chats, one thing led to another and we were soon spitting off ideas about what country Saha Global could work in. We thought about the time and research that we would need to make it all happen and it seemed overwhelming. Our own personal experience and exposure took the “New country for Saha” discussion only so far. That led to us thinking about all 264 of our past Field Reps. Our Field Reps know what we are all about and what makes the Saha businesses go round. They come to the program with amazing experiences and leave the program continuing to amaze us. We realized that we didn’t need to be overwhelmed by thinking about how to expand – we already have a whole team of smart, skilled, and passionate people who also care about Saha’s growth and who would be excited about reaching people living outside of Ghana!
Some of them have lived in Malawi for a study abroad program, or had an internship with a non-profit in India or even researched in China as a Fullbright Scholar. Some of them have done extensive research on solar electricity or worked under a professor to test the efficiency of a water filter for use in Bolivia. Some have even designed a simple solar system for a small village in Rwanda or simply backpacked through Southeast Asia and have had first hand experience with the dire need for access to electricity in Thailand.
They are the global leaders in the world and we want to harness their ambition, drive and knowledge to fuel our expansion into a new country! Which leads me to our exciting announcement:
The Saha Challenge! This Challenge will work similar to the Social Enterprise Competition we hosted two years ago. The same competition that lead to our extremely successful expansion into providing access to electricity by establishing solar charging businesses.
The Saha Challenge kicked off in the first week of February when we hosted a online webinar to go over the different components of the competition, the rules and judging criteria. It will be a series of three rounds, each round field reps will be given a set of guidelines that they must research about their chosen country. After each round some countries will be eliminated, while others will be chosen to continue on in the competition. The winning country will be selected by the end of the Summer and will be announced at our Annual Benefit in Boston in the Fall. The winning team will then be invited to participate in a solar or water program in the new country, all expenses paid for.
The initial country proposals were just submitted last week and we were extremely impressed by all of the proposals! The first round was about gathering some general statistics about the country, such as drinking water access, electricity access, the country’s progress towards the millennium development goals, travel and safety risks and the political and economic stability. After much discussion amongst the Saha Team, we have moved 8 countries on to the next round.
This weekend the team’s will be submitting their pitches for Round 2! The idea of working in any of these beautiful countries is so exciting we can hardly contain ourselves! It is such a privilege to continue to collaborate with our field reps and to have them on this amazingly exciting journey!
At Saha Global, we truly value the input and feedback from our network of Field Rep Alumni. They are the ones who know exactly what Saha is all about. They have the skills, experience and passion that we need to drive our growth. With a big year ahead of us, we wanted to be sure to have their ideas on board! After sitting down and brainstorming, our team hand selected some of our most involved past Field Reps to make up Saha’s first Advisory Board.
Our hope is that the Advisory Board will be the idea-engines. Their input will help drive and direct Saha’s long term impact and expansion. They will give their insight on a number of different topics like the Global Leadership Program, the Field Rep Alumni network, Saha’s geographic expansion, marketing and communication strategies, fundraising efforts, etc. We are excited to announce and present to you Saha Global’s first Advisory Board members! Over the next few weeks we will be posting bios about each of the members so you can get to know them a little better, stay posted!
Saha Global’s 2015 Advisory Board Members:
Ben Powell
Brianan Kiernan
Bryant Foreman
Caroline Awh
Caroline Collins
Claire Cohen
Katie Rumer
Katie Spruill
Lucas Hilsbos
Mark Moeremans
Matt Sullivan
Sam Reilley
Serena Haver
Zander Rounds
WELCOME TO THE SAHA FAMILY!
Over the next few weeks we will be posting bios about each of the members so you can get to know them a little better, stay posted!
Saha believes that the Advisory Board will benefit from new prospective and members each year. The Advisory Board membership is one year and positions on the Board will be available in February of each year.
This is a guest post written by new Saha Board Member, Mark Moeremans!
Me and Ben with some of the Saha team and the women entrepreneurs on opening night of the very first Saha solar businesses
After almost 7 years of successfully working in rural communities of Northern Region Ghana it is safe to say that Saha Global is growing in every sense of the word. Whether you are counting the number of new businesses opening each year, the number of field reps participating, the number of schools we are partnering with, or the scale of impact that the organization is having in Ghana, Saha is becoming a tour de force in the field of international development. It has been my incredible honor to play a small part in that growth, originally as a water field rep in 2012, and later as I piloted the solar program in the fall of 2013 with my social enterprise teammate Ben Powell.
The US workshop in December
This past fall, I was approached by Executive Director Kate Clopeck with a new opportunity to get involved and continue to support the growth of the organization. Kate recognized the need to make adjustments to the organization in order to avoid hitting a ceiling, and wanted to start putting processes and structures in place that would allow for this growth to continue. With plans to launch business in a new country, Kate wanted to make sure that everything internally was running smoothly so that her team had the capacity and direction to support the expansion. My background as a management consultant combined with my knowledge of Saha Global put me in a unique position to advise the Saha team on how to change, adapt, and grow their own structure, processes, and habits to make sure no one’s time or skills were being wasted.
Re-assigning tasks to keep the US team productive and efficient
My first step was to get the US Staff on the same page – conducting a one day workshop with the team to better understand roles and responsibilities and expectations about what work needed to get done. Upon completion of the workshop, most of us thought that it would be a great idea to write a set of survey questions, with the help of somewhere like Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/writing-survey-questions/), so we could get everything that we spoke about down in writing, as well as giving the rest of the staff the opportunity to add extra bits of information that they thought should be included too. In turn, this information was used to create role profiles – succinct job descriptions outlining the tasks and responsibilities of each US employee. These profiles are aimed to ensure clarity and transparency regarding what the team was accountable for while eliminating any redundancies. Plus, should further training be needed in the future, these roles should help those at the top decide what they might need in terms of software to provide effective learning, since things like LXP and LMS offer different approaches to learning. Finally, these were supplemented by a detailed competency model, a talent framework emphasizing the skills and attributes that are needed to be successful in the organization. This will provide the US team with a consistent set of language to talk about professional development and giving the US team the opportunity for the same type of career conversations as their counterparts in for-profit companies.
Hanging in Ghana with Saha Senior Manager, Amin, and two of the 2015 Winter Field Reps, Marsha and Sarah.
It wasn’t just the US Team that needed to adapt. With the promise of a new country on the horizon for Saha Global we needed to be sure that Ghana operations would continue to run smoothly once there was another country to support. For the Ghana staff that meant moving them toward greater self-management, a pipe-dream for most international non-profits. We knew the Ghana staff had the smarts and the gumption to get the job done, they just needed a bit of direction, same as the US team, and that’s where I came in. I recently traveled back to Ghana in early January to assess the situation on the ground and see what I could do to help make them more independent.
The new Org chart for the Ghana team
Every team member was thrilled at the opportunity for more responsibility, they were eager to learn and wanted to make the most of my time. After a brief observation period I set to work, realigning the Ghana team to create a division of labor based on people’s skills and interests. I created unique role profiles just like the US team and shared the same competency model so that they understood the expectations for their own growth. The second half of my trip was spent making them aware of the skills they would need to learn to successfully perform their new duties. To say they were quick learners would be an understatement. I’m still trying to figure out how they learned Microsoft Excel so fast. Perhaps they had a competition among themselves to learn Excel with no formal training. They would have most likely attempted to master the skills afterward also. This is because it is unlikely to be adept at Excel without that level of commitment. After two short weeks, I headed back home, excited by how much had gotten done and nervous that it might not be enough. Microsoft Excel could prove beneficial to them in the long run and help them perform their new duties and become competent workers. Software training is basic for all those who work with computers. For this reason, training experts in your vicinity could be contacted. There are coaching specialists like those who give excel training in Denver (and similar others around the country) along with the ones who offer online services for the same.
Saha Senior Manager, Wahab, has been killin’ it with his monitoring spreadsheets. He is now in charge of compiling everyone’s monitoring data and emailing them to Kate once a week. Click on the photo for a larger view!
In the few weeks since I’ve been back I have seen a transformation in how Saha Global is operating – both in the US and in Ghana. The US team has moved into their new roles quickly with the launch of the new country competition, the creation of the alumni advisory board, and an enhanced focus on recruiting with an emphasis on data analytics. On the Ghana side I receive emails weekly from the team with updates, excel reports, and stories about how much they are enjoying their expanded roles. If you are an alumni, I definitely encourage you to reach out to your translator via email, they will respond!
Seeing Saha Global continue to mature has been a truly humbling experience. Saha means opportunity, not just for the people of Ghana but for students and young professionals as well. I am so grateful for the opportunities Saha has given me, as a water field rep, a social enterprise winner and solar pilot, and as a strategic advisor. Even now, I am thrilled to announce that I have been giving yet another opportunity to continue serving the organization in helping it achieve its growth goals, this time as a member of the Saha Global Board of Directors. I look forward to serving in this new capacity and any other Saha sees fit. Stay tuned for more!
Zuweira is one of the water entrepreneurs in the community of Kpenchila. She has been working at the water business since June 2012 and is very proud to be one of the woman chosen by her community to run the center. Zuweira was born and raised in the village of Kpanshegu, which happens to be one of Saha Global’s newest partners! She was so excited to hear that her relatives back home at Kpanshegu have gotten clean water to drink thanks to the 2015 Winter Field Reps!
Zuweira moved to Kpenchila 25 years ago when she married her husband. She is a mother to 10 children, including two sets of twins! In addition to working at the water business, Zuweira also farms okra and groundnuts. She really enjoys providing clean water to her community and says that she is “she is happy anytime she is at the center and sees people going back home with clean water in their safe storage containers.”
Hello. My name is Iyioluwa Okunlola, or Iyi (pronounced ‘E-Yee’) for short. “Iyioluwa“ in Yoruba, a West African dialect and ethnic group, translates to “the honor of the Lord of the Universe”, and I try to live up to such a unique name that is frequently mispronounced, and thought to be of Hawaiian descent. I am a 22-year-old North Jersey native who graduated from St. Lawrence University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation Biology in May 2014.
Three factors really drew me to the Saha Global Field Rep opportunity. Firstly I am of Nigerian descent, and I really have a passion for West African culture, and its well being. One year prior to partaking in the Saha Global Leadership Program, during a holiday break from college I had the opportunity to travel back to Nigeria with family, which was a very humbling yet a irrevocable and memorable experience for me. Finally, prior to working with Saha Global I thought I wanted to be a Physical Therapist, but after these life-changing experiences and my general passion for ecology and the natural world, I decided to pursue a degree in Conservation Biology with the intent of learning and focusing a career devoted to international development and mitigating environmental issues, which are often cruxes to developing countries.
My biggest memory from Ghana and the Saha Global Leadership Program would definitely be the camaraderie I was able to build with the village, Tohinayilli, and the Saha Global translators and staff. When I asked TJ, a Ghanaian translator for Saha Global, what he liked most about his country, he told me “Ghana is Freedom and Peace”. That really resonated with me. For this reason I would say the biggest takeaway from this program would be the opportunity to work with like-minded individuals from all over the world.
The Saha Global Leadership Program has helped me develop skills such as research, fieldwork, water quality analysis, community outreach, teamwork, and donation soliciting, which are important for professionalism and my desired career path. I was able to spend the summer of 2013 up at St. Lawrence doing a research fellowship with a professor based upon research I collected from my experience with Saha Global. As a result of my favorable time with Saha Global, I hope to combine a graduate degree with Peace Corps through a Master’s International program in the near future. As for now, I am happy to announce that I will be a tutor as part of the Great Oaks Charter School Urban Tutor Fellowship in Newark, New Jersey for the 2014-2015 school year. Take a chance to get out of your comfort zone with Saha Global, and I am sure you will have an experience you will remember quite fondly!
Fati is one of the water business entrepreneurs in Tohinayili. This business was implemented here in January of 2013 by past Field Reps Caroline , Iyi & Amanda, a Master’s in Public Health student studying at George Washington University.
