‘There is an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,”’ says Palesa Mabadilala, the Country Director of ygap’s South Africa Program. And together, we certainly have gone far.
After 12 years of operation, ygap has reached the incredible milestone of one million lives touched through our work — 1,295,411 to be exact. This target was set by the organisation’s co-founders back in 2014. Though, as Palesa continues, it’s clear that ‘in hitting the million lives mark, we are inspired and in awe of the commitment and dedication of our selfless entrepreneurs who carried us forward to reaching this number.’
What is meant by a million lives impacted through our work? It is a big target to set, but a difficult one to quantify. A million of anything is a lot, but to just count a million people who had come into contact with ygap’s work wasn’t enough — it had to mean something.
For ygap, this number represents over a million people who have a greater chance to improve their lives and the lives of their families through better access to things like health care, education and regular employment as a result of engaging with one of the 541 impact ventures that have come through ygap’s programs over the last 12 years. The vision is contributing to an overall reduction in poverty, led by local leaders with solutions to local problems.
The journey to this milestone may have started in a small office in Melbourne, but as ygap has grown, the torch is jointly held with the exceptional staff that work across our in-country offices in Kenya, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Fiji as well as Australia. In some cases, they lead teams that have embedded ygap’s programs into the local entrepreneurial ecosystem with a reputation that precedes them, in some cases it’s one woman carrying the torch of a program that reaches across the African continent or the Pacific Island countries on just her tireless shoulders.
‘A million lives,’ reflects Talei Goater, ygap’s yher Pacific Islands Program Manager. ‘That’s approximately a third of the entire Pacific Islands regional population, across all its 22 countries and territories.’
Talei, who is based in Fiji, joined ygap in a part-time capacity in late 2019 to lend her entrepreneurial expertise to building the Pacific Islands program, and has since stepped into the role full-time. ‘The work is both inspired and inspiring,’ she says, ‘ygap’s commitment to delve deep and get into the trenches, working alongside such passionate, heart and hustle trailblazers. Our tribe is on a shared journey of awesomeness with a powerful recipe for positive change, made possible by the people that believe in us.’
Despite being one of ygap’s newer expressions, yher Pacific Islands has already run two programs that have supported 22 female-led ventures to impact close to 3,000 lives. ‘Our vision for impact makes me not just positive, but excited about the future, and I am humbled to play a part in it.’
Talei is not alone in her excitement. Katleho Tsoku is the Regional Director for yher Africa, and is a successful entrepreneur herself, having recently stepped away as Director from the beauty-based social enterprise she helped found, Amazi Beauty, to work on yher Africa full-time. Katleho has been involved with ygap since 2013, and has played an integral role in the three programs that have been run under the yher Africa banner so far. Based in South Africa, Katleho’s mandate spans the continent from South Africa to Algeria, to Senegal to Madagascar, and everywhere in between.
‘It is quite amazing that we have reached the million lives mark at such a crucial time in the world’ Katleho muses, reflecting on the milestone. ‘With the radical socio-economic shifts the COVID-19 pandemic will bring about, now more than ever, every business needs to reflect on how it is putting human life at the centre of its existence because that is the only way business should be done. ygap’s mission has always been firmly rooted in championing entrepreneurs who have carried this ethos.’
As someone with many years witnessing the power of social business to transform lives, Katleho has a keener insight than most into how the entrepreneurial landscape has shifted and changed over time, and the increasing impact of the burgeoning ecosystem. ‘I am encouraged to continue working with and amplifying the work of the entrepreneurs who are consistent about being on the right side of history!’ she says.
ygap’s longest running program in Kenya has seven years of ventures to reflect on. In operation since 2013, ygap Kenya has contributed nearly half of the total of the collective one million lives. Nevertheless, despite this incredible achievement, they speak with total humility. ‘Impact is a team sport,’ say the Kenya team, as they reflect on their work over the years. ‘The milestone of one million lives has been achievable through efforts by the ygap Kenya team, a valuable partnership with the Argidius Foundation and the commitment of 143 alumni impact ventures supported in Kenya since 2013.’
Of course, the team has seen quite a lot of change to the sector over the years. Program Manager for ygap Kenya, Albert Kimani, says ‘we’re living in exciting times where social entrepreneurship is becoming mainstream and the market wants the people and brands they buy from to give them a sense of purpose, greater contribution and assurance that entrepreneurs are becoming socially active in their businesses.’ The setting of global goals in 2015 has also helped to shape the way social entrepreneurship works in Kenya and across the world. ‘Social entrepreneurs work to develop inclusive and sustainable business models that engage people at the base of the economic pyramid, and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals,’ says Albert.
Of course, engaging local leaders who know what needs to change for their communities has been part of the core of ygap’s DNA since the start. ‘Social entrepreneurs have an intimate understanding of the issues in their communities and tend to have an increased sense of purpose and drive as well,’ say the Kenya team. ‘Their solutions have proved to provide more holistic support for people in need through advocacy in education, health, job creation and home safety; leading to greater adoption, higher levels of community trust, and better results.’ And you can’t argue with their results. ‘The Kenyan change-makers who work in close proximity with their beneficiaries have created opportunities for 542,649 people in Kenya to lift themselves out of disadvantage.’
The numbers are impressive, but the team recognises that their success stories are a result of a lot of hard work, and getting ventures to a point where they are able to scale, which often takes long-term and tailored support. This team has the advantage of a long history in the Kenyan ecosystem to see what time and opportunity can do to help ventures increase their impact. ‘Getting an innovation to scale and to achieve real impact is a long and tough process. An idea needs to be incepted and refined, the entrepreneurs need to find a way to prove that it works, appropriate implementing partners need to be convinced and brought in, and all the while innovators need to navigate complex regulatory and compliance barriers.’
The patience and the long-term view of the work is certainly worth it, though the scale of the impact is hard to conceptualise at times. ‘One million lives! What does that even look like?!’ exclaims ygap First Gens Program Manager, Adelide Mutinda, although her proximity to many ygap impact ventures makes it easy for her to articulate. ‘It looks like one million opportunities for a better job, better education, better healthcare access, a better home, a better income, a better community! Take a second to think about how incredible that is.’ Adi has led the ygap First Gens program for migrant and refugee founders in Australia’s increasingly diverse social entrepreneurship ecosystem for a couple of years now, to great success.
So what’s their secret? ‘We got to one million by starting with one.’ says Adi. ‘To every single entrepreneur, changemaker, doer who has trusted us to walk with them along their entrepreneurial journey, this one’s for you! You are part of creating a truly better world. Do not doubt that if you can impact one life in a positive way, you can impact a million lives. This milestone ignites a new fire in us all to continue to imagine, and create, a brave new world and gives us the courage and inspiration to practise kindness and compassion to others along the way.’ First Gens has certainly carved its weighty space in the Australian social entrepreneurship ecosystem, and with Adi’s passion, it’s easy to see why.
At the end of the day, it all comes back to the ventures that are on the ground, working hard to cultivate that seed of an idea they had for a better future for their community and together, creating a veritable garden. ‘We recognise that the ventures we work with are the ones who are doing the hard yards of inciting local change. We’ve supported 541 impact ventures, but it is those ventures that have provided the opportunity for 1,295,411 people to break the poverty cycle.’ reflects ygap’s Head of Global Programs, Simon Lee. But that number is still an exciting metric for ygap. ‘That means for every 1 early-stage impact venture we’ve supported, they have gone on to impact more than 2,390 lives! That’s an incredible return on investment for an organisation that started out merely as a group of individuals with little more than a vision for a world without poverty.’ This kind of measurement goes a long way to show that the ygap formula is definitely working.
‘It’s a brilliant milestone to hit as an organisation,’ Simon continues ‘a testament to the vision of ygap’s founders, the dedication of every team member, volunteer and supporter that has contributed to the growth of the organisation, and, most importantly, evidence of the power in backing local change and supporting early-stage impact ventures with locally-led solutions to local problems.’
So what’s next for ygap? ‘As we turn our attention to addressing poverty and disadvantage in a post COVID-19 world, we’re just as focused and committed to driving change in the communities in which we work.’ Simon remarks, thick in the process of supporting the In-Country Program Teams to strategise their next couple of years of impact as part of ygap’s new future overall direction. Despite the air of excitement and celebration, there is an underlying urgency to the work. ‘As COVID-19 threatens to turn back the clock 30 years on global poverty, I’m proud to be backing local change as we move into the next stage of our growth as an impact-first organisation.’
Twelve years of growth, change, passion, refinement and dedication have resulted in the meeting of an ambitious target of one million lives impacted as a result of ygap’s work. This milestone positions ygap as a serious player in the global ecosystem of social entrepreneurship and in the effort to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. As Palesa said, ‘if you want to go far, go together’, and thanks to our incredible supporters, partners, staff and the wider ygap community that spans the globe, we have gone so far already; and with this continued support, there is certainly room for much more growth. To learn more about our work, and what comes next for the organisation, head to www.ygap.org or follow us on social media.
