KickStart International
Founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon in 1991, KickStart is an award-winning social enterprise with a revolutionary solution to poverty in Africa and the developing world. Our friends at KickStart are on a mission to get millions of people out of poverty quickly, cost effectively, and sustainably.
To do this, KickStart develops and promotes simple money-making tools and systems that unlock business opportunities for thousands of poor entrepreneurs. With only four percent of Sub-Saharan farm land currently being irrigated, irrigation using KickStart’s line of human-powered ‘MoneyMaker’ pumps allows rural farmers to grow crops year-round, to grow higher value crops, and to produce crops in the dry seasons when water supplies are short and vegetable prices are high.
Thanks to the use of KickStart tools and systems, nearly 600,000 people are no longer living in poverty. What’s more, farmers who purchase and use a MoneyMaker pump increase their family’s income substantially, usually within a year of purchase. This increased income enables them to acquire the things they need to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities: plentiful food, clean water, medical care, and education for their children. They are now able to plan for the future.
By combining the transformative power of technology, the entrepreneurial spirit of the world’s poorest people, and the permanence of the private sector marketplace, KickStart is changing the way the world fights poverty.
KickStart is currently active in Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and their pumps are distributed by other NGOs in more than 20 countries. KickStart is also working on innovative new initiatives, including several financing and social networking pilot programs for rural farmers that are in the process of being tested in Kenya and Tanzania.