By Erlijn Sie
Togetherness
Most game changers economically empowering and financially including millions of people, do this with a holistic approach. They do not offer one financial service. They offer an integrated service, speaking to the needs. A great example would be Healthy Entrepreneurs, offering a business-in-a-bag solution, to enterprising community health workers in rural parts of Africa, with a pre-finance facility. This business-in-a bag is a sort of pharmacy-in-a-box, selling over-the-counter medicine and offering several health screenings, and guided health questionnaires, and health educational movies. Solar Sister does something similar, a business-in-a-bag for enterprising women, selling solar solutions to families based in remote villages. As you can see, both approaches come with income generation, savings and/or reduced costs of living for the villagers and access to finance to start such a business. But even more importantly, they bring medicines and health screening and health education, or solar energy. And they bring these resources to the ones that need them the most. Suddenly the enterprising community health workers, or the Solar Sisters, become role models and agents of change in their own communities. The key here is that these game changers do not offer a financial product or service, they solve an issue. The put the agency in the hands of community-based change agents.
A world in which every community thrives, is like long-distance, group travel. It’s always a journey. In the case of financial inclusion, a world in which every community can thrive, it’s long-distance travel. But more importantly, it’s group travel! Yes, together. Let’s focus on the togetherness. There are two sides to this togetherness. On the one hand, why we need to do this together, is because it is not a single subject, it’s multifaceted. Most of the time, the excluded low-income families, the vulnerable communities, are not just financially excluded. They also regularly lack access to clean water, electricity, a toilet and they need to walk an hour to the nearest health facility. On the other hand, why we need to do this together, and see the whole community, not just one family at the time, is because there’s a hidden gem in communities: togetherness. Some call it social capital, others solidarity. Once we change our lens and open up to see the power of togetherness, a lot more possibilities arise, for financial inclusion, for shared prosperity, for thriving communities everywhere.
And they don’t do this alone. Healthy Entrepreneurs collaborates with Philips and Boehringer Ingelheim for expertise on health tech, diseases and treatment. With the World Health Organization for health education. With impact investors and donors to blend financial resources, to cover the pre-financing facility, for the development of tele-health services. It’s this integrated approach to solving that issue, building the partnerships to solve each aspect of that issue together, that makes them game changers. These game changers, they drive the bus, but in the tour bus there are companies, foundations, international bodies, impact investors, medical experts, medicine and healthy food producers, and even a health insurance provider might join in the future … the point is: it’s a group trip, and it’s a long journey.
The route
Encouraging to solve issues together, empowering community change agents, it requires a radical new way of organising. What is the route towards growing this spirit of togetherness? We need another ‘mentality’, more entrepreneurial, more linking than ranking, more empathic. And this is the engine of the bus: to grow and become better to act in togetherness, you need to shift your attitude from ego more to eco-system. Seeing the other, the bigger picture. You could take your focus of the scarcity you want to solve, and organise more for abundance. Something one person does not have, can easily be found in a whole community. You need to nurture this new mentality and attitude, moving away from competition. Don’t fight the one who is bringing clean water, but work together with them to integrate your financial service to this. Moving simply more towards collaboration. You will learn -these new skills, this new attitude, by doing. The process and progress is more important than the organisation in itself, the one name it should carry. This is the old-skool way of ‘branding’, looking to ‘what is mine’. All too often we think too much about ‘what did I fund’, ‘what did I do’, ‘where to put my name’. These are the blockers on our route. Leave these blockers at home, navigate around these blockers. Walk a different path. We are in dire need of this new attitude: to make a difference, to make a change for the good of all, we need to steer together.
Celebrate the progress
The first step of this transformation to open up for togetherness, is to move a little bit out of denial. Get out there and do something together, with your community. And when you’re in the middle of it (the transformation), putting your shoulders to lift a solution off the ground, with others. Feel and celebrate the inspiration and the joy of doing it. Share that you are scratching the heads, and suffer the headaches, and shout out when you uncovered some collective strength.
Here are my three pointers to experience the beauty of this long-distance group travel:
- Be aware of this different reality, togetherness is incredibly powerful and contagious;
- Accept it’s not in your control only, let it go and learn;
- Embrace complexity: the only constant is change.
Don’t forget that you’re on a journey to change everything, almost: a world in which only an individual can advance, or a group that carries the same name, is going to be part of the past. If you also want shared prosperity, a world in which every community can thrive. There’s no other way, but together.
Let’s go!