Organization: KickStart International, Inc.

All Photos KickStart?s mission is to get millions of people out of poverty quickly, cost effectively, and sustainably. 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 aims to change the way the world fights poverty.

Focus Areas:	Technology, Economic Development, Poverty
Countries Served:	Burkina Faso Kenya Mali Tanzania, United Republic of

Description of Services:
KickStart aims to alleviate poverty. Farmers who purchase and use KickStart technologies increase their incomes substantially within a year of purchase. With this increased income they can acquire the things they need to have a better life; plentiful food, clean water, education for their children, and healthcare for their families. By selling money-making technologies to entrepreneurial poor farmers, supporting them with a private sector supply chain, and offering services to help them increase their incomes; KickStart is able to fulfill it's mission. KickStart currently has programs in Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
History:
KickStart founders, Nick Moon and Martin Fisher, have more than 40 years combined experience fighting poverty in Africa. KickStart's model grew from their personal experience and the lessons learned on the front lines of this effort. In 1991, ApproTEC was founded, which in 2005 became KickStart. KickStart?s early efforts focused on building and food processing technologies. After observing the number of rural farmers with no irrigation, it was recognized that irrigation would allow people to increase their income, and in 1998, a line of manually operated MoneyMaker Irrigation Pumps was developed. KickStart continued to grow across Kenya. In 2000, KickStart expanded into Tanzania, and in 2004, expanded into Mali and Burkina Faso.
Accomplishments & Progress:
KickStart's Impact as of 6/1/11: 570,400 People Out of Poverty 179,100 Children in School 173,200 New Jobs Created $115M in New Profits and Wages Generated Annually Irrigation using KickStart?s human-powered ?MoneyMaker? pump allows smallholder farmers to grow crops all 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. KickStart works with factories, shippers, distributors and dealers to ensure that our pumps are made widely available and accessible to very poor communities in rural areas. Setting up and strengthening local supply chains ensures sustainable delivery through the market and enables future expansion of the network as the market grows.