Getting to Know: Jacky Habib

Founder of New Lens Travel

Storytelling has been a method to pass down generational knowledge, culture and values since the beginning of time — it’s also been the way to connect communities across the world. In West Africa, these storytellers, otherwise known as griots, are also historians, singers, poets and musicians. Jacky Habib, founder of New Lens Travel, wants to take the idea of storytelling one step further with her social enterprise that turns voluntourism on its head.

“Instead of sending volunteers to ‘help’ or ‘save’ people in developing countries, we send them to learn from locals. Volunteers get paired with local media professionals and use storytelling as a way to engage with communities and learn about what’s happening on the ground without having to rely on western media and pop culture. It’s an alternative to the school-building, orphan-hugging type of trips that are all too common,” Jacky explains. “A few years ago, I was a media trainer in Ghana, working with reporters and citizen journalists. When I was there, I crossed paths with people in the media industry who were telling such interesting stories and using their work to promote social change. I was so impressed and started thinking about how much we (people from the west) could learn from these individuals who I had the privilege of working with,” she continues.

Having been involved with charity work for years, as well as having an education in non-profit management, Jacky realized that her journey is one that was shared across the world in Ghana. “I was thinking about these issues, and at the same time I met an amazing group of kids in a slum in Ghana. They meet on weekends to talk about issues impacting their community and then write articles by hand. They’re working on starting a newspaper to share stories of what’s happening in their community. I was thinking of ways I could support them after leaving Ghana.”

Prior to finding success with New Lens Travel, Jacky and her team tried several models before settling. “When we started New Lens Travel, we wanted to use the one-for-one model used by companies like TOMS shoes, which donates a pair of shoes for every pair of shoes they sell. Our plan was to provide free media training for one person in Ghana for every participant in our volunteer program,. We decided not to use this model because we felt it was overly simplistic and focused on quantity, rather than quality. By focusing our efforts, we thought we’d be able to provide better support. We know that this is a work in progress, and we’re expecting to make more changes to our model as we measure our impact.”

Ultimately, New Lens Travel’s grassroots media initiatives will create a space for the next generation of storytellers, and continue passing history through generation to generation. It’s other goal is to end the cycle of perpetuating negative headlines about Ghana, and all of Africa, and challenge these stereotypes by arranging for the Ghanaian storytellers to share their work with Canadian journalists and highlight these young griots in the making.

If you’re interested in participating or learning more about New Lens Travel, you can check out their website, follow them on social media or visit Jacky in person at the Centre for Social Innovation.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/newlenstravel
Instagram: www.instagram.com/newlenstravel
Twitter: www.twitter.com/newlenstravel

Story Written by Erin Ashley

Jacky is a participant in the Hook It Up program delivered by Socent7. Hook It Up is a support program for young social entrepreneurs in Ontario. Learn more at www.hookitup.ca.

*END OF PROGRAM UPDATE* There were 5 participants in New Lens Travel’s August 2016 trip to Ghana, which paired participants with media professionals in Ghana. Jacky was also selected to participate in Ashoka’s Emerging Innovators Boot Camp in Nairobi, Kenya. Her message to other young entrepreneurs: “ things may not go as anticipated- especially if you’re running a project half way across the world. The most important thing, by far, is having a positive attitude and flexibility to change your plans. I’ve learned that when you encounter problems, you can usually solve them if you have: A. Money or B. Friends/ Connections. Early-stage social entrepreneurs usually don’t have wads of cash, so make sure you have friends or others you can reach out for support, especially when you’re in a bind.”