Trump will not put out my fire

This was originally a Facebook Post (link at the end), then I e-mailed it to all of Power:On’s friends. Finally I uploaded it here, hoping it will get to more and more people fighting to make a difference. Let’s keep fighting!

Fired up, ready to go.

It’s done. Trump won. I am devastated. This man goes against everything I believe in, and I literally woke up with a headache today. It would be easy to give in to despair at times like this. But I feel we must do exactly the opposite.

Here are some thoughts I wanted to share with you.

4 years ago, I decided to launch a startup to bring electricity to the poorest people on the planet. It’s now been over one year since Power:On’s minigrid went live in Igbérè. But believe me when I tell you that nothing — absolutely nothing — went according to plan. These projects, in poor and remote areas, are always complicated. Without even mentioning technical issues, we are always wrong when we assume people will actually be interested in our solutions. As the saying goes, “Your solution is not my fucking problem.”

This is the beauty of entrepreneurship, and of this project in particular. If people don’t like what we do, we go bankrupt. That’s radical and simple, there is no middle ground. We need to listen, to have a constant dialogue to really understand. And that’s when it becomes interesting. It’s in these moments that you realize you have to drop those Excel and Powerpoint presentations, and that’s when I really enjoy not working behind a desk.

« My dad left us when I was born, my mother and I. I was really not lucky because when I was ten, I lost her, too. I then stayed with my uncle. His children went to school, but not me: since I had no father, I didn’t have a choice. I often went to Nigeria to work. One time, I saved enough money to buy a bike. But when I came back to the village, my uncle had sold it to drink. But I finally escaped this place, and I’m all better. Today I have two wives and eight children, and they all go to school. Business is doing well too, I sell gas and second-hand motorbikes. Thanks to electricity, I can keep selling until 11.30 pm. I am also planning to build a few houses to rent to travelers. With the lights and all, it will be good. » Humans Of Igbérè — Jérôme

Abraham needs electricity for his nursery to grow teak. Zaché would like his son to work with us. Jérôme is an orphan who struggled throughout his childhood against an abusive uncle, but has now become one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the village. And Evelyne decided to learn how to run a business when her husband died. Her turnover has soared from 20,000 to 50,000 FCFA per day with electricity, a small fortune here.

« Being a single woman here is not easy, but when my husband died I decided not to give up. I took classes during several years and I now run the village’s biggest store. I am also very committed to the to the savings account managed by Igbérè’s women. We look out for each other. Business is doing well, and I started building a bar and a workshop for an electric mill. They will run on the grid’s electricity. » Humans Of Igbérè — Evelyne

We all have our moments of doubts, when we are tired and want to quit. I sometimes feel like these beautiful stories are actually boring everyone. The path is still so long to merely reach 20,000 subscribers on the website, and I haven’t had a salary since 2012… And the world around us seems to be going so crazy! Hatred, contempt, racism, sexism are now allowing a wannabe despot to enter the White House.

It’s in these moments that we have to remember why we do what we do, and for whom we do it. Our beautiful stories, the Humans Of Igbérè series, they are first of all for me. They are proof that all this time was not lost. And I really believe that.

I also happen to believe we as Humans from all over the world absolutely need to fight against all that Trump represents, to show these are not the values we want to see succeed in the world. We must, today more than ever, commit to good things and to sharing positivity. This is how we will change the world. Fired up, ready to go!

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