Mubuso Zamchiya

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2008

Mubuso Zamchiya

School Invest

http://www.schoolventures.com

Alexandria, Virginia, United States

Education & Youth Leadership

The Bold Idea:

Improving access to capital for schools serving the poor in Africa through an online marketplace that connects schools to social investors who can support their work.

There are over 100 million children either out of school or attending poor-quality schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. Against a backdrop of inadequate public provision, private schools for the poor are emerging as an alternative way to provide education in low-income communities. The critical issue for these schools and the children that attend them is gaining access to capital to cover school improvement and school fees respectively.

School Invest leverages the internet to create a sustainable culture of investment in schools for the poor. Through School Invest, non-traditional investors (members of the African Diaspora and non-African social investors) will be able to support these schools and transform the future lives of children.

Mubuso Zamchiya pitching at Echoing Green Selection Weekend (May 2, 2008)

Biography:

A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and law degree graduate of Bristol University, UK, Mubuso Zamchiya has worked in international development, the power industry and retail and commercial banking with world class organizations like the International Finance Corporation (IFC), AES Corporation, and Barclays Bank. He is the founder of the BOOST Fellowship program in Zimbabwe and, in 2008, was awarded the Archbishop Tutu Fellowship by the African Leadership Institute.

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?

My Zimbabwean pastor, Tatenda Gunguwo, who cares for hundreds of HIV/AIDS orphans, challenged me to leverage my education and work experience to find sustainable ways to help children live productive future lives. AES and the IFC taught me that private enterprise could be mobilized effectively to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. I’m trying to bring enterprise-based innovations to the education space.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched social and difficult problems? (Such as experiences, skills, events, etc.)
Faith in God, who is sovereign, makes it possible to take on the impossible, knowing that he who began a great work will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.

New and Untested: What's innovative about your new idea for social change?
I think the true innovators are the parents, teachers and local entrepreneurs who establish enterprise-based, affordable, and sustainable schools in the poorest of communities, all with limited outside help. They create something out of nothing. All I’m trying to do through the ideas of School Invest is to leverage the internet and mobile telephones to bring these innovators the support they need to expand their outreach and improve their delivery.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?

• Faith (confidence), hope (motivation), and love (solution-oriented action), as well as . . .
• Go-get-um-ism;
• The-books-did-not-tell-me-about-this-but-it’s-too-late-and-too-important-to-quit-now-ism; and
• Honey-thank-you-for-letting-me-sell-your-shoes . . . -again-ism.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?
Impressions of Africa Vol.2; Redemption Songs (Jars of Clay); Hope (Hugh Masekela); The Very Best of Nina Simone 1967-1972: Sugar My Bowl; Throne Room (CeCe Winans); Givin’ It Up (George Benson & Al Jarreau); An Evening with Shane & Shane (Shane Barnard & Shane Everett); Soulful Hymns (Jon Gibson).

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?

• George Muller of Bristol: His Life of Prayer and Faith by A.T. Pierson
• Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
• Douglass: Autobiographies by Frederick Douglass
• The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy
• Gandhi: An Autobiography
• Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. edited by Clayborne Carson
• Autobiography of Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
• Mother Teresa by Kathryn Spink
• Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston
• Einstein His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?

• apsiindex.com
• bbc.co.uk
• nba.com

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?
“Begin in a small way. Don’t look for numbers. Every small act of love for the unwanted and the poor is important to Jesus.” - Mother Teresa