#Pause: Looking ahead

What problem are you really trying to solve?

It matters in African culture to provide a decent and dignified burial for one’s loved ones. We all know that.  Poor people have always been anxious about plunging their families into poverty because of funeral-related expenses. 

I actually remember the day I first began to discuss it with one of my colleagues. I began to study how the poor have created something called “Burial Societies” that are really a form of micro-insurance scheme.  Looking at that model, I decided to Re-Imagine these schemes in the mobile digital world. This is how we came to create EcoSure about 15 years ago.

Millions of people are now insured through our digital platform which provides support to families with funeral costs and expenses. People can even buy Life Policies and other insurance.

Let’s examine this using our toolkit:

1. As an entrepreneur, I saw a #Problem but didn’t just say useless things about it. I sprung to action to find a solution for a human need that causes great stress and financial difficulty for many families.

2. We looked to #Innovation. It took at least a year long #Process to develop this platform, and at least three years to scale it!

3. I put some of our best #People to work on it.

Today #EcoSure is a Product used by more than 4m people. It also provides insurance cover for more than 10m people. As a business, it generates millions every year for our group and is now available in four countries: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Lesotho.

#Innovation is the greatest source of wealth creation the world has ever known.

“If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, identify a human need, and reach out to solve it, in a sustainable way, that is not illegal, does not harm others, and your environment.”  ~Strive Masiyiwa 

There is nothing stopping you from taking the Pathway I have just shown you.  Not every problem out there requires a political solution. Some problems have solutions that are staring us in the face. They are just looking for an entrepreneur.  

#EntrepreneursCanDoAnything!

Image credit: Photographer unknown. @africansafariconservation