{"id":10285,"date":"2015-10-07T01:08:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T01:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2016-11-28T16:29:27","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T16:29:27","slug":"akon-charities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/akon-charities","title":{"rendered":"Akon Explains Why He Doesn&#8217;t Believe In Charity Work In Africa Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a6b39195b99473d6c9dd698db2668010\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:2px 0 2px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<center>\r\n\r\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\r\nfunction ShorterThan(widthMax) {\r\n                if (screen.width < widthMax) {return true;}  \r\n                else {return false}\r\n    }\r\nvar LimitWidth = 728\r\nvar MobileZoneID = 348996\r\nvar DesktopZoneID = 348995   \r\n<!--\/\/<![CDATA[\r\n   document.MAX_ct0 ='';\r\n   var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'?'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?':'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?');\r\n   var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999);\r\n   document.write (\"<scr\"+\"ipt type='text\/javascript' src='\"+m3_u);\r\n   if (ShorterThan(LimitWidth)) {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+MobileZoneID);} else {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+DesktopZoneID);}\r\n   document.write(\"&nodis=1\");\r\n   document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r);\r\n   if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write (\"&exclude=\" + document.MAX_used);\r\n   document.write (document.charset ? '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? '&charset='+document.characterSet : ''));\r\n   document.write (\"&loc=\" + escape(window.location));\r\n   if (document.referrer) document.write (\"&referer=\" + escape(document.referrer));\r\n   if (document.context) document.write (\"&context=\" + escape(document.context));\r\n   if ((typeof(document.MAX_ct0) != 'undefined') && (document.MAX_ct0.substring(0,4) == 'http')) {\r\n       document.write (\"&ct0=\" + escape(document.MAX_ct0));\r\n   }\r\n   if (document.mmm_fo) document.write (\"&mmm_fo=1\");\r\n   document.write (\"'><\/scr\"+\"ipt>\");\r\n\/\/]]>--><\/script>\r\n<\/center>\n<\/div>\n<p>Senegalese-American rapper Akon has been heavily involved in impacting lives in Africa. In 2010, he launched Konfidence, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the unprivileged youth in the continent. In 2014, the rapper started Akon Lighting Africa, an initiative that aims to bring electricity to millions of Africans in rural areas through solar energy. After a few years in the industry, Akon shares his\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n<h2>Profit-making businesses create jobs<\/h2>\n<p>The Kaolack native wants to provide opportunities to Africans using a different approach than that of the traditional NGOs because he is not convinced about the long-term\u00a0development impact of charity organizations.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t think that charities in Africa really work,\u201d he told The Guardian. \u201cI think it just holds the people down longer than it should. I think the only way to build Africa is to build for-profit businesses that create opportunities and jobs for the people locally. [&#8230;]\u00a0That\u2019s why with Akon Lighting Africa we decided to take a for-profit approach. Ultimately, it\u2019s providing empowerment to local people so they can start developing their own economies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Akon, profit-making initiatives that are sustainable create jobs that\u00a0in turn produce a more long-term solution to bolstering the economy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10290\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/39c9de4803815b2a04c57a256b469c01.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"700\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/39c9de4803815b2a04c57a256b469c01.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/39c9de4803815b2a04c57a256b469c01-85x56.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/229754018467375346\/\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">{adinserter CNP5}<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Learning from past mistakes<\/h2>\n<p>Akon recognizes that being on the ground can totally change the impact of your work. It helps you better understand the day to day challenges your organization can be confronted to. Secondly, you are closer to your potential customers.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere have been a lot of issues and challenges that I honestly wasn\u2019t aware of until I got involved [&#8230;] One thing I\u2019ve realised about Africa is that only the organisations that involve Africans themselves are successful. A lot of corporations that come with their own policies and try and implement them in Africa fail horribly. The advantage we had is that all three founders are African, so we were able to navigate through each country a lot faster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Akon Lighting Africa has now reached agreements with 16 African countries and is targeting 9 more countries by the end of next year. The deals consist\u00a0in providing and installing street lamps in villages, replacing old generators that use fossil fuels with solar micro-generators and selling \u00a0subsidized household solar electric devices and appliances to families at affordable prices. The deals are pre-financed using a $1bn credit line issued by China Jiangsu International Group and distributed by Ecobank. With no surprise, employees are are predominantly African.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<figure id=\"attachment_10289\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10289\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-10289 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/23fbd14c063059a22b91a01c896b263a.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/23fbd14c063059a22b91a01c896b263a.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/23fbd14c063059a22b91a01c896b263a-600x399.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/23fbd14c063059a22b91a01c896b263a-85x57.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/479563060298749740\/\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">[interaction id=&#8221;5614700774a791dd4b54b20f&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/akon-plans-bring-electricity-600-million-people-africa\">SEE ALSO:\u00a0Akon Plans to Bring Electricity to 600 Million People in Africa.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senegalese-American rapper Akon has been heavily involved in impacting lives in Africa. In 2010, he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,110],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Akon Explains Why He Doesn&#039;t Believe In Charity Work In Africa Anymore<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senegalese-American rapper Akon has been heavily involved in impacting lives in Africa.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/akon-charities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Akon Explains Why He Doesn&#039;t Believe In Charity Work In Africa Anymore\" \/>\n<meta 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