Igniting Africa chooses its projects and project leaders carefully based on the following criteria:
- The project leader is trustworthy and has a clear interest in being an entrepreneur and humanitarian.
- There is sufficient evidence that the project will generate profits and/or break even within 3–5 years.
- The project will create new jobs.
- The project leader is willing to partner closely with Igniting Africa staff to develop and implement his/her business idea.
- The project leader shares our commitment to sustainability. S/he is willing to give back to Igniting Africa by making his/her place of business an apprenticeship site for prospective Igniting Africa entrepreneurs and by sharing of profits with Igniting Africa to sustain our efforts long term.
- The project leader demonstrates a commitment to humanitarianism by initiating a humanitarian project or program designed to benefit the community. These benefits to the community may be spiritual, intellectual, environmental, political, social, cultural, economic, civic, or health oriented.
- The project leader is able to secure community buy-in and mobilize members of the community into small groups called Torches.
Today Igniting Africa supports two elementary schools, a cyber cafe, a bakery, a solar energy initiative and about 50 Torches. In an ongoing way as resources allow, we will continue to invest in projects that meet our criteria for partnership.
If you are interested in becoming a Project Leader in Africa, please contact Dr. Niboh, president@ignitingafrica.org.