Nominated by Shannon May

I'm nominating Kickstart. In short, they solve the problem of poverty for small farmers across Africa. Here's a paragraph about their work:

KickStart is an award-winning social enterprise with a revolutionary solution to poverty in Africa and the developing world. We develop and promote money-making tools that unlock business opportunities for thousands of poor entrepreneurs. KickStart's human powered irrigation pumps — appropriately named MoneyMaker — have been used to create over 80,000 profitable, agricultural businesses. KickStart sells their tools through a network of over 350 retail outlets across Africa. KickStart believes that the world's poor are not victims awaiting charity, but rather an untapped source of entrepreneurs who want nothing more than an opportunity. KickStart is proving every day that a well designed intervention can have micro and macro economic impact. Farmers using their pumps see household incomes double, triple, or quadruple in less than a year. This increased household income has lifted over 414,000 people permanently out of poverty. Taken together, KickStart farmers are generating over $83 million in profits and wages every year — a figure that continues to grow. In Kenya alone, MoneyMaker farmers generate the equivalent of .6 percent of the country's GDP. KickStart has proven that they can lift a family out of poverty forever for just $300, making KickStart one of the most cost-effective anti poverty efforts in the world.

Nominator Shannon May is the founder or Bridge International Academies in Nairobi, Kenya.

This piece is part of Worldchanging's Attention Philanthropy campaign. All week long, the Worldchanging Network will be delivering "attention grants" to worthy projects, individuals, resources and more. You can learn more about these gifts of notice and find other entries by clicking here.

Photo credit: Kickstart.