Understanding the Theodora Project Part Three – Introduction to Revolutionary and Transformational Potential

 When one looks at traditional social impact programs in Africa they tend to have a similar aspects. They are top down. They are highly dependent on donor funding. They only work as long as the donor funding can keep the program operating. There is as much effort given to finding funding as to delivering benefits. When one measures the actual benefit that is received on finds that many of the programs while definitely delivering good are not exactly transforming the conditions that underlie the problems being addressed. 

I’ve already admitted that virtually everything I’ve done with Theodora has been the project leading me rather than me leading the project. But it has become increasingly apparent over the last three months that this program has the potential to truly be transformational. Note the emphasis on potential. We have a long way to go and a lot to learn still. But let me throw out a three things that have caught not just my eye but the eyes of many who are working with us. I will be going through all of these in more detail in future posts.

 

From the very first we envisioned Theodora as a business model first. It was always our thought that we had to create real jobs with good income if we were going to truly succeed in getting women out of sex work and into meaningful new lives. This meant we never thought of donations as the ongoing revenue stream to be cultivated. But we didn’t anticipate the real economic opportunity from the business model!

 

We wondered from the beginning how difficult it might be to take women who were leading a life that was the antithesis of American business customs and get them to adopt the values and behaviors necessary to operate successfully as virtual assistants in the U.S. In the event, we found that the power of positive reinforcement and real opportunity was like a rain falling on the desert as far as attitude transformation was concerned. Watch this video. It is raw text, not edited. It is our videographer in Ghana who saw the women in 2019 when we did our first promotional videos before we were even launched and now saw them again in October of 2020.

 

We knew we had a particular market we wanted to serve in the U.S. with our virtual services – solopreneurs, individual professionals, and very small businesses. What we didn’t anticipate was the high perceived value our service would give them. These are businesses/individuals that would normally not even think of getting assistant. Although small, the number of clients who stated receiving substantial benefit was far greater than we anticipated. This opened our eyes to a different reality. Our services were bringing benefit to our own economy! This led to a powerful and dynamic messaging.

 

Stay tuned for more detail. AND don’t forget to book your Hippos of Death Safari Tour at de-I Sandia Outfitters Social Impact Tours and to name de-I Africa Transformation Corp as the beneficiary in your will. Remember at de-I Sandia Outfitters Social Impact Tours your loss is our gain!