Reach for Change Africa publishes 2015 impact report

Reach for Change Africa recently published its 2015 impact report documenting results of the organization's social entrepreneur incubator program.

The report concludes that social entrepreneurship is an important component to sustainable development on the continent, as well as an engine for solutions to a number of other social and economic issues.

“Our 2015 Social Impact Report really emphasizes how much social entrepreneurship has grown in Africa,” Reach for Change Africa’s Regional Director Amma Lartey said. “In 2015, the quality of ideas submitted to our innovation competitions improved substantially which tells us that the sector is growing and social entrepreneurs are finding creative ways to respond to social challenges through scalable innovations that have the potential to deeply impact societies.”

Ghana's James Kofi Annan was one of 57 entrepreneurs selected for support from competitions in seven African countries last year. He said the incubation program helped his work to end childhood slavery. After three years in the program, revenues for Annan's organization grew by more than 450 percent, topping out at $950,000 last year.

“Reach for Change’s Incubator brought direct benefits to me and Challenging Heights,” Annan said. “Today, Challenging Heights is a well-respected global leader in the fight against child trafficking, influencing policies not only in Ghana, but also in influential institutions such as the U.S. State Department, the Senate, the Vatican and many more.”

The full report is available at africa.reachforchange.org/impact.