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Denver Marketing Firm Helps Social Entrepreneur Lift Thousands Out of Poverty in Africa
Nairobi, Kenya and Denver, Colorado 15 June 2009: Ckarma marketing helped social entrepreneur KickStart International lift thousands of small scale farmers from poverty through the branding and marketing of MoneyMaker Irrigation pumps. MoneyMaker pumps are a product developed by KickStart International, a social enterprise whose mission is to eliminate poverty. Over 82,000 small enterprises have been started in Africa lifting over 411,000 people out of poverty.
The manual irrigation technology is sold to poor small-scale farmers in Africa. With the pumps, they make money growing and selling high-value vegetables and fruit. Their income increases as much at 1000% one thousand percent in a year, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty forever.
Since the campaign launched, KickStart had over (600%) six hundred percent increase in MoneyMaker pump sales in Kenya. They achieved the highest sales since they started over sixteen years ago. Ckarma marketing won a 2009 Communicator Award of Distinction for the campaign.
"ckarma's work has transformed MoneyMaker into a global brand that has expanded awareness and increased impacts dramatically. The success in our marketing has helped raise donor confidence and attract new partners to help us end poverty." Ken Weimar, Senior Development Director, KickStart International
The challenge for ckarma was to convince risk-averse farmers to buy a new technology to them and demonstrate how the pump would help them make money from their little plot of land. The comprehensive global marketing and advertising campaign, "Farming is my Business" featured billboard ads, radio spots, point-of-sale displays in farm shops and on farm demonstrations. It has launched in four languages across Kenya, Tanzania, Mali and Burkina Faso.
They launched the first consumer promotion discounting pumps. "Imarisha Maisha (swahili for" improve your life") helped Kenyans get "back to business" after the post election violence, tribal conflict and displacement of thousands in 2008.
Creating a Global Brand
The unified global brand has helped deliver a clear message across the four African countries. "It was challenging to create a campaign that communicates a new technology to very poor farmers in four languages across different African cultures." "We are thrilled the campaign worked extraordinarily well. The jump in sales of pumps means that KickStart's impact on poverty has doubled in a few years. Knowing that the campaign is helped get the word out that the poor can help themselves is the most rewarding experience in my life." Says Cindy Kerr, Founder of ckarma marketing. She lived in Nairobi, Kenya leading the marketing for KickStart International and worked with staff in all four countries.
About ckarma marketing
ckarma, marketing is an outsourced marketing and communications firm that transforms nonprofits and good businesses making a positive difference with creative campaigns that impact donor and customer engagement. They are a team of experts creating cost effective strategies and implementation that increases impacts that make a positive difference in the world. Additional information about ckarma can be found at www.ckarma.com.
About KickStart International
KickStart International is an award winning social enterprise with a mission to take millions of people out of poverty. Since 1991, tens of thousands of poor families have used KickStart products to create sustainable businesses, and live more independent and fulfilling lives. KickStart has been awarded the Peter F Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, the Lemelson MIT Prize for Sustainability and has been selected one of the Fast Company Social Entrepreneurs four years in a row. KickStart International relies on grants and private funding to provide products such as the MoneyMaker Irrigation pumps at affordable prices to poor Africans. For more information www.kickstart.org
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