About a month ago, I was fortunate enough to hear Ralph da Costa-Nunez speak about turning homeless shelters into communities of opportunity. The concept has thoroughly inspired me, and since then, I've been thinking about this concept with another type of informal housing: slums.
The UN estimates that over 1 billion people around the world live in slums and that the number could increase to 1.39 billion by 2020. In two regions with a high concentration of slum-dwellers compared to the overall urban population, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the urban population is expected to double over the next twenty years. We absolutely need to work towards lifting individuals out of poverty and ensuring access to basic needs, such as sanitation and clean water. In addition to that effort, how do we ensure that those living in slums are living in communities of opportunity?
The UN estimates that over 1 billion people around the world live in slums and that the number could increase to 1.39 billion by 2020. In two regions with a high concentration of slum-dwellers compared to the overall urban population, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the urban population is expected to double over the next twenty years. We absolutely need to work towards lifting individuals out of poverty and ensuring access to basic needs, such as sanitation and clean water. In addition to that effort, how do we ensure that those living in slums are living in communities of opportunity?
In many ways, slums are vibrant ecosystems. A writer visiting Kibera, Nairobi's biggest slum, described it as a thriving economic hub. "There wasn’t a square of street front property unoccupied by activity: pharmacies, butchers, restaurants, grocery stores, and cell phone shops lined the streets." Most slum dwellers are entrepreneurs and approximately 85% of new employment opportunities occur in the informal economy.
But enterprises in slums are generally micro-enterprises that focus on survival, not growth. Without a formal education, limited access to resources, and an unrecognised status by local governments, slum-dwelling entrepreneurs are operating under extreme difficulty. And often, entrepreneurship is one of the few employment options available, particularly for women. How can make the lives of these entrepreneurs a little bit easier? How do we turn these hubs of micro-enterprises into entrepreneurial ecosystems?
Imagine if we focused on slums as the next Silicon Valley. With the vast opportunities for businesses at the base of the pyramid, we could help the "bottom billion" solve its own problems and lift itself out of poverty in the process.
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