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Blaise Judja-Sato, Cameroon’s Social Entrepreneur (1)
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Last week, Global X had lunch with Blaise Judja-Sato, the social entrepreneur from Cameroon who founded Village Reach in 2000 to take care of the last mile in medicine distribution.
Mr. Judja-Sato’s profile is quite unusual. Born and raised in Cameroon, educated first in France (applied mathematics and telecom engineering) then in the US (Wharton MBA), he was a successful telecom executive when he got the social entrepreneurship call.
In 2000, he raised more than $1 million for relief efforts after a major flood in Mozambique, a country that had gone through a 20 year-civil war. Like many aspiring social entrepreneurs, he identified an important problem and quickly came up with a sophisticated solution.
The problem: “We had brought food, clothes and medicine from Europe and the U.S., but everything remained stuck at the Maputo airport,” says Mr. Judja-Sato.
The solution: “To solve the last mile problem, I decided to launch the FedEx for relief!”
The reality was actually far more daunting than he initially realized. “I am glad I didn’t know how difficult it would be!” he now says.
In his next blog, Global X will discuss his advice to fellow social entrepreneurs.
Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.
Mr. Judja-Sato’s profile is quite unusual. Born and raised in Cameroon, educated first in France (applied mathematics and telecom engineering) then in the US (Wharton MBA), he was a successful telecom executive when he got the social entrepreneurship call.
In 2000, he raised more than $1 million for relief efforts after a major flood in Mozambique, a country that had gone through a 20 year-civil war. Like many aspiring social entrepreneurs, he identified an important problem and quickly came up with a sophisticated solution.
The problem: “We had brought food, clothes and medicine from Europe and the U.S., but everything remained stuck at the Maputo airport,” says Mr. Judja-Sato.
The solution: “To solve the last mile problem, I decided to launch the FedEx for relief!”
The reality was actually far more daunting than he initially realized. “I am glad I didn’t know how difficult it would be!” he now says.
In his next blog, Global X will discuss his advice to fellow social entrepreneurs.
Global X also keeps a wireless mobile photo blog.
