There are very few people in the world who can truly say that they understand what hardship is. There are even fewer that can rise from hardship and become a success. But within this select group of people, there lies a determination and desire to help others succeed and grow. Hardship breeds humility and an understanding of what is important, but also breeds that desire to “pay it forward”. In that these people want to do what they can to give opportunities to others, just like how they were given opportunities themselves. A man that epitomizes this spirit and desire is Richmond Smith, the Founder of the Heritage Charity Foundation in Ghana.
A difficult childhood that culminated with 5 years on the street was interrupted by a Good Samaritan who saw the potential in him. This person ended up supporting him through his education, into university, where he ended up travelling to India to complete an MBA with a focus on Project Management. Just as this Good Samaritan supported him throughout an important phase of his life, he wants to do the same for youth who are or were in the same situation that he once was. This led him to the creation of the Heritage Charity Foundation (HCF), which aims to provide entrepreneurship skills for youths with the aim of reducing youth unemployment in Ghana, while transforming youth into sustainable changemakers in their communities.
Ghana is a country that is struggling to develop and utilize policies that will positively affect their youth, something that occurs within many countries around the world. In Ghana, 48% of men and women in the age group of 18-35 finds themselves unemployed (according to a report by the World Bank), and even though the ideals of entrepreneurship have spread through Africa like wildfire, the majority of the older generation still sticks to the mentality of Education -> Graduate -> Employment, which could be considered the safer and more stable option.
But Richmond and his organization are working to change this mentality, and in turn reduce the youth unemployment rate in his country through the teaching, training and development of entrepreneurship skills and sustainable practices, primarily focusing on the organic agriculture industry. Through their programs, they want to spur on entrepreneurial growth that can spread throughout the country, and in turn help support the nation as a whole through bringing a generation of sustainable agri-business entrepreneurs through to help develop and grow their agriculture sector further.
It is a very ambitious goal, one that many people have tried to do over the years throughout the continent of Africa. Some have succeeded, and some have failed, but in Richmond’s case, no matter what the outcome is, he is determined to learn and grow from what he is doing with HCF. In his own words:
“Being a failure doesn’t mean the end of the tunnel. Failures are rather one of the best tools that one is expected to learn from to be able to start all over again, but rather using a totally different strategy. One can never be successful without being a failure because failure and efforts results into success.”
This is a sentiment that matches the kind of person that Richmond is. Someone who is out there working to “pay it forward”, create opportunities for the youth, and do his best to make an impact with the tools and knowledge he has been given. That spirit and desire he holds to make a difference I believe will resonate within each and every person that he works with within HCF; which means that there will be a generation of men and women who want to help and make a difference in their country and their world. We need more of that.
A.Y.
To learn more about the Heritage Charity Foundation, you can find them online on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Heritage-Charity-Foundation-1522364514750541/, or you can email them at hcfghana@hotmail.com.
No Fear of Falling 