In January, we aim to launch a processing facility in a village in Sierra Leone that will enable farmers to more efficiently produce and profitably market their cassava crops. We will provide training and consulting as well as actual processing machines.
Farmers will take this knowledge and capital, and they will work toward the goal of becoming a profitable and self sustaining cooperative. We will, through trial and error, continue to seek out more efficient ways to process cassava crops to the extent that they might one day be marketable on an international scale.
The big picture is that this project could be one very small part of a 30-year global effort of various types of organizations across the world to advance the use and marketability of the cassava crop.
What makes this project important is that cassava grows with ease and little cost in vast abundance throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. To bring forth a revolution in the way this crop is consumed and used throughout the world would significantly impact the food security status of the countries most in need.
If processing technology can be improved significantly, this crop will have mass global appeal as a gluten-free starch with many uses. I don't believe it is a matter of if, but when; even if it means another 30 years. My vision is that this outlook will become reality, and I am glad that I get to be a part of it in some way. This project is worth doing, from both a business as well as philanthropic standpoint.
After this project is launched, I will focus on consulting with mechanical engineers and fabricators in the United States to search for better ways to process cassava, particularly in how it is peeled. Peeling is one of the most costly and times consuming parts of the value chain. Out there somewhere is a PHD or just a regular person who is good at building things in their garage who has the capacity to figure out a better way to build these machines. It will happen.
There is a case to be made that there are too many non-profit organizations out there with too much overhead, and that financing should be directed only to the best and largest groups out there. In response to that I would say that a price cannot be placed on passion, entrepreneurial thought and action. This is the crucial element to how great ideas and business are created every day in America and throughout the world.
This is what makes me different, and why I must procure funding to pursue this vision. It has to happen. I've been to Sierra Leone three times, traveling alone each time. I've seen the huge fields of cassava growing there that have no chance of being harvested unless processing facilities are created. I've lived in bamboo houses thatched with palm leaves that provided little protection against the rain, bathing each day with a bucket, two months straight without knowing any other American in the country. I am passionate about this. If I was going to give up, I would have done so already. I have a real vision, and I know that I have what it takes to move forward and carry it through to the end.
Bring life to this project. It will happen as I say, and it will contribute in a very small way to what will become a global food revolution, forever changing the economic and agricultural landscape in Sierra Leone and in many other impoverished nations across the world.
We are going to seek funding by launching a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.com. I am building the campaign now, and it will go live very shortly. The hard timeline is in the next 60 days we want to be funded and ready to roll. This project must get off the ground. It must happen. I hope that we raise our target of $18,000 very quickly and among only a few contributors. Each contributor will get to take part in this social entrepreneurial effort. It will be worth while. I will take action in incorporate some of the most influential people from top Universities and businesses around the world to provide advice and wisdom on how we should move forward. This is going to be exciting endeavor. Let us know as soon as possible if you would like to become a partner.
Thank you very much,
Robert Fletes
