Why Development Entrepreneurship?

Flame Tree is looking to put a new spin on development. Organizations, large and small, all over the world are spending billions on short-term projects based on creating solutions to the world's development challenges. The problem is, when the money runs out, the progress stops.

Why not make development financially sustainable?

Here at Flame Tree Initiative, we want to see the world change. We want projects to shift from expensive, foreign-run programs to local people creating their own solutions to problems like water and sanitation, energy poverty, and low-yield agriculture. And we want to see them grow in the private sector, where they can become financially sustainable and create jobs.

What does Development Entrepreneurship do?

1. Development Entrepreneurships produce and distribute development innovations -- things like solar lighting, improved agricultural inputs, and better health technologies. These, in turn, will create advancements in the surrounding population, breaking the cycle of poverty.
   

2. Development Entrepreneurships also provide new job opportunities in the private sector. This leads to an increase in household income, which enables families to better provide for themselves. They will have improved access to health care, education, and food.
   

3. Increased job opportunities means increased tax revenue in areas where new businesses are launched. This means there are greater opportunities for locally governed infrastructure and social services projects.

Rather than relying on outside donor funding, nations can begin to produce their own positive changes, funded by internal business models that are simultaneously solving urgent development challenges.