Now founder and CEO of KickStart International, Martin Fisher went to Africa for one year.  Seventeen years later he was still in Kenya, finding ways for technology and engineering to make a difference.  Martin presented what he’s learned at the 2017 Water for Food Global Conference where Jamie was able to sit down with him to hear his story of the challenges of farming in sub-saharan Africa.

Through those years Martin came to the simple conclusion that when you are poor anywhere around the world your #1 need is a way to make more money, thus KickStart International was formed.  In sub-saharan Africa the majority of the poor are farmers, Fisher explained, therefore his mission focused on moving farmers from rain-fed farming to irrigated farming.

With the focus of low-cost irrigation, Martin and his team developed a line of human-powered irrigation pumps called MoneyMaker Pumps. The pumps are mass produced and distributed across Africa through small local retail shops. KickStart has a team to educate farmers about irrigation and its impact on their farms. Over 300,000 pumps have been sold globally, but the job isn’t done when a pump is sold. The team also tracks the impact the pump has on the family. Martin said well over 75% of the families take a major step out of poverty.

Listen to the complete interview with Martin here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/water4food-17-fisher-interview.mp3″ text=”Interview with Martin Fisher, KickStart International”]

Listen to his case study presentation during conference here: [wpaudio url=” http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/water4food-17-fisher.mp3″ text=”Case study on MoneyMaker Pumps”]

View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Water for Food Global Conference Photos