**Ending Poverty with Climate Finance**

The GRO Foundation is a social impact organisation dedicated to ending Poverty at a grassroots level.

It was founded by a member of the African Diaspora and makes grassroots the beneficiary owwners so that they truly benefit.

We all know the story - Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. That is not enough. That will keep 90% of Africa as small hold farmers who live at a subsistance level.

**GRO aims to ENABLE communities to become independant of charity.**

The Foundation funds large scale reforestation projects to to generate climate finance. It achieves large scale reforestation by making grassroots communities the beneficiaries of the majority of profits generated by the project by funding.

Water and food security&#x20;

Education, skills facilities&#x20;

And to provide ongoing microfinance to enable individuals to take control of their future and create a surplus and then small business.

In this context, empowering woman and youth plays a key role.

Especially the Youth must lead in a mindset change across  all of Africa.

**Only 1.5% of global investments including charity come to Africa.**

This number explains all the problems that Africa has.&#x20;

Africa owns the resources, they sell flower, but they pay for bread.

There is simply not enough bread on the table to feed everyone.

That inequality maintains the poverty cycle.

And even worse. Africa was taught to wait!

Africa waits for charity.

Africa waits for grants.

Africa waits to be given.

I say that it is time for Africa to take.

Take control of natural resources instead of selling them&#x20;

Take control of  labour value instead of giving it away cheap

Take control of the value adding processes needed to access global markets

Africa is rich.

Resources. Labour. Talent.

Africa needs to stop selling coffee beans and aim to have African owned coffee shops in New York.

That is not a vision.

That is a right!

And it is the youth of Africa that will bring this prosperity home.

India and the Middle East have shown that it can be done? They enabled businesses to thrive and empowered, invested in talent development and aquisition and most important empowered their youth to access global markets.&#x20;

Remember the 1.5%.

No one is coming to help

**Africa needs a mindset change.**

**Africa  must raise a generation of entrepreneurs that become employers not dependants.**

A mindset change for the youth to become business owners.

Implementation will take bright young minds, patience and funding.&#x20;

The GRO Foudation will help to fund this process with microfinance generated from climate finance.

Remember the 1.5%, but imagine a African owned coffee shop franchise in New York.

All it takes is a mindset change and Youth talent development.

They are the future. They will do the rest.