Ending extreme poverty by 2030 is the #1 Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations, but the pace of poverty eradication must be stepped up to accomplish this ambitious goal. Village Enterprise, a pioneer in the field of microenterprise development in rural Africa, has launched the #start2end campaign to drive awareness about the role that small businesses can play in creating sustainable incomes and savings for the world’s poorest people. Now through September 30, 2018, this message is being promoted through a video billboard advertisement in New York City’s Times Square.
“Village Enterprise provides rural Africans living in extreme poverty with the tools and resources they need to start sustainable businesses and savings groups,” said Village Enterprise CEO Dianne Calvi. “With the profits and savings from their businesses, entrepreneurs can send their children to school, feed their families more nutritious food, and break cycles of poverty that can span generations.” Third-party evidence recently published by Innovations for Poverty Action demonstrates that Village Enterprise’s integrated poverty “graduation” model is impactful and cost-effective. Village Enterprise is working together with partners and the broader graduation community of practice to achieve the # 1 Sustainable Development Goal.
Recognizing that the high cost of advertising combined with a focus on keeping overhead low generally prevents non-profits from using paid advertising, Neutron Media provided this high-profile opportunity to Village Enterprise at a significantly reduced rate as part of their corporate commitment to promoting effective non-profits. The Life You Can Save, an advocacy organization dedicated to changing the culture of giving by promoting highly impactful nonprofits focused on global poverty alleviation, is funding the campaign.
“Donor funding needs to be directed towards proven non-profits like Village Enterprise that drive the greatest ‘bang for the buck,'” according to Charlie Bresler, Executive Director of The Life You Can Save. Bresler continues, “We are sponsoring the Times Square campaign in the hopes that it drives awareness for this high-impact approach to ending poverty and are eager to measure the results.”
The video billboard is located at 1500 Broadway, displaying to a potential audience of the 1,000,000 people who pass by daily. Village Enterprise’s spot will loop a minimum of three times per hour, airing 20 hours per day from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. over the 108-day period and delivering a minimum of 6,480 total spots.
Village Enterprise encourages partners and supporters to interact with the campaign by posting about our mission and work on social media using the hashtag #start2end. People passing through Times Square are also invited to post selfies with the billboard using #start2end, in support of ending poverty in Africa.
Village Enterprise Mobile Billboard, 1500 Broadway at the corner of 43rd in Times Square, New York City.
