 |
A backpacking adventure at age 20 to several Central Asian countries sparked Charles Davidson’s craving for travel as well as his curiosity about restoring economies that need help.
“I wanted to see what others were doing for outreach,” Davidson said. “Business was seemingly the only answer to the problem.”
He noticed that business development—particularly farming, literacy programs and community development—had “good intentions but little to no sustainability.”
Davidson, 30, is a PhD student at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and the founder and director of ForgottenSong, a nonprofit he started eight years ago to launch businesses in war zones.
The Fayetteville, Ark., native has more than satisfied the business ambitions he envisioned in the beginning—he’s been to 41 countries in eight years, including lengthy stints living in Colombia, Afghanistan and Iraq—but he’s hardly finished planting entrepreneurial seeds.
Realizing that restoration of a war-torn society requires viable businesses, Davidson raised donations of around $50 each from friends and family members and set out to invest in new businesses, but with two catches: The local leaders, he said, had to maintain them in a way that was reproducible and sustainable.
“In Africa, it’s always livestock,” he said. “We meet with the local network and figure out how we can invest in this first project so that it produces enough capital to reproduce again. And if the next level is successful, they reproduce again.”
And once the project shows it’s capable of succeeding on its own, Davidson lets it go. A March report indicated four initial chicken farms in Uganda now accounted for 75.“And we’re sure by now it’s over 100,” he added.
There was also a preschool in Iraq, a coffee shop funded in Afghanistan, chicken farms in Burundi and soon-to-be goat and chicken farms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name “ForgottenSong” reflects the overarching purpose of the nongovernment organization: To help those devastated by war remember their symbolic song, and to help them present it to the rest of the world.
At Mason, Davidson is gearing his studies toward helping him resolve issues he finds in conflict regions.
“I came to S-CAR with a passion to learn more about effective conflict analysis and resolution,” he said. “I know that everything I’m learning here is going to make me a more effective director and project planner.
“However, I’m not yet certain how my professional goals are going to change after graduation as I’ve always wanted to be able to effect change from the top down as well as what we’re already doing from the bottom up.”
Charles Davidson holds a chicken from
one of the businesses his nonprofit started in Kampala, Uganda.
Photo provided.
This material is presented as the original analysis of analysts at S-CAR and is distributed without profit and for educational purposes. Attribution to the copyright holder is provided whenever available as is a link to the original source. Reproduction of copyrighted material is subject to the requirements of the copyright owner. Visit the original source of this material to determine restrictions before reproducing it. To request the alteration or removal of this material please email [email protected].