INSIGHT: Martin Fisher - Chief Executive Officer, KickStart - Pt 1
Channel: m/Oppenheim Executive Search
Date: 07/12/2011

CEO Martin Fisher describes how KickStart's business model is solving the problem of rural poverty in Africa.During his PhD studies in mechanical engineering at Stanford, Martin Fisher traveled to rural Peru and was deeply affected by the poverty he encountered there. He decided to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship in Kenya to study how technology could be used to help overcome poverty - and he never looked back. Fisher and his business partner, Nick Moon, founded ApproTEC (now called KickStart) in 1991 to developed a range of simple, robust devices that enable poor rural farmers and entrepreneurs to lift themselves out of poverty. These devices are sold directly to the rural poor and they enable small businesses to diversify crops, increase yields and take control over the harvest.KickStart has received substantial recognition, including the IDEA Design Gold Medal, TIME Magazine's European Hero award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year award, and the Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability. Fisher has also been named Engineer of the Year by Design News magazine.