Name of your business:
Young Heroes Foundation
Your name and position:
Steve Kallaugher, Founder/President
What inspired you to start your business? How did your business get started?
In 2004, I left a position at The Wall Street Journal to join Peace Corps. I was posted to Swaziland, where I did HIV/AIDS work. The large number of children I saw who had been orphaned by the epidemic became the focus of efforts, starting with helping my neighbors create a care point where the orphans could be assured of one meal a day. When the kingdom’s national AIDS council asked me to find a way to bring more help to the kids, I created Young Heroes.
Tell us a little bit about your business:
We now have six employees in Swaziland who manage three programs:
• Family sponsorship – people can sponsor a family for $30 a month per child, to ensure such basic necessities as food, clothing and school fees
* Healthcare – our comprehensive healthcare program includes clinic visits; free medication; HIV testing and counseling; monthly support groups for HIV+ youth; and annual camps run in conjunction with Newman’s Own SeriousFun.
• Skills Training Empowerment Program (STEP) provides a year-long course in vocational and business training when orphans age out of the Family Sponsorship Program
As we have just received a three-year, $1.4 million grant from USAID, we’re about to expand our services with HIV prevention initiatives; girls’ clubs in schools and communities; and a financial literacy and savings program for impoverished girls and women, which will entail doubling the size of our staff.
What is your favorite thing to do in your business?
Watch the children in our program stay in school and grow up healthy.
If nothing else, what is the one piece of information you want someone to know about your business?
You can change a child’s life for just $1 a day.
What is the one piece of business advice you would like to share?
Be persistent and creative when you encounter obstacles, and always deliver on your promises.