I founded Denali Venture Philanthropy (Denali) in 2010 after spending years as an investment banker with J.P Morgan. During my time on Wall Street, I saw first-hand the limiting factors of the traditional investment model, both financially and morally. Given my professional experiences, I also found myself, as I summited the highest peaks on Earth (climbing being a very deep personal love), connecting with some of the world’s poorest communities. After some deep reflection and soul searching, I realized that my talents in building solid investment portfolios could be coupled with an innovative framework to affect positive social change for entrepreneurs and startups around the globe. Our chief principle at Denali is that we are all connected, and we are devoted to utilizing our resources to help solve some of the most common social and environmental issues impacting today’s world.
One of our earliest investment opportunities at Denali came in the form of a startup social enterprise based in Uganda. Tugende, meaning “Let’s go!” is a micro-trade finance organization helping motorcycle taxi drivers purchase their own vehicles. Utilizing asset finance, emerging technologies, and a customer-centric model, Tugende helps informal sector entrepreneurs improve their business models with the goal of improving their economic situation and giving these individual business owners and their families hope for a more sustainable future.
Tugende was formed when first-year journalism student Michael Wilkerson took an internship with the Daily Monitor in Kampala in 2006. Wilkerson quickly realized that the most popular mode of transportation was to hitch a ride on a “boda boda” — a motorcycle taxi that evades the usual space constraints that come with four-wheeled vehicles in crowded urban areas. After befriending a few of the drivers, he began to understand that many of them rented their motorcycles, with few having the capital or returns to successfully purchase the very machines their businesses inherently depended upon. Monthly payments in rent, gas, and maintenance caused financial distress for many drivers, especially those who also and often had families of their own to support.
Wilkerson developed a business model to provide responsible drivers the opportunity to own their own personal motorbikes and effectively improve these drivers’ economic stability. Wilkerson designed a “lease-to-own” model where drivers could lease a motorbike for a monthly fee marginally higher than what they would pay to rent one, but with a significant pay-off in the end — they would become full owners of their own machines.
Tugende describes its mission as “Helping People Help Themselves,” and through our collaborative efforts following Denali’s initial investment and an exceptional people-first business model, Tugende now operates with more than 460 staff across Uganda and Kenya. The company has served over 30,000 clients, helping them become first-time business owners and lifting them out of poverty.
In today’s unique economy, Tugende, like many other businesses around the world, has had to evaluate its business model as a result of the COVID-19 global health crisis. Unwavering from their mission, however, Tugende has created a robust support package for its client-partners.
This package includes a one-time unconditional cash transfer of UGX25,000/KES 700 disbursed to all of the 23,000+ active Tugende clients and includes a two-month suspension of all repayment penalties. Tugende understands that they cannot be effective without their staff providing drivers with ample support; the company has allowed all 460+ employees to continue working remotely throughout the pandemic in the hopes of keeping their drivers moving in the midst of lockdowns and profound uncertainty.
Wilkerson remains deeply connected with the communities in both Uganda and Kenya and has now lived in Kampala for almost 15 years. He understands that everyone is suffering, and has committed to doing all that he can to keep the people in his community healthy, happy, and prosperous.
Our vision at Denali centers on financing humanitarian-focused entrepreneurs whose ethos maintains a laser focus on social justice and economic improvement, similar to that of Wilkerson and Tugende. It is important to me to identify organizations like Tugende, where a traditional bank loan may not suffice, and gather investors who have a similar vision in affecting social change to be at the forefront of making dreams become reality for those who, by the simple chance of birth, are often without recourse or guidance in their journeys to self-improvement and empowerment. Not only has our philanthropic model helped launch Tugende and spurred its growth, but it has successfully helped 30,000+ individuals achieve their dreams of becoming independent business owners in the process.
At Denali Venture Philanthropy, we take an innovative and strategic approach to asset management and apply it directly to helping organizations address significant global issues that affect people’s lives on a daily basis. It says something so significant about humanity when investors decide to take risks, not just in moving away from the traditional investment model, but in making investments toward this kind of tangible social impact. I am tremendously proud of the impact that Denali has made on global society and can’t wait to see what more we can do in the future.
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