Build African Schools – How it began

Two years ago on a trip to Africa, Patrick O’Sullivan, a retired technology executive and the founder of Build African Schools, was overwhelmed when he learned it took three years for a Maasai village to build itself a primary school for the tribe’s boys and girls. O’Sullivan had the vision to partner with corporations and individuals to directly impact the lives and futures of thousands of Maasai children. By privately funding the building of primary schools, education would be expanded to new communities with the provision that the new schools would be accessible not only to boys, but to girls, as well. From this vision, Build African Schools was born.

FreeFlow has teamed up with the non-profit organization, Build African Schools, to construct a primary school in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, Africa. As a global leader in inventory asset management solutions, FreeFlow recognizes the role that enterprises play in facilitating social change and is proud to fund the building of a school for girls and boys in a Maasai tribe village.FreeFlow is committed to Build African Schools and is fully funding the completion of one primary school with five classrooms and solar power for electricity in a Massai village.

When the doors open in May, young girls and boys will immediately fill all of the new 200 desks. Students, who have previously walked miles and miles to schools in distant villages, will now have access to classrooms within their community. Once the school is complete, it is donated directly to the tribal community and the Kenyan government formally joins the partnership.  The government’s role will be to provide teachers for each school, with the community joining in to provide ongoing maintenance of the building facilities.

‘When Patrick O’Sullivan approached me with the mission of Build African Schools, I knew that FreeFlow could make an immediate and lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of children,’ commented Alan Scroope, FreeFlow’s Founder and CEO. ‘I am proud to be a part of such a worthy, instrumental organization, and I’d love nothing more than for other companies to join with FreeFlow to help build schools and open up greater educational opportunities for the children in Africa.’

‘FreeFlow not only provided the resources for our organization to build a school in a Maasai village, but the company also introduced us to other corporations that recognize the great need in this part of the world and how they too can make an enduring mark with a donation of support,’ noted Patrick O’Sullivan, the Founder of Build African Schools. ‘When non-profits join with corporations, the impact on local communities, nations and the world can be incredible. Our partnership with FreeFlow and others like FreeFlow is the beginning of a road to better education, access to knowledge, and an improved livelihood.’

About Build African Schools

Build African Schools is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to education and the opportunities and choices education provides to children in the villages in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, Africa.

For more information, please visit www.buildafricanschools.org

Green FreeFlow
FreeFlow believes that business has the most power to reverse the plight of our planet. Indeed, the core of our business is extending the productive life of products that would otherwise be destined for the landfill – re-use is the highest form of recycling. In our last fiscal year, June 2008 through May 2009, we estimate that FreeFlow customers sold over 3.5 million pounds of equipment – material directed to a second productive life rather than to the landfill.
Asset recovery is good business, not just good environmental practice. Like many entrepreneurial, forward-looking young companies, FreeFlow believes in the triple bottom line – that sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic vitality, ecological integrity, and social equity. Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single financial bottom line but against the triple bottom line.
Closer to home, FreeFlow takes seriously its role in reducing its carbon footprint in the day-to-day operation of the company, from employees who drive hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles to those who telecommute, to the corporate policy of buying carbon-offset credits for air travel that cannot be avoided. Our latest endeavor is an ambitious one, construction of a green building as our newest facility in Tralee, Ireland. From solar panels for the heating of water to geo-thermal powered heating, cooling, and ventilation systems to photo-voltaic arrays for generating the building’s electrical needs, the building will have no oil-related energy requirements.
Learn what you and your company can do to start small and make a big impact.

Charitable Donations
In-kind donations are becoming increasingly popular as a means for a corporate entity to disposition under-utilized assets and at the same time contribute to their community’s charitable organizations. FreeFlow is partnering with many such charitable organizations to help them convert these in-kind donations to cash. Watch this space for partnerships coming on line, or contact us to help you help others.