"I′m a sucker for projects where interactive media meets the real world and inspires or makes a difference. Tribe Wanted is just such an initiative. It brings people together on-line and on-the-ground - including on a remote island - to tackle the biggest issues of our day in a totally immersed, committed, fun, human way. How the project is run and presented online shows a very thoughtful, skillful approach to networked media"
- Adam Gee (New Media
Commissioner, Channel 4)

Nov

29

One Million pounds, One Million lives…

Filed Under The ramblings of a creative consultant

I have to be honest with you, really honest with you, like the honest that I can possibly be… I want a million pounds. Well actually, that is just the tip of the iceberg, one million would be a nice start but to be a multi-millionaire would be even better. The truth is, who does not want to be a millionaire? Millions of people buy lottery tickets week in, week out, in the hope that this week ‘it could be them’. Million’s of people around the World dream of what it would be like to have the clothes they want, the cars, the houses the holidays. You know what? To be a millionaire or to want to be a millionaire is perfectly okay.

Nevertheless, I also have another dream. My dream is related to what I want to see accomplished in my life-time. Ultimately, if I have stacks of money I wont be able to take it to the grave with me and the result will be that my family, friends and anyone else loosely related to me on facebook will try to claim as much of my millions as they possibly could, because they want millions too. When I am gone my money wont benefit me.

As well as wanting a million pounds I want to positively impact one million lives. Imaging the money is great but sit back, relax and imagine what it would be like to know that you have impacted a million lives, that you have inspired people in their own dreams, that you have stood up for something that you believe is right, that you have brought hope, potential and created a platform for others to live the best life that they possibly could do… now that would be awesome!

I have a small glimmer of this through tribewanted - 150 Fijians have been employed by our little eco-village on Vorovoro. This is employment that they would need have received, money that they would never have gained for food, education and development. I know that the people of Mali are very grateful for the little dream that I had on a cold winters UK evening. Through tribewanted there have been three engagements from people who have met through the project, three relationships, lives merging with one another creating new hopes, new dreams and new potential. 156 people is no where near the one million lives that I want to positively impact but it’s a start, I have had a taste of it and it is equally addictive, if not more so, than tha pursuit of one million pounds.

I have been called a ’social entrepreneur’ and that is what I am, someone who wants to make money and yet use that money in a positive way towards the people, society and planet around them.

I have a long way to go with both of my dreams, but it is the dreaming and the pursuit of the dream that keeps me alive. It is the belief that I could leave a legacy of impacting the lives of a million people that keeps me working day and night.

So, when you dream of the million pounds, I want to encourage you to dream of the million lives too!