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How do you get a country to take personal interest in a story for the greater good? How do you get through the apathy of digital fundraising? Safaricom took a personal story and changed the fundraising landscape. An unforgettable story that brought together a country and achieved a great goal.
Bring Zack Back Home / Last year Safaricom again used M-PESA as a fundraising tool, this time to help raise money for a spinal injury rehabilitation centre. Though spinal injuries are increasingly common in Kenya as a result of road accidents or shootings, there is no proper rehabilitation centre in the country, with the closest one being in Cape Town, South Africa.
To raise the necessary KES250m ($3m), Zackary Kimotho, backed by Safaricom and the Kenya Paraplegic Organization, vowed to travel the 4,000 kilometres from Nairobi to Cape Town in his wheelchair. Once an up-and-coming veterinarian, Kimotho was paralysed as a result of an attempted carjacking attack in 2004.
Supporters could follow his progress via a tracker on the Bring Zack Back Home website, watch videos of Kimotho telling his story and engage with content on Twitter and Facebook. Braving extreme weather conditions and aggressive drivers, Kimotho returned home after travelling 115 kilometres. The first phase of the campaign ended when the fundraising license ran out and, whereas it’s unclear when the second phase of the campaign can start, Kimotho was able to raise KES73m ($839,566) in 60 days, enough to purchase the land for the new rehabilitation centre.
Safaricom partnered with the Kenya Paraplegic Organization to take Zach to Cape Town and back and raise Ksh. 250 million for a rehabilitation centre. All this while enlisting the help of Kenyans for the 4,000 km trip.
