Updates April 2024

Hello Everyone,

While we work on a plan to redo our sites and communication, I just wanted to outline some updates from recent months as many things are coming together in action on a weekly basis. Here are a few updates.

Occular Innovation Center: Pemba

Through our formal partnership with Iris University, we are working on implementing an economic ecosystem to partner with all the groundwork that has been done in this area over many decades. At this point we either have launched, or are in contracting and will launch before end of month, the following operations:

1. Our four initial KBR investments that are returning funds now (sewing and vegetable stands)
2. A farm that is growing sesame. The current farm is 3.5 acres. It costs about $200/acre to acquire more land and we believe this is a major part of the future with co-ops and other plans. So we are implementing Farming God's Way classes along with pursuing the purchase of more land.
3. A trash clean up and recycling business where will will be able to employ 10 people currently living in a refugee camp in our efforts to work towards implementing KBR in a refugee context.
4. Two separate bakeries, one on Iris base and one at Iris University, which will employ widows and refugees, in further attempts to develop business and also integrate KBR into these contexts.
5. A chicken farm/coop. This business aims to partner with the bakery and our other groups to provide eggs and meat.
6. We are in negotiations to launch of large-scale moringa business as well. Any donations, or potential investment, dollars that go to "Mozambique" will directly support these and other efforts in this overall mission.

Ethiopia

We are continuing to see returns from 45 of our initial 50 businesses, but we are pausing new investments and implementing our core finance training curriculum, projected to begin May 1st. We believe that once these base skills are provided, the future KBR waves will be even more successful.

Other Partners/Work

Occular Institute has entered into formal partnerships with the International Coffee Cooperative and Christians in Web3 to further our work in implementing solutions.

We are now moving forward with our Hub in Kenya and beginning the basic business training classes there before planning to begin our first wave of KBR with four selected families.

We are preparing to launch our next algorithm, which is artisanal mining centric. We believe this will be a major step, while we are also in negotiations with a partner to expedite gold mining operations simultaneously.

What Can You Do

We recognize that a well-maintained website, effective communication, timely updates, and active social media presence are crucial for informing and empowering our community. We are currently in a season of growth and alignment, leveraging every resource at our disposal to move forward with excellence. However, we continuously seek partners, projects, donors, and investors who are passionate about joining our mission. Even small contributions can make a significant impact in many contexts.

If you would like to be notified of updates from our community and projects, please subscribe to our site.

If you have specific questions that aren't covered by our website, please email Olivia at Olivia@occular.co. We will ensure you are connected with the right person at the Institute. Thank you for your patience as we enhance our updates and communication channels.

Cameron Henrion