Heading Into 2024 (Note From The Founder)
The overarching concepts within what we are now calling the Occular Institute has been in development for over 5 years. The goal was/is to launch a fully-baked concept to present and implement, so there is something tangible to critique and make better. All the excel sheets, PDFs, presentations and graphics in the world are only ideas until they are launched into the world. Once launched, we can get feedback from the users and experts alike to make everything we do better.
Corporate Formation
This last year was the year we went from spreadsheets and plans to reality. Occular LLC is a company that provides fractional-CFO services, which is spinning out all the IP and math to the Occular Institute. The goal is to expand the services company, which allows us to fund more work in the Institute, along with open branches of our company in locations around the world to support the investments being done through our work.
The plan is to use our core algorithms and systems to set a foundation for the Institute. Then, as solutions come in (like Coffee as Mission) we can distill these solutions down to their core parts and then make them available through our Innovation Centers. We want to create a landing space for solutions and a means to properly get those solutions to those who need it, all within the context of a proper long-term business model.
International growth
2023 saw the seed sowing of capital in businesses across the world, to include India, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda. As foundations are laid, and resources are available, these operations will grow and others will be explored. We have partners in Kenya, a second one in Malawi, and Cambodia all in the exploration phase to determine how we can best implement our current, and future, solutions.
2023 also saw us launch publicly far earlier than expected. Be it words launched on Elijah List with our company info or Facebook posts connected to our work with IRIS University, we had to expedite getting some form of content available, hence this site. We believe 2024 will allow for us to make higher quality content and provide clearer information to those interested in helping or bringing their solutions to make this all better.
In the meantime, I will say this. We are moving forward and will continue to do so. Our pace will be determined by resource availability. Our success will be determined by people joining the team, bringing their solutions and/or wisdom, and helping us continue to take this boat further out to sea.
Our main hub in Ethiopia will surpass 50 businesses started in the beginning of 2024, our Innovation Center in Pemba, Mozambique will launch our classes and begin adding to the current 5 businesses started in 2023. The Institute is not a micro-financing platform, but presenting an alternative system. However, the impact and the cost efficiency of testing baseline solutions in these countries is far more efficient at this time. However, we are in talks about Innovation Centers in the US and other locations opening in 2024.
Financials
The normal overhead costs in a single location are about $500/month, with most of the initial businesses requiring between $100-$1,000. While Occular will continue to cover all we can, we are partnering with Hope For All Nations and the Wingman 63 Foundation to raise money to cover these costs. As we raise money for these projects, Occular just shifts funds from a consistent place, like Mozambique, and puts them into development of new locations. I say this only because it does not take too many $40/month donations to help us expedite the early processes.
How to Get Involved
We are always on the lookout for volunteers, staff, advisors, donations and, yes, there are potential investment opportunities, as we are a profit structure overall. But, at the moment, I am just thankful. Thankful that years of work in a basement is now becoming a reality that is helping a lot of people, while slowly becoming something larger. I am humbled by the people we get to work with and the desire of people to help their neighbor and use their talents for the betterment of humankind.
If you want to connect, please feel free to reach out. If you want to talk about an Innovation Center in your area or have a solution you are working with that people need around the world, just reach out. In the meantime we will just keep moving, learning, and growing as fast as we can with as much wisdom as we can.
Thanks!
Cameron Henrion