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Jonathan Campaigne, Chairman and creative force in the emergence of PRIDE AFRICA as one of the largest microfinance networks in East Africa with operations in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Kenya, each now independently managed.
As the founder of PRIDE (Promotion of Rural Initiatives and Development Enterprises) in 1988, Mr. Campaigne has drawn on his extensive international experience, group solidarity microcredit principles and an entrepreneurial flair to build a highly disciplined credit system for the micro-entrepreneur in Africa. Running a fast growing financial and information services business targeting micro-entrepreneurs in five countries and serving over 200,000 clients (64% women) from over 70 branches requires a mass marketing approach backed up by custom designed software and integrated systems technology. Determination and a consistent vision have been instrumental in this success.
Jonathan is a consummate world citizen. Born in the US and raised and schooled in Paris, he returned to New York bent on pursuing an advanced degree in French literature. After receiving his BA from Williams College (1965), he was honored as a Todd Fellow at Columbia University. The New York scene led to a stint as a Readers Digest Editor before the international call beckoned again.
In 1967 Jonathan joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 1/2 years organizing rural agricultural programs in Burkina Faso, West Africa. It was during those years, he says that “Africa got into my blood.” Jonathan returned to the United States in 1970 ready for new entrepreneurial adventures. During the next 17 years, he served on the initial team at the popular American children’s magazine “Cricket,” developed real estate for residential communities in Florida, mined for gold in Alaska and developed a franchise of 15 “Car-Care-Centers” extending from Maine to Florida. Although he thrived in business, Jonathan says…“I always felt there was something missing.”
That something was social development - a calling that gripped him when he returned to Africa in 1987 and settled in Nairobi, Kenya. “I was shocked to see that things were in much worse shape than they had been when I was here 20 years earlier. It became clear to me that in order to make an impact, one's idea had to be dramatic.” Jonathan's own ideas for development crystallized when he heard a speech by the head of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, Mohammed Yunus, in Nairobi. The Grameen group solidarity methodology, adapted for the African circumstances, became the PRIDE Standard Model, now operating in five countries.
Since 2003, Jonathan has focused his energies on the development of DrumNet, a transaction platform linking the principal stakeholders along the agriculture supply chain, namely buyers and farmers, input suppliers and banks. DrumNet acts as the bridging mechanism through which all parties can interact to successfully and equitably fulfill their business objectives and share business risks. After three years of research, development and piloting, a roll out is planned for in 2007.
