Ambassador Hope advises President Obama on Foreign Policy, Economic Stimulus and Poverty Alleviation

June 8, 2009 - PRLog -- Q1-What subjects did you study to have the skills for International Development and what did you do before joining the White House as a Presidential Advisor?

A1-I studied IT, marketing, economics and accountancy at a college of Science and Technology in the UK.  After I left school at 16, I took a commercial apprenticeship with GE and worked at the same time as studying.  My family was too poor to fund a university degree.  I was orphaned at birth and adopted by a loving couple with many health challenges that impacted on their economic and social opportunities.  It was a great home to observe the impact of health and education on the economic well-being of the family unit and the opportunities they are excluded from that have their roots in poverty.
I benefited greatly from the combination of simultaneous study and practical work; it made me much more focused on implementation. I think a ‘learn, earn, and serve’ combination is the most creative way to live your life.
At age 40 I went to University to study multimedia. I was inspired by my aunt who went to University for the first time aged 62!  I am a total believer in whole life learning...I learn something new every day and actively seek out new learning opportunities.  I can currently use 31 different technologies to produce our multimedia work.  
I have studied more than 100 green technologies directly with the inventors or manufacturers so that I’m able to advise on investment, value, fit for purpose and quality issues.  For instance, on my tour of Kenya, I heard lots of complaints about drought. When I looked at the cause, I found that 98% of the water was wasted as there was no rain water conservation policy, no rain watering harvesting or real investment in community-led rain water conservation.  In the modern world most people focus on the symptoms yet it is imperative to focus on the causes to develop sustainable solutions.
I have been an entrepreneur from age 18 and a social entrepreneur since 1995. A social entrepreneur www.wikipedia.com/socialenterprise does well by doing good. It is the ultimate combination of creativity, innovation, technology, service and commerce.

Q2- How long have you been a Presidential Advisor in White House, and what are your responsibilities?

A2- I’ve been working on Capitol Hill since 2001. A technology committee wanted to diversify from white male academics by bringing in minority technologists. I was asked to focus on healthcare, an Indian on education and an African American on transport.  I submitted my first policy paper and that started a journey through every government department, Capitol Hill, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, Hollywood, Africa and led to the White House.  President Obama is refreshing; he doesn’t care where you come from or who your parents are...he is very focused..do you have scaleable solutions? and are you prepared to overcome the obstacles to win?. My responsibilities are to develop Public Private Partnerships to meet Foreign (Empowerment) Policy, to go beyond aid, beyond trade and into empowerment.

Q3-what is the aim of your visit to Egypt?

A3-To have an Executive Order signed on the continent of Africa and demonstrate the use of mobile technology to transform the future of 13 million orphans and 2,166 communities.

Q4-what is the problems and cases u know that’s the Arab families and women suffer from it in Arab countries? And u care about?
A4- I want to bring investment to co-create Economic Development Centers that bring green and sustainable accommodation for orphans and widows in Children’s Villages that include a growing program, micro-enterprises and cooperatives.
In the past life has been cheap in Africa. We must start valuing our human assets and empowering them to co-create a better future for themselves, their families and communities.
In the knowledge economy there are no jobs for illiterate and unhealthy workers.
No government in the world can provide jobs to all its citizens. It is up to us to take our talents and gain the skills to create work opportunities for ourselves..to see a need and do something about it.
I am also investing in HealthcareINFOstructures for citizens of emerging countries like Turkey with 73 million citizens and green technologies for South Africa, India where youth enterprises can retail and install in local villages.

Q5-How u finds the American women now. Did they suffer from any problems in work, inside their family, or in political side? And what the achievements they can reach now? In addition, how u compare between them and women in Arab countries?

A5- American women don’t have many role models of strong, courageous women to follow, that is changing and women small business owners create more jobs than Fortune 500 companies.  Women in Technology represent 50% of technology-led businesses yet only receive 3% of the funding!  I’ve experienced the sexism first hand.  Women in the Arab countries want to be empowered, they want to be part of the solution and have a great deal of innovation and creativity pent up inside them. This global recession and the underlying decision processes has to fundamentally shift so the playing field is flatter and fairer.  Access to capital should be based on creativity, innovation and service not on sex, university or family wealth.  

Q6-what is the achievements u can reach and do for orphans and widows till now and what’s your plans for them next period in all around the world?

A6 - Hope on AFRICA Program has prepared hundreds of communities for this mass collaboration program.  We have worked online with thousands of Africans, land has been donated, groups have self-organized and self-managed and my tour of Uganda and Kenya gave me hundreds of insights into the development process and the underlying thinking behind poverty.  I meet women who had sold their babies to witch doctors as they couldn’t feed themselves. I met men who had been castrated in tribal wars over cattle.  Orphans sitting on sand studying as worms crawled through their feet.  Community groups in extreme rural areas that have never met a white person and even a community where 98% of the orphans were cared for by other children!

Q7-in general how u find the women, child also orphans, widows situations all around the world?

A7-The profound connection was a deep desire for a better life and a commitment to working for it.  Every community, widows group, orphans and faith group all said “YES WE CAN” and you can see from the videos that they meant it, their sincerity and joy overflows.

Q8- Did u visit or work before in any Arab or gulf country? In addition, what is your impertions about Egypt? And Egyptian families?

A8 - I’m starting my “Empower the Poor” tour in Egypt then visiting Oman, KSA, UAE,? so I’ll give you my feedback at the end of my Tour

Q9-we all feel by the efforts that’s Mrs. Michael Obama does in social life in USA can u tell us more about these efforts especially the social efforts?
In addition, what about Mrs. Obama as a human begins? How she works, dealing with other, and so on?

A9 -Michelle is inspiring women all over the world.  She seamlessly combines the roles of wife, mother, diplomat and professional lawyer into one!  Personally, I think the First Lady of every country should be paid however, it is a very important job and the argument that the husband is paid and the first ladies get the perks is old fashioned and insulting.  Women earn 76 cents to every dollar a man earns so a President should not earn 100% and the first lady0%.  I talked to Mrs Odinga, the PM’s wife of Kenya who refused her salary because she was wealthy.  I think anyone with a public role should be paid and then if they choose to re-invest it in empowering other women that’s another avenue of empowerment and sources of capital.
Copy this link into address bar for Q10: http://www.prlog.org/10252879

# # #

Prosperity Studios is a new kind of studio created to manage the intellectual capital of pioneers, inventors and creatives. We have a global network of resources and once we have assessed the talent and market opportunity, we bring the missing ingredients (in form of stake holders) to complete the recipe for success.

We develop talent to serve the global markets of healthcare, health food and drinks, education, orphancare, green technologies, sustainable environments, energy, arts and entertainment.