Couple to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to Raise Funds for Entrepreneurship Efforts in Africa

May 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Charlotte, NC, USA –  Joan O. Wright, founder of O’Sullivan Wright, Inc, and Tom Wright, founding partner of Narmour Wright Associates, will be among a group of ten ambitious climbers to scale to the top of Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro September 15 – 22, 2012, for Senai Global: Climb for a Purpose. Senai Global: Climb for a Purpose is a charitable climbing expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 19,341 feet, to raise money and awareness to support entrepreneurial efforts for safe water, orphan care, and agricultural production in Africa’s most impoverished communities.

The couple’s mission work through Forest Hill Church is how they were first introduced in 2008 to Senai Global’s founder, Drew Harding, who grew up in Africa helping his father bring water to the most rural Ethiopian communities. He founded Senai Global to connect African people in need to African people with paths to resources through entrepreneurial enterprise. In the four short years since Senai Global was founded, the organization has initiated entrepreneurial community projects that have built 25 water wells across Southern Ethiopia, secured micro financing and materials for housing and two schools currently under construction, provided 12 teachers to the Discover School in Burundi and the ability to add 240 students, dozens of whom have recently graduated and continued on to college, and provided shelter, counseling and home environments for 250 orphans in partnership with Hannah’s Orphanage.

According to Harding, the impact of drilling and building water wells alone is significant. “Bringing clean water to the communities, based on surveying local health clinics, has reduced water borne disease by 50%,” said Harding. “However, time is the real measurement, by reducing the average 3-hour walk to carry clean water to a village down to 10 minutes. This task is primarily performed by women, who can then use the time saved to go to school, work and take care of their families more effectively.”

For the Wrights, Senai Global: Climb for a Purpose was appealing for several reasons. “Both the entrepreneurial approach to Drew’s work at Senai Global, and his dedication to impacting long-term change in Africa by connecting people to purpose is why we knew this was a cause for us,” stated Joan Wright. “Our multiple trips to Africa since first meeting Drew have brought into clear focus what a difference the smallest of kindnesses can make, literally changing lives for the greater good. What his organization has been able to accomplish to help rebuild African communities in such a short period of time is nothing short of amazing.”

Joan Wright’s recently released book, UP – Pursuing Significance in Leadership and Life, inspired her to participate in Climb for a Purpose. Her book introduces the Summit Advance™ model which uses the analogy of scaling a mountain with three levels that must be traversed before reaching the Summit. These levels are Survival, Success, and Significance.  “In the Survival level, at the base of the mountain, you can either be a Victim or a Victor in how you approach overcoming obstacles. Senai Global is a perfect example of an organization helping transform the people of Africa from victims of circumstance to victors of hope and change,” stated Joan Wright. “This climb will represent every step of the way the struggles of survival that those at the base of the mountain must overcome.”  

According to Macon Dunnagan, author of Sons of Kilimanjaro, the challenging climb is comparable to walking from the equator to the North Pole and back in six days. Dunnagan will be making his 24th climb as the Expedition Guide for the Wright’s climb in September, taking the expedition group on the same route (Rongi Route) that Martina Navratilova attempted in 2010, but did not complete.

“I am impressed with how committed the Wrights are to this cause and the measures they are taking to raise money and awareness of the efforts of Senai Global,” stated Dunnagan. “The work of Senai Global and Climb for a Purpose is all about what Joan references in her book, Pursuing Significance. Everyone involved will be making a difference for decades and centuries to come.”

The Wrights have set a goal to raise $20,000 for Senai Global. For more information or to donate to the Wright’s Climb for a Purpose, go to http://kiliclimb2012.causevox.com/wright.

About Joan O. Wright
Joan O. Wright MSW, MCC, is President of O’Sullivan Wright, Inc. an organizational strategies firm serving Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial businesses. Her broad understanding of individual leadership and organizational development comes from 21 years in Human Resources Management roles with Philip Morris, Citicorp, GE Capital, and Wachovia (Wells Fargo). Her articles have been published by the International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, CHOICE magazine for coaching professionals, ASTD trade publications, and The Charlotte Business Journal. She was also featured in the audio series, From the Corporate Front Line: The Impact of Coaching on Today’s Leaders released in 2002.  Joan’s unique Summit Advance™ Model for leadership development is the focus of her recently published book, UP - Pursuing Significance in Leadership and Life.

About Tom Wright
Thomas H. Wright, III, AIA, NCARB, is founding partner of Narmour Wright PA, an architectural firm specializing in intriguing, functional and sustainable architectural design solutions for commercial/mixed use, residential, adaptive use and communities. Narmour Wright provides clients with Considerate Architectural design that is sustainable while also being fiscally, aesthetically, and functionally responsible. Tom has been active assisting in the design and construction of various community projects in Central Africa through African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (A.L.A.R.M.) and the Dominican Republic through By Grace Alone Ministries.

About Macon Dunnagan
H. Macon Dunnagan, Jr. is author of Sons of Kilimanjaro, Expedition Director for Mt. Kilimanjaro through Zara Tours, and a Tanzania travel expert.  With a Bachelors degree in Religion and Philosophy in 1984, Dunnagan continued his studies in international business including a summer sabbatical in Oxford, England in 1988. His love of travel and adventure has taken him around the world including spending four years on an archeological dig in Évora, Portugal. Dunnagan made his first climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1999, later becoming the first person in 2010 to climb Kilimanjaro three times in 28 days. His passion for leading expeditions to the top of Kilimanjaro was made more poignant when his first wife, Michelle, succumbed in 2007 to stage 3c ovarian cancer, after a three-year battle. Dunnagan has since become active in leading numerous expeditions in support of funding ovarian cancer awareness and research.

About Senai Global
Established in 2008, Senai is a non-profit organization that "connects people to purpose".  Its mission is to empower businesses in the developing world to meet the global needs of safe water, orphan care, agricultural production, micro-enterprise, shelter provision and medical care. Founder of Senai Global, Drew Harding, has leveraged three generations of living and working in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda to identify and support effective entrepreneurial enterprises. Some of these ministries are in water wells, vocational education, shelter, micro-finance, orphan care and primary education. Senai Global offers personalized consultation, matching donors' gifts and passions to international ministry opportunities including offering customized, guided vision trips. the Kilimanjaro Climb for a Purpose is one of Senai’s major fundraisers with several groups dedicated to raising funds. For more information, go to www.senaiglobal.org.