MAJOR CURE TO POVERTY DISCOVERED!

Have you eaten today? If Yes, consider yourself lucky! There are millions of people worldwide who don't know where their next meal is coming from. Food, as well as clothing, shelter, access to clean water and healthcare, are basic human needs. The ability to afford them is often used as a yardstick for the measurement of poverty or prosperity. Wikipedia defines poverty as not having enough material possessions or income for a person's needs. It is no doubt that the world is blessed with abundant human resources and others. Yet, poverty remains a global scourge ravaging many individuals, families and nations. The weight of poverty can be debilitating when compounded by other risk factors such as low education, limited skills training, lack of savings, or lack of family supports. Poverty can be as a result of personal struggle, which can be physical, mental, or emotional. Many people experiencing poverty are faced with a lack of emotional, psychological or financial support, changing market demand for skills or labour, gaps in social safety nets, the high costs of education and health, which adds salt to the injury that poverty had already inflicted. While tremendous strides have been made towards reaching the global goal of ending poverty by 2030; according to World Bank Data, 689 million men, women and children are still classified as living in extreme poverty - surviving on less than $1.90 a day. The achievement of the goal of global poverty eradication by 2030 will be determined by several factors and methods that are being employed. Few lines from now, you will discover a true, tried and tested method that has been effective in solving many of life's problems. I firmly believe that when it is applied to the problem of poverty, it will become history, and we will hopefully have a world where humans can afford a decent life. The best way to kill a tree that produces an undesirable or unwanted fruit is to uproot it. The potency of this method will be better appreciated if we treat poverty as an effect rather than a cause. Why are people poor? Poverty remained a beast that has ravaged many lives and nations. It is often attributed to unexpected life challenges, health problem, job loss, economic downturn, divorce and many more. All that poverty has been attributed to are not peculiar to any nation or tribe. They are unsentimental life challenges. It is how people prepare for or respond to them that spells the results. Most developed and wealthy countries of the world have gone through a period of health crises, economic downturn, and other challenges often attributed as causes of poverty yet came out stronger and better. Is it not then obvious that most of the generally accepted causes of poverty are the trunk and not the root of the matter? So, what is the root cause of poverty? - Lack of knowledge, which can also be rephrased as - lack of actionable insights. Knowledge is the bedrock of every human endeavour and requirement for navigating the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of life. The explosion of technology, most especially the internet and the massive amount of wealth it has brought to the world is a vivid testimony to the power of knowledge. Knowledge of needs, opportunities to meet those needs and how to meet them releases the ability to make wealth. A method that promotes the acquisition of relevant experience is, therefore, indispensable in the fight against poverty. It can be the knowledge of running a business, closing sales, living healthy, creating value for individuals, businesses and many more. Though precious more than gold, knowledge is readily available to those who seek it. Knowledge can be found in many places; most importantly, it resides in men. The quest for knowledge can be activated by meeting people who have already acquired it. The keyword here is 'acquired'. Knowledge acquisition is a process that takes time, and it often requires learning, unlearning, practise and feedback. One of the most effective methods that encapsulate this vital learning process is mentorship. How can mentorship help people overcome poverty? Despite all the several intertwining factors that can be attributed as causes of poverty, history is filled with stories of great men who have broken free from the shackles of poverty. What do they know? What have they done differently? And how can others learn from them and be delivered from the grip of poverty? According to Wikipedia, Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored. However, he or she must have a specific area of expertise. If overcoming poverty through acceptable means do not qualify as expertise, l wonder what else would. Rich people do not always come from wealthy backgrounds; many famous billionaires grew up poor. What makes the difference is their exposure to relevant knowledge provided by a mentor. These mentors might be family members, family friends, work and school associates, and concerned members of the community. "Knowledge/awareness breeds courage. Courage breeds success". There are several individuals like Oprah and Ralph Lauren, both billionaires, media and fashion icons respectively became rich through exposure made possible by mentors, were able to change their lives and therefore become an inspiration to many. Oprah identified the need for exposure, popularity, desire to be heard and feel important that people (most especially influential ones) have, and created an opportunity to meet those needs through her TV shows and entertainment outfit. Several initiatives by groups that believe in mentoring as a means to overcome poverty have yielded positive results. Many organizations like Faithgane Foundation, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and LIFT in the USA have been able to lift people out of poverty using the mentorship model. Some strategies like pairing low-income individuals and families with people who are advocates and mentors are where organizations are placing their bets to create pathways out of poverty for individuals and communities at large. Mentors also help to guide their mentees through such important tasks as polishing a resume, negotiating debt repayments, finding a job, ensuring good childcare and life strategies. It is this kind of initiatives that can lift people out of poverty, not the 'giving of fish' approach—empowering people intellectually to solve not just their problems but that of others. That way, the effort put into lifting a person out of poverty will yield exponential results. Every child is born with a wealth of potential. However, some are unable to fulfil their potential because of their inability to leverage knowledge which can be acquired through mentorship. Suppose poverty will be kicked out in 2030. In that case, a concerted effort has to be made in promoting mentorship and putting both formal and informal mentorship structures in place. Organizations need to expose their human assets to sources (human and non-human) where information can be mined for actionable insight and creatively explore inherent or created opportunities to create value and capture value (wealth) for themselves and organization in return. If the collective wealth of organizations and by extension nations is increased and properly managed, it will translate to individual wealth - this is the 'secret' of wealthy economies. They promote and create a conducive environment for creativity, productivity, and actively encourage mentorship. Productive people are greatly rewarded and motivated to do more. In contrast, people who still far behind in the wealth ladder are placed on 'support systems' often termed social security. People in the informal sector should also be encouraged to embrace mentorship in the form of apprenticeships. The Igbo tribe in Nigeria have greatly maximized this option to wealth creation, and it is no surprise that they excel in trade within and outside the shores of their country. The richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is also a product of the business mentoring he got from his uncle. The examples of people whose life has been transformed by mentorship are numerous, and it is quite apparent and indisputably one of the most viable routes to eliminating poverty. Even though individuals, families, and nations can overcome poverty through other different legitimate programs and initiatives, mentorship remains a significant catalyst towards achieving financial success. Therefore, people who have valuable knowledge to offer should be open to the idea of mentoring others. In contrast, people who desire experience should actively search for mentors to break free from the chains of poverty. A very popular Yoruba proverb reads like this in English: You can force a horse to the river, but you cannot force the horse to drink water. If you read this piece to this point, you have made a great effort. I will like to believe that my argument has been compelling enough too. But, none of all that will matter if you do not mentor someone or submit yourself to be mentored to wealth and abundance. No matter the plans or actions to take people out of poverty, it might become impossible to have a hundred percent poverty-free world because the root of poverty (ignorance) is in mind. It takes a willing mind to hate and fight indwelling ignorance. This is probably how Jesus thought when he said- "the poor shall always remain in your midst". © David Osiri A.K.A. Mr. Mentormorphosis 08021471061