Triple F Photo Tours (FP) & Cameras For Girls (NP)

The Elevate Prize would be a gamechanger for Cameras For Girls (CFG) as it would have an immediate effect on our programming, operations, and reach. We would move from investing in our current capacity of 15 girls a year to 30 girls per year. We would also be able to expand our programming in other developing nations, that have expressed interest, specifically Mexico, Costa Rica, and Afghanistan. The economic and social impact of this, based on proven programming, would change the lives of hundreds of girls and their families.

As a solopreneur, you have to make difficult choices. While this would not change, securing the Elevate Prize would alleviate some of the pressures we are currently facing in branding, communications, program development, and governance. We are a start-up with a proven track record, a clientele ready to learn, and the knowledge to expand. What we need is additional funding and the credibility that comes with being chosen.

My family and I come from Uganda after being thrown out of Uganda in 1972 by then-president Idi Amin. That transformative experience would shape my life as I grew up feeling torn between my Ugandan roots and my Canadian upbringing.

I am an entrepreneur with a solid track record in arts, culture and design. Although my love for photography came later in life,  I realized that I had a passion for travel, photography and philanthropy, which eventually formed Triple F Tours and Cameras For Girls.

In 2007, I travelled back to Uganda for the first time. While there, I began to see the plight of females clearly. I committed to finding a way to invest in as many girls and young women as possible.

In August 2017, after speaking with local organizations and understanding how best to empower young women, I developed a program to teach photography to local girls in Uganda to become employed photojournalists. In August 2018, I travelled to Uganda to lead my first in-country training, and despite COVID, it has been full steam ahead.

My mission is to change the lives of girls and young women in as many countries as possible, starting with Uganda.

Knowing that girls and women in developing countries are not always afforded the same rights and privileges, I set out to make a difference. After my first trip back to Uganda in 2007, I knew that I had to do something to change the lives of the girls and women I had met.

Would it surprise you to learn that:
Many young girls in developing countries are married off just after getting their first period – sometimes as young as 10-12 years old;
OR
They are in many cases uneducated, simply because education is not free and their parents will choose to educate the boys over the girls;
OR
If they did get to go to school, they are most likely being sponsored by an NGO in that country, thereby breaking family bonds.

While our mission is to give females in developing countries skills-based training in both photography and entrepreneurship, we are also vested in giving them confidence and a voice to instill change for themselves and other females in the community. One of our students, Sharon from our first training is doing that by starting an organization to give other females an opportunity to get published, where none other exists.

We are unique in that we have a for-profit and non-profit model combined to solve female empowerment and poverty alleviation.

Our for profit-model, Triple F Photo Tours, is a travel and photography business that invites enthusiast and amateur photographers to improve their skills, experience the cultures and communities of Uganda and at the same time, allocates 10% of their fees to offset the program for the girls and young women we serve.

Through our non-profit Cameras For Girls, we teach photography to local females endeavouring to become journalists. We give them a camera to keep and teach them how to tell stories that matter to them and help them find full-time work. Our charitable offering places power in the hands of young women; they walk away with skills, a network, and lifetime training.

Our proof of concept is that more than 30 percent of our students now have a full-time job in photography or photojournalism in just two years of running our program. Not only is she able to begin to help herself out of poverty, but she can also now support her family and community.

If COVID had not happened, we know our success rate would be higher.

We have all read the sad stories about poverty, gender inequality, lack of education, gender-based violence, child marriage, and the list goes on. It can be overwhelming and impossible to know where to begin when wanting to make a difference.

Both Triple F Photo Tours and Cameras For Girls were started to answer the call and make a difference in the developing world. We assist our girls in fighting for their rights and equal the playing field by equipping them with the tools and training to get full-time jobs.

Imagine a world where every female is educated, earning her own income, and empowered, not voice-less. That's the world CFG is building, starting with Uganda.

Joanita was in our first training and had a job but was not getting paid because she lacked a camera and the skills to use it. Two weeks after completing her initial training, she was placed on full-time payroll and now gets paid and published an average of 4 times per week.

Sharon is a single mom striving to make a name for herself. With our financial assistance, Sharon is starting "The She Voice" to give other young female journalists in Uganda a voice and platform.