Those of us of a certain vintage might reflect fondly on memories of Band Aid’s 1984 Christmas release, Do They Know It’s Christmas?, and the spinoff Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia the following summer.
Raising $150 million for famine relief in Ethiopia, the efforts of this supergroup will have saved countless lives.
But Compator believes that charity alone is never enough for sustained prosperity.
This certainly appears to be a view that British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is likely to share. As reported by the BBC last month, he told his fans on Instagram that, 10 years on from the 30th-anniversary recording and ahead of a 40th-anniversary release, “had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals [from the 2014 recording]. A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by Fuse ODG.”
Fuse ODG, whose real name is Nana Richard Abiona, said: “While they [Band Aid] may generate sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism, and investment, ultimately costing the continent trillions and destroying its dignity, pride and identity.”
We at Compator don’t offer an opinion on whether there’s ever a place for charity in the Global South, other than to say that in some circumstances, particularly in relief from natural disasters, there probably is while such worldwide inequality exists.
But his comments do resonate. And they caught our eye because Fuse ODG, the London-born British rapper whose views have so shaped Sheeran’s, is of Ghanaian descent. He also spent much of his childhood in Ghana, the country in which the first rollout of our compact hyperscale compute technology is scheduled to start in the spring.
We have a holistic vision to improve the life expectancy and economic activity of the world’s poorest people through greater prosperity and health outcomes. Our goal is to add five more years of economic activity and well-being to people’s lives. How? By leapfrogging energy-hungry legacy technology solutions that would place excessive demand on the national power supply, are often unobtainable in the Global South, and are becoming unsustainable even in the Global North.
The central aim of Compator is to provide high-quality compute and infrastructure to remote or unconnected regions or communities. This is applicable to schooling, healthcare, community and disaster relief where there’s little bandwidth to access internet-enabled services.
Our hope is that efforts like ours will provide a sustainable route to better life outcomes in Ghana, Africa and throughout the Global South.