When Joey Sasvari graduated from UF’s Entrepreneurship Master’s program in 2009, he wanted to start a business and save the world.
Sasvari imagined a social game like Facebook’s FarmVille that lets users control a virtual African village. The idea became Raise the Village, a free iPhone application that delivers aid to Ugandan village Kapir Atira.
When users spend money, it goes directly to the village.
Sasvari and Cameron MacMillan, another UF Entrepreneurship graduate, formed New Charity Era in 2010. They brought on former classmate and Ugandan native Biko Evarist. Then the team went to Uganda.
Evarist gave Sasvari and MacMillen village tours in March 2010, and they assessed village needs. They chose Kapir Atira as the recipient of aid from the game.
Sasvari, New Charity Era COO, remembered the villagers’ smiles.
“What was amazing, I thought, was they were all so nice and happy,” he said. “And you would think the way and lifestyle in which they live every day, you would come across some people that were in a bad mood.”
In its first week on Apple’s App Store in December 2010, the game was featured under “What’s New.” It has been downloaded more than 300,000 times, Sasvari said.
His favorite feature is the constant visual updates users receive about how their money is spent.
Raise the Village has funded four deliveries of food, supplies and scholarships to Kapir Atira villagers, totaling about $5,000. The team only buys goods from Uganda to help its economy. Evarist is in charge of deliveries.
Renata Serra, lecturer in economics and development for UF’s Center for African Studies, was impressed when she learned about Raise the Village.
“I’m fascinated by the whole concept of making an app with social implications,” she said. “At the same time, I think we have to be careful not to let consumers think that just by buying an app you can change the world.”
New Charity Era is developing a Facebook version of the game, which should be released in July, said MacMillan, the organization’s CEO.
