By Agatha Emeadi
Michael Sunbola is the founder of Lagos Food Bank Initiative, a non-profit organization.
He is also a social entrepreneur and legal practitioner at Pundit Firms.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, Sunbola said he struggled with food insecurity while growing up. That personal experience inspired him to start off his initiative of visiting communities to cushion hunger with foodstuffs.
He also noted that his food distribution activities have been free of stampedes hence corporate organizations regularly partner with him.
How did you come about the Lagos Food Bank Initiative?
I came about Lagos Food Bank Initiative in 2016 as a result of socio-economic issues that faced the country at the time of recession. I was really burdened by the fact that a lot of families were affected and the basic things they were asking for was food and support. So, aside from that, it also brought the memory of my own childhood. Things were tough for my parents and how we had challenges with food insecurity. I felt I had the privilege to do something in the lives of others, having been trained as a lawyer at the University of Lagos. I recalled thoughts of the struggles I passed through, and decided that I could do it alongside my legal practice and I had some savings. It was supposed to be a private thing, but when the whole vision and work started, I became so engrossed, fulfilled and satisfied that it took almost all aspect of my career.
In as much as I still practice law, the food bank takes over 80 percent of my time. I must say that I have never regretted creating that platform and avenue to impact lives and also mobilizing thousands of young people is a thing of joy for me.
Since we started, we have impacted over 3 million beneficiaries. We have worked with more than 30,000 volunteers currently registered on our database and 170 communities. So, the recent community we all saw is just one out of the many we have worked with. I have also worked with over 600 corporate organizations to bring relief across to the people.
So, it has become more sustainable now that companies partner with us, and this has attracted other corporate bodies too. Some companies prefer feeding school children, while some look at middle-aged women across the border. Therefore, financial sponsorship is not coming from one source, rather from different sources and that is the only way interventions like this can be sustainable. When one is able to diversify the sources of income to be able to serve the beneficiaries, even for the government, it could be overwhelming because it is coming from a source. But when collaborative partners are leveraged on to do interventions like this, it becomes more sustainable and impactful.
Could you give a snippet of your food insecurity as a child that pushed you into the Lagos Food Bank initiative?
It was a typical socio-economic issue that the country faced and it is still facing. My father was a businessman while my late mother was a housewife. My father’s income was not regular and with five children who must compulsorily feed and he had to attend to other bills as well. With a family of seven, one could imagine how irregular income could have impacted on the family. I remember some days that I would come back from school and there would not be food to eat. I started fending for myself at the age of six when I used to go to game centres to assist them there. Again, I would also go to the market to help people put their items in polythene bags which I also sold. Those were some of those challenges, but what it did to me was to build resilience, connect with those who were going through similar challenges. So, when people tell how difficult things are for them, I am able to relate and connect because what you do not know about, you might not be able to relate with it. I see that God just prepared me to understand the nature of the problem that I want to solve. Again, to also be able to build the same power and the resilience to be able to pull through even in the midst of challenges. If you look around, how many food banks would you find in the state today? So, it means that it is an area that is very tough, where there is not much competitions because it is very tedious. It takes years of consistent effort to be able to pull through and build. What it requires is that one has to be consistently spending money to provide for others. It is hard to find food banks around because it requires pumping in of funds to build momentum and credibility as well. This is what it takes for other organizations to partner with one because an average corporate organization would not want to do anything with an organization that is not well put together. Building that kind of relationship takes years to be sustained. Those years of momentum require a bit of resilience and personal connection to the type of problem one is trying to solve. That is where we are.
Apart from corporate organizations that sponsor the programmes do you have international funding support?
No, it is purely individual private-sector driven.
Share the experience of the very first time you reached out to women.
It was February 14th, 2016; we just celebrated our 9th anniversary. The first time was in front of our office at a time when we gathered about 16 women and reached out them. We did it again the following month and have not stopped since then. The 16-women experience has expanded.
Who sponsored the first outreach?
I personally sponsored it for seven straight months before people started connecting with it because they also saw it was consistent. So, some asked me how I was getting money to fund the outreach. Some voluntarily offered to support me with N30,000 or something. That was how we started. The first thing I did was registering the organization, building a website and a social media page. I did not make it a personal thing. That is some of the mistakes some of non-profit organizations make.
What are the operational modalities because you reach out to large crowd?
Our operational modality is that we visit one community four times in a year. We could go with different corporate organizations and different groups. The number of recipients also differs. We could do 300 people or more than a thousand at each outreach, but that depends on how old or new the community is. Again, the fact that someone collected a pack of food three months ago does not mean you will not collect next time. If one must make an impact to a truly vulnerable person, you must constantly reach out to the person in the next three months. That a person collected earlier is not enough reason not to give the same again. It does not work like that. Real impact is supposed to be once a month, but we are not there yet. If impact must be made, make sure that one person is continuously supported because it is a relief for her. If they get just once, the impact will not be felt.
How have you been able to make the outreach activities of the food bank free of stampede?
Well, hardship is the reason people cluster for food. But one cannot just announce to people to come and collect foodstuff without proper registration of beneficiaries. In Lagos Food Bank Initiative, we do registration before distribution. Anywhere stampede happens in sharing food, know that there was no registration. For our recipients to come with a card, it means they are separated from those without a card. The Lagos Food Bank Initiative card registration system is the most tedious and rigorous task in the project. Anyone who has food to eat will not go through the process. On registration days, it is only the faces that the women usually see and not food. Therefore, the people who go through all the registration processes are the ones we give priority when the food is available. Those ones will not stampede or rush because they are holding an identification that belongs to us. Those cards in their hands are like promissory notes; one discovers there is no need to rush for anything. The card in their hands is their access to take home the food. Because we have done our own work by registering them, we usually have personal encounter with all the women who benefit from our food bank before we register them. Also, it is not a widow’s programme, it is just that majority of them are widows. We have married women, nursing mothers, disabled women, and middle-aged women who are going through hell. We identify those that are actually in need and reach out to them. It is not for teenagers or single mothers etc. We have done it in the last nine years and there has not been any stampede anywhere. It is a process and that is why we do not do large crowds in a new community. At new communities, we can reach out to less than 500 because they are not used to our system yet. Communities where we have worked would tell others that if you do not have their card, they will not give you.
What advice do you have for people who want to do what you are doing?
It is for them to remain steadfast and consistent. It never promises to be easy because it is actually a very tough humanitarian venture that takes a bit of consistency, sacrifices and personal resources invested in the project. It is something that we give full attention to for it to work because that is where we are able to build momentum.
How was growing up?
I am from Osun State, born into a family of five children. I am the third of my siblings. We grew up around Agege axis of Lagos State. I am a legal practitioner who graduated from University of Lagos and humanitarian eco-system activist. The name of my firm is Pundit Barristers and Solicitors. My father is still alive but my mother is late.
How fulfilled do you feel when do such humanitarian programmes?
I do not know how to express it. The feelings that come with being a source of joy to thousands of people even though there is no political influence involved is unquantifiable. That one is able to build a system that can affect thousands of people is a thing of joy. For the fact that God is using me to do this type of project, it is a privilege and I am humbled by the fact that I am at the centre of what God wants me to do in my own generation. I feel happy and fulfilled.
How did you raise your volunteers?
They were raised organically. When they came, they registered and bought their T-shirts. Basically, they have seen how transparent we run the outreach programme and make difference in the community. We have hit 30,000 volunteers.