“In rural Gbarpolu in Liberia, there is inadequate electricity supply. This county has an estimated 900,000 inhabitants, but there is poor electricity supply, bad road network, unclean water, poor telecommunication coverage, non-quality healthcare, and outdated educational facilities. Citizens often drink from creeks and contaminated wells. Mis-shift healthcare facilities are often without electricity, causing many referral patients to die while being transported to the only referral hospital, which is 80km by foot,” Arthur M. Kortor, Sr., a Liberian entrepreneur, told Savvy.
“Due to poor electricity supply, there is an underutilization of modern health diagnosis equipment. In addition, rural women and youths often light up their homes using some liquid extracted from rubber trees, thereby causing serious environmental pollution in the county. Inhabitants travel for over an hour in the forest, to a mountain, in search of mobile network signals to place voice calls to their relatives, or in some cases, to make emergency calls for critically ill patients.”
We are the first of our kind, in this region, since our country’s independence in 1847. People in this region have never experienced anything of this nature or magnitude, in their lives.
Arthur M. Kortor, Sr.
Arthur is the Founder and Executive Director of Artgeo Foundation, Inc., “a non-profit organization working to serve humanity.” Through his foundation, Arthur is supporting youth recreation centers, mini-health clinics, homes for the elderly and persons with disabilities, including schools. “We have constructed 6 hand water pumps in three communities within the county. Our project is generally targeted at rural inhabitants, which includes women, youths, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.”
“We are the first of our kind, in this region, since our country’s independence in 1847. People in this region have never experienced anything of this nature or magnitude, in their lives. We are the first of our kind, in this region, to introduce any form of modern living to the people of rural Gbarpolu. That makes us unique.”
When asked what makes his team the right team to solve this problem, Arthur said that their expertise, use of innovation, commitment, and hard work, make them the right team to adequately solve this problem for the people of rural Gbarpolu.
Arthur M. Kortor, Sr. is a 2020 Savvy Fellow from Liberia. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Artgeo Foundation, Inc.