Hello, I'm Soichiro Tateishi, CEO of Life Breeze.
On this page, we will share the story of our business in Africa, step by step. To begin, let me tell you why we do this work.
Where I first stood
I still remember the day I first set foot in Africa. People were far brighter than I had imagined, and the streets were full of energy.
What I saw was not "poverty." It was capable people who were simply being robbed of their time.
Giving back 4 to 6 hours a week
In Africa, many people still spend four to six hours every week washing clothes by hand — carrying water, scrubbing in basins, rinsing, wringing and hanging. Week after week.
I once asked a mother what she would do if that time came back. I still remember her answer.
I'd help my daughter with homework. I'd sell vegetables at the market. I'd laugh with my family on Sundays.
A washing machine delivers more than clean clothes. It delivers time — the power to move life forward.
A business, not aid
People sometimes say, "So you're doing charity in Africa." But what we do is a business.
Africa has real markets and real problems. That is exactly why our work has to stand on its own as a business. What doesn't last can't give anyone their time back. Our job is to build systems that can be repeated, so that local partners can grow stores with their own strength.
Local people lead
Our approach is not to give orders from Japan, but to trust the people who can make things happen on the ground. Partners in each country run the stores; our Japan HQ builds the systems and delivers the equipment. Decisions on the ground are left to the people on the ground.
Success, for us, means the stores run without anyone from Japan on site.
Toward a future that comes full circle
One store gives a mother her weekly hours back. With that time, she starts working, sends her children to school and laughs with her family. In time, she becomes one of the people running the store, and her experience passes on to the next store and the next town.
We want that cycle to spread across the whole African continent. That is why Life Breeze exists.
We will share our stores, our countries and the people we work with here. Thank you for being with us.
Soichiro Tateishi, CEO, Life Breeze Inc.
