Deki, the Bristol-based international development charity and crowdfunding platform, has teamed up with Microsoft to stage a ground-breaking exhibition that uses interactive technology to highlight the devastating effects of poverty – and shows how individuals can help.
The ‘Changing Lives Through Technology’ installation, which runs at the city’s Engine Shed innovation hub between Tuesday and October 30, is inspired by the story of Deki entrepreneur Halima Namutosi, a South Sudanese refugee who changed her life with a crowdfunded Deki loan.
The interactive element incorporates bespoke technology built by Microsoft Technical Evangelists and San Francisco–based communications technology company Twilio. 
The installation aims to educate passers-by about entrepreneurs in the developing world with shocking facts about international development. Users will be able to interact with the installation and test their knowledge about global poverty. Rather than feeling powerless, they will immediately be able to take action themselves by making a loan direct to an entrepreneur via Deki.
Halima’s story is central to the exhibition. She fled the civil conflict in South Sudan with her family to settle in Uganda. After initially struggling to find employment, Halima managed to transform her life after being connected with Deki lenders in the UK through Deki.org.uk and working her way out of poverty with the help of a micro-loan.
The installation will be exhibited alongside a photo gallery of Deki images, taken and selected by award-winning international development photographer Adam Dickens, who is responsible for all of the photography on Deki’s website. Each image tells the success story of an entrepreneur whose life was changed by a crowdfunded Deki loan.
A launch on Thursday will be sponsored by accountancy giant KPMG. Businesses and third sector leaders will gather with Bristol’s tech scene to be among the first to try out the technology for themselves. The installation will be open to the public from 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday.
Deki founder Vashti Seth said: “Deki believe mixing technology with international development is the key to creating opportunity, instead of poverty. Deki’s innovative crowdfunding website empowers individuals to work their way out of poverty with the help of ethical microloans.
“We were the UK’s first peer-to-peer microlending charity, and we guarantee where and who 100% of your money goes to. We hope that Engine Shed users will find the exhibition is a thought provoking and fun way to highlight Deki’s cause.”
To date the online microfinance charity and its community of over 3,000 lenders have crowdfunded over £500,000 in microloans and together changed the lives of nearly 22,000 people in the developing world. Deki currently works in Uganda, South Sudan, Malawi, Ghana and South Africa.
As an individual in the UK or overseas, you can choose an entrepreneur in the developing world and lend them from as little as £10 through the Deki website. The entrepreneur then invests the micro-loan into their business, with the help of business training, turning it into a profitable enterprise. The profits are invested into the entrepreneur’s family, and over the course of a year the loan is paid back to the lender.
