When Duncan, the founder of One, started the business, he wanted simply to raise enough funds to change one person’s life – hence the name, One. But since then, One has gone on to change millions of lives and it all began when Duncan saw a photograph in a the Guardian newspaper, of a young girl sitting next to a padlocked water tap in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum.
Guardian newspaper, Dec 2003
That photo was taken by award winning AFP photo journalist, Marco Longari. The Marco Longari Award for Changing Lives was created in his honour – a framed print of the very photo that inspired Duncan back in 2003.
To mark the £10 million milestone, last year Duncan set out on a mission to try to find the young girl in the photo, who had inspired him almost a decade ago. After months of research, and with the help of local NGOs in Nairobi and facial recognition specialists in the UK, the team found Ann Njeri Kibuki, now 15 years old.
In March, Duncan travelled together with the photographer, Marco Longari, who took the original photo (since named Best Wire Photographer of 2012 by Time magazine) to meet Ann and share the story of that photo. Little did they know how tragic the life of Ann and her siblings had been. Watch the full story of the search for Ann
Marco and Duncan with Ann, March 2014
Duncan Goose, said:
“Words can’t describe how incredibly honoured I feel to have worked with so many amazing people since we started this – it’s because of everyone’s shared passion that we’ve raised over £10 million, funding life-changing projects around the world and changing more than two and a half million lives.“
“It is testament that our philosophy holds true – if you offer people the chance to make a difference in the world, just by making a small change in their purchasing habits, they will embrace it. People can be proud that they are part of something truly transformational.”
“To find Ann as well, the girl who’s photograph has been on my desk every day since we started this, is simply incredible, literally a one in a million chance.”
Find out more about this amazing story, watch the film documenting the search for Ann