Tag: Muhammad Babangida Page 11 of 15

AI in Healthcare

On December 30, 2021

Artificial intelligence has found its way into the healthcare sector in different dynamics. Deep learning plays a pivotal role in the diagnostic. Researchers are exploring ways to make it efficient enough to be used as part of standard practice.

This tech is developing solutions for the healthcare domain, especially in diagnosis. It helps physicians or doctors prioritize their time more efficiently and reduce their wait times for patient consultations using chatbots for this purpose.

The impact of AI on mental health is enormous, with chatbots that remind patients to take medication or therapists to predict their patient’s moods based on their speech patterns.

In healthcare operational cost management, machine learning algorithms predict healthcare supplies or equipment demand. AI systems can monitor the physiological data of patients, especially in ICU and delivery rooms, for early prediction of complications. Using data AI can quickly help reduce operational costs with proper supply-demand management.

It has helped the medical research community to find solutions for chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Deep learning is used in radiography to detect pneumonia in the lungs. Using neural networks, AI can diagnose diseases using retina scans as its input parameter based on if they have diabetes or not. AI does even treatment of cancer with a high accuracy rate.

Clinical decision-making is another area where AI can help doctors with its capabilities. IBM Watson for Oncology is an AI system designed to give treatment options after the doctors enter the patient’s data. This helps create personalized medicine or treatment plans for patients who have cancer.

AI has also started reducing human errors in medication dispensation at hospitals by suggesting the correct dose based on weight, age, and other relevant parameters. It also monitors the patient’s health condition during medication for any adverse effects or side effects, which can be avoided by early detection.

AI’s various roles in the healthcare sector cannot be overlooked. The list of positive impacts is much longer, but the above points are enough to emphasize how important it is.

However, despite all these benefits, there are some challenges for AI in healthcare. The first one is the unavailability of a massive amount of data required for deep learning systems because most healthcare information comes from private clinics that are reluctant to share their data for research purposes.

Growing Community Engagement For Your Small Business

By Muhammad Babangida

On November 5, 2021

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Just as your business is integral to building a thriving economy for your community, a community is vital to succeeding as a business at all. Community involvement allows businesses to build relationships with their consumer base, increase brand awareness, and further their visibility and outreach. No matter how it’s done, business owners should encourage community members to get involved with their business to build customer loyalty and increase the overall benefits for both the community and the business.

That being said, it’s not as easy as someone snapping their fingers to create an engaged community, nor can a business expect its community to engage with it at every opportunity presented. Business owners need to put in work if they want their community to actively engage with them and further their presence in the community.

One thing many business owners forget is that their community is made up of people. Social media makes it easy to forget that a community is more than accounts on a screen; though beneficial, the human aspect of engagement should never be forgotten. This goes for both the consumer and the employees running the social media accounts: everyone is human, so everyone should be treated as such. Additionally, social media takes away the all-important face-to-face interaction that many clients and businesses need to build a lasting relationship. When possible to meet face-to-face safely, encourage in-person interactions, and take advantage of the human aspect of relationships.

Engagement doesn’t all fall onto the business owner, however. Employees are just as vital in creating community engagement and connecting with others, so they should be encouraged to become involved with local organisations related and unrelated to work. Connections aren’t kept to one place—they can form anywhere. It’s vital that businesses support their employees, then, so that they can pursue interests outside of work and create these lasting connections.

Another way to engage with the local community is by being completely transparent with customers and overcommunicating. If there are big changes coming to the business, communicate those changes and the reasoning behind said changes prompt; if possible, let people know about it in advance. Overcommunicating is better than under-communicating, and customers deserve to know what decisions are being made. If they are kept in the loop, they are much more likely to be supportive of a business.

For the biggest impact on a community, business owners should get themselves involved in community initiatives. These can often be found on the local municipality website; cities, villages, and townships are likely to post important initiatives to their municipality site. If any questions arise, simply talk to the local city administrator or clerk to ask how to get involved.

How Your Company Can Include Philanthropy in its Culture

By Muhammad Babangida

On November 5, 2021

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Corporate philanthropy can be extremely beneficial not just for your community, but for your business’s visibility and reputation within the community you’re located in as well. Whether you’re volunteering in your community, supporting causes you care about, or donating to charitable causes, partaking in corporate philanthropy has an abundance of positive benefits that make it worth considering. You can build a strong sense of community with your employees and customers, give back to your community at large, and become more appealing to younger employees who seek out businesses that hold philanthropy in high regard.

How can you start getting involved in corporate philanthropy?

An easy way to start on your business’s philanthropic journey is to offer volunteer time off to your employees. This will give your employees time to support organisations and causes that they hold dear to their hearts while not having to worry about using up precious PTO or taking an unpaid day off to get involved. Having volunteer time off, or VTO, will encourage your employees to become socially responsible and dedicate their time to charitable causes. It will also help attract and retain talented employees for your business.

More internally, corporate philanthropy should start with ethical labour practices. You must adopt fair pay for the work your employees put in—their time isn’t worth nothing, after all. Once you adopt ethical labour practices, you can go to your company’s social media pages and encourage your followers and other industry leaders to follow in your footsteps. You can even take it a step further by creating and hosting events that surround this topic for other companies.

Perhaps your product or service will be beneficial to others when offered charitably. Businesses can participate in philanthropy by offering their services to others pro bono; ideally, you’ll be offering these services to organisations that are involved in charity work. It’s a great way to build awareness for a cause you care about while helping those around you by doing something within your field of business.

Lastly, you could partner your business with a charitable organisation that means something to you. This will offer ongoing opportunities to become involved in philanthropic deeds and show your community that your business is committed to giving back. Charitable organisations can become an integral part of your business model and give new meaning to yourself, your products or services, and your efforts at large.

6 of the Best Charities to Donate to Today

By Muhammad Babangida

On October 30, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Uncategorized

After deciding to support a charitable organization financially, the next procedure is looking for a legitimate non-profit organization that will use the donations to make meaningful impacts. Sorting out through the hundreds of non-profit making organizations to verify their credibility may be cumbersome. However, the following are the best charities to donate funds to.

United Way Southeastern Michigan

It is an organization that specializes in the mobilization of Southeastern Michigan and Detroit’s caring power. Besides, they are improving individual and community lives in lasting and measurable ways. They achieve their goal by empowering and improving each family’s lives to become successful through health, economic prosperity, and education.

Hand and Feet 24/7

The Hands and Feet 24/7 mission has established a gathering space beneficial to the SC and Taylors. Additionally, the organization has been formed to establish and facilitate job training, promoting Gospel-centered education and community development programs.

Keeping Blues Alive

The Blues Alive foundation aims at fueling the music passion through the funding of scholarships and programs. It helps the teachers and students who have musical talent, but resources deny them the chance to achieve their desires.

Wishwall Foundation

Wishwall is a non-profit organization. The organization’s principle is giving voice to the voiceless and assisting them in making their wishes come true. Besides, the Wishwall foundation is known for its multi-faceted nature. It mainly consists of Wishwall in all cities and the Wishwall online. It gives individuals the chance to show their wishes. The foundation also encourages people to help one another and ensure all people achieve their desires and dreams.

Kyyba Kidz Foundation

Foundation formed as a dedication in assisting the underprivileged individuals and orphans in raising the required resources using community participation. They help kids achieve great heights by ensuring they are active partners by participating fully to get the necessary capital for orphan’s education.

Global Giving Foundation Inc

An organization that connects the companies, donors, and nonprofits to donate. They help the nonprofits from Zimbabwe to Afghanistan access the support, training, and tools they require to make the world more convenient.

Conclusion

Having gone through the best organizations to donate your donations to, you can now make your choice. The donations will be used in the right manner and greatly help many needy people.

Agricultural Investing and Food Security

By Muhammad Babangida

On October 29, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Uncategorized

On a planet that is sustaining more than seven billion people, producing enough food to feed them all is a major challenge. However, producing enough food is not the primary problem. Rather, it’s the distribution, affordability, and access to all the food that is produced that causes food insecurity for millions.

In fact, more than nine million people a year die from famine, according to Mercy Corps, an international relief agency.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reports that the number of people facing food insecurity rose by 60 million between 2014 and 2019. The situation is even more confounding considering that, in modernized nations, from 30% to 40% of all food is simply tossed in the trash because it goes unused.

The challenge of achieving even food distribution globally is considerable. Experts say a key area where this problem can be attacked is in the realm of agricultural investment. This process can be handled in multiple ways. One of the biggest factors is the funding provided by governments. The U.S. is the largest contributor to the FAO with $529 million contributed in 2019 alone.

This money is used to support things like crop forecasting, sustainable agriculture, disaster relief (as in the case of famine), food safety, and more. The FAO funds collaborative research efforts between nations seeking to increase food production. More importantly, it works on ways to get food where it is needed and to make it affordable.

Industry observers say that investing in agricultural technology must be a high priority going forward. That’s because there are a series of factors that are putting pressure on growing enough food for everyone. For example, climate change is producing longer periods of drought that destroy crops. That can be countered by technological advances that produce food varieties that can sustain warmer and drier growing conditions.

The central thing to remember about bolstering ag-tech is that it costs money. That’s the role of agricultural investment. Governments, corporations, local farmers, and communities must put more financial resources into creating advanced food-growing technologies that will sustain food production in the coming years.

Additionally, geopolitical factors, social factors, and government policy all play a role in producing food and getting it to the tables of all those who need it around the world.

Investing With Your Children in Mind

By Muhammad Babangida

On October 1, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

It’s instinctive: parents always want the best for their children. And whether it’s the top-of-the-line baby food or a four-year degree in the United States, children are certainly expensive. Don’t be discouraged. There are ways to invest in your child’s future while planning for retirement or paying off the mortgage.

Start Planning Early

When you’ve just returned home from the maternity ward and holding your newborn, planning for an expensive college is probably not the first thing you have in mind. But it helps a lot to start early. This is because of the effect known in the investing world as compounding. Think of it like pushing a snowball up a hill. Every year, not only do you get paid interest on your principal but also any previously accumulated interest. It’s minuscule over a short period but can add to massive amounts of capital over two decades.

Try to set aside a fixed amount every month to dedicate to savings towards your child. This takes the guesswork and stress out of it. By investing every month, you’ll benefit from what is known as dollar-cost averaging. You’ll benefit from market fluctuations because you’ll be purchasing at periods when the stock market is low.

Additionally, many countries have tax-advantaged savings accounts for education. For example, in the United States, this is known as the 529 Plan. This will add a big boost to your savings.

Invest Your Savings

Inflation will eat at your savings. So although a savings account might seem to pay a high rate, in reality, the rate is much lower. You’ll want to invest in the stock market. Find a financial product that suits your risk appetite and time horizon. Alternatively, you could talk to a financial advisor. If so, you might want to go for a fixed fee consultation rather than paying a percentage. You’ll pay less in service fees in the long run.

Save Money

Being thrifty has a bad reputation but it pays off in the end.

Some people like to focus on the big things. For example, a smaller apartment in a less swanky part of town could save you big. A used car is a fraction of the price of the new one.

Others like to focus on expensive daily habits. That daily latte is hurting your wallet (not to mention ballooning your waistline.)

Saving for your child’s future is an intimidating task. It doesn’t have to be if you plan, invest, and be thrifty.

Why Risk is Necessary in Philanthropy

By Muhammad Babangida

On September 30, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

It is sad to note that philanthropy is not as impactful as it should be. This is due to many philanthropists being afraid to be bold and take risks. Many want to stick to the traditional form of philanthropy of giving out funds without creating meaningful impact.

Also, there is no open discussion about risk in philanthropy. In the world of philanthropy, calculated risk is essential. Philanthropists invest money to achieve specific results. And just like any other investment, there is an interplay between risk and return in philanthropy.

There is a system failure in the world today in that philanthropists do not get the impact they intend. For instance, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, may not achieve philanthropy’s societal impact even though she makes considerable donations to organizations.

Why? Even with her good intentions, MacKenzie Scott is conservative with her approach. She falls into the regular donations rather than fund an unconventional idea that she has passion. Her donations cut across organizations fighting racism, climate-sensitive organizations, and pro-democracy groups. She may be creating an impact but not to the extent the colossal donations should. She can do much more.

Scott is not the only one taking this traditional philanthropy approach. Others, like Jack Ma and Larry Ellison, have followed suit. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with their intentions. However, they can achieve much more impact.

You might be wondering how they can do this. Donors can disrupt the philanthropy world through catalytic philanthropy. This approach is different from charitable donations. It goes beyond writing a cheque. The philanthropist goes a mile further to research the source of the problem facing society. Instead of pouring money into the problem, the philanthropist establishes the root cause first. That’s results in using the power of money responsibly.

Catalytic philanthropists do not ignore the aspect of risk. Otherwise, this would jeopardize the impact of their funding. They, however, assess and measure risk vis a vis the return of their donations. This strategic philanthropy embraces risk through progressive risk management systems. With this approach, they develop disruptive solutions to the world’s challenges.

To wrap things up, philanthropy is not as simple as just giving donations. Until risk-taking becomes the norm, philanthropists will miss the chance of maximizing impact. Risk is about being quick and reacting to the environment to provide customized solutions.

Check Out These Great Podcasts If You Love Philanthropy

By Muhammad Babangida

On August 29, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

Podcasts have become immensely popular in recent memory and they can be great sources of entertainment, knowledge, and news amongst other things. If you’re interested in philanthropy, charity, or nonprofits, podcasts can be an invaluable resource. You can hear so many perspectives on various social issues as well as how you can help and there are so many different podcasts out there. Here are a few great podcasts about philanthropy.

The Business of Giving

If you’re looking to hear possible solutions to social problems throughout the world, check out The Business of Giving. This show is hosted by expert philanthropist Denver Frederick, and every week he invites various philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and nonprofit experts onto the show to discuss these social problems. With Frederick’s 40+ years of experience and the knowledge of these various experts, they dissect these social problems and try to come up with possible things we can do to solve them.

Futures in Fundraising

If you’re passionate about fundraising and want to know more, check out Futures in Fundraising. Every episode you’ll learn something new on topics such as using your organization’s data for good, advancing careers in development, or just new ways for you to give. They often provide great tips as well, just in case you decide to become a professional in the fundraising world. Every episode features an interview with someone who went on their own fundraising experience where they experienced both highs and lows.

Nonprofits Are Messy

Running a nonprofit organization isn’t easy. There are so many different aspects to think about and as host Joan Garry would put it, they’re messy. In her show, Joan discusses topics such as marketing, leadership, fundraising mistakes and so much more. Practically everything you can learn about nonprofits is discussed in this show, making it the ultimate resource for anyone wanting to improve their own organization.

The Important Podcast

The reason people become philanthropists or decide to work with nonprofits often comes down to one thing: they want to help people. The work they do is ultimately meant to serve those who are in need, and that’s exactly what The Important Podcast is all about. Each episode features inspirational stories of people helping others with an important mission to share these stories to as many people as they can.

Is Your Board Ready to Get Hands-On?

By Muhammad Babangida

On July 15, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

A problem with boards across the United States is that they lack diversity. The reason is likely that boards recruit members that have similar thought processes as the existing members. However, it is important to note that a diverse board can lead to many successes.

To get the board ready to be hands-on, a few things will have to occur.

An open mindset.

To get hands-on, the board has to open their minds to new thought processes. Things will be uncomfortable at first because change is not comfortable. However, once this period of discomfort passes, the board will reap the successes of multiple viewpoints.

Organizational Goals

Once a more diverse team is established, it will likely be necessary to reflect on the organizational goals and possibly expand them. This will allow room for growth within the organization and allow all members to feel a sense of belonging and inclusion.

Time Commitment

Establishing a diverse team and equity is no easy task. The board members have to be ready to put the time in to achieve this huge goal. This will likely need to be a discussion in which all board members are present, and the expectations are clearly outlined.

Multiple Leaders

The board cannot set out on this journey with a sole leader. To be effective, multiple people on the team will need to be passionate about this change and dedicate themselves to the project. This will put the board on the right track for success.

How to Get Loved Ones to Start Giving

By Muhammad Babangida

On July 13, 2020

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy, Youth Philanthropy

When a person is passionate about a cause, it is natural for them to want family members to join and support. Most nonprofit contributors are individuals who want to see a change in society. They are not staff or prominent people. However, asking a family member to donate can be awkward, and an individual can be unsure of how to start the conversation. Here are ways in which an individual can encourage a loved one to start giving.

Tell a Story

Encouraging a loved one to donate may require more than dry statistics. An individual needs to use storytelling to show the impact of the cause on people and society.

Use Different Ways to Reach People

The use of social media can be of great benefit in reaching friends and family who are not in close contact. But for those that are close, a phone call or an email can be effective. An individual can also request loved ones to get involved in the cause other than making donations.

Make it Easy

It is important to have a proper donation channel. Eliminate guesswork and consider the various ways in which people make donations. Let them understand whether the organization can receive gifts.

Organize a Birthday Fundraiser

An individual can demonstrate commitment by asking friends to donate in honor of a birthday. Online platforms such as GoFundMe can be effective for this campaign.

5. Express Gratitude

An individual should always thank the potential donors even before they reach out for their wallets. It is also important to express gratitude when sending the message or when sharing the online platform link.