“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

An old and wise Chinese proverb describes the premise behind YouthBank, an organization that our documentary team is following over the course of this year. YouthBank is a social enterprise start-up whose mission is to take kids off the street in developing countries and make them financially independent. Lily Liu is an entrepreneur and filmmaker, and the YouthBank team is one of the most interesting start-ups she has ever encountered. Led by a Canadian, the team consists of young people from across the world, with the majority of them residing in the US. Through a unique partnership between local residents in Lagos, Nigeria, the group launched their first program with 6 street-youth in August 2009.

48th Floor Films are trying to capture the stories of these youth as they progress through the program, and really see how their lives are changing as a result of it. These youth were coming from a past of an extremely unpredictable nature, to a potential future where they are not only business owners, but they are successful employers of other Nigerians.

More information here