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World Championship mechanic unveiled |
Race4Change Team Mechanic and Car Preparator
Race4Change is serious. Erik Simonin, car mechanic and preparer for Ronan Chobot, Toyota Pilot, and a member of the Toyota Competition Department, and a race driver himself, is unveiled as the Chief Mechanic of the 2009 Rally4Change (www.rally4change.org). Co-driver, Jean-Louis Juchault announced that Eric has been preparing the car for he and American born Canadian co-driver Steven Funk. Eric has been holed up in France preparing the Peugeot 504 entry of Race4Change for the last several months. The car will be shipped to Kenya in the first week of November. One can see the car logos and decals proudly sponsoring Jamii Bora and The Microcredit Summit now positioned on the car in the photo section.
Erik's incredible pedigree in racing includes whole championships in 2003, 2004, 2005 and a World Championship for Chabot in 2005.
Erik's racing history includes the following International FIA races:
7 Dakar Rallies (always crossing the finish line!!)
8 Tunisia Rallies
7 Morocco Rallies
1 Paris - Moscow - Beijing Rally
1 St Petersburg - Beijing
We are proud to have Erik on the Team - and we hope every Race4Change co-driver and Pit Crew member out there is as excited as your drivers to have Erik with us on this Race4Change - in a race for the impoverished women, and the education and health care of their families that comes when dignity is shown a poor person with the provision of microfinance loan.
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Profound Jamii Bora video with microfinance story |
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Slumdog Entrepreneur
When my wife and I slipped into our theater seats to watch Slumdog Millionaire, we braced ourselves for a journey into urban slums, a world inhabited by over one billion people globally.
But unlike the movie-goers in the theater that night who pinned their hopes for one chai wallah (tea seller) escaping the horrors of the slums of Mumbai, India, on the long-shot odds of his winning the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, we knew that right now there is a tool that has helped not just one movie character but more than 100 million of the world’s poorest people actually begin to escape the worst devastations of poverty. That opportunity is not a game show but microcredit—small loans to start or expand businesses like selling tortillas or cell phone time to your neighbors. And if there was an Oscar for assisting beggars, thieves, and prostitutes to find a dignified route out of the slums, I’d know where to look for the winner. |
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Rally and Microfinance - the connections |
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From Steven Funk & Jean-Louis Juchault
Dear friends,
I am extremely proud to announce that our upcoming participation in the 2009 East African Safari Rally will be in an effort to support the JamiiBora Trust and the Microcredit Summit in a fund raising action.
Consequently our racing car, a 504 Peugeot Coupé V6, will be fully decorated on behalf of these two institutions.
For this purpose, we have launched a dedicated website www.race4change.org for online donations. |
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Our Logistician Andrew Doig |
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 Andrew has lived all of his life, 40 years, in East Africa. He grew up in a motorsport family where his father David Doig was co-driver to the legendary safari rally driver Joginder Singh, the first man to win the Safari Rally three times (twice with his father).
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The very accomplished co-driver:Jean-Louis Juchault, a Dakar finisher |
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Jean-Louis Juchault is a racecar driver, co-founder and former CEO, of a billion-dollar hedge fund Systeia Capital Management, a hedge fund that specializes in alternative investments. He co-founded the successful venture eight years ago. A lawyer by training, Juchault sold his share of the Paris-based firm in 2008 to the Credit Agricole Group. |
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