Empowering Women Through Product Design and Development By: Erin Danae Fowler Who would have thought that such a young girl would be the inspiration for such a big dream. No eight-year-old should have to go through what Nomi did. Nomi was one of many children caught in human trafficking: an estimated 32 billion dollar industry that is considered to be the third [...]
By: Gillian Marks I was steered to Kickstarter.com by an entrepreneurial minded friend. While browsing the site I happened upon an interesting story. Danny Jacobs, now 30, grew up in southern California, the son of a father who stressed that financial and business success were the true measure of a man. Thus, after graduating from a prestigious university, he launched a series [...]
Every year in the lead up to Mother’s Day, analysts and pundits are busy calculating the holiday’s economic impact. This year, consumer spending is expected to reach around $18.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. But maximizing the real economic value of women needs to be seen as a core strategy of the recovery and part of the [...]
By: Savannah Chastain This is a column for those who are interested in doing something for justice in their community, but are not sure what. These are stories of everyday people who were inspired to start something, acted on an idea, and began to engage in the issues around them. This column is meant to share ideas of activism that [...]
Solar Sister eradicates energy poverty by empowering women with economic opportunity. We combine the breakthrough potential of solar technology with a deliberately woman-centered direct sales network to bring light, hope and opportunity to even the most remote communities in rural Africa. Describe the process when you invest in the women in a rural village? Solar Sister is bringing a grassroots, women [...]
By: Marie Elvshammar Beauty is a word that is translated as ”a characteristic of a person”. Beauty is the perfect word to describe Nicole Marett, a 24 year old girl that is using cosmetics as her tool to fight for the exploited victims of human trafficking. How did you get interested in the beauty industry, and what was it that made [...]
Read Part One Read Part Two Read Part Three Consumers are faced with a choice between a Fair Trade Certified product and a non-certified product every day. The Fair Trade movement of products has not been solely a niche market movement, but an effort has been made to network and mainstream products (Ruben, 2008). Fair Trade has also been discussed as [...]
Read Part One Read Part Two With so few companies controlling the market on highly traded commodities, what should be revenue sources for families and governments have become development-stifling commodities. In the case of Ivory Coast, the government and rebel movements have been accused of using cocoa funds in ongoing resource wars and civil wars (Lambert, 2007). The Fair Trade [...]
Continued from Part One Photo Credit, Arvind Balaraman Looking at two highly traded commodities, coffee and cocoa, we can see how the profit-only mindset can cause a crisis in the lives of the raw material producers and the countries they live in. Coffee is one of the world’s most traded commodities, and has been since the 1800’s. Entire communities in [...]
by: Darcie Nolan “Fair-trade can be understood as the fundamental meeting point between responsible producers and ethical consumers.” (Fretel & Roca, 2010) Is All Business, Good Business? Is business just a means to an end? Is development solely an aid project or altruistic endeavor? Can business be a cog in the machine of national growth and achievement? Is it possible [...]
