Social_enterprise – Page 2 – Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity

April 12, 2021February 17, 2022

Spotlight on Young Social Entrepreneurs

This month, we want to shine the spotlight on some young social entrepreneurs that are doing amazing work around the world.

1. David Yeung, Green Monday

Through a multi-faceted approach, Green Monday is working to encourage the widespread adoption of a plant-based diet to combat climate change, food insecurity, and public health issues. The social side of the organization, Green Monday Foundation, raises awareness around the environmental and health impacts of our food choices. The venture side focuses on increasing the supply of sustainable choices through impact investing, food tech innovations, and corporate consulting.

2. Bryan Pape, MiiR

Founded in Seattle in 2010, MiiR sells stainless steel vessels for coffee, beer, wine, and food. A portion of the revenue earned from every product sold is contributed to a project focused on clean water, a healthy environment, or strong communities. MiiR is Climate Neutral certified, a Certified B Corporation and a member of the 1% for the Planet organization. To date, they have granted $1.5M towards 71 projects in 26 different countries.

3. Shreya Shukla, Vatsal Shukla, and Abhinav Jaiswal, Parched Foodworks

Parched Foodworks’ mission is to reduce food waste in India. They provide customers with safe, healthy, versatile, and affordable packaged dehydrated foods straight from the farms of rural producers. They also empower the rural farmers to earn fair value for their produce.

4. Victor Zhu, Jean Chew, and Sharon Li, HATCH

HATCH empowers young adults to find a fulfilling career by offering skill building courses and supporting them through the job hiring process. Since their beginning in 2018, they have impacted 249 students across 7 countries. Through its strong community partnerships, HATCH is able to support all students, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, in taking their careers to the next level.

5. Wawira Njiru, Food4Education

Food4Education was founded to address the child nutrition crisis in Kenya. The organization uses technology to efficiently deliver nutritious, subsidized meals to primary school children. To date, they have supplied 5,000,000 meals, leading to improved nutrition and school performance for these students.

6. Roberto Patiño, Mi Convive

Patiño, an expert in citizen security and conflict resolution, founded Mi Convive, a Venezuelan NGO. Through their violence prevention workshops and victim care network, Mi Convive has helped to reduce violence in over 70 communities in Caracas. They have cared for over 300 victims of violence and trained over 50 community leaders to support their efforts.

As stated in the United Nations World Youth Report, youth unemployment is one great challenge the world is currently facing, particularly in developing countries. Social entrepreneurship is a sustainable solution.

The report further explains, “Fundamentally, youth social entrepreneurship has the potential to act as an inclusive development strategy. It represents both a vehicle for youth development and an outlet for youth engagement in the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In leveraging the talents and capacities of youth, youth social entrepreneurship services the goal of employment while activating youth as agents of change.”

As established above, encouraging youth to pursue the path of social entrepreneurship has many benefits. However, youth entering this field face numerous challenges related to structural factors as well as their individual characteristics. How can we reduce the barriers that youth face in starting social enterprises so that they can contribute positively to society?

To read more about these inspiring young social entrepreneurs, check out the articles they were featured in by The Forum of Young Global Leaders, EcoWatch, and Singapore International Foundation.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

March 26, 2021February 21, 2022

Spotlight on Women Social Entrepreneurs

As we close out the month of March which celebrates and honors the contributions of women throughout history, we want to shine the spotlight on some women social entrepreneurs that are doing amazing work around the world.

Maya-Camille Broussard, Justice of the Pies

Justice of the Pies is a low-profit limited liability company (L3C) that serves sweet and savory pies, quiches, and tarts. Broussard founded the company to honor her later father, a criminal defense attorney and passionate baker who believed that “everyone deserves an opportunity to reform their lives”. Justice of the Pies partners with various nonprofit organizations to carry out this mission.

Audrey Cheng, Moringa School

Working with Savannah Fund in Kenya, Audrey noticed a shortage of qualified software developers. Audrey thought she could help tackle the high unemployment rate in the country if she were able to close that skills gap. She co-founded Moringa School in 2014 to teach students key technical skills and provide them with practical experience. To date, Moringa School has enrolled over 3,000 students and has an 85% success rate of placing students into employment.

Vera Cordeiro, Instituto Dara (formerly Saúde Criança)

Founded in Brazil in 1991, Instituto Dara uses a unique, integrated approach to fight poverty and promote health and human development. The organization offers training and support to help families within the areas of health, education, housing, citizenship, and income. To date, they have impacted the lives of more than 75,000 people in Brazil.

Alice Emasu, Terrewode

Terrewode, which stands for The Association for the Rehabilitation and Re-orientation of Women for Development, is a Ugandan NGO focused on improving the livelihood of women. Specifically, Terrewode supports more than 200,000 women in Uganda that are affected by obstetric fistula by providing them with access to surgery. The organization also works to prevent obstetric fistulas through partnering with various health organizations and hospitals.

Brit Gilmore, The Giving Keys

The Giving Keys is a jewelry company that sells re-purposed keys engraved with inspirational messages. The company encourages customers to wear the jewelry until they find someone else who needs that message more and “pay it forward”. The Giving Keys partners with local LA organizations to employ people transitioning out of homelessness.

Ruth Ibegbuna, RECLAIM

Ibegbuna founded RECLAIM in 2007 “out of frustration at seeing so much wasted potential in young people, often written off due to their postcodes or through appallingly low expectations of their outcomes.” RECLAIM empowers those from middle-class backgrounds to make their voices heard and fight for social change.

Etka Jaju, Onganic Foods

Onganic’s vision is to achieve “a better livelihood for farmers, health and wellness for consumers, and a sustainable planet.” The organization does this by working directly with organic, smaller holder, certified grower groups and supporting them from procuring their seeds to accessing premium markets to sell their products. To date, they have positively impacted over 2,000 farmers and 23 villages within East and North East India.

Servane Mouazan, Ogunte

Ogunte is a Community Interest Company and certified B Corp based in the UK that supports women social entrepreneurs with customized services that address the unique challenges they are facing in scaling their impact. The purpose of the organization is to create an inclusive ecosystem where women are empowered to contribute their social innovations and support one another in creating a better world.

Kendis Paris, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT)

Truckers Against Trafficking was founded with the idea that transportation professionals could help “assist law enforcement in the recognition and reporting of human trafficking in order to aid in the recovery of victims and the arrest of their perpetrators.” Through their program, more than 1 million truckers have been registered as TAT trained and over 1,200 victims have been identified.

Sakena Yacoobi, Afghan Institute of Learning

Founded in 1995, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) “provides education, training, and health services to vulnerable Afghans in order to foster self-reliance, critical thinking skills, and community participation throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan.” With 48 learning centers and 6 health clinics, AIL has been able to educate 26,000 students.

In the article we shared on social media last week, the World Economic Forum posits that female social entrepreneurs, like the ones shared above, are essential to shaping a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we reframe the definition of success in a way that better includes and celebrates women social entrepreneurs, we curate an ecosystem that is more likely to inspire and nurture women changemakers,” says Iman Bibars, founder, Women’s Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship, Ashoka.

So let’s empower and celebrate women social entrepreneurs not just in the month of March, but all year long.

To read more about these inspiring female social entrepreneurs, check out the articles they were featured in by Change Creator, Forbes, and Ashoka.

March 11, 2021February 28, 2022

How Can We Build Back Better: Helpful Insights for Climate-smart Inclusive Economic Development from the United Nations’ Recent Assembly

Last month, on February 22, 2021, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) convened representatives of its 193 Member States and other stakeholders to discuss how to build back better as we begin the return to a post-pandemic world.

In preparation for UNEA-5, the United Nations Environment Programme’s North America Office (UNEP North America) led a series of workshops to explore ways in which nature is already being used to address climate change and other issues. Over 400 North American stakeholders including governments, the public and private sectors, NGOs, and youth came together to share best practices, success stories and challenges with implementing and scaling nature-based solutions. Some important takeaways emerged that we should keep in mind as we aim to foster a climate-smart and inclusive economy:

“Both top-down and bottom-up approaches must work in tandem to achieve effective, long-term solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises.”
“Co-designing nature-based solutions with stakeholders at the local level, particularly with indigenous communities, is key.”
“Cross-sector collaboration is required to implement and sustain nature-based solutions.”
“Empowering youth and communities through education can inspire the sustainable lifestyle transition and behavior change needed to achieve the SDGs.”
“Innovation, data, and technology have an unprecedented role to play in designing and demonstrating the benefits of nature-based solutions.”
“The standardization of language and metrics around nature-based solutions is needed to define collective rules and impact.”
“Stakeholders must invest in nature, financing and derisking nature-based solutions.”
“Private sector entities should rise to the challenge of integrating sustainability into core business values.”

These best practices for implementing nature-based solutions were echoed during the UNEA-5 conference. UNEA emphasized the importance of taking action now in their final statement:

“Human health and wellbeing are dependent upon nature and the solutions it provides, and we are aware that we shall face recurring risks of future pandemics if we maintain our current unsustainable patterns in our interactions with nature.”

To read more about the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, click here. To learn more about each of the workshops held by UNEP North America prior to the conference, click here.

February 5, 2021August 10, 2021

Kijiji Innovative Sustainable Solutions Design Competition

Kijiji Innovative Sustainable Solutions (K.I.S.S.), in partnership with SMU’s MASD Program, the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity and three universities in Tanzania, has officially launched an architectural design competition for the building of the Rulegura Center.

The primary purpose of the Rulegura Center, which will be located in Kasisa Village in northern Tanzania, will be to provide a place for education and training in sustainable methods and practices in the areas of energy, construction, clean water, agriculture, aquaculture, sanitation and health. The Rulegura Center is at the heart of K.I.S.S.’s mission, to promote sustainable development in rural Tanzania and protect the country’s wildlife and natural resources. The center will also serve as a community space for gatherings and meetings.

17 teams comprised of 31 students from 3 universities in Tanzania: Ardhi University, University of Dar es Salaam, and Mbeya University of Science and Technology have entered the competition. Each student team will be drafting building plans for the Rulegura Center, which will then be judged by a panel of 4 jurors. Since the building itself will stand as a model for appropriate sustainable design in rural Tanzania, students are highly encouraged to incorporate local materials into their designs as well as ensure energy efficiency and sustainable maintenance.

It was important to Clara Ford, founder of K.I.S.S., to involve local students in crafting the building plans. “It is part of our mission to empower and encourage young folks to be aware that they have the ability to solve problems facing the local community. I hope through this project to inspire self-confidence and self-determination among the young generation in Tanzania,” Ford says.

The community involvement will continue throughout the entire process of building the Rulegura Center, as K.I.S.S. begins the process of educating and training citizens on how to construct efficient, durable, and resilient buildings. Creating sustainable and durable buildings is just 1 of 9 objectives that K.I.S.S. sets out to achieve. Ultimately, Ford’s goals for K.I.S.S. are to reduce cyclical poverty and empower the local people with technical skills to improve their quality of life.

“Our program is designed to source solutions from the people living there on the ground. We understand the local folks are much more aware with problems they face in their daily lives and our role to showcase how these solutions can be implemented effectively for efficiencies and sustainability. For this strategy to succeed it is crucial to involve these folks and the local communities we hope to impact.”

Stay tuned to the Hunt Institute Digest for updates on the Kijiji project and to find out the winning student team of the architectural design competition!

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

January 7, 2021February 28, 2022

Julianna Bond, Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort Intrapreneur

Julianna Bond joins the Hunt Institute’s Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort as an Intrapreneur. Her focus is on enabling the enablers: how can consulting firms use their unique position—straddling organizations, industries, and sectors—to accelerate innovation and amplify social impact? Consultancies are already experts in fostering partnerships, disseminating knowledge, coordinating efforts, elevating solutions, and catalyzing change. Within these firms are consultants with the desire to leverage their collective knowledge and skills to tackle environmental and societal challenges. Julianna’s project will develop a replicable framework for empowering consultants to serve their local communities and champion sustainability.

Julianna is a Data & Analytics Consultant for Slalom Consulting and has experience across a dozen industries and functions, serving in data visualization, business analysis, project management, change management, and data strategy roles. Internal to Slalom, she is passionate about building bridges across capabilities and driving social, environmental, and community stewardship. In her previous firm, Sendero, Julianna co-founded the internal Diversity & Inclusion Committee focused on recruiting, cultivating, and celebrating diverse talent; she also played a critical role in coordinating pro-bono consulting projects.

In service of the community, Julianna has served as the board chair and development committee chair for Kids-U, a non-profit providing tutoring and holistic care for at-risk youths in low-income apartment communities. She is currently a partner at Social Venture Partners Dallas and is an alumna of their Dana Juett Residency program designed to help young professionals become philanthropic leaders. During this program, Julianna led a non-profit consulting, capacity-building project for The Educator Collective and was the winner of a fast-pitch competition on the non-profit’s behalf.

Julianna’s passion for social impact began during her undergraduate studies at Southern Methodist University, where she graduated with degrees in Political Science, Management, and a minor in Chinese. Beyond campus life, she ran a 3-year long Big iDeas & Engaged Learning Fellowship project focused on food insecurity and sustainable micro-agriculture for urban environments, resulting in setting up an aquaponics garden at Jubilee Park Community Center in Fair Park. When she returned to SMU for her Master of Science in Business Analytics, she worked with the Hunt Institute to support research for the Collective Action for an Inclusive Sustainable Economy model and corporate stakeholder interviews. Her favorite quote by Frances Hesselbein is, “Carry a big basket. In other words, be open to new ideas, different partners, and new practices, and have a willingness to dump out the old and irrelevant to make room for new approaches.”

When asked what her motivation is as a social intrapreneur, Bond answered, “I live to help people realize their greatest potential and inspire us, collectively, to be better and do better. This starts with building deep, meaningful relationships based in genuine care and understanding of individual needs, motives, and struggles. Mutual understanding is the foundation for fruitful partnerships and cultural change.”

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

January 7, 2021February 28, 2022

Pharr Andrews, Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort Intrapreneur

Pharr Andrews joined the Hunt Institute's Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort as an Intrapreneur to find solutions to address the energy poverty gap exasperated by the effects of climate change.

As an experienced scholar and fervent advocate for the mend of environmental and sustainability issues, Pharr Andrews joined the Hunt Institute’s Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort as an Intrapreneur.

Andrews aims to continue to push for solutions that address the energy poverty gap exasperated by the effects of climate change.

Currently serving as the Senior Climate Coordinator for the City of Dallas, her primary role is to coordinate the City’s first Comprehensive and Climate Action Plan (CECAP). Through her extensive experience, traversing 20 years of acquired knowledge in the field, she displays a strong commitment to preserving the environment and has earned a reputation among peers as a leader in the field.

Andrews’ social enterprise project “Energy Equip” attempts to provide basic energy services to low-income areas and proposes to address energy poverty symptoms through six main pathways: education, leveraging of resources, commitment to amplifying ongoing actions, expanding partnerships, outreach, and awareness-building.

Her employment background stretches across various environmental initiatives; these include Environmental Outreach Manager for the City of Richardson and Air Quality Manager for the City of Austin.

While in Austin, she chaired the region’s Clean Air Coalition Advisory Committee and helped implement three regional air quality improvement plans. She was also a founding member of the City’s Climate Protection Team and played a vital role in the climate planning effort. Prior to serving at the City of Austin, she worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on environmental policy issues.

This December, Pharr Andrews will be presenting her social enterprise project at the Hunt Institute’s Impact Forum where she will continue to spark discussion around reducing the energy burden and raise awareness for the issue’s urgent need for action.

When asked what has motivated her impact work, Andrews said, “Climate Change impacts everyone on the planet, but does not affect everyone equally. I am very motivated to help ensure vulnerable front line communities have access to the tools that reduce negative impacts, build resiliency and improve quality of life.”

Look forward to more from the Hunt Institute Digest, to stay up to date on Pharr’s work and progress as she pursues solutions to energy poverty in the DFW area.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

January 6, 2021February 28, 2022

Matthew Sheldon, Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort Intrapreneur

Matthew Sheldon, Social Intrapreneur and Communications Lead for Toyota Motor North America Social Innovation

Matthew Sheldon is a highly dynamic individual with experience across corporate communication programs, public relations, investor relations firms, and a passion for combating societal and environmental challenges.

Sheldon joined the Hunt Institute’s Social Enterprise 2021 Cohort as a Social Intrapreneur with his project, which focuses on combatting bioplastic waste and decreasing the environmental impact of waste.

As the Communications Lead for Toyota Motor North America Social Innovation, Sheldon is tasked with developing and implementing communications programs for the division’s community sustainability, inclusive mobility, and workforce development initiatives.

Sheldon’s Social Enterprise Project is working to find ways to divert waste from landfills, putting forth initiatives that aim to create a circular system to recover food waste and bioplastics and convert them into energy. This system has many benefits: diverting waste from landfills, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating new revenue streams, and the potential for new fueling sources for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

This project is set to spur a coalition of local companies, government organizations, and academia to bring forward a solution in DFW while also creating a template to replicate in other regions.

Sheldon says he is motivated by “a sense of urgency to address societal and environmental challenges. Through social innovation, we can tackle systemic issues while strengthening business.”

Stay tuned to the Hunt Institute Digest to follow Matthew as he pursues waste-to-energy solutions in the DFW area.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

January 6, 2021February 28, 2022

2021 Social Enterprise Cohort

2021 Hunt Institute Social Enterprise Cohort of Intrapreneurs

Since the launch of the Social Enterprise Program in 2019, we had the opportunity to work with some amazing social entrepreneurs whose work is improving lives and livelihoods locally and around the world. This year’s cohort is no different. What is new, however, is that this cohort is dedicated to “social intrapreneurship”. This is a reflection of the challenging times we are experiencing and to highlight the unique role that social intrapreneurs can play in achieving scaled impact towards a climate-smart and inclusive economy.

From governments to leading think tanks and corporations, we have observed expressions of support and anticipation that social enterprises will play a critical role in rebuilding after the pandemic and steering our society towards a more sustainable and inclusive economy. However, the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs remain significant. The purpose of our program is to help understand these challenges, identify proven best practices to tackle them, and to empower the most promising social entrepreneurs in our community to put their ideas into action and maximize their impact.

There has been considerable attention on “intrapreneurship” in recent years. Intrapreneurship involves acting as an innovative entrepreneur but within the ecosystem of a larger, more traditional organization. These organizations can be private, public, or nonprofit; the concept of intrapreneurship is an important one across sectors. Intrapreneurship can bring together the best of both worlds: the innovation and dynamism of entrepreneurship and the resources and value chain of existing organizations. Social intrapreneurship is a more recent and somewhat lesser-known concept. Social intrapreneurship combines social entrepreneurship, the mindset of pursuing bold ideas and innovative solutions to address social and environmental problems, with intrapreneurship. As an example, M-Pesa is a successful social enterprise offering mobile-phone based money transfer and micro-financing services to over 40 million users in Africa, Asia, and Europe. A little-known fact is that M-Pesa is the product of social intrapreneurship; developed by two employees of Vodaphone and Safaricom from within their established companies. M-Pesa has been a driving force of economic empowerment and has had a significant impact on reducing poverty, especially among women.

I am pleased to announce the 2021 Cohort of the Social Enterprise Program: Pharr Andrews (City of Dallas), Dr. Candice Bledsoe (Action Research Center, Women of Color Collective, SMU), Julianna Bond (Slalom Consulting) and Matt Sheldon, (Toyota North America).

They are social intrapreneurs from across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors who are pursuing transformational ideas for a climate-smart & inclusive economy—the kind of innovators and leaders we desperately need to rebuild better.

Stay tuned to learn more about our social intrapreneurs’ initiatives and follow us on social media to get regular updates!

Eva Csaky, PhD MSF is the Executive Director of the Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity, the founder of the Social Enterprise Program, and the co-founder of the Inclusive Economy Consortium.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

December 15, 2020January 7, 2021

2020 Social Enterprise Cohort

Our 2020 Cohort took a journey none of us could have planned or expected. We celebrated as both Dr. Lynch and Jin-Ya advanced in their work, we moved forward as Mohammed Nijie’s work branched out into a new phase, and we expanded to add a new Social Entrepreneur, Clara Rulegura Ford. This cohort focused on clean energy and community development.

Below is a brief description of each social entrepreneur’s venture along with links to their work in order to read more and/or follow their progress in the future.

Janta Energy

Founder: Mohammed Njie

Njie completed his business plan, launched his website, and remotely worked on a pilot project in Tintinto, The Gambia. In January of 2020, a team installed five 330-watt 24-volt solar panels, two 250 amp 12-volt solar batteries, and a 50 amp solar charge controller to power four classrooms and a staff room. The pilot is designed to test the panel’s effectiveness as a solution to bring electrical connections for lights, fans, and eventually computers. All supplies and labor were sourced locally, supporting the local economy.

Njie continues to communicate with Principal Amadou Kinteh following the progress of the project. Innovation in Tintinto tells the story of teachers leveraging cell phones to design and implement distance learning for their students during the pandemic shutdowns. His goals for 2021 include raising the necessary funding to finish the project so the entire school is powered by solar panels. Njie explains, “As a pilot project, we were limited to installing a limited amount of panels. We used those panels to provide 100% energy for half of the school. The idea was that after we did a successful pilot project, then we will install more panels to extend the power to the other side of the school.”

Principal Kinteh talked about how the students were able to attend night classes due to the solar power stored in fuel cells helping students to catch up in their studies, “…we benefited from night classes, as children living near or in the village were assisted by the teachers during the night because electricity is now available and the place is quiet, so children would come and read and they would be assisted by the teachers. This has helped our students a lot. They performed extremely well in the grade 9 examinations.”

Kijiji Innovation Solutions

Founder: Clara Rulegura Ford

Clara Rulegura Ford. Ford is the Founder and CEO of Kijiji Innovative Sustainable Solutions (K.I.S.S.) and a Class of 2020 commitment maker with the Clinton Global Initiatives University (CGIU). Ford holds an MA in Sustainability and Development from the Lyle School of Engineering where she began fleshing out the design and plans for KISS as her capstone project. Phase I of the project was completed in the Summer semester of 2020. Partnering with the Hunt Institute Global Development Lab, the project produced a broader impact report titled Building Bridges to Build Connections. Ford soon became an obvious choice to include in the Social Enterprise program. She is finishing final touches on her overall strategy, has assembled an advisory board over the years, and launched a competition for the design of The Rulegura Centre, Kijiji ISS, Kasisa Tanzania.

Ford says, “Our vision is of a Tanzania that is aware of its role on environmental stewardship and takes development initiatives that are conscious of environmental impact on future generations. A Tanzania that remains as a paradise island with its wildlife protected and natural resources replenished in the course of its economic development.”

As we approach 2021, we look back on the great accomplishments of this cohort and prepare to continue accelerating their important work.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

December 15, 2020February 28, 2022

Women Artisans and the Case for Handicrafts

The Case for Homemade by Silvia Rivera '18, SMU and Hunt Institute Alumni

As more and more social entrepreneurs show up in industry, both non-profit and for-profit, there is increasing overlap between the initiatives of the Social Enterprise and the Global Development Lab. While this integration will be a primary focus for the Hunt Institute in 2021, the overlap between entrepreneurship and innovation has been evident in past Institute projects, too, such as a report on the international handicrafts industry by Silvia Rivera ’18.

Rivera moved with her family from Chiapas, Mexico as a child. With this perspective, she has always been passionate about breaking down complex issues to empower underrepresented individuals. During her college journey at SMU, Rivera was immersed in exploring handicrafts and artisanal goods. She soon joined the Hunt Institute as an undergraduate researcher mentored by the Executive Director Dr. Eva Csaky. At the end of her senior year, Rivera’s findings lead her to conclude that handicrafts, “have a significant potential for social impact, both in terms of the income they generate and the cultural traditions they help preserve.”

Her research questions searched for a connection point to link local artisans with the global supply chain. Shortly before completing her work at SMU, Rivera journeyed to Washington D.C. for The Creative Economy Matters conference, which had a lasting impact on her. She produced a report titled “The Case for Handmade,” exploring the global artisan sector, its potential for impact, and both the challenges and opportunities involved in realizing this potential.

Foundational to inclusive economic development is the IE Model for entrepreneurs, corporations, and enablers developed by Dr. Csaky (see Applied IE Model below).

Applied Inclusive Economy Model, Dr. Eva Csaky — Model by Dr. Eva Csaky, Executive Director of the Hunter & Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity

This model led Rivera to search for the multi-stakeholders, global forces, and the opportunity for inclusive growth to local economies. The abstract of her report states, “From the definition of artisanal activity, to its importance for poverty alleviation, to the various challenges and opportunities faced by artisans, businesses, and other sector stakeholders, this report concludes with a brief case-study of the DFW market for artisanal goods, attempting to put to the test ideas set forth herein on the global artisan sector and the key opportunities that may point the way forward.”

According to Rivera’s report, handicrafts are an essential source of secondary income. About 80% of artisans are women globally, and the handicraft industry was worth $32 billion in 2018. Because it is not capital intensive, the barriers to entry are low. Typically speaking, women reinvest 90% of earnings into their family and train other women, passing down their skills and knowledge. Her research found that these women were quite resourceful, using existing resources and materials to enhance the uniqueness of their handicrafts.

Rivera says, “But the potential for impact doesn’t stop there, like I mentioned earlier there are other cultural aspects to handmade goods that make them more than the sum of their parts, and part of that is that often that they are made by marginalized ethnic minorities using (again often but not always) traditionally environmentally friendly methods. This part of their potential needs more research and attention but does pop up in the literature.”

Women artisans help to support education, healthcare, and housing for themselves and their families. The industry serves as an important source of diversification, especially as climate change negatively affects rural agriculture. Challenges facing artisan women are well documented, country-specific, and difficult to overcome with a one-size-fits-all solution. Primary challenges include informality, aggregation, access to information, and access to finance. Finding opportunities to overcome these challenges is where the social impact space can help the most, investigating global connection points to consumer, entrepreneurial, and corporate trends for artisan groups.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.