Social Entrepreneurship

Usually people say that there are two seasons in Malawi: the rainy season and the dry season.  From Nov - March it's the rainy season which means: planting crops, mangos, flooding and the slipperiest mud you've ever seen.  From April - October the dry season means: harvest, temporary wealth, tradtional ceremonies, cooler weather, fires, smoke, dust and respiratory sickness.  Being here in late Jan/early Feb this trip, I'm reminded that there is actually a third season...the hunger season.  

The hunger season starts at this time of year and can go until April/May.  The reason hunger season strikes now is that some 80%+ of the population here are subsistence farmers meaning they grow their own year's supply of food for their families.  Problem is that their supply of maize (the staple food) often starts dwindling dangerously low this time of year.  A family may have had a bad crop, maybe rodents got into the homemade silo of reeds and grasses, thieves could have raided it in the night or some of it could be lost any other number of things.  Fact is, that come February many families must supplement their supply of maize by buying it at market.  Because demand is high and supply is low this time of year, prices skyrocket.  Add to this the global economic recession and the current economic crisis in Malawi and you have the hunger season.  

The silver lining in this for my Dsenyo trip is that we are able to provide business to a vast number of people at a time when they need it most.  We often mention that Dsenyo works with more than 70 women and artisans here in Malawi.  Well, that's only part of the picture.  We actually contribute economically and support many many more families.  We buy chitenje (the African textiles) from over 30 women at the fabric market providing a boost to their businesses, we buy lining fabric from the local textile mill, and notions from local shops and second-hand denim from vendors at the open air markets.  We purchase phone units from the women with mobile businesses moving around on the streets.  And this list goes on.  It's really fun to shop for materials for Dsenyo and it's really rewarding to see the excitement of the vendors when we make large purchases.  With giddy excitement they thank Tamara for being a good "sister" and bringing them business from Dsenyo.  There are lots of hugs, special Malawi handshakes, smiles, dancing and singing.  It's nice to be able to be a small bright spot in the middle of the wet, muddy hunger season.  In the vendor's words "it's a miracle" for them!

"Belonging in Boulder: Unexpected Stories from Your Neighbors" is new cable show on Boulder Valley Media’s Channel 22 features local business owners, entrepreneurs, and interesting community members sharing stories about important journeys they have taken, life lessons they have learned, and why they choose to work and play in Boulder Valley. The show is created by Arielle Nobile of Legacy Connections Films who interviewed Dsenyo Founder Marissa Perry Saints for the latest episode.

"Belonging in Boulder: Unexpected Stories from Your Neighbors" Episode 5 from Arielle Nobile on Vimeo.

Mwayiwathu simply means "blessings" in Chiyao, the language of the Yao people in Malawi.  This is the name that the HIV support group in Ndiwasa Village near Domasi (map) chose for their group when they started working for Dsenyo.  

HIV Positive Living Groups are quite numerous in Malawi because of the high HIV infection rate.  The purpose of these groups is to provide a safe place for people to share their struggles, council each other and encourage others in the community to live openly with the disease.  There is still a huge stigma associated with HIV, which is evident especially among men.  The majority of these groups are comprised by women, many of whom are widowed, and only decided to get tested for HIV after seeing their husbands die too young and suspecting AIDS was the cause.

Mwayiwathu is a group of 20+ women who chose this name for their group because they see the work from Dsenyo as a blessing and a solution to some of the challenges they face.  They use their wages to pay for transport to the hospital to get their ARVs (anti-retro virals), buy food, pay school fees for their children and purchase fertilizer for growing crops. 

On our recent trip to Malawi this August we interviewed each member of the group asking, "Has your quality of life improved through working with Dsenyo?"  Esinara Kwalamasa (photo left) said that it really has because she has learned new skills, she enjoys working together with the other women sharing her problems and ideas with them.  She also said that now she has money to cover basic necessities like food and soap which were a struggle before.

The Mwayiwathu HIV Support Group makes the following items for Dsenyo...everything is hand-stitched, no machines: Flowers (hair clips, ornaments, magnets, etc) and Little Friends (lion, monkey, elephant, bunny stuffed animals).

Click here to share this fair trade story...

Social entrepreneurship is an attempt to use business tools and strategies to solve social, economic and environmental problems.  Then, instead of measuring success only in terms of monetary profit, success is measured in terms of social capital. Read a great definition of social enterprise and social entrepreneurs here. It's an exciting movement that Dsenyo is proud to take part in.  However, if you have kept an eye on this topic over the past few months, the media has uncovered some not so pretty sides of some of the social entrepreneurship movement's biggest success stories.  Take a quick read of this article from the Harvard Business Review about the current downfall of leading social entrepreneurs and what it should have people like myself reflecting on. Namely, we as social entrepreneurs have a great responsibility to our patrons, customers and the public in general to not overstate our impact.  The whole movement is based on transparancy and accountability and those high principles need to be honored.

Lessons for Social Entrepreneurs from the Microfinance Crisis

Posted by Timothy Ogden on Friday Apr 22nd at 10:09am
Are you sowing the seeds of your own ignominious end?

"Two of the most inspirational stories in social entrepreneurship have taken quite a beating recently. The microfinance industry has in just a few years gone from making headlines for the Nobel Peace Prize to stories about limited impact, allegedly abusive tactics, client suicides, government crackdowns, major lenders struggling with insolvency and the forcible removal of Mohammed Yunus as Managing Director of Grameen Bank. Just this week, Greg Mortensen came crashing down as investigative reporters documented exaggerations, inaccuracies, and shady financial practices. These reversals may seem sudden, but they were years in the making. In both cases, the blame can be laid at the feet of the protagonists of the stories.... (read full article here)"

Last year Dsenyo became a Green America approved business for people and planet.  So what exactly does this mean?

Green America (formerly Co-op America) is a great non-profit organization based in the USA working to promote sustainability in business both from the social and environmental perspective.  They are an excellent resource for information on organic, fair trade and sustainability in general.  Sustainability meaning that the "Earth is preserved for all the generations to come."

In order to become an approved business as part of Geen America's Business Network, Dsenyo had to go through a throrough application process and review of our business.  We like Green America because they balance both the impact on people and the environment which is right up our alley at Dsenyo. 

According to Green America a "Green Business" is on that fits the following principles:

• Green businesses operate in ways that solve, rather than cause, both environmental and social problems. 
• These businesses adopt principles, policies, and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, their employees, communities, and the environment.

You can find a list of Green businesses in Green America’s National Green Pages™ .  All of these business, like Dsenyo, have passed a screening process that qualifies them for membership in the Green Business Network™. 

I am traveling with Tamara Banda, a driven, talented and confident young business woman. With Dsenyo's support, Tamara has started KAFUTARO Import & Export. Dsenyo will contract with Tamara's business to provide services like coordinating between our different producer groups, managing quality control, delivering materials, collecting finished goods, and serving as translator during training sessions. In the past, Tamara was one of the leading female soccer referees in the Northern Region and a long distance runner for the Malawi Police College.

As the year is coming to an end, I am wrapping up several things for Dsenyo and frantically working on laying the groundwork for big goals in 2010.  Here are some of those goals:

In 2010,  Dsenyo will...

• Help two Malawian women set up their own business, a sewing studio in Lilongwe
• Train and put three sewing cooperatives into production on some of our new designs
• Unveil our first "Made in Malawi" accessories
• Use artisan crafted fabric from Zambia and Tanzania
• Expand our wholesale business
• Donate $2,250 to community development projects in Malawi (One dollar goes a long way there!)
• Contribute to the creation and sustainability of jobs for over 30 women

We have taken our first steps towards getting Tamara and Vina set up to start their business in Lilongwe.  Dsenyo is paying for Tamara to take some computer classes to learn how to do email and basic word processing.  She is also registering her business with the Malawi government and looking for a space to rent.  My hope is that come, March, when I go to Malawi for 4-5 weeks, Tamara and Vina will have rented their space, built a large cutting table and recruited 4 tailors to work on a part-time basis.  With their sewing studio ready to go, Dsenyo will be their first and primary customer.  I will train them on industry standard techniques for cut and sew production of our accessories.  As they get experience with us, they will be prepared to expand their buisness and take on other customers.

Note: I wrote this blog post this summer on July 14 from Domasi, Malawi while I was staying in Ndwiasa Village.

I fell asleep to the sounds of African drumming and women singing all through the night. Didn't sleep much actually, which is fine, because I rested under my mosquito net, curled up on my reed mat, and loved hearing the sounds of the initiation ceremony in the background.  There is a primal and instinctual connection I feel to the people here.  I feel this especially on days like yesterday when I had the opportunity to dance with the village women as they began the ceremony initiating a young woman into motherhood.  I think about the history behind these traditions and how far reaching...

Being a small business, especially being a one woman show, means that I am accountable to me.  I wake up in the morning and am my own boss.  Anyone else in this situation understands that this is fabulously freeing and empowering, and at the same time, can also be bewildering and overwhelming. 

After returning from my travels in Malawi I realized that the dream for Dsenyo is much larger than what I can accomplish on my own.  So, I have been reaching out for advice and attending workshops on time management and small business growth strategies.