Travel with Founder Matt Mitro, Senior VP Ben Stone, and the remarkable women of Rwanda as they discuss the empowering approach of Indego Africa, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social enterprise devoted to helping artisans lift themselves out of poverty.  Indego Africa – which stands for INdependence, DEvelopment, and GOvernance – partners with cooperatives of world-class artisans in Rwanda, composed entirely of women, and sells their fair trade handicrafts at high-end retailers across the U.S. and on its WebStore. Indego Africa then applies 100% of profits and other grants or donations to its long-term skills training programs in financial management, entrepreneurship, literacy, and computers – which are administered by Rwanda’s top university students.  Indego Africa is a member of the Fair Trade Federation and the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.

Travel with Founder Matt Mitro, Senior VP Ben Stone, and the remarkable women of Rwanda as they discuss the empowering approach of Indego Africa, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social enterprise devoted to helping artisans lift themselves out of poverty.  Indego Africa – which stands for INdependence, DEvelopment, and GOvernance – partners with cooperatives of world-class artisans in Rwanda, composed entirely of women, and sells their fair trade handicrafts at high-end retailers across the U.S. and on its WebStore. Indego Africa then applies 100% of profits and other grants or donations to its long-term skills training programs in financial management, entrepreneurship, literacy, and computers – which are administered by Rwanda’s top university students.  Indego Africa is a member of the Fair Trade Federation and the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.

Visit Cocoki, a cooperative of over 43 women master weavers in Kigali, Rwanda. The women of Cocoki partner with Indego Africa to sell their vibrant wine coasters, wine bags, yoga bags, and sports bags. They then use 100% of the profits – combined with your generous donations – to fund training programs in management, accounting, and computers.

The Rainforest Alliance was a founder of and continues to coordinate the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a coalition of leading conservation groups from every Mesoamerican country except Nicaragua. The SAN awards the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal to farmers who meet guidelines for sustainability; the seal assures consumers that the products they buy are produced according to strict ecological, economic and social criteria. On certified farms, pesticide use is tightly controlled, wildlife habitat is protected and worker health and safety is a priority. Farms owned by several leading food companies have earned certification, while other companies have committed to purchasing products from certified farms.

To promote sustainable forestry, the Rainforest Alliance has joined governments and local groups in the Selva Maya region of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize — one of the world’s largest tropical forests north of the Amazon — to train communities in responsible forest management, and we are working to increase the value of non-timber forest products such as xate, a fern grown in the Selva Maya and sold in the United States.

William Kamkwamba is a Malawian secondary school student and inventor. He gained fame in his country when, in 2001, he built a windmill, to power a few electrical appliances in his family's house in Masitala, using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. Since then, he has built a solar-powered water pump that supplies the first drinking water in his village, and two other windmills (the tallest standing at 39 feet) and is planning two more, including one in Lilongwe.

Here is the remarkable story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him. 

Meet Taddy Blecher. Taddy Blecher was ready to emigrate from South Africa when he took a second look at his native country. "I saw aching poverty," he said, and he made a life-changing decision to do something about it. In 1999 he and his colleagues opened CIDA City Campus to provide disadvantaged youths a chance to earn a four-year business administration degree. At a cost of just $9,500 per student, CIDA has produced 1,800 graduates with potential lifetime earnings of $635,000 to $1.5 million who teach and sponsor other students. CIDA plans to open new campuses, increase enrollment and create a franchise model called University-in-a-Box entirely built and managed by students.

Learn about his story in this episode of Uncommon Heroes, funded by the Skoll Foundation. More information at www.skollfoundation.org.

Skoll Foundation video on the progress of social entrepreneurship during the previous three decades. The Skoll Foundation drives large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are proven leaders whose approaches and solutions to social problems are helping to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged individuals.

The term 'Social Enterprise' implies a linking of business ventures to achieving social good. In the case of WLC, our 'social enterprise' program consists of assisting poor women in developing new methods of income generation, especially through small business ventures, in order to improve the income and quality of life of their families. We provide beneficiary women with skill training (particularly in sewing, although we are now expanding to other areas), instruct them in small business management, and provide them with the means of accessing small loans for startup capital. This is particularly important, as it can be extremely difficult for poor women who lack collateral to obtain loans except from private money lenders who charge massive interest rates. Women from our program have used these small WLC-facilitated loans to buy seeds for crops, purchase sewing machines, invest in cows for milk production, acquire the basic materials for a dry goods store and more. This means of aid allows poor women a new power over their own financial circumstances, and it has brought many of our beneficiaries remarkable success.