Social Entrepreneur :: Page 14 :: millennialentrepreneurs.com

Archive for Social Entrepreneur – Page 14

Kutoa.com – Feeding the Hungry Made Easy

Posted by baileyaa1

· Sunday, September 24th, 2017

· 2 Comments

Kutoa’s birth was pretty simple, actually – Joey Grassia saw a problem, and he used the resources he had to create a solution. I’ll explain.

In 2007, Grassia was struck by the severe malnutrition and sickness he witnessed when he traveled to South Asia. A few years after that, he had a health scare of his own, due to his diet filled with additives and preservatives. In marrying these two problems he encountered, he came up with a solution for both. Kutoa (Swahili “to give”) is a website that sells gluten free, sans GMO health bars with no added sugar or preservatives. The best part? For each bar sold, one is given to a hungry child. Having just started Kutoa in 2010, Grassia has already driven it to deliver 1 million meals to children in need.

One thing that Grassia has been very intentional in doing is inviting the consumer not just to buy a health bar, but to be a part of this global change. Kutoa.com connects with its consumers through its blog, which can be found on kutoa.com. The blog highlights various individuals, organizations, and schools in the community that are doing their part in fighting hunger both locally and around the world. Scrolling through the reviews for their health bars (among which you can find Chocolate Espresso Bean, Blueberry Almond, and Cherry Cashew), it is obvious that Kutoa’s consumers are ecstatic about finding a health bar that is truly healthy, and being able to make a tangible difference in an easy way.

Perhaps one of the most driving factors in Kutoa’s success has been Grassia’s mindset towards entrepreneurship. He believes that someone doesn’t need to have loads of experience in the business world to make an impact. He or shes just needs have to have an experience. Grassia’s happened to include a life-changing trip and a new diet. In the “Our Story” page of Kutoa.com, Grassia challenges his audience to take a look at the experiences they’ve had, and figure out how we can turn those into ideas that will improve our lives and others’. “Please,” he writes, “always remember that each of us have the power to make a difference.”

https://kutoa.com/

2 Comments

Categories : Food, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Online Companies, Social Entrepreneur, Websites

Bards Alley – Books, Wine, and Kindred Spirits

Posted by perrykb1

· Sunday, September 24th, 2017

· 2 Comments

As a young girl, nothing inspired Jen Morrow more than the thought that her favorite book was still yet to be written. As an adult, she was frustrated in the lack of childlike wonder she experienced from those around her. And thus was her passion born: to create a space in her local community where kindred spirits could gather to be surrounded by books, wine, and people to share them with.

Bards Alley was the realization of this dream. It is one part bookstore, one part cafe, and all parts a community space for those who want share in the joy of reading. She keeps the shelves stocked with a limited selection of books: some classics, some new publications. The cafe serves coffee and food, and in the evening you can choose from a rotating selection of wine and craft beer to accompany locally made bread, cheese, soup, and charcuterie. The store has an open floor plan with book shelves around the edge and most of the middle of the room dedicated to “family style” dining tables and lounge areas – everything in the alley is designed to foster and host a community of people who love to read and share ideas.

In the North Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C., its easy to feel alone and disconnected: it is a transient area where people and families move away just as fast as they came. This makes it difficult to build the types of meaningful relationships which allow people to get to know other people, and through them get to know more about the world. Bards Alley has become a place to find the people who value fellowship and ideas and allow them to interact in a space that provides the inspiration needed to kick-start the types of meaningful conversations which blossom into friendships and a sense of community.

2 Comments

Categories : Art, Great Ideas, Social Entrepreneur, Women Entrepreneurs

Set in Clay

Posted by Ari Carter

· Wednesday, December 7th, 2016

· 5 Comments

Like so most small startups its beginnings were modest. It began in a small garage in Fall of 2009…Here a hugely successful social enterprise was born.

“With nothing more than an old stamp set, a box of clay, and a plan to support clean water projects in Africa, handmade creations emerged and MudLOVE was born.”

The MudLOVE team is made up of artists, makers, doers, thinkers…entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs with a skill and a passion to make the world a better place: “With ‘mud’ in our hands and love in our hearts, the chance to make a difference is our inspiration to create.”

MudLOVE partners with Water for Good through providing a week of clean water to someone in need for ever ML product purchased. Like many other developing countries, lack of clean water is a huge issue. The Central African Republic is no exception. MudLOVE aims to transform communities and save lives through providing access to safe and clean water.

MudLOVE also has a “Fundraiser Marketplace.” The company chooses initiatives to support and creates a campaign and a customized product to raise funds for that specific initiative.

In addition to providing water, MudLOVE necklaces, bracelets and mugs were designed to be instruments of encouragement and inspiration among people. The goal is for the products to spark conversation. “On the right wrist, a simple word can take on powerful significance.”

MudLOVE craetes products that are aesthetically pleasing…appealing to the millennial generation through the design and the story and meaning they represent. Millennials are bound to make an impact, as they already have. We are drawn to buy products that make an impact on the world, and spark connections with others. MudLOVE products aim to do just that.

The story and mission of MudLOVE carries all the way into how they produce their product.

“Rethink, reuse, recycle: We are solution solvers. In the neverending search for improvement, we invent new tools that still require the careful guidance of human hands. As we strive to streamline production, our emphasis on quality goods remains strong. Every product goes through a careful screening process. If clay gets scrapped, we simply mix it into a new batch. There is always potential for the broken to be made new.”

5 Comments

Categories : Art, Social Entrepreneur

Actress Turned Entrepreneur

Posted by Alex Halton

· Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

· 2 Comments

Lauren Conrad is a well-known actress and reality-TV show star however most people do not know that she has become a successful young entrepreneur, owning two clothing lines as well as a book franchise and two websites. She used her fame and publicity to help launch her first clothing line and demonstrate that she wasn’t just the next star to create a business on a whim, instead she was committed and passionate about where she wanted her business to go. In 2007, she launched her first clothing line, The Lauren Conrad Collection. Although it ended up being a dismal failure, she learned and grew through her mistakes and launched a second, successful clothing line in 2009, LC by Lauren Conrad, in conjunction with the retailer Kohls. Since then, she has launched another clothing company, Paper Crown, written eight books, and started two websites.

In 2013, Lauren and her friend Hannah Skvarla were inspired to start a non-profit named the Little Market. It is a company that empowers women artisans and provides a market for their products to be sold in order to provide for their families. Today, The Little Market partners with 26 artisans in 16 countries to carry their products and they hope to grow that number even more.

Lauren has found much success with her products and websites, however she is not stopping there. She said stated that she no interest in returning to television, instead she wants to continue on with her businesses and keep doing what she loves. Lauren Conrad is a millennial entrepreneur who gives a wonderful example of using fame and success to get where she wanted to be, entrepreneurial, and then taking her success from there and giving back to others with dreams just like hers.

Her personal website: https://laurenconrad.com/

The Little Market website: https://www.thelittlemarket.com/

2 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Beauty, Decor, Fashion, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur, Women Entrepreneurs

Better Life Bags

Posted by Caroline Parker

· Friday, December 2nd, 2016

· 2 Comments

What started as a personal craft project grew to an Etsy store, to a Pinterest phenomenon, and then to a full-scale business- helping people all along the way.

Rebecca Smith made herself a diaper bag, posting the images on Facebook; she was very unaware of what an impact those images going public would have. She received many compliments suggesting and inspiring her to start an Etsy shop selling these bags. The shop is called Better Life Bags, in reference to 10% of profits being donated to people in third world countries helping them start their own businesses. The bags, in addition to being practical and cute, allow the customer to pick from a wide variety of fabrics and leathers letting one totally customize the accessory.

BLB allows you to chooses the leather and fabric colors to create a bag perfectly matching your style. [via]

When a well-known blogger, and then her many followers, saw the brilliance of this customization and pinned one of her bags, orders flooded in. The number of orders far exceeded what Rachel’s one-woman operation could fill. Faced with the decision to either quit the business or expand, she rejected the idea of moving production overseas reaching out instead to women in her neighborhood. Smith lives in a neighborhood swirling with diversity and filled with women who have “various barriers to employment,” whether they be cultural or religious. A neighbor from Yemen, Nadia, who is unable to leave her home to work, became Rachel’s first employee. As the business has grown, Rachel has been able to hire many other local women allowing them to provide simple necessities like food and furniture for their families.

These charming bags with cute, customizable colors & choice craftsmanship really live up to their name. Not only will they make your life better, they help Rachel Smith employee those in her community with barriers to employment.

2 Comments

Categories : Clean water, Fashion, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur, Uncategorized, Women Entrepreneurs

Tags : entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, millennial entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship

All Natural Hair Product

Posted by Hannah Hastings

· Friday, December 2nd, 2016

· 2 Comments

Leanna Archer was only nine years old when neighbors and friends started asking what hair products she used, and where they could get some for themselves. She started packaging samples of her Haitian great-grandmother’s secret hair product recipes in Gerber jars and giving them out to friends until people began showing up at her door with money asking how much they could get with the money they had to offer.

Fast forward to age eleven, where Leanna was selling more than ever before and launched her initial brand, Leanna’s Hair. Her all-natural hair products, with no parabens, sulfates, or other harsh chemicals, started selling all across the country and expanded to world-wide. Surprisingly, one of her top buying countries is Singapore. A few years later she re-branded as Leanna’s Essentials, which has remained the brand’s name.

Leanna’s Haitian background influenced her greatly, and in 2008 she visited the country for the first time. After seeing the poverty and pain, she started the Leanna Archer Education Foundation, which supported over 200 Haitian children with their education and basic needs. She became the youngest person to ever ring the NASDAQ opening bell on Wall Street at age 13, and her foundation was endorsed by Janet Jackson. Leanna has also been featured on numerous major media outlets, including Forbes, CNN, Time, ABC, and NBC to name just a few.

When she’s not selling her products, Leanna is travelling the country as a motivational speaker and guest lecturer at universities. Her hope is to become a politician, and use her influence to help impact the lives of even more people. What started as a secret recipe from her great-grandmother grew to become a multi-faceted empire. While no longer alive, her great-grandmother saw much of Leanna’s success, and was proud to the very end. Leanna found a need in natural hair care, and that opportunity has become a chance to change the world.

2 Comments

Categories : Beauty, Haiti, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur

Tags : all natural, Beauty, education, Hair product, Haiti, motivational

Gardens for Health International

Posted by Rachel Smith

· Thursday, November 17th, 2016

· 2 Comments

First of all, I cannot even express how happy this organization makes me. Like, I can’t even.

Now that we’ve established my excitement, I can tell you about the actual organization. Julie Carney co-founded Gardens for Health in 2007 with her friend Emma Clippinger. The original idea was to work with people with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda to help them grow their own food for consumption and sale. However, after two years of living and working toward this goal in Rwanda, Julie realized that they were working on the wrong problem. Malnutrition was the bigger issue in Rwanda. So Gardens for Health developed accordingly. This is a fantastic example of reframing the problem and pivoting in your idea to address the problem more effectively and be more successful in your entrepreneurial endeavors.

Now Gardens for Health fights malnutrition in Rwanda by “partnering with local health centers to integrate agricultural support and comprehensive health education into the clinical treatment of malnutrition.” They work to include agriculture training for local families in the usual assistance provided by public health centers.

“Our agriculture team works to blend international innovations in sustainable agriculture with time-tested Rwandan farming practices in order to help every family with whom we work to make the most of their existing resources.

Through our work, we are changing the way that malnutrition is treated by moving away from short-term handouts and towards equipping families with the knowledge and resources to grow their own nutritious food and improve their health. We envision a future in which the key to lasting food and nutrient security for vulnerable families lies in their own backyards.”

Again, I LOVE the mission of this organization!!! This is innovation the world needs! Find out more about Gardens for Health at their website.

2 Comments

Categories : Agriculture, Food, Social Entrepreneur, Sustainable