Veronika Scott is a social entrepreneur at her core. While living in Detroit, she realized the astounding number of the population who were homeless. Roughly 20,000 people are homeless and living on the streets of Detroit currently. She began to recognize that many homeless shelters are overwhelmed and many are turned away. She thought to herself, “What can I do?”

Introducing: The Empowerment Plan. A humanitarian project which manufactures coats which are able to transform into sleeping bags, and hires homeless women as the seamstresses who build these coats. The coat is self-heated and waterproof, and the latest version has air-resistant polyethylene on the outer layer which acts as a barrier. The inside of the coat has a Thinsulate and Steelcase fabric to store a person’s body heat. This coat won an International Design Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America in 2011.

Ms. Scott said, “For revenue, I want to sell them online to individuals who can afford to buy them. Anyone purchasing the coat will automatically be given a second one that can be sent to various shelters and charities anywhere in the world.”

Her mission is to aid in rebuilding the lives of these people trapped in the cycle of homelessness and bring hope to a desolate area of Michigan. She possesses the drive to implement and continue to build this business on the basis of a nonprofit mission. Her passion to serve this often overlooked community is inspiring and encouraging.