This Christmas, it’s more important than ever to support social businesses. At a time when it may feel easier to shop online at the major online retailer ‘who shall not be named’, why not take a bit of time to find a social business which benefits a local community?
Today, we are highlighting three social businesses we have been working with over the last year who are selling presents online!
Akojo Market is the leading UK platform selling handmade accessories, jewellery, homeware and fashion from independent African designers. They carefully select talented designers and brands who promote local culture and artisan craftsmanship, and are committed to a sustainable and transparent way of working. We worked with Akoji Market this year as part of the F-LANE accelerator from Vodafone.
Alive and Kicking are the world’s only not-for-profit ball manufacturer. Their centres across sub-Saharan Africa create hundreds of ethical jobs for adults facing disadvantage. Profits from balls sales and additional fundraising give young people access to sport and health education Alive and Kicking are selling their wide range of balls on their online shop. https://aliveandkicking.org/shop/
RangSutra are one of our portfolio companies, they act as a bridge between rural artisans and global consumers to create sustainable livelihoods and revive India’s rich craft heritage. They work with artisan cooperatives from rural villages to source textiles that are then turned into finished garments. And they ship internationally!
This month we have completed the second program week of our third accelerator cycle in São Paulo focusing on customer development and impact. We were particularly excited to expand to an entirely new continent and increasing our global exposure by including more diversity in stops.
Find out how Addressya, a social business startup of our MAN Impact Accelerator, can help you find your way and be found, whilst solving a 4 billion people challenge.
The first exciting announcement for us this year at Davos was the release of UBS’s World Economic Forum white paper “5 ways wealth managers can support the UN Sustainable Development Goals: our lessons from 2017” documenting innovative solutions to solving inequality.