social media of fashion house Bottega Veneta. This enterprise consists of creatives that seeks to provide a platform to help promote and curate African and African-inspired content through an e-commerce shopping site, a supporting agency
and an artisan
produced fashion collection, called FASHION RISING COLLECTION, launche d in support of V-Day's One Billion Rising. They focus on creating opportunities for empowerment, education and employment of artisans and creatives.
2. Ethical Fashion Initiative: This is wide-reaching program of the International Trade Centre, the Geneva-based joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. This initiative’s goal is to connect marginalized artisans- the majority of them women from African and Haitian communities-to the international fashion industry. They provide leading designers around the world with high quality, desirable fashion products, while simultaneously empowering impoverished producers through access to gainful employment, knowledge and skills. They provide a route out of poverty through fulfilling work while facilitating the fashion world’s desire to be ethical and environmentally conscious.
Furthermore, they operate under the Fair Labor Association guidelines so as to ensure fair wages, workplace safety, security, freedom from harassment, and the right of collectively bargaining their products into larger markets.
3. Vivienne Westwood Ethical Fashion African Collection: This is a collection sold by the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood which sells eclectic bags and accessories. This collection is produced in collaboration with Ethical Fashion Initiative and is designed to support the work of thousands of women micro-producers from marginalized African communities. The designs are created using recycled canvas, reused roadside banners, unused leather off-cuts, and recycled
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padlocks and car pieces are collected then melted down.4. Fashion 4 Development: Founded by Evie Evangelou in 2011 this initiative was launched in the media platform on South South News which is a digital media platform working in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals. It has since expanded to a private sector global platform that supports the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and “Every Woman, Every Child,” the UN Initiative spearheaded by the Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. The mission of this initiative is to harness the power of the fashion and beauty industries and implement creative strategies for sustainable economic growth, wellness and independence of communities worldwide and the preservation of culture through the expression of fashion. Its guiding principles are the 4E’s: Educate, Empower, Enhance and Enrich. F4D’s tag line is “Giving Back is the New Luxury.” Fashion 4 Development’s message is being received with open arms around the world.
5. EDUN: EDUN is a global fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono, in 2005, to promote trade in Africa by sourcing production throughout the continent.
6. Aid for Africa: Aid for Africa is a charity alliance of U.S.-based nonprofits and their African partners working to help children, families, and communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. This organization touches many aspects of the African community such as collecting and distributing books to school children, introducing medical strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, or identifying and supporting women’s micro-enterprise projects.
7. Soko: This is a self-sustaining manufacturing business based in a wildlife sanctuary in rural Kenya. This social enterprise offers training and employment to women in an area with the highest unemployment rte in the country, and a high rate of prostitution, HIV and Aids and wildlife poaching. Despite its isolation, a
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strong social message and marketing campaign has captured the popular imagination, featuring in Vogue, Grazia and Elle, and producing garments worn by Michelle Obama and Elle MacPherson.
8. SEW (Supporting and Empowering Women): This is a not-for-profit social enterprise in Tanzania aimed at helping HIV positive women. . The organization employs eight "sewing mamas" and pays a fair wage, employer matched pension contributions and 80% of medical expenses. A stable income means the women have access to healthcare, money to feed and school their children, and importantly, self-esteem. Furthermore, the products Use mostly recycled fabric and grain sacks, the women make bags, purses and wallets, which are sold in retail outlets in Tanzania and Australia. Wholesale exports have been distributed through Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa, the US, the UK and Italy. All profit is reinvested back into the project and used to acquire new equipment, hire sewing teachers and upgrade the working space. Recently, SEW began working with other brands, such as Australian designer Zoe Elizabeth to produce ethically manufactured capsule collections.
9. Sidai Designs: This social enterprise works with Maasai women, utilizing their traditional beading skills to create contemporary high-end jewelry pieces. Women in patriarchal Maasai communities are some of the most disadvantaged in Tanzania. They have no right to own property or livestock, have limited access to education and are often forced to marry at a very young age.
10. Indego Africa: This is not only an innovative social enterprise but also an
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cooperatives of world-class artisans in Rwanda, made up entirely of women. Sell their masterful fair trade contemporary accessories and home decor products at high-end retailers across the U.S. and on Indego Africa’s online store. Also, they pay the women a fair wage, including 50% in advance of production. They return 100% of the profits to Indego Africa's ground-breaking training programs in Financial Management & Entrepreneurship, Literacy, & Computers. Additionally, they harness local talent to teach the training programs with Generation Rwanda, an extraordinary NGO that provides university scholarships to Rwanda's top students. This enterprise also sells its partners' contemporary accessories and home décor products at high-end retailers and on its online store, returning 100% of its profits to the women for ground-breaking long-term skills training programs. This has been such a successful business that it is subject of a Harvard Business School case study and is a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
11. Oliberte: This footwear company strives to develop a thriving middle class in Africa by creating fair-wage, sustainable jobs in the heart of Ethiopia. The for-profit company has harnessed the untapped potential of women in Africa, creating a safe environment for them to develop valuable skills for the workforce. The Oliberté product is eco-friendly, and the company's business practices are ethical:
The high-quality kicks are made with all-natural crepe rubber tapped straight from trees, with 100% pure leather from free-range, hormone-free goats, sheep, and cows.
12. Keza: This social enterprise began with the idea of building businesses in Africa for poor women. Their goals where the following: To create locally owned businesses that provided women with an income, and therefore with dignity; 2. To create high-quality products and a preferred brand; 3. To do it all so well that it attracted outside investors to do even more business in Africa. KEZA has a team of international fashion experts that assist in product design and development and, more importantly, KEZA continues to train poor Rwandan women in business development and growth. This helps them to generate salaries of $200-$300 per
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month with full benefits. This is a massive boon to people who are used to earning about $17 per month during the best of times. Though the barriers were enormous, the leadership of the local cooperatives combined with KEZA's connections to markets and savvy marketing skills forged a relationship that today is proving profitable for all parties.
13. Ethical Fashion Africa: this is a not-for-profit company with the sole purpose of creating employment in some of the world's poorest places by making some of the world's most beautiful bags and accessories for major brands. They currently supply Vivienne Westwood, Carmina Campus & Stella McCartney with award winning products made in East Africa.
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curate African and African-inspired content through various projects aiming to sell the products into larger markets.5.2. Marketing Objectives
In order to be able to successfully market the products made by poor people of Swaziland it is important to keep in mind the mind objectives the social enterprises is trying to reach. These objectives are focused on enabling the organization to deliver its mission and strategic aims.
Therefore the marketing objectives are focused on achieving the following:
o Generate new customers that want to carry a wide range of the products produced by the people working with the enterprise.
o Target audiences purchase more products from the organization.
o Create awareness of the efforts being made by the Kingdom of Swaziland and the organization to fight poverty and collect funds for HIV/AIDS projects.
o Create brand awareness and identity
o Create awareness of the brand values such as empowerment for the poor, so that consumers can identify themselves with the enterprise and its products through its products.
5.3. Target Market
The beauty of many social enterprises relies on the fact that the target market can be very large. Due to the nature of these business, the enterprise can form strategic alliances with key organizations and retailers who are interested in incorporating products with an ethical origin or whose purpose is to collect funds for social project. Therefore, for this social enterprise the target market will consist primarily of the ethical product market which strategic partners and alliances, big retailers and designers who work with the local community to develop products for their collections.