The social entrepreneurs we support come from all over the world.
Each has something in common: a unique idea for a social enterprise that, over time, will pour profits into freeing people from significant hardship or deprivation. Freedom can take many different forms. It might look like access to clean water, healthcare or education; delivery from child slavery; or perhaps work opportunities for the unemployed, just to name a few examples.
Those we support are always armed with an abundance of passion. But when they come to us they're missing what they really need to kickstart their business idea: funding, business expertise, and a bit of extra business support. And that’s where we step in.
We take applications from social entrepreneurs annually in March and, after assessing these against key criteria, offer successful applicants three things: Money, Mentoring and Muscle to bring their social enterprise dreams to life.
Meet those we support
Meet the social enterprises we’ve supported with Money, Mentoring and Muscle since our inception in 2018.
CEO and founder Shuari Naidoo started Moraka Cups at 16 years old in 2019 when she wanted to create an organisation with a social long-term impact. Moraka’s mission is to provide affordable, accessible sustainable and cost-effective menstrual cups that counter the issue of period poverty and menstrual taboo in society and helps the environment significantly as well. Moraka believe menstrual cups should be accessible to everyone who menstruates. All funds from purchases at Moraka are reinvested into their mission. They are also looking to implement a buy one-give one model to help vulnerable people.
Website: https://www.morakamenstrualcup
Esther Gathambo provides customers with quality and long-lasting homewares while improving African artisans' well-being and quality of life, their families, and their communities. Sawubona has a beautiful collection of handcrafted homewares curated from different African countries with Fair Trade principles. By buying a product either online or via markets around New Zealand, you will be directly providing an income to an African artisan and their family, and this helps end the cycle of poverty and reduce dependency on foreign aid. Esther believes that the best way to empower people to come out of poverty is by empowering who they are and utilising the skills that they already possess.
Website: https://www.sawubona.co.nz/
Seeds and Stories empowers rural women through a regenerative fashion line and capacity building program using nature-based solutions to contribute to community development, gender equality, and environmental regeneration. There is a strong desire and urgency to develop income generating alternatives outside of mainstream tourism and to revive traditional farming methods to prevent the loss of natural resources and habitats. By ethically and sustainably harvesting natural sources, local populations can produce high value products while reducing environmental impacts, becoming more resilient, self-reliant and healthy.
Strength & Stem is a social enterprise, e-commerce business in floristry that supports young women living in poverty and at risk of gender-based violence using skills training, employment, and community. They deliver boxes full of fresh, seasonal flowers every week – straight to the doorstep of their customers within the Johannesburg area. Jane Smith founded Strength and Stem in South Africa following a meeting with the founder of the Strength and Stem UK enterprise and sharing their interest in using floristry to see women's lives transformed. "Where flowers bloom, so does hope" Ladybird Johnson.
Website: https://www.strengthandstem.co...
Jess Visser who founded Strength and Stem loves that flowers are a symbol of new life, resilience, and hope and that the creativity and flexibility in the floral industry is well suited to helping women heal from the trauma they have endured. Women who have often ended up in a foreign country with little support after the job they thought they were coming to ended up being part of the modern slavery sector and not what they were promised. Strength & Stem exists to empower female survivors of human trafficking through meaningful employment, life-giving community, and skills training, breaking the cycle of exploitation. Helping survivors not only to survive but to flourish.
Website: https://strengthandstem.co.uk/
Thunderbird Studios works with young indigenous addicts and human trafficking survivors in the far north of Canada. Project leader, John Lambert, is a third-generation First Nations wood carver. He owns a highly successful wood carving and teaching business, and is best known for selling commemorative carvings to government organisations. Youth participating in Thunderbird Studios are referred by existing First Nations education programmes, and 1) attend metal and woodworking classes facilitated by John and 2) receive wrap-around social services support. John’s existing business is the main profit-making component of the social enterprise.
Restore Enterprises employs Australians with disabilities, injuries and mental illness to manufacture and restore furniture for sale. The goal is to nurture their employment skills in a secure environment, and later see them move into permanent work with other employers. Once the social enterprise is making profit through furniture sales, revenue will be put back into employing more people with disabilities. Down the track they also intend for some restored furniture to be donated to local safe houses, for the benefit of families escaping domestic violence.
Ridi Trading is an online trade arm to existing social enterprise Adili Africa (Ridi Trading). The online trade arm will enable extremely poor Nairobi artisans including weavers, carvers, painters and the like to sell their products online both locally and internationally. Pre Covid these artisans earned daily wages by selling art in markets. Markets no longer exist, thus there’s no legitimate way to make a living. Profits will be divided fairly between the artisans, and also go towards operating Adili Africa’s holistic health programmes.
Website: www.riditrading.com/
Ministry of Chai is a Hamilton New Zealand based mobile chai tea cart business founded by Esther Burnett. With the help of All Good Ventures, Esther is working to expand Ministry of Chai in the following two ways: 1) offer boutique event and private hire of the caravan and 2) open an online shop selling tea accessories and dry spices. She also wants to source fair trade and ethical spices as opposed to spices she can readily source nearby. Profits will be funnelled into 1-2 community projects in rural India that focus on women and children’s education.
The Good Karma Company makes deliciously scented wooden wick candles and uses profit to help bring education to children in the Pacific Islands. Founder, Bhavisha Kumar, started her social enterprise after hearing of the difficulties her Father's family went through, growing up in Fiji with limited access to education. By selling the candles online and at local markets, she hopes to put profits towards building a library as a first step, and eventually a school in a few years' time.
Website: www.thegoodkarmacompany.co.
Our Remainders, formerly known as Aspargove, is a social enterprise designed to bring food security in New Zealand. Its purpose is to capture food leftovers and innovatively create them into something new. Specifically, it seeks to establish a high-end food product line solely made from rescued food (jams, chutneys, soups, etc.) that would otherwise end up in the landfill but cannot be used in food parcels. Profits from the social enterprise will help free people from food insecurity, hire people into jobs and lift them out of poverty, and help support reducing waste to landfill.
Website: www.thegoodfale.com/our-remainders
Whistlebox is a mobile app designed to help users reduce stress and anxiety in difficult situations. It connects to your smart watch, recognises your level of stress by measuring an increase in your heart rate, then plays your chosen audio, photos or video when you’re triggered. The idea for Whistlebox came out of the creators own personal journey with road rage, anger and stress management. He developed the initial prototype for the App to help in his own recovery. Then, having seen personal success, he wanted to help others. Profits from the app will be funnelled back into various charities.
Website: www.whistlebox.care
Morningside Urban Market Garden (MUMG) exists to support migrant and refugee-background women in Auckland, New Zealand, with little or no formal education. MUMG teaches these women (employed part time) to grow microgreens and edible flowers at two Auckland sites. The women learn valuable gardening and business skills and the produce is sold to 10+ local cafes. Profits are used to pay workers, and put back into the business for items such as water tanks; watering systems; tools; consumables like compost, water, seedlings; and operating costs such as utilities, teaching resources and gloves.
Website: www.growspace.org.nz
OneDay Health launches health centres in the most remote parts of Uganda. Their goal is that one day, every rural Ugandan will access quality healthcare.They train nurses and equip them with medication to treat people in these vulnerable communities. Thanks to them, dozens of health centres have been installed and 65,000+ patients treated! They continue to set up and run centres as they’re able, and are working on making the organisation a profitable model (a social enterprise)... watch this space.
Website: www.onedayhealth.org
Want to be an All Good Venture too?
Feeling inspired by these social enterprises? If you too have a financially sustainable business idea that will see eventual profits go towards bringing freedom to people experiencing some sort of deprivation, it’s time to consider putting in an application between 1 - 31 March.
Failing faster is sometimes the outcome
Our founders are entrepreneurs who have started a few businesses, so they are realists. We’re aware that all business ideas do not become fully fledged companies for one reason or another. And that’s okay; it’s all good. We know we’ll fund some ventures that don’t become successful businesses. Our hope is, however, that the experiences of the social entrepreneurs we assist takes them one step closer to living their life purpose. When that happens, All Good Ventures chalks every funded experience up as a success.
