Enterprise Development
| Activities in each of the three dynamic
stages of Action, Awareness, and Absorption are carried
out over two platforms: Knowledge Development and Enterprise
Development.
Our Enterprise Development
platform encourages corporations, non-profits, and social
entrepreneurs to take action
in the solving development problems with business solutions.
We help identify, incubate, and implement social enterprises
that have the potential to become financially sustainable
and create social impact.
|
| Target |
Identify |
Incubate |
Implement |
Scale Up/
Spin-Off |
In House
examples
|
Identify business opportunities
that solve development challenges. |
Develop a feasible model
|
Pilot test the idea. |
Formally launch the business. |
Non-profits
|
Identify existing social
projects that can be financially viable. |
Develop a feasible business
model for the existing project. |
Transform the social
project into a financially viable model. |
The non-profit spins
off the project into a sustainable social enterprise. |
| Corporations |
Identify business opportunities
within or outside existing business lines. |
Develop a feasible model
with an existing industry player. |
Pilot test the idea. |
The corporation integrates
the pilot into their business. |
| Social
entrepreneurs |
Identify social entrepreneurs
with feasible ideas |
Assist the entrepreneur
to further develop the idea |
Provide financing and
services. Monitor the double bottom line. |
Help secure next stage
funding. |
We are currently incubating two enterprises: Shokay and
Mei Xiang Yak Cheese. In Shokay, we are the social entrepreneurs
ourselves. Through experiencing first hand the challenges
of launching a social enterprise in China, we are better equipped
to help incubate future enterprises. In Mei Xiang Yak Cheese,
we are incubating a Tibetan family to become role models of
social entrepreneurship in remote Tibetan areas.
| |
SHOKAY,
a rising lifestyle brand, designs a unique collection
of kids, adult accessories, and home items made from yak
down. Yak down is a luxury fiber recognized by fiber experts
to be comparable in softness and warmth to cashmere. We
have organized fiber cooperatives in Qinghai from which
we directly source our yak fiber, and hand knitting cooperatives
to produce many of our pieces. We currently work with
over 2600 rural families, enabling them to earn a sustainable
living while preserving their traditional lifestyle. Shokay
is carried in over 130 stores in the US, Hong Kong, and
China. Visit www.shokay.com. |
 |
 |
MEI
XIANG CHEESE FARM brings yak cheese from Yunnan
province in Western China to gourmet cheese consumers,
providing a steady source of income to local herding communities.
The cheese is currently sold locally at the Mei Xiang
Cheese Shop and abroad in organic food stores and hotels
in Hong Kong. The factory is run by an enterprising Tibetan
family who seek to bring development to their village.
They have been trained by a U.S. cheese expert from Wisconsin.
Visit
www.meixiangcheese.com. |
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