Esperanza Soap Ventures: Esperanza Soaps, Soap Made for Hope!
- Business
- Employment
- Fair trade
- Income generation
- Social enterprise
- Economic development
- Poverty alleviation
- Sustainable development
- Vulnerable populations
Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.
Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.
Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?
Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?
Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?
Founding Story
Team
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Founder
No Poverty, Decent Work and Economic Growth.
After getting my undergraduate degree in aviation engineering in Santiago, Chile, I worked for TECHO as a country manager. TECHO is a nonprofit organization that works in low income communities building temporary housing and promoting community development. My job was to travel to different countries in Latin America and start the nonprofit: get the first donors and volunteers and find human slums we could start working in. I did this in Colombia and the Dominican Republic for 3 years, and traveled extensively through the continent working with different country teams.
I cofounded PUENTEK, an organization in Chile that teaches social entrepreneurship to low income teenagers from high schools and universities. We designed a program through which over 150 teenagers have participated. I founded Upward Ventures in 2014 in Amherst MA, with the mission of incubating hundreds of social enterprises in slums to provide jobs, empowerment and dignity to families living in extreme poverty. We're starting our first company, Esperanza Soaps, in the Dominican Republic and in Amherst.
As I mentioned before, Ted Barber from Prosperity Candle has a similar mission to ours. He's been an incredible mentor - his B corporation was recently voted top 100 B corps in the world. Valerie Cooley is an academic from Brown University advising us in impact measuring and evaluation and her insight has been incredibly valuable. We are members of a few trade organizations that help us network and meet people we cooperate with. Simon Brighenti, from OAM Law, has been our advisor in all things legal. Mercyhouse, a church based in Amherst, has been our largest supporter. They provide us with office space, their members donate constantly and have kept us in business, and have also been a community to support us in all matters personal and professional.