Positive Impact

Social innovator to deliver a positive impact in Africa despite pandemic

Tia Clarke — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 16:54:34 +0000

Social innovator to deliver a positive impact in Africa despite pandemic

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Social Innovation

Responsible Innovation

social enterprise

entrepreneurship

Positive Impact

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Profit with Purpose

Italian social entrepreneur on a mission to save infants lives' in Sub-Saharan Africa

Lucia Dal Negro, the founder of the Italian benefit corporation De-LAB, is on a mission to reduce the rate of infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa using an incredibly simple yet innovative solution - the KOKONO protective cradle. Lucia is a researcher focusing on Frugal Innovation in her studies and a social entrepreneur who is passionate about creating meaningful change in collaboration with locals in African regions.

According to plans, the protective cradle will be distributed in rural villages in Uganda first, as a solution for working parents to ensure that they can carry their babies to work and keep them safe - for example on the fields, or markets.

Lucia Dal Negro, researcher and social entrepreneur

It also protects babies against infections from mosquitos and suffocation whilst sleeping at night.

This product is not only bringing positive changes to people but made sustainably too using 70% locally sourced natural fibres and produced by local people.

Lucia and her team had to adjust to the new situation and challenges both in manufacturing and sales, presented by the COVID pandemic.

They are currently focusing on raising funds for a simplified version of the KOKONO cradle made of recycled plastic to make it more accessible for the vulnerable people who need it most.

KOKONO protective cradle

The transition from academia to business to create the KOKONO Cradle

" I started this project in the first place because I was extremely tired of listening to academics describing wonderful possibilities to do business by doing good in low-income communities without having ever tested any of their assumptions and hypotheses. So I decided to walk the talk of the ‘social business hype’ and do something practical, in order to learn from the field what was the real challenge of using business as a force for good.

Co-creating the KOKONO cradle with locals in Uganda

KOKONO’s mission is to protect babies below one year of age from the leading health and security threats to which they are exposed due to poor living conditions in South-Saharan Africa, more precisely in Uganda.

We decided to investigate this area of needs after spending many years studying and operating in the Global South, with De-LAB, realizing that childcare is mainly managed at a hospital level, wherever possible, but more rarely at a household level.

Based on our learnings, we started to design an object that could protect babies’ health from accidental hits and animal attacks, insects - including those transmitting malaria - rodents, reptiles.

We invented and patented a unique cradle, named KOKONO, which means empty pumpkin in Ugandan dialect.

It provides a safe space for taking care of infants during the day and night-time. We are offering a solution to parents, mainly women who are working far from home. One of the possible scenarios is when a mother is working on plantations or cultivating the cassava plant that after a couple of hours carrying her baby, she puts him/her down to the ground. That's where the babies are more exposed to sanitary and safety risks.

Designing for impact and usability

We needed to consider various factors in the design process. Like the shell had to be rigid enough so a snake cannot crack it, covered with a mosquito net with a self-sustaining handle which is made of rope and can be replaced very easily if needed.

We wanted mothers to be able to bring their baby with them wherever they are going and if necessary, leave the baby on the ground with a piece of mind that its safe.

Typically only one mosquito net is available for each family, so parents and all of their children usually sleep in one big bed protected by the single net in their household. Due to this situation, there are many cases of accidental baby suffocations at night-time.

Parents with a KOKONO can put the baby sleeping next to them in the cradle up until the child is one year old, giving better chances to survival in the most critical first 12 months. After that, the mothers can sell it, rent it, or pass it on to a friend.

One of the most rewarding highlights of the journey so far happened when we were co-creating the object with local communities in Hoima villages. A pregnant woman came to me saying that she was so happy to know that a new solution was about to be available in her village, but I had to be very fast as her baby was about to be born.

I think this was one of the best endorsements I could have ever received that we are creating something meaningful!

Adapting the business model to address Coronavirus pandemic related challenges

When the Covid crisis started, our venture was impacted greatly. 67% of Ugandan people lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis. The international airport has been closed, and foreign investments are radically decreased.

The country is almost completely isolated with people being out of work which means that they are only getting poorer and poorer over time.

To get the first handcrafted version of KOKONO out is still our top priority and we will definitely want to keep it, but the production became too expensive in a post-Covid market.

Collaborating with local authorities to bring KOKONO to the market

We are determined not to give up on our original mission in helping locals keep their family safe, so we came up with a more cost-effective design which would still function well.

One thing I wanted to avoid is to let down these extremely poor people who were hit by this pandemic badly.

The new version of the cradle is made of recycled plastic with a simple design that is quick and easy to produce.

Although we need a plastic moulder to assemble it which requires investments, therefore we are setting up an online crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to start production.

Also, we have a zero-waste distribution model that means if the cradle becomes broken, it can be collected by our team and use it again.

Join our mission by becoming a supporter of KOKONO

I see KOKONO as a project, not just a product.

I believe that it has the power not just to help solve a specific social problem but to create a bridge between different cultures.

Image credit: Pexels

Taking care of babies is a universal experience for people regardless of where or how they live.

As part of our crowdfunding campaign, we want to encourage people to connect through sharing their traditional lullabies which we hope will serve as a reminder that children are our common future.

Contributors can choose a short refrain from a lullaby which we will engrave onto the side of the cradle. We aim to create a sort of cross cultural global embrace.

The crowdfunding campaign starts in November 2020, and people can donate any amounts to support the KOKONO project.

In the meantime, we are more than grateful to receive any support that could help to make KOKONO a reality for parents in Sub-Sharan Africa to protect their babies.

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Turning funky bags into a piece of advocacy for sustainability

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 13:52:35 +0000

Turning funky bags into a piece of advocacy for sustainability

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How nature-inspired funky bags could become more than an accessory?

Interview with Dublin-born sisters and designers, Jacki Parker and Nicole McKenna on how they embarked on the journey of creating the Wild by Water brand to share their love of everything that is naturally wild and water-related.

We grew up beside the sea and spent summers on Killiney beach close to Dublin, where our love of all things coastal began. A lifetime of hiking, biking, and kayaking ensued, with trips to every part of Ireland. Luckily a keen interest in photography meant we took many pictures over the years and captured the essence of Ireland’s unspoiled natural beauty.

We both ended up working in the fast-paced world of fashion and design, which means deadlines determine your life. Escaping into the wild to recharge and revitalise became a regular and valuable part of our hectic lifestyles.

A childhood next to the see inspired designers to create the Wild by Water brand

Part of our philosophy with our own business now is that we want to highlight the simple fact of how important the natural environment is in our everyday life. And what if we could practically ‘carry’ this feeling with us wherever we are going? So we began by making a range of nature-loving bags, featuring the photographs we took on our adventures and escapes. Thus the Wild by Water brand was born. We had value-driven products which attracted like-minded customers, but we aimed for more.

While ‘fashion with function’ was our motto, we also wanted our bags to be meaningful.

We started to build up our supply chain with a critical awareness regarding the impact that any production has on the natural environment and society. It is important to us that we source the right materials and find partners and suppliers who shared our values.

We travelled to France to visit Premier Vision, the fashion and textile exhibition to research fabrics and materials. We were looking for allies who could work with us in meeting high standards of sustainable production. It was not as straight forward as we thought since many factors influence when would you actually say that it is sustainable.

A unique value proposition

Appreciating the outdoors plays a vital role in creating ‘statement products’, and it has become an essential part of our identity.

Image: Wild By Water bag

Our mantra in the making is to use patterns inspired by Irish landscapes; to make it functional and beautiful; and to deliver it as sustainable and ethical as possible. That gives a unique touch to everything that comes from us.

People who love nature and want to contribute to a more sustainable way of life find these features valuable when they purchase any products. We regularly receive feedback from our customers and partners, which in turn feeds back into the business and design process.

Sharing these visions influences thinking and practice, which encourages us to keep doing and improving what we are doing.

The fact that we have each other helps a lot. We have different backgrounds and experiences which comes handy at times in need. It can be simple things, like speaking a foreign language. Jacki’s ability to communicate in French proved to be very useful at an international exhibition and resulted in a collaboration that otherwise might have been out of reach.

In the making of something meaningful

Working this close to any project means your heart and soul is in it. In the last four years, we have met many challenges. They come in waves, some are exciting, some are less so. Truly believing in your mission makes you take more risks and endure failures with the commitment to keep working towards your vision. Any gains come on top of that as a sort of a triumph.

But besides challenges, you can find supports too, and we found exactly that at Dublin City Council and Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Dublin. We initially undertook the ‘Building Craft and Design Enterprise’ course with them to roll-out our business over their 12-week training. We also availed mentoring from Dublin LEO and did some other business training.

Also, we had the opportunity to show what we have been working on at the Showcase Ireland exhibition. It was great to get direct feedback from both local and international buyers on our product offerings and our business plans.

We quickly realised that offering custom-made solutions would make sense. One of the great outcomes of taking part in the programme was that we started collaborating with Dublin City Council.

Custom made bags - Wild By Water

We created unique designs for them to use on branded daysacks featuring waterside locations and activities across the city. Each bag was handmade from recycled and upcycled materials, water-resistant and built for longevity. In this way, they could express their branding by using sustainable and ethical promotional products.

It was inspirational to experience the level of their dedication to creating values at different levels and supporting a local business with a mission.

We are offering a choice to our customers to make a difference with their purchase and express their own beliefs.

We thoroughly enjoy the process of raising awareness and looking beyond the obvious. Which is in our case, to show that what might just seem to be a bag could actually be a message to change things for the better. There are no limits for us to combine creativity, sustainability and ethics.

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Profile: Value-driven enterprise

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What does it take to run a value-driven business for more than 20 years?

Szilvia Szabó — Tue, 19 May 2020 16:23:46 +0000

What does it take to run a value-driven business for more than 20 years?

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Responsible Innovation

Branding

Positive Impact

Become a contributor to generate positive change

Anonymous — Tue, 12 May 2020 14:03:02 +0000

Become a contributor to generate positive change

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Join the community of innovators who want to make a positive impact

The Business Spirit Platform is calling innovators who want to make a positive impact to embrace the power of communication and share learnings, inspiring stories and actionable news on this open-access online media platform.

This recently launched online platform provides an opportunity to impact-driven business leaders, researchers, policymakers to easily spot opportunities, get inspired and enjoy extra exposure to showcase their work, also to connect with other innovators or access funding.

It was launched by the organiser team and partners of the Responsible Innovation Summit, which is an annual international conference in Dublin where leaders from academia, business, and policymaking come together to cross-pollinate ideas, learn and network.

"Communication and collaboration are vital in shining a light on opportunities and inspire change to happen. Since we launched the Responsible Innovation Summit conference in 2017, we witnessed the power of cross-sectorial knowledge sharing and how stories could shape future collaborations.

We wanted to generate a positive change by connecting and inspiring leaders who believe that innovation should be used to achieve a just transition to a sustainable and fair future." says Szilvia Szabó co-founder of the Responsible Innovation Summit and Business Spirit Platform.

Szilvia Szabó, Co-founder, Business Spirit Platform

The mission of this online platform is to create a global community of value-driven innovators to 'make waves' together by using the power of communication.

Business Spirit Platform

The call for becoming a contributor at the Business Spirit Platform is open for researchers, social innovators and entrepreneurs, sustainability experts, responsible investor groups, funding agencies, aspiring and experienced journalists.

Contributors can submit content related to value-driven business, responsible research and innovation, sustainable finance and impact investment, circular economy, climate change, sustainable development and everything in the intersection of People, Planet, and Profit.

There are several ways to get involved from becoming a correspondent, columnist or simply share an open call, funding opportunity or a press release.

"I became a contributor because I think that there are so many people out there who are trying to do the right thing, but if we join forces, we get a better chance to make a positive impact. This platform does not only provide news but inspires and supports innovators to take action. If you want to make a difference with your work and become part of the solution, joining as a contributor could be a great step forward," says Zoe Hertelendi, CEO of EdamameEco about what inspired her to get involved.

"I work as a sustainability expert and run my own company with a mission to make eco-friendly promotional products to be the new norm for businesses in branding. This is traditionally one of the 'dirtiest' sectors with lots of single-use plastic and unfair supply chain element. However, in my experience, this is mostly due to lack of awareness.

With more accessible information and recognition for those companies who are choosing green products, I believe we could make the shift smoother and quicker." Zoe explains why she got interested in joining the Business Spirit Platform.

Zoe Hertelendi, CEO, EdamameEco

The application to become a contributor at the Business Business Spirit platform is open at an ongoing basis. You can fill out a simple online form to receive the guidelines for submitting your work.

Some of the articles featured on this platform will be selected to be published in the biannual 'Profit with Purpose' print magazine. The deadline for submissions to get published in the 2020 Autumn/Winter edition of the magazine is 31st July 2020.

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Open call: Become a contributor

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Impact Summit

Szilvia Szabó — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 13:51:13 +0000

Impact Summit

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Positive Impact

Social Innovation

Conference

Date

20th May 2020

Venue

Glasgow UK

Impact Summit - The UK’s leading impact event for social innovators and change-makers - Glasgow, UK

We give a platform to the people shaking things up, changing the status quo, and using purpose-driven business models as a means of tackling global challenges. Join us to find inspiration, discuss ideas and connect with the people who are not only sharing in this vision but bringing it to life.

The world is now in great need of inclusive, sustainable, values-led solutions. In the wake of major shifts across every industry, we are celebrating the emergence of innovative individuals and companies that are building new models for success.

Each year, we bring you a dedicated space to find inspiration, discuss ideas and connect with the people who are not only sharing in this vision, but bringing it to life. This event welcomes everyone, from entrepreneurs to executives to educators, all connected by a dream of seeing a thriving business landscape that puts people at its very heart.

At Impact Summit, we're breaking down the hierarchical conference structure.

You'll recognise the elements - a diverse lineup of speakers, exhibitors and themes - but we'll facilitate two-way conversations, pose challenging questions and get you thinking about how you can create a positive impact.

You’ll leave with a reinvigorated sense of purpose, clarity on your next steps and the connections you need to make that vision a reality. Come with an open mind and expect some surprises along the way!

Impact Summit 2020 will cover three core themes: climate change, tech for good, and sustainable fashion.

Impact Summit 2020

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