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ZOË Alliance was named as such because we work in partnership with NGO’s, local business leaders, and corporations toward the creation of a global alliance that helps to break the cycle of poverty in developing nations. To date we are working in India, Haiti and Guatemala and each partnership looks a little different based on the skills and expertise of the parties involved. Our role adapts to best complement the skill sets that exist with the local leadership in the country and to enhance growth opportunities.
This week, I’m very excited that Janet Rogers, the Chief Executive of VIA Design is our guest blogger. For our work together in India there are three partners working together. Flowering Desert performing the role of local business and employer – lead by Mercy Abraham; VIA Design performing the role of local charity providing business development support services – lead by Janet Rogers; and ZOË Alliance performing the role of access to markets.
There have been many exciting developments on the go lately and Janet’s blog provides some fun insights into the product development process that is part of our micro-enterprise development work together. Read on…I’m sure you’ll enjoy!
Janet Rogers – Chief Executive VIA Design – BLOG NOTES – August 31, 2010
Sample and product development in the village often starts with an idea triggered by a request. It often starts with a SKYPE conversation focused on a product concept that might appeal to a particular market – Our job is then Continue reading Guest Blog – Janet Rogers on our work together in India
The UN Global Compact has 766 corporate members globally who are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. The June 2010 CEO Study released by Accenture outlines had some interesting highlights to share in terms of CEO opinions. Some of the top ones were:
- 93% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues will be critical to the future success of their business.
- 96% of CEOs believe that sustainability issues should be fully integrated into the strategy and operations of a company (up from 72% in 2007).
- 91% of CEOs report that their company will employ new technologies (e.g., renewable energy, energy efficiency, information and communicationtechnologies) to address sustainability issues over the next five years.
- 88% of CEOs believe that they should be integrating sustainability through their supply chain. Only 54% believe that this has been achieved within their company. An almost identical performance gap is seen for subsidiaries.
- 72% of CEOs cite “brand, trust and reputation” as one of the top three factors driving them to take action on sustainability issues. Revenue growth and cost reduction is second with 44%.
Clearly sustainability is now firmly entrenched on the radar screens of corporate executives. The report includes great findings and of course, the UN Global Compact provides many avenues for participation. Check them out if you can and see how your company can be involved.
Busy days are ahead as we participate in our first Incentive Works show. If you are in Toronto the next couple of days, why not drop by Booth 2224 and visit us? It’s a fantastic opportunity to leverage your budget for incredible impact. Hope to see you there!!
 
Every month we post an update from one of the villages we are working in because tangible impact in the lives of people is the reason we do what we do. We are excited to let you know that there is a new resource available that will provide weekly content from the field. Our partners at CH Global have just launched their blog. While, to date, we have the privilege of working with them in Guatemala, these blog posts will provide weekly updates on their work in 12 countries around the world.
We would encourage you to take a look and stay in touch with them and their unique work in the field of international development as they support persons with disabilities in some of the most difficult circumstances around the world.
On Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 Haiti was struck by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. It has been 6 1/2 months since that day. So much has happened since then, with many countries, organizations and individuals seeking to provide help to the people of Haiti. And as always, in the midst of incredible chaos, there are stories of human courage and progress.
 A Daily Trip for Water at the Well At ZOË Alliance we have the privilege of working with a great organization that has been working in Haiti since 1993. This past week I was connecting with my friend and colleague Brian Stout, US Director of Open Door Haiti, to discuss our micro-enterprise development project Ti Ta To 10 (Dix), and was able to receive an update for us.
ON THE JOB!
The production of the game Ti Ta To 10 is a quick update. The work continues and I was excited to hear that the next shipment of 200 units will be ready to ship up soon just in time for the fall and holiday season. This was great news for two reasons. First it has meant that people have been working on those games these past few months, and second – we’ll have more to supply this fall season!! (We have just enough games left to get us through till then.)
LAUNCHING NEW MICRO-LOANS
We also discussed the micro-finance loan recipients that will be receiving loans with donations made possible by the sale of the game. I’ll be able to share more about the small business initiatives that are being launched by this project in the coming weeks.
HOUSING ORPHANS
Open Door Haiti has been grateful for the support it has received from many individual and organizations since the earthquake. A key project that will provide relief to orphans in Bois de Lance was launched on June 24th, when they broke ground on the construction of an orphanage. When the first phase is completed it will house 50 orphans. Even prior to the earthquake the country had 380,000 orphans and has unfortunately increased significantly since.
The orphanage was envisioned by the Haitian Founder of Open Door Wiljean Compere, who had the foresight to purchase the land for an orphanage back in 2006. With the recent funding the ability to provide for these children will become a reality soon.
Great progress and work is going on in the village of Bois de Lance. While we continue to have a strong collaborative focus on creating growing employment and are investigating new product items, (we will have a laptop sleeve in the works soon), there is so much progress being made in meeting the key needs of the community today.
That’s the update from Haiti for now. We’ll keep you posted on the micro-loans and next phases of the business growth.
“In 2050, some 9 billion people live well and within the limits of the planet.”
This is the stated vision of the Vision 2050 Report published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, (WBCSD). I read it this week and was encouraged by this report prepared collaboratively by 29 WBCSD member companies working together with hundreds of contributors from business, government and civil society.
The report is in essence, an audacious casting of vision, an articulated pathway toward success, and a challenge issued to all toward …”swift, radical, and coordinated action.”.
There are 3 key reasons those of us who are actively involved in corporate social responsibility should take the challenges issued in this report seriously:
1) It states dual goals of equal importance:
High Human Development AND Low Ecological Impact – People and the planet both matter.
2) It is courageous enough to ask nothing less than what is actually required of each of us if we are to continue enjoying life together on this planet:
We will have to change our definition of success and our behaviours.
3) It casts a well thought out framework that is:
a) cognizant of reality and the challenges of such an audacious goal; b) a reasonable starting point for collaboration amongst business, government, academia, and non governmental organizations; and c) URGENT. We really do have to work together, it won’t be easy, but we’ve run out of time and there are no other acceptable options.
SO NOW WHAT? WHO TAKES THE LEAD?
The report itself outlines some tough questions, one of which I think is primary. Who will be the first mover – people, governments, or business? How does something this gargantuan get off the ground and build momentum and action?
I have to say, even though I am “in the choir” as they say, I found myself feeling a little skeptical because the task is so big. When you see the whole picture painted so clearly, it frankly looks too big. And all the initiatives that are underway are fragmented and addressing a piece of the whole. While this is necessary, there would have to be sub-working groups to accomplish anything of this magnitude, who is conducting the choir?
One thing was encouraging for sure, at least for our little piece of the solution, we seem to be on the right track. But I can’t help but feeling that we need more than another good paper and challenge from another really smart group of people. We actually need a logical leading initiative to answer that question -Who will take the lead? – with a resounding WE WILL! And then all the rest of the world’s efforts need to fall in step and make it happen.
Exciting days are ahead and we thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse into our future. In the past months we have been working alongside some great colleagues in international development to document our development model for rural villages and to articulate the framework to measure the true societal impact.
The challenges we set for ourselves are:
1) How do we ensure sustained order flow and steady growth of employment and income in the villages we are working with?
2) What are the societal goals and how do we measure the impact being achieved?
As we mentioned this is just a glimpse, our white paper and model aren’t quite ready for prime time yet. However the progress is so exciting we thought we’d share what the model is about and promise to roll out the details soon.
WHAT DOES THE MODEL DO? (A.K.A. – WHO CARES?)
1. SCALING UP THE IMPACT: In a nutshell, the model allows us to scale up. Continue reading Scaling Up – Increasing Village Impact
It’s summer and our minds have turned to backyard barbeques, the cottage, family vacations, and hopefully a more relaxed pace of life. At work we usually enjoy a bit of a reprieve in our schedule, lunches on patios with colleagues, or business meetings on the golf course.
If you are in the marketing or promotional functions in your company this is the time of year to plan for September and the fall season. Did you know that overall advertising spending for North America in 2008 was $301.4 billion dollars? (Source: CMDC Median Digest, TVB) That probably fell a bit in 2009, but however you slice it, we invest a lot in growing our businesses through promotion.
Have you ever wondered about the effectiveness of the promotional items and gifts that you are considering for the fall? It turns out they are a reasonably significant tool within the overall marketing and advertising toolkit. According
 Custom Promotional Items from Villages to a study commissioned by the PPAI and the PPPC, (Promotional Product Association International, Promotional Product Professionals of Canada), 2009 promotional spending was just over $19 billion dollars. To place this in context, that means that promotional product spending in Canada was second only to television advertising, and on par with magazine, radio and internet advertising in the United States.
Why such a focus and so much spending on something we have often heard called “Trinkets & Trash”? It turns out that these giveaways have demonstrated effectiveness in achieving our marketing objectives. According to the PPAI study, 35% of people surveyed, still had promotional items in their possession after 2 years. Over 52% did business with the company from whom they received a gift item. In addition to that an astounding 71% of people could recall the name of the company that they received an item from in the past 12 months.
So perhaps it is good business, but is it wasteful or conspicuous consumption? It is a good question, and the answer I guess depends on how the items are produced. For example, how much energy is consumed producing a single television commercial? We each have to wrestle this issue to the ground for ourselves.
In every industry there is an opportunity for social impact and good business. Certainly in an industry as large as this great impact can be achieved when we source as much as we can in a socially and environmentally responsible fashion. Perhaps over lunch on a patio this summer, it could be fun to blue sky the possibilities?
This week’s blog is a excerpt from our June Summer Newsletter – A little light good news and thanks to the AFP for choosing to Empower People For Life!
The AFP Triples the Impact of Their Conference Gifts.
“Perfect timing, I needed these for my desk!” AFP member upon receiving the gift set of coasters at the recent conference in May.
 50th Anniversary Gift for Members of the AFP Cynthia Quigley, Manager of Administration at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Toronto Chapter wanted to give a special gift to members to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the chapter. “I chose to give the coasters made by ZOË Alliance and their business partners in Guatemala because it was a fit and I felt that our members would really appreciate them knowing how they were produced and who benefited.”
“Some of the delegates commented that they were actually grateful that the AFP did the research and decided to give a gift like this.” Cynthia went on to say.
It seems like a small thing, but the impact was not just felt at the Congress Centre during a big conference. It started 6 weeks earlier in Lake Amatitlàn, Guatemala, where Irma, a women with exceptional needs, was working alongside others diligently cutting coasters, pasting the backing, debossing the logo, and placing them in a carefully sewn drawstring bag.
With her developmental challenges, there are no other work opportunities for her. Through this project, she was able to provide real value, work in good conditions, and receive fair compensation. She, and all those who worked on this order were able to provide for themselves and hold their heads high.
On their behalf, thanks to the AFP for choosing to make a difference even with this seemingly small decision – it was not small to Irma and the team. Not only did your members receive a great gift, Irma and her colleagues were employed, and 10% of the order is donated toward the ongoing delivery of technical training programs in Amatitlàn, now that’s stretching your giving.
I was reminded recently of how incredibly fortunate we are here in Canada, and how oblivious I can be to the realities of my colleagues around the world. I was going to blog about the G8/G20 meetings this week, but after last week’s conversation, I think the best message for our world leaders is a lesson from a small team in Guatemala.
It started like a normal week of preparation, meetings, sales and operational activity, etc… when I suddenly slowed down. You see one of the meetings on my agenda was a call that had been scheduled with Sully Fuentes-Ayala de Rojas in Guatemala to speak about progress in the community and the specifics of the most recent order.
 Guatemalan village covered with ash after Pacaya erupts Of course I had heard of the volcanic eruption on May 27th, and the resulting ash. I had heard of rain, but honestly, the reality that Tropical Storm Agatha was the cause of flooding, mudslides, road closures, and a sinkhole had definitely not penetrated my psyche.
As Sully and I moved beyond the personal updates in our conversation to speak about the orders, new product information requests, and how great the new samples looked, I found myself feeling hmmm…what is the right word….a strange combination of sheepish, sick, and proud.
Sheepish because in the face of all that was going on in Guatemala, Sully, Rudy, and the entire team are still working diligently to grow employment in this community. Sick because, though I had sent an email, I hadn’t really let the enormity of the circumstances sink in for me until a full week later. And lastly proud, proud of them, proud to be associated with their work, and proud to know that real people like Irma, Raul, Wilma, Cindy, Jorge, Andrea, Lilly, and many others are truly benefiting because of their incredible commitment to them and their communities.
 Two days later Tropical Storm Agatha causes flooding/mudslides What’s the Lesson?
In the coming weeks the leadership of the world will be gathering in Toronto to address serious global concerns that require collaborative efforts to resolve. I hope they work together at least half as well as Sully, Rudy and the entire team in Guatemala in the face of obstacles. I mean if a volcanic eruption, tropical storm, flooding, mudslides and sinkholes can’t stop you, not much can!!
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