Tamara Stenn, the World of Bolivia, KUSIKUY, and Ethical Fashion
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/09/16
I am a writer and executive administrator for Trusted Clothes, which is an ethical and sustainable fashion organization. The following is a series devoted in honor of the work done in collaboration with the Schroeckers and the Trusted Clothes team. Part 4. Part 1 here. Part 2 here. Part 3 here.
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Any advice for new mothers, or parents in general?
Find a way that it all works together. My kids have always been a part of my business. So, they’re right there with me in it. I have seen some parents keep their kids out of the business. I don’t think that’s good. I grew up in a long family of entrepreneurs.
We grew up talking business around the dinner table. That’s what made it so easy to be drawn into entrepreneurism myself. I think having it as part of the family culture is great. When there’s trips and trade shows, you can figure out a way to bring the kids along as well.
What are some of the things that can be done on the international stage to improve the lot of women? You noted some of the things in the Kickstarter campaign video. Some things that are concrete.
I think Bolivia has pulled ahead in that. They re-did their constitution in 2009. In the Spanish language, everything has a masculine and feminine with the adjective
What is social entrepreneurship?
I am writing a book. I finished writing that introduction. (Laughs) Basically, I am defining it as a business that addresses a social need rather than a monetary one – keeping it really simple. The social need can be expressed in many different ways. It could be environmental. It could be human rights. It could be giving to a particular charity. It could be making goods accessible to a population that might not have access. It could be having worker ownership.
There’s many different ways worker ownership can be realized. The main thing is there is a piece of intentionality where the person isn’t out there to make a profit. They are out there first to do some social good.
How can sustainability be built into the Social Entrepreneurship model?
That’s what I’m working on right now. I’ve developed it. I’m trying to make it comprehensible. It is the Sustainability Lens. It takes the work that I’ve done over the last 20 years. I’ve done a lot of work with Indigenous models through studying down in Latin American, where the United Nations is working on Indigenous models of governance and sustainability.
Also, looking at Circles of Sustainability, I am a fellow with that project with the United Nations. A lot of the people working with these models are political economists. They are not business people. The difference is I am a businessperson as well.
I am taking this model and seeing how this working different models. These common tools that everyone uses realize their companies. I find that once you put that lens on top. Everything pops into place for sustainability. Because you’re a social enterprise doesn’t mean you are a sustainable company.
Sustainability deals with growth, which is a huge issue right now in the area of social entrepreneurship. How do you deal with growth? What does that mean? Because, right now, the assumption is growth means success. That’s not always the case. Our trees don’t grow to the moon.
That’s the same with business. Not every business needs to be gigantic, how do you know the right size for your business? That’s a part of sustainability. Looking at energy and resources, how is that being used? What is being made? That’s part of a sustainable enterprise and not part of social enterprise.
What are you spending your time and resources on? And why? There’s nuances that come out there. How wisdom is sourced and given back to the community? It includes a lot more collaboration. This is what happens when sustainability as it impacts all of us because you can have the most wonderful, perfect business that is the epitome of green.
Next door, you’ll have a big contaminating factory. The quality of life for the people in that region will not be good. They will not have a sustainable lifestyle. There’s a pollution. There’s the people that don’t have enough, even though your business is perfect.
So, the idea of sustainability is breaking that down and working together in systems. You have a nice model for your business. But to be a sustainable business. You need to be integrated in your community. What are we doing to help mitigate and support this community to something more balanced?
That becomes exponential. You keep getting this circles that get bigger and bigger and bigger. You’re looking at a state, then a country, and then a region. When everybody is on this sustainability mindset, you start making decisions that benefit all. That’s the difference.
What other work are you involved in at this point in time?
I teach Social Entrepreneurship at the college and am currently authoring a book (academic text) on how Sustainability can be built into a Social Entrepreneurship model.
What meaning or personal fulfillment does this work bring for you?
It’s been a great experience having this connection and sharing it with others. We have brought scores of people to Bolivia to meet the knitters and have brought the knitters here to the US too. These exchanges remind people of how much more similar we all are then they think and helps people to want to collaborate and cooperate more. I find this very satisfying.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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