The Style Diaspora: A Social Business
What Is Social Business?
Social business is not new. But it has not entered the central stage of mainstream business until recently. The idea was first defined by the Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and is used in his books Creating a world without poverty — Social Business and the future of capitalism (2009) and Building Social Business — The new kind of capitalism that serves humanity’s most pressing needs (2010). Yunus describes a social business as “a non-loss, non-dividend company dedicated entirely to achieving a social goal”.
As the concept and the business model have developed, social business now commonly refers to an approach of combining for-profit business strategies with a non-profit mission to address social issues. A social business strives to make profits, although all profits are reinvested to further the company’s mission.
Why Is It Powerful?
We believe that addressing social issues needs business innovations. Business does not only mean profit maximization and greed. Business, at its best, is a tool for achieving effectiveness and efficiency in the social sphere.
Social business is powerful because it is economically sustainable and environmentally conscious. Workforce in the supply chain are treated fairly and earn market wages in tandem with better working conditions.
The Style Diaspora
The Style Diaspora is a cause-driven social business. We use fashion as a way of informing the public about pressing social issues and engaging with different communities in ways that work towards solving these problems.
Our approach is to identify alternative opportunities in the sourcing, designing, manufacturing, and profit reinvesting processes without sacrificing the quality of our products.
To tackle poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, our strategy involves sourcing raw materials from artisans and craftsmen in Sub-Saharan countries. Our customers can be sure that their purchases affect African poverty positively by creating a source of income for African merchants.
We care about the environment. We do our best to ensure that our entire supply chain is eco-friendly.
We care about society. We partner with leading luxury brands that choose to be socially responsible.
Social business is emerging all over the globe. The Style Diaspora is joining this movement by providing a platform for those who are obsessive about fashion and style to shop for a better world.