Back on May 21st, I wrote about David Kuria's business Ecotact, which supplies toilet malls in the huge informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi.On Wednesday, Mr. Kuria was one of three winners of the Schwab Foundation's Africa Regional Social Enterpreneurs of 2009. Ecotact was recognized for providing needed social services that the municipal government hasn't been able, for whatever reason, to get into these areas and for running an information campaign on hygiene and water conservation.
The other winners were the group mothers2mothers, which educates, mentors and supports HIV positive pregnant women and new moms; and, Streetwires, which is working to formalize the bead and wire work business in South Africa. The company's goal to is raise the income for artists by cooperatively marketing their art work to local and international markets. Streewires is also the first fair-trade certified craft organization in South Africa. Here's another company that does similar work: aaart.
These social entrepreneurs are addressing a variety of problems--job creation, sanitation, health care--all creatively, all in tough circumstances. Imagine what they could do if the institutions they depend upon were stronger?
- Karol
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