Carrying Social Entrepreneurship to the Roof

Yup, Carol Schillios, a social entrepreneur in Edmonds, Washington, is living on top of her store, in a tent, and accompanied by her 22-year-old cat, until she gets 1 million folks involved in her cause: helping young girls in Mali's capital city, Bamako, to stop begging and to become businesswomen. She does this by providing the girls with an incentive to do something different.

Here's the story.

Ms. Schillios runs a shop in Edmonds called "Fabric of Life" that sells products made in Mali by young women. The store is part of an effort by the Schillios Development Foundation to connect the girls to overseas markets and, in the process, provide education, health training and a stable stipend/wage the women can rely upon. So far, 20 girls have graduated from the program.

This is a picture of bead work the girls produce -- from the SDF website.

- Karol