Micro-enterprise
What is a micro-enterprise program?
A micro-enterprise program is a market-based charitable program that is designed to provide impoverished people in developing nations with the resources to start and maintain their own business. In this way, the charity focuses on long-term development, as opposed to short-term crisis relief. It is the embodiment of the old saying, “Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day; give him a way to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.”
Why does Soles4Souls support micro-enterprise?
While there will always be a need to distribute shoes for crisis relief, we believe that micro-enterprise is the best hope to eliminate poverty by giving people a way of supporting themselves and their families.
It allows us to utilize shoes that are inappropriate for crisis relief – such as high-heeled shoes and shoes with functional defects – and used shoes that need cleaning or conditioning in order to be useful. It also provides a low cost source of shoes for the local population without undermining the local economy with a large supply of free shoes.
How does Soles4Souls support micro-enterprise?
Soles4Souls manages its own micro-enterprise operation in Haiti and contracts with established micro-enterprise distributors to transport and distribute used shoes to Central America, South America, and Africa. Once in the country, the distributors’ networks of micro-enterprise business operators receive inventories of shoes to sell. In many cases, the operators receive the shoes on credit and only have to pay for the shoes if they sell them. Shoes are in high demand for micro-enterprise because they are universally needed and valued, can be easily bartered for other goods, and are a tangible commodity that is easy to transport and sell.
Can I designate my shoes for crisis relief instead of micro-enterprise?
Yes, but for a limited time. If you would prefer that your shoes go to crisis relief instead of micro-enterprise, just mark “For Crisis Relief” clearly on your shipping box and we will do our best to distribute them for that purpose. However, if after six months we cannot utilize the shoes for crisis relief, we will have to distribute them for micro-enterprise in order to maintain our warehouse capacity.
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