Although it goes against the conventional wisdom of globalized business, a new business model looks to spend more money, not less, on its employees. Fostered by celebrity activist Matt Damon and led by Rob Broggi, a hedge fund analyst, Industrial Revolution II (IRII) sets its sights on evolving the clothing world into an industry with a conscience.
Previously working for Raptor Capital and Tudor Investment Corporation (one of the top hedge funds in the world), Broggi vaulted himself into an industry that combines garment manufacturing with humanitarian mindfulness.
Creating its first garment factory in Haiti, Industrial Revolution II plans to improve workers’ standard of living in a variety of ways. First, IRII pledges to invest 50% of its profits into health and education programs within the local community. On top of that, IRII will treat its workers humanely and provide safe work conditions.
Opposed to the current model of manufacturers focused on the cheapest labor possible to increase production at the most profitable rate, IRII sees both a niche and room for improvement.
What makes Broggi’s endeavor revolutionary in comparison to clothing competitors is his attention to his employees’ wellness.
IRII believes this improvement in health and working conditions will increase workers’ capabilities and production. When it’s all said and done, IRII anticipates its sales to be as competitive, in both price and quality, with other major brands.
What makes Broggi and Damon confident in IRII’s model is their focus on social purpose. With humane conditions, they believe that if they attain competitiveness their benevolent work will tip them over the edge in shoppers’ eyes. “If you can offer the same quality product at the same price you are going to win a tie-breaker nine out of 10 times” IRII’s CEO said.
That’s assuming it can compete with the businesses now dependent on child workers, cheap labor, and terrible conditions to continue their cost effectiveness.
According to Broggi, increased quality of life and improvements to health and education programs will enhance his workers’ productivity and lower turnover rates. With lower turnover rates, IRII can invest more in training its workforce, which promotes greater quality clothing.
Damon and Broggi believe that healthy and better trained workers with an incentive in the company’s profits will jump-start productivity and increase the quality of products, giving the major labels, quite literally, a run for their money.
With history and ethics on their side, Damon, Broggi, and their new founded workers hope to lead the garment industry as a new model to reduce poverty and increase profits. If successful, they may pull millions out of severe poverty.
– Michael Carney
Sources: Boston Common, Industrial Revolution II
Photo: Heritage Daily
World Bank Risk Management Helps Reduce Poverty
In its annual World Development Report on October 7, the World Bank stated that successful risk management can be an essential tool for development.
Risk management in development involves policies that can help improve the negative effects of natural disasters, economic shocks or health crises. The World Development Report suggests that poor risk management has resulted in a staggering child mortality rate from injury and illness in low-income countries, one that is nearly 20 times higher than that in high-income countries. These slacking policies have also led to more deaths during droughts in Africa than from any other natural disaster. However, if governments and decision-makers can create more durable environments for managing risks, these trends can indeed be reversed.
“Risk management can save lives, avert economic damages, and can provide resilience and prosperity by allowing people to undertake new endeavors,” said Norman Loayza, director of the 2014 World Development Report.
The World Development Report has been released annual since 1978 and is the World Bank’s most comprehensive publication. As inferred, this year’s report looked at how managing risks can end poverty and increase equity.
As of now, many societies and individuals fail to tackle risk successfully because of lack of resources and information, missing markets and public goods and even more, social exclusion. “We’re advocating a sea change in the way risk is managed,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said. “Our new approach calls for individuals and institutions to shift from being ‘crisis fighters’ to proactive and systematic risk managers.”
The report tells us that because most individuals remain ill-equipped to confront many shocks and disasters, they must instead depend on shared action and responsibility. Without coherence from the international community, individuals, states and nations will continually be unable to handle problematic events on their own terms.
– Sonia Aviv
Sources: Global Issues, World Bank, Topix
Photo: World Bank
“The Space Between” Documents Kenyan Healthcare
“The Space Between,” a documentary co-directed by Travis North and Kimberly Nunez-North, traces the lives of four perilously ill individuals in Kenya, shedding light on broader issues of poverty and healthcare along the way.
In “The Space Between,” the audience is introduced to four Kenyans currently being treated at the Living Room Hospice, an organization founded by nurse and HIV volunteer, Juli McGowan Boit. Working to improve medical conditions across the country, the hospice treats those living in extreme poverty, who do not have the means to afford adequate healthcare.
The first, Maggie, is a young mother with cancer. As she deals with her deteriorating health, she worries about her four children. With Maggie’s husband working 12 hours a day and earning around $7 a week, the children have no caretaker other than Maggie.
The second individual, Jacob, is a teacher who was paralyzed by a gunshot wound inflicted during a robbery. While receiving treatment in a Kenyan hospital, he developed four bedsores. The wounds are so deep that they are unable to heal, a condition that causes pain, fever and potentially fatal infections.
The third interviewee is Barnabas, an older gentleman who is in the final stages of throat cancer. He is living his last days in an impoverished hospital that lacks morphine or any other painkillers. His greatest hope is to return home, where he can die in comfort, surrounded by family and friends.
The last Kenyan is James, a young man who has contracted HIV, but is afraid to seek treatment because of the subsequent social stigmatization. He has been largely incapacitated by the illness, and thus, is under the care of a hospice.
Describing the process of filming, Nunez-North said: “During our 16 day shoot in Kenya, we received unprecedented access to HIV clinics and hospitals. We engaged in-depth conversations with physicians whose primary focus is on relieving and preventing patients’ suffering, an area of healthcare referred to as Palliative care.” As “The Space Between” unfolds, the intimate nature of the crew’s interactions with patients and doctors reveals itself clearly and magnificently.
“The Space Between” narrates an important struggle between life and death, illness and health, in a healthcare system that lack supplies, funding and trained personnel. However, telling a story can be the first step toward transformation and reform. By documenting the lives of these four individuals, “The Space Between” creates a space for change.
– Anna Purcell
Sources: Indiegogo, Ezra Winton
Where Walmart Won’t Win
Walmart has sales reaching over $135 billion in 26 countries outside the United States making it the world’s biggest retailer. It’s also the world’s largest public corporation when ranked by revenue.
It has shattered the expectations of many small businesses that have either opened in a Walmart’s vicinity or have had a Walmart take over the local community. It’s a seemingly unstoppable force in the retail business. But looking abroad to several of the world’s largest economically sound countries, not a single Walmart store can be found.
On October 9, 2013, Walmart announced that it was breaking up its corporate partnership with Bharti Enterprises, which hints to the dissolving of its vision of opening up hundreds of stores throughout India. Scott Price, head of Walmart Asia, referred to the breakup being fueled by “poor investment conditions.”
This is a deeper issue than pro-small business owners and supporters celebrating over this breakup. When an individual, group, or corporation ascends to the heights that Walmart has in its respective niche, competition has no choice but either to compete and take a tiny share of the market or to hope that the empire crumbles.
While this decision by no means points to Walmart losing its stranglehold on the retail market, it sends a sign to most investors looking to put money in Southeast Asia. If Walmart is backing out and cannot make a steep, yet potentially rewarding investment, how can others?
Russia is another market Walmart has not tapped. For six years, Walmart has been in talks with a Russian-based company to join a partnership that would ease Walmart’s entry into the bureaucratically strict nation. Germany and South Korea are without Walmart stores, as well. Walmart was present in both nations until 2006 when it shut down all operating stores.
For Germany, it was a rather strange issue that possibly stems from cultural and sexual repression. German men did not like when Walmart clerks handed their groceries to them and smiled as they were leaving the store. They believed the friendliness was a sign of flirting which made them uncomfortable. South Korea has also found it hard to house a Walmart chain, as it preferred to stock electronics and clothing as opposed to food and beverages, which can be bought at local markets.
This is not a loss for Walmart as much as it is a rattling in its marketing process. This shake up abroad almost seems like collusion between governments not wanting to take away domestic profits from local businesses, and can anyone blame them?
– Sagar Jay Patel
Sources: Business Week, New York Times
Photo: Chieforganizer.org
5 Quotes about Diplomacy
Tool of war or a path to peace? Art of compromise or art of deceit? Over the years, diplomacy has been viewed in many different ways. Below are quotes about diplomacy from five famous individuals, who each had their an opinion on diplomacy and its role in international relations.
5 Inspirational Quotes about Diplomacy
– Jordanna Packtor
Read global poverty quotes
Sources: Brainy Quote, Good Reads, HISTORY.com, Encyclopedia Britannica, Nobelprize.org
Photo: History Today
Industrial Revolution II: Employee Welfare
Although it goes against the conventional wisdom of globalized business, a new business model looks to spend more money, not less, on its employees. Fostered by celebrity activist Matt Damon and led by Rob Broggi, a hedge fund analyst, Industrial Revolution II (IRII) sets its sights on evolving the clothing world into an industry with a conscience.
Previously working for Raptor Capital and Tudor Investment Corporation (one of the top hedge funds in the world), Broggi vaulted himself into an industry that combines garment manufacturing with humanitarian mindfulness.
Creating its first garment factory in Haiti, Industrial Revolution II plans to improve workers’ standard of living in a variety of ways. First, IRII pledges to invest 50% of its profits into health and education programs within the local community. On top of that, IRII will treat its workers humanely and provide safe work conditions.
Opposed to the current model of manufacturers focused on the cheapest labor possible to increase production at the most profitable rate, IRII sees both a niche and room for improvement.
What makes Broggi’s endeavor revolutionary in comparison to clothing competitors is his attention to his employees’ wellness.
IRII believes this improvement in health and working conditions will increase workers’ capabilities and production. When it’s all said and done, IRII anticipates its sales to be as competitive, in both price and quality, with other major brands.
What makes Broggi and Damon confident in IRII’s model is their focus on social purpose. With humane conditions, they believe that if they attain competitiveness their benevolent work will tip them over the edge in shoppers’ eyes. “If you can offer the same quality product at the same price you are going to win a tie-breaker nine out of 10 times” IRII’s CEO said.
That’s assuming it can compete with the businesses now dependent on child workers, cheap labor, and terrible conditions to continue their cost effectiveness.
According to Broggi, increased quality of life and improvements to health and education programs will enhance his workers’ productivity and lower turnover rates. With lower turnover rates, IRII can invest more in training its workforce, which promotes greater quality clothing.
Damon and Broggi believe that healthy and better trained workers with an incentive in the company’s profits will jump-start productivity and increase the quality of products, giving the major labels, quite literally, a run for their money.
With history and ethics on their side, Damon, Broggi, and their new founded workers hope to lead the garment industry as a new model to reduce poverty and increase profits. If successful, they may pull millions out of severe poverty.
– Michael Carney
Sources: Boston Common, Industrial Revolution II
Photo: Heritage Daily
Child Poverty in Africa
The state of many developing countries in Africa is no secret. Africa has been deadlocked in extreme poverty for an extended period of time. However, recent trends have shown that the poverty situation worldwide is slowly improving. Despite these various improvements, much more can be accomplished in the poverty-stricken continent of Africa. African children in particular are still mired in terrible situations, causing quite a predicament. While every life is worth saving in Africa, the lives of the children are crucial to the future of developing countries.
The issues have abundantly mounted to oppose healthy children in Africa. Lack of suitable food plays a major role. The world in general produces enough food to feed these children, yet they have no access to a consistent food supply. The key to eradicating the hunger crisis is providing an outlet for starving people in Africa and other poverty-stricken locations worldwide.
However, food is not the only major problem for African children. Other issues, such as slavery, armed forces participation, and the inability to prevent disease all stake a claim to the death toll of African children.
An estimated 200,000 children are sold into slavery yearly in Africa. This has become a major problem for developing countries–how can a country grow and learn if the children are routinely captured and used as slaves? Without any children learning and growing in a safe environment, the developing countries do not have much hope for a productive future, instead they are mired in the darkness that child slavery provides.
Not only is child slavery a major issue but children being forced to participate in the armed forces also causes another dilemma. An estimated 12,000 children are participating in the armed forces, further halting the advancement of African economies. The children are being trained and deployed in military situations instead of learning and cultivating the land, leaving fewer able bodies and even fewer educated people to grow and produce for their country.
Child participation in armed forces and slavery are major hindrances to furthering child development. However, the problem of disease also runs rampant among the children. Measles, malaria, and diarrhea are the three biggest killers of children, yet all three are preventable or treatable. Children lack access to proper treatments and vaccinations, resulting in deaths that could have been prevented. If these children could be immunized or properly treated, the number of deaths would exponentially drop.
The high mortality rate of children in Africa plays a significant role in the African poverty situation. The deaths related to child slavery, child participation in armed forces, and treatable diseases can be reversed. These problems can be solved; they require continued aid from outside help, but also a stand to fight for the lives of children. Without growing children, there is no growth for the future.
– Zachary Wright
Sources: CARE, Fight Poverty Pravda, Pravda
Photo: The Telegraph
Top 7 Facts about Modern Day Slavery
The facts about modern day slavery are shocking and remain largely unknown to much of society. Below are the top modern day slavery facts.
Top Modern Day Slavery Facts
1. When Americans think about slavery, what often comes to mind is the transatlantic slave trade, Africans displaced from their homeland and the Underground Railroad. Though slavery has officially been abolished, modern day slavery exists. Slavery is not simply a thing of the past. It is estimated that there are anywhere from 20 to 30 million people who are in slavery at this moment. This is a large increase from the 12.3 million slaves estimated in the 2005 study done by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The number is huge and leaves many wondering what can be done to help those who endure the cruelties of others who enslaved and stripped these individuals of their freedom.
2. Contemporary slavery is not restricted to just one area. Forced labor lies within the realms of sexual abuse and prostitution, state-enforced work and many others. According to the ILO, someone is enslaved if he or she is:
3. As of 1981, slavery is not considered legal anywhere. That year, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery. However, the act of owning slaves didn’t become a crime in Mauritania until 2007. That being said, many in the country defied the law regardless. In fact, only one slave-owner has been successfully prosecuted in Mauritania. Despite the fact that slavery is illegal, it continues to happen and the practice affects all ages, races and genders.
4. Slave-owners often use euphemisms instead of the term “slavery” in order to avoid getting caught. Such euphemisms include: debt bondage, bonded labor, attached labor, restavec (a French word that means “one who stays with”), forced labor and indentured servitude.
5. According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons report, there are 800,000 people trafficked across international borders every year; 80 percent of those victims being female. Even more shocking is the fact that 50 percent of these people are children under the age of 18. These victims live within 161 different countries.
6. Slavery doesn’t just reach adults; children are a very large part of contemporary slavery, especially in prostitution. According to the U.S. Department of State, one million children are exploited by the global sex trade every year. The average age a teen enters the American sex trade is 12-14 years of age. These children are typically runaways who were abused sexually at an even younger age.
7. The average cost of a slave is about $90.
– Samantha Davis
Sources: CNN: Freedom Project, Antislavery.org, CNN, AbolitionMedia.org
Photo: Lisa Kristine
What The Top 10 Searched for People Tell Us About Humanity
Who is the world intrigued with? Look no further than the top searches on Google. The top 10 searched for people provides a very interesting sampling of who represents humanity.
1. Whitney Houston. She became a beloved artist, actress, producer, and model. Guinness world records called her the most awarded female of all time. In later years she had a drug problem but recovered. She was posed to become the next judge on the show “The X-Factor” and revive her career right before she died.
2. Kate Middleton. She is a modern day Cinderella. Now Kate has been voted number one on the Vanity Fair’s best dressed list for three years in a row. Before she won the prince’s heart, she was considered simply “a beautiful commoner.” Today she works closely with five charities which mainly work with children.
3. Amanda Todd. Released a YouTube video about how she was bullied before she committed suicide. The video went viral and is now used to support anti-bullying movements.
4. Michael Clarke Duncan. Became famous when appearing in “The Green Mile” which won him an Academy Award nomination. He was an avid advocate for PETA. Michael died at age 54.
5. One Direction. Popularized by the show “The X-Factor,” the boy band has sold over seven million records. The teenage heart throbs are avid advocates for the organization Comic Relief.
6. Felix Baumgartner. Broke the world record height for sky diving. During his decent, he became the first person to break the sound barrier without using mechanical power.
7. Jeremy Lin. A lesser known professional basketball player until he led a winning streak for the New York Knicks.
8. Morgan Freeman. He acts, directs, and narrates. Some of his recent films include Oblivion, Now You See Me, and The Dark Knight Rises.
9. Joseph Kony. Leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. He was made famous by an Invisible Children documentary that went viral.
10. Donna Summer. Known as the “undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom.” Four of her singles topped the billboard chart within a thirteen month period. She held five Grammy Awards.
How can this diverse group of people be summarized? They usually come from the entertainment business. The good outnumber the bad. They are overwhelmingly represented in the media. When given power or influence most chose to represent the underprivileged and fight for inequality. Many gain a following in the wake of their death. Their lives read like a very dramatic story. The kind of story that gets them on the top ten Google searched list.
– Nicole Yancy
Sources: Biography, Wonder’s List, Fox News, E Online
Photo: LoL Forum
Vindhya Offers Employment to the Disabled
For many people living with disabilities, seeking employment is often a grueling process. Sometimes, despite their qualifications, those with disabilities are denied jobs, because employers fear that job performance will suffer. While disabled people are awarded equal opportunity employment in theory, this is not always the case in reality. Unable to find employment, the disabled can end up in a perpetual state of poverty, unable to remedy the situation.
Companies like Vindhya are slowly changing this trend. A global IT company located in India, Vindhya is primarily staffed by those with disabilities, who are referred to as “different-abled” rather than “disabled.” It is a title that recognizes that certain physical disabilities don’t necessarily make someone entirely “disabled.”
Though in many ways Vindhya is like any other company, working to ensure the quality of its products and fulfill the demands of companies like Yahoo!, Metlife and Wipro. It offers its “differently-abled” employees an important opportunity: the chance to be self-sufficient. Without such opportunities, it is hard to imagine where the “differently-abled” would find recourse. Employment at Vindhya opens many doors its workers, including the chance to improve their economic status.
Giving employment opportunities to groups that are often discriminated against, such as the disabled, is the first step to liberating generations from the ugly cycle of poverty.
– Aalekhya Malladi
Sources: Vindhya, Next Billion
Photo: LOREWO
Villgro Addresses Rural Agricultural Needs
Many farmers in rural India are unaware of the newest innovations in agriculture. There are many possible causes for this, including lack of marketing, lack of access to information regarding advancements, and a farmer’s financial inability to buy new products. According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research, only 40-45 percent of farmers know about these new technologies, and fewer than that have the financial ability to access the new advancements.
Without the ability to access or buy these products, farmers continue to use obsolete technology, which is not only inefficient, but also more expensive, due to repairs and replacements. Over time, lack of access to the best technology will keep the rural farmers from improving their financial situation.
Villgro Innovation Marketing, recognizing that Indian rural farmers need information about, and access to, the most recent technology, has decided to address the situation.
It has developed a “low cost distribution method” that will send salespeople to rural locations to inform farmers of technologies that could significantly increase their crop yield and, in turn, their annual revenue. In the long term, this could help farmers rise out of relative poverty. Additionally, because Villgro hires salespeople to visit various villages and rural areas, it also offers employment opportunities to the surrounding area.
By addressing the needs of poor rural farmers, organizations such as Villgro give them the chance to overcome poverty. Moreover, the improved economic status of rural farmers would, in turn, advance the regional and national economy of India. Villgro, therefore, has the potential not only to change the lives of individual farmers, but to help a wider community as well.
– Aalekhya Malladi
Sources: Unitus Seed Fund, Villgro
Photo: Baltimore Sun