When talking about redemptive entrepreneurship and the correlation between commercial business and social business to create a business that is for the social good, I think of one of my favorite coffee shops in Wheaton, IL.

My Half of The Sky is the perfect marriage of a coffee shop and boutique in the heart of Wheaton, IL. Started by social justice advocate and entrepreneur, Renee Pollino, Renee wanted to create a business under the realm of Social Enterprise to end poverty and trafficking. The My Half of The Sky website says this about the business,

“Social Enterprises utilize the marketplace to build revenue in order to support low-income artisans, locally and in developing nations, move toward economic self-sufficiency, while allowing value driven individuals to promote sustainability and opportunities to alleviate poverty and prevent human trafficking. Artisans receive fair wages, education, financial and technical assistance, and have safe working conditions, which promotes respectful relationships between business partnerships” (Our Mission).

When you enjoy a steaming cup of delicious coffee or a handcrafted leather bag from My Half of The Sky, a proceed of the money paid for that good is donated to help end poverty and trafficking right here in the United States, but also in countries around the world. The reason Renee choose a coffee shop and boutique was for 2 reasons, one being because through purchasing a cup of coffee the company is able to pay the coffee farmers the fair wages they deserve for their hard work. And second, the goods sold in the boutique are hand-crafted by survivors of human trafficking and by people in impoverished countries, so when you purchase one of those products the proceeds go to helping those people get back on their feet.

Renee Pollino and My Half of The Sky is a great example of integrating the duty we as Christians have to love our neighbor with passion and business. Through providing excellent products and service to their customers while simultaneously providing the opportunity of a better life to people in the community, customers can help make the world a better place by giving their business to My Half of the Sky.

 

“Our Mission.” Home, www.myhalfofthesky.org/about-us.

Lydia Young

Share
Published by
Lydia Young

Recent Posts

Ministry and the Business World

Something I’ve really been thinking about a lot during class is the idea of entering…

11 hours ago

The Four Stages of Development

Class Talk: Four Stages of Development In class, we talked about the Four Stages of…

14 hours ago

My Elevator Pitch Idea and Redemptive Entrepreneurship

As a first semester freshman in Entrepreneurial Mind, I was tasked with coming up with…

19 hours ago

Example of Empathy in Action- KIND

After learning about the four mindsets that are critical to every Gospel-minded organization I wanted…

20 hours ago

Entrepreneurship and Worship

A question that I have been asking is, "How does entrepreneurship and worship (within a…

20 hours ago

Our Redemptive Idea

In my group with Hezekiah, Tessa, and Ben we have created a company called Silver…

21 hours ago