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A Conversation with Shyam: 2014 | The Year in Review
As we begin an exciting new year, SKIC founder Shyam K. Iyer takes a moment to reflect upon 2014. The organization saw a lot of growth this past year – with two programs operating fully in both Chile and Zimbabwe, SKIC’s operating sites. This past year we introduced a new program SKILLS, the SKI Local…
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A Conversation with Shyam: SKILLS, The Latest Branch of SKIC
SKIC founder, Shyam, sits down to talk about the latest branch of our organization, SKILLS – the SKI Local Life Survey. SKILLS began this year in Lebu, Chile with the intention of showcasing and supporting the local arts community that thrives there. This branch hopes to illuminate the stories that local Chilean artists have to…
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“It’s About Trade, Not Aid”
How Micro-Finance Help to Stimulate Communities at Large “Any time I’ve been given something – just given something – I’ve never treated it very dearly or very importantly,” SKIC founder, Shyam, says. “But when I have worked for something and reaped the reward, I feel satisfied, accomplished, and inspired.” A similar pattern follows with SKIC…
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A Conversation with Shyam: How SKIC Got Its Name
Since it’s beginnings in October of 2010, SKI Charities has developed an impressive array of programs in two operating sites, Lebu, Chile and Mutare, Zimbabwe. Despite facing a lot of uncertainties and criticism – both internal and external – the organization’s founder, Shyam K. Iyer, felt inspired to see his project to fruition. After reflecting back…
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Finance, the Link to Employment & Empowerment
WHEN Shyam decided to create SKI Charities, “finance was going through a really tough reputational period – it’s still going through a tough time.” And yet he stood by the belief that finance can also be really empowering to people. Shyam reasoned that, because people gain confident through employment, finance could be used as a way…
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A Conversation with Shyam: How You Can Help
Wondering how you can further SKIC’s mission to help empower economically-excluded women? Listen in to hear about some of the ways you can support our organization: follow our social media channels, keep up with our blog, share with your friends! Interested in posting stickers or blogging for the organization? Email us at info@skicharities.org
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Empowering Transformational Female Leaders
In a previous post, “Why Focus on Women?,” we discuss the importance of SKI Charities’ focus on empowering female entrepreneurs and providing education for young women. In the traditional communities of developing countries like Zimbabwe and Chile, where SKIC works, already-marginalized women are often made powerless by circumstances of conflict and unrest, with men historically and culturally standing as the heads of…
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A Conversation with Shyam: Introducing SKILLS, The Latest Branch of SKIC
A little over a year ago, SKIC founder Shyam K. Iyer spoke to me about his long-term goal to add a third component to his organization: “We have the education [scholarships] and the business [micro-finance loans]. I’d like to do a third, expressing the local culture. Business, education, and culture…The original objective of SKIC is to…
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Africa’s Mobile Technology Rise
The technology that has long provided convenience in most daily lives is now transforming opportunities available to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Mobile technology in Zimbabwe has risen to more than 71 percent, supplementing the work of SKImfi and allowing women in Zimbabwe to expand, organize, and promote their entrepreneurial efforts. Mobile technology in Africa has created…
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A Conversation with Shyam: How we Maximize our Impact
In our latest “Conversation with Shyam,” the charity’s founder speaks about how we are able to maximize our impact as an organization. Despite being a small, privately-funded organization, SKIC operates in places where the demand for micro-finance loans are high, but the supply is not there. In both Zimbabwe and Lebu, the interest-level in participating…