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Women Responding to Disaster
This year, disasters such as the ebola outbreak, the earthquake in Nepal, and the humanitarian crisis in Syria have torn apart communities across our globe. Throughout each of these tragedies, we have heard over and over again how disaster relief efforts must be better suited to impact the unique needs of women, who are too…
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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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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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Faces of SKImfi: Prudence K.
When Prudence and her SKImfi group members gather for business meetings, they begin each session with a chant: “High high, it lifts you high. SKImfi lifts you UP!” Prudence K., a 30-year-old mother of three, launched an electrical supplies business after attending a Selection, Planning and Management workshop with SKImfi Zimbabwe. She accessed a $100…
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In This Together
One of the main problems facing aid in the developing world is anonymity. Organizations that provide aid to “the children” or “the hungry” fail to specify whom, precisely, are the recipients of that aid. While these regions often desperately need aid, the blanket statement of “the hungry,” for example, diminishes the individuality of countless people…
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A Conversation with Shyam: Inspiration Found in Local Mapuche Craft-Making and Cuisine
Shyam returned from his most recent trip to Lebu, Chile inspired by the crafts, textiles, and food being created by SKImfi microfinance beneficiaries of indigenous Mapuche heritage. SKI Charities aims to give women a path to start and grow sustainable businesses that encourage them to utilize their culturally-embedded skillset. Listen in to hear more about…
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Why Focus on Women?
SKI Charities founder Shyam has been asked why it is that the charity focuses exclusively on women. When he visits town halls and communities to tell them about SKIC, plenty of men attend. Some of them jokingly (and others more aggressively) ask him, “Why are we not included? Why do you just focus on women?…
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Why Choose Microfinance?
Founder Shyam K. Iyer discusses the basics of SKIC’s SKImfi program. “The term ‘micro,’ at least to me, connotes community-mindedness. The business efforts of the women we work with aren’t global. They focus on very small economies, on their individual communities, and, if nothing else, SKI Charities is a community-minded organization. We believe that focusing…
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A Conversation with Shyam: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
For our fourth SKI Charities podcast, founder Shyam K. Iyer sits down to discuss why he chose to begin the charity in Mutare, Zimbabwe. He goes on to talk about how he chose the second charity site (Lebu, Chile) and what the similarities are between the two. Listen in on the discussion, and hear Shyam’s…
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Why Zimbabwe?
When he first began SKIC, Shyam was asked countless times why he didn’t start it in India: “You’re of Indian origin, everybody is already there – why not go there too?” And that’s exactly why he didn’t. Shyam reasoned that, while there is plenty of demand in India, there’s also plenty of supply. He wanted…