First Person: I Am A Young Social Entrepreneur

What does it take to be entrepreneurial? Anika Stephens talks about young leaders who have already made a positive social or economic impact.

First Person: I Am A Young Social Entrepreneur
4 mins read

By paying fair wages and investing profits back in the community, empower people to create a better life.

I recently came back from an unforgettable trip to the United States. A trip that gave me the tools I need to grow my small socially minded business. As a small business owner I understand it is important to work together. Changing the world is not a one-person job.

I was one of 250 lucky fellows in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, or YLAI. President Obama launched the YLAI Professional Fellows Program to empower Latin American and Caribbean entrepreneurs to increase the social and economic impact in their communities.

All young entrepreneurs, we attended a six-week program, including a four-week fellowship in the U.S. We were placed in 21 different city hubs, and I was one of 14 of us who did our fellowship in Austin at The University of Texas.

I’m the founder of Enamora, a small social business in Aruba. Enamora is an online eco-chic jewelry boutique that supports indigenous people in Ecuador. By paying fair wages and investing our profits back in the community we empower these people to create a better life.

I signed up for YLAI to learn more about social enterprises, and to see and meet people who work on their mission daily. Social enterprises are still ‘new’ in Aruba. As far as I know I’m one of the few who has tried to establish a social business in our island. Many people don’t see the opportunities social businesses create to make the world a better place.

Buying more seems for many people more important than buying an impact. As a small business owner, it is almost an impossible job to create these changes on your own. Gaining experience, advice and mentorship in Aruba is not as easy as it is in Austin. I’m grateful for the opportunity that I had to gain experience and build a network here.

What I learned is how businesses can working together by sharing knowledge. As social entrepreneurs, we work on the same common goal, to make the world a better place. I felt that connection during my time in Austin. It is amazing to see how a city or community can create a place for social enterprises.

During my fellowship, I had the honor to work with Sheila Hawkins-Bucklew. Sheila is a jewelry designer and an amazing woman with a great mission to empower women through entrepreneurship. She was a great mentor and introduced me into several fields in the social business environment.

In these amazing four weeks, I was also able to meet people who own or work for successful social enterprises, and ask them about the challenges and risks they had overcome to make a difference, including well-known businesses like Ten Thousand Villages, Raven + Lily, and Austin boutique Csilla Somogyi. They are all amazing people who are motivated to create a change.

The Austin social business community is so open to sharing knowledge and helping others move forward. This is not common in places where I have lived and worked. It is a city of people with a mission. That was great to see. Nothing is weird and I felt like everything was possible.

I’ve returned to Aruba and hope to share what I learned here, to help other social entrepreneurs move forward. We live on one connected planet and are supposed to help each other. Openness and networking are keys to make your business grow, and as social entrepreneurs, to make an even bigger difference in the world.

I’m very grateful for this wonderful opportunity to learn from social entrepreneurs. This experience will last forever. And I want it to continue. So I invite other young social entrepreneurs to contact me, from Aruba, the U.S. or elsewhere.

Let’s share what we know and work together to make a change in the world.

About the Author

Anika Stevens is the founder of Enamora, an online eco-chic jewelry boutique that supports indigenous families in Ecuador. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at the University of Aruba.

Articles on Blue Avocado do not provide legal representation or legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for advice or legal counsel. Blue Avocado provides space for the nonprofit sector to express new ideas. Views represented in Blue Avocado do not necessarily express the opinion of the publication or its publisher.

13 thoughts on “First Person: I Am A Young Social Entrepreneur

  1. I had the honor to work with Sheila Hawkins-Bucklew. Sheila is a jewelry designer and an amazing woman with a great mission to empower women through entrepreneurship. She was a great mentor and introduced me into several fields in the social business environment hoa tÆ°Æ¡i. This is an inspiring article! What Anika does is incredible. Helping all those indigenous artisans is not an easy task but it did not stop the young entrepreneur.
    I felt that connection during my time in Austin. It is amazing to see how a city or community can create a place for social enterprises.

  2. Thanks for the valuable thoughts. We are promoting the same idea in our workspace “Changing the world is not a one-person job”.

  3. This is really interesting and worth reading your post. I should highly appreciate the efforts you put in. This is amazing and exciting

  4. Hello! I might want to suggest essaywritingland for exposition writing and some other writing. I’m an understudy and I use them routinely on the grounds that it saves a ton of time. Also, simultaneously, the nature of the paper is exceptionally high – no copyright infringement and consistently on schedule

  5. Our vision is ” imprint memories through travel”. Travel is all about the Memories you bring back with you. We are geared to provide our clients with best of our services and facilities. We have gained a solid reputation for the wealth of knowledge, quality and services we provide to our clients.

  6. Hey admin

    What a Great article keep it up with awesome stuff like this.

    You have clearly mentioned all the things and guys if you want

    24newsdaily , How to Put a Curse on Someone than visit our blog as well thanks.

  7. After lockdown, as we know everything is opening in our country India. All the administration started to publish results for Sarkari Exam of state jobs. People are expecting their results from more than one or two years. But now the wait is over and the result is available according to their merit list. Hard-working applicants are getting their dream job now.

  8. Sarkari Result Info is one the best platform to provide you the sarkari result 10 2 and admit card notifications. You can also get information about the police jobs, answer key, defence jobs and exam syllabus. Our team always provide the latest information regarding the Sarkari exams and our team our hard 24×7 to keep you updated. Our site notifications are always first on internet.

  9. social business is the interaction by which people, new companies and business visionaries create and reserve arrangements that straightforwardly address social issues. A social business visionary, consequently, is an individual who investigates business openings that emphatically affect their local area, in the public eye or the world.

  10. If you search for quality Homework help then come to our website because our experts can provide you with the top-notch Homework help so that you do not lag behind in the race.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *