September 12, 2012
Author: Alysia Suarez
The following is a summary from the Interview with Sophia Hyder, the owner of a new small social business called Evolvemint. Her business focuses on applying sustainable economic development practices through fashion. Her vision focuses on empowering women throughout the Bengali silk supply chain, while selling high fashion silk scarves and accessories using silk and recycled saris.
Here is a little bit of background gathered from her website:
- Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh is regarded as one of the most important catalysts for economic growth and poverty alleviation.
- Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises account for 25% – 30% of the country’s GDP but of these only six percent of the microenterprises are women-owned.
The idea for Evolvemint stemmed in 2010 when Sophia Hyder was inspired to combine her two favorite passions: fashion and international development work. She wanted to promote ‘fresh change’ by accomplishing two prime objectives; to directly impact the livelihoods of women in Bangladesh and to show her audience in the United States how their purchases contribute to sustainable economic growth initiatives.
To pursue this endeavor, she applied and was accepted into the Master of International Development Policy Program at Duke University in 2010. Her thesis focused on how to integrate women-owned enterprises into the Bengali silk value chain. For her research Sophia travelled to Bangladesh to source silk and cotton enterprises that promote women’s initiatives. She was also searching for women-owned block printing and dyeing enterprises that she could engage in her business.
At the start of the interview I probed why she decided to start Evolvemint. Sophia that shared her ten years of experience working in development had created a desire to do more and have a bigger personal impact. This pushed her to start seeking out a master’s program that could give her the tools and guidance to conceptualize and plan out her venture. Sophia’s starting point was that she would enjoy herself and have a passion for her work, which is evident in the way she talks about her business. She masterfully combined her passions in fashion, development and her desire to give back to her parent’s native country (Bangladesh).
Sophia talked about how fortunate she feels being an independent educated woman who can support herself. Her journeys through the countryside of Bangladesh opened her eyes to the realities most woman face with little opportunities in life due to lack of education and employment that offer living wages. This further motivated her to push forward incorporating gender equality through fashion as a major priority. She specifically ochose the silk industry after extensive research related to her thesis at Duke. She found that due to the lack of marketing of quality Bengali silk (most coming from Thailand and China) and the gender friendly supply chain this would be a good niche to enter.
After hearing how she came up with the idea I was intrigued how she was able to find funding for her new venture. She shared that she has pulled together the start-up funds from her savings and continues to work 70% time so that she can support herself and have enough cash flow for the business. Her hopes are to eventually faze 100% into running Evolvemint but she realizes this will take time. In addition, Sophia has plans to roll out a kick-start campaign using crowd funding to help with an upcoming trip in Bangladesh where she will work with diversifying her suppliers and gathering video and pictures. She is excited to move forward with the message that her products are high quality silk that happen to be ethically sourced and a portion of the profits go back to promoting gender equality and economic development.
Running an international social enterprise can’t be easy so I asked Sophia what her biggest challenges are. She responded “I don’t sleep as much anymore” with a laugh. Then she went on to share that ensuring all of her partners overseas are on the same page as she is and share the same vision is the most difficult. Communication is key in any business and even though her in country coordinator speaks English and the women she partner with can understand basic emails in English she still runs into challenges with messages being received and interpreted correctly. Sophia has identified the concept of “time” as another barrier as Bengali’s don’t share the same sense of urgency for meeting deadlines as Americans do. This has caused friction as her customers can’t wait through 4 days of holidays that may be typical in Bangladesh. She is also sensitive to the need to provide constructive feedback that will encourage her partners and help build their capacity to work with other foreign buyers in the future.
Having a significant amount of international experience myself I asked what have been her toughest cultural barriers she has faced in Bangladesh. Sophia shared that during the four months she spent in Bangladesh last year preparing and researching she was surprised by the lack of acceptance or understanding of her mission. Many had questioned her motives and could not believe she was there looking to help and others even ignored her for being female. It was a tough pill to swallow when she was ignored due to her sex by men she was trying to do business with. Her male interpreter had to play a more active role and men would only talk directly to him and ignore her many times. Sophia had a hard time as she thought her Bengali heritage would create a common bond when she in reality it caused people to ask why her parents left and if she really wanted to change things and help why she would not move back. She commented, “This whole encounter made me more passionate for the cause as I could imagine if men were to treat me this way how their wives and daughters were treated”. She realized that much skepticism came from those who assumed she came from the elite class and was only looking out for her own interests.
To learn more about Sophia and Evolvemint, check out her website at: http://evolvemintfashion.com
