small business

Soap Sampler & Solid Body Lotion

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0000

I discovered Soap Lady Oregon products at—of all places—a chocolate festival in Portland, Oregon. While the products obviously aren't edible, they smelled better—and had healthier ingredients—than many of the food products that my partner and I sampled at the event.

I believe you can vote with your pocketbook, and it was nice to know that the company uses all-natural, vegan and cruelty-free ingredients. Their mission is actually to provide non-toxic products with no preservatives, and they go one step further by listing all of their ingredients on the company's website. This is especially handy if you have any known allergies or have particularly sensitive skin.

In addition, there's the satisfaction of supporting a women-owned small business. Still not enough reasons to try their soap? There's the absolutely soothing experience of using the products themselves.

At just $6, the soap sampler gift box features four travel-sized, yummy-smelling soaps: rose, spice, tea tree, and calendula lavender. Despite their small size, each soap lasted several days in my shower, which is no small feat considering that my partner has a woodworking hobby and I have a workout fetish. The scents were spicy and natural but not overpowering or perfume-y, and they were, for lack of a better word, soft. I can't wait to try some of the sweeter scents, like sweet vanilla and peppermint swirl. A full-size, five ounce bar is $4.50.

At $2.50, the solid body lotion was even more of a steal. Just a tiny bit of this citrus-scented lotion goes a long way, and it will last awhile, even if you work in a job that requires frequent hand washing (or are a compulsive hand washer like me.)

If you're looking for some TLC and inexpensive luxury, this is the place to find it.

Written by: M.L. Madison, March 7th 2010

Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe: Gender, Microbusiness, and Globalization

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:52:00 +0000

By Mary Johnson Osirim

Indiana University Press

In the early 1990s, Mary Osirim took a team of interviewers to several urban areas in Zimbabwe to learn about the lives and financial status of women working in the “microenterprise sector.” She found that while women were largely excluded from education and much of the Zimbabwean economy, some had found a niche as crocheters, seamstresses, hairdressers, and “market traders” in fruits and vegetables and other goods.

There is plenty of sociological theory—the author is, after all, an eminent sociologist—much of it concerning the damage wrought by globalization generally and more specifically by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Economic Structural Adjustment Program of 1991, which seem here to overshadow colonialism and even patriarchy as root causes of poverty and oppression. And there are a lot of statistics: “Seventy-nine percent of the traders reported that they made all decisions about the use of profits from their enterprises”—which are suggestive, if taken from small sample sizes.

The essence of Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe is in the voices of the women themselves. These women are trying to survive in jobs that have them vending in outdoors stalls in all weather and economic vagaries—many of them providing for families and extended families. The interviewers ask questions like “Why did you start this business?” and “Who makes the decisions in your family?” and “Does your husband assist with domestic duties?” The answers, although too often painfully synoptic, provide a mixed picture of these women’s experiences. Many of them are living on dreams deferred, still hoping that a career as nurse or air hostess is not entirely out of reach.

One crocheter reports, “I’m happy because [my husband] does not hit me. I live nicely. He gives me money.” One of the recurrent themes embedded here is the struggle for autonomy as made manifest in the women’s earnings: “Husband makes decisions about money and bills.” In some of the accounts, one can hear echoes of the novels of Buchi Emecheta, although her work captures a different time and place.

Time and place present a problem in this study. First, the interviews are fifteen years old, and so are most of the bibliographic references. In the Zimbabwe of the early 1990s, many apparently held out hope that Robert Mugabe would acknowledge the role women played in gaining Zimbabwean independence by creating meaningful reforms allowing women greater access to education and the workplace. Locating the study specifically in Zimbabwe is also somewhat problematic in that the workers are “cross-border traders" coming from, traveling to, and trading with nations throughout the region. In the strictest sense, their lives and experiences are not exclusively Zimbabwean.

Still, Enterprising Women in Urban Zimbabwe is a valuable report on the status of a worldwide phenomenon; the term “enterprising women” is more a generic label than a specific title: the transformative possibility of women’s entrepreneurial work throughout the world. At least in terms of this report, the experience of women in “microbusiness” has mitigated poverty for some, brought some measure of financial independence for some, and has changed the lives of a few. Overall, though, it does not, at least in Zimbabwe, seem to have had large-scale transforming effects in either the status of women or in the patriarchal traditions or the laws that still oppress them.

Written by: Rick Taylor, October 2nd 2009

Coffeehouse Angel

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:09:00 +0000

By Suzanne Selfors

Walker Books

Life my feelings for a cup of coffee itself, I had high expectations before opening the book’s cover, but I wasn’t convinced Coffeehouse Angel was for me. At first it seemed kind of bitter, but quickly the story grew on me until I was hooked.

Suzanne Selfors’ latest book tells the tale of teenager Katrina Svensen as she faces some typical and not-so-typical growing pains. Like most teenagers, she is trying to find her place in the big world. She constantly worries about finding her hidden talent, and seriously believes that it may not exist. When she isn’t worrying about herself, she worries about her grandmother and their family’s struggling coffee business.

As luck would have it (or maybe not), a messenger angel enters Katrina’s life as these concerns about herself and her family become almost overwhelming. Malcolm, the angel, insists on rewarding Katrina for her kindness towards him. He refuses to give up until he has given her what she most desires. So what is Katrina’s biggest desire? Could it be fame, fortune, or a boyfriend?

The path to discovering what she most desires leads to some unexpected troubles that just seem to make matters worse. Along the way, supporting characters begin to adjust their places in Katrina’s life. Her relationship with her best male friend, Vincent, is tested when he starts dating her overachieving foe, Heidi. Katrina's best female friend, Elizabeth, becomes even more important as she helps Katrina achieve things she didn’t believe were possible. Some of the characters were a little difficult for me to relate to (such as Vincent and Heidi,) but I think this could be a function of my age and not the author’s talent. (It has been a decade since I was in high school.)

At times, I wasn’t sure whether or not the author supported progressive ideals because she seemed to scoff at organic and fair trade products while at the same time relishing in small, family-owned businesses. However, as you read you learn an ugly truth about Katrina’s business rival that boasts environmentally friendly beverages. So you see the author doesn’t have anything against organic coffee, but she certainly doesn’t like dimwitted jerks who scheme there way to high profit margins while leaving honest people in ruins.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Entertaining plot twists kept me intrigued, while subtle messages about growing up, developing confidence and the importance of community made the book genuinely meaningful. Most telling is that I would encourage my daughter (if I had one) to read it as well.

Written by: Andrea Hance, September 1st 2009