Synergos Global Giving Matters Volume 37
Hashoo Foundation project wins World Challenge 08
Last updated:
December 26, 2008
Plan Bee, a project of the Hashoo Foundation (www.hashoofoundation.org) in Pakistan, was the 2008 winner of the BBC World Challenge, a global competition that recognized “projects showing enterprise and innovation at grassroots level.” Plan Bee helps women in remote areas of Northern Pakistan generate profits by selling high-quality honey at market rates to Marriott and Pearl Continental Hotels. On average, participants’ income has increased over 30%, providing important resources to improve the health and well-being of their families. Video from the BBC program on the initiative is online at www.theworldchallenge.co.uk. The Hashoo Foundation was established by the Hashwani Family in 2007 through the merger of several earlier philanthropic endeavors. It is based in Pakistan with offices in the United Kingdom and United States.
The family traces its philanthropic legacy back over 100 years, to Mukhi Hashoo (1820-1915). Sarah Hashwani is the organization’s Chair. The Hashwanis are members of the Global Philanthropists Circle.
Digital Reports
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
GREATER HOUSTON WOMEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PRESENTS 2009 INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH AWARD TO CRISTAL MONTANEZ HASHOO FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Greater Houston Women Chamber of Commerce (GHWCC) Recognizes Hashoo Foundation USA in Annual Volunteer Luncheon
Houston, Texas.- The GHWCC International Outreach Award was presented to a Foundation for their Empowerment of Women through a Honeybee Farming project. The project trains Pakistani women to be beekeepers and enables them to generate a stable source of income to provide for themselves and their dependants. The honey they raise is sold to luxury hotels worldwide. The Hashoo Foundation won the coveted BBC World Challenge for their solution to two of the planets biggest problems, hunger and poverty.
Cristal Montañéz Baylor, Chamber member and Executive Director of the Hashoo Foundation was the Winner of the first International Outreach Award. Please see all the Winners in the GHWCC Newsletter below.
www.ghwcc.org
Houston, Texas.- The GHWCC International Outreach Award was presented to a Foundation for their Empowerment of Women through a Honeybee Farming project. The project trains Pakistani women to be beekeepers and enables them to generate a stable source of income to provide for themselves and their dependants. The honey they raise is sold to luxury hotels worldwide. The Hashoo Foundation won the coveted BBC World Challenge for their solution to two of the planets biggest problems, hunger and poverty. Cristal Montañéz Baylor, Chamber member and Executive Director of the Hashoo Foundation was the Winner of the first International Outreach Award. Please see all the Winners in the GHWCC Newsletter below.
www.ghwcc.org
Thursday, February 19, 2009
HOUSTON CHRONICLE EDITORIAL LENDING A HAND: HOUSTON STUDENTS MAKE MICROLOANS GAIN A STAKE IN GLOBAL ISSUES
Lending a hand
Houston students make microloans, gain a personal stake in global issues.
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
College students, while recognized for their zeal to make a difference in the world, are not usually thought of as capitalist benefactors. They’re much more likely to be on the receiving end of loans and financial aid.
But several Houston students have found a way to change the world and use their own money to do it, by investing modest sums in small entrepreneurial ventures in impoverished countries. And it works.
Students from Rice University and the University of St. Thomas have begun working with the Houston-based Hashoo Foundation, which is active in economic development and educational programs in Pakistan. Their focus is on supporting projects that produce and sell honey in Pakistan.
The Hashoo project they will be working on, “Women Empowerment Through Honeybee Farming,” just won a prestigious international award, the BBC’s World Challenge 2008, and a prize of $20,000, for its inventive, targeted approach to local communities.
Some St. Thomas students are already familiar with honey farming. The university’s microcredit program supports several projects in Mexico and sends its students there, reported the Chronicle’s Jeannie Kever, and will soon be involved in similar programs in Pakistan.
The St. Thomas microcredit program, now two years old, began with a $100 loan for a mixer to a Peruvian woman wanting to sell her baked goods. To date, the school has made loans to 125 borrowers, totaling $7,700.
The Rice students have pledged to raise $270 for the Hashoo project, covering the cost of three beehives. Their fledgling nonprofit, Owl Microfinance, has so far made six loans, and just recently received its first repayment.
Cristal Montanez Baylor, Hashoo’s executive director, told the Chronicle that she is excited to have the students join the project. “It’s so important,” she said, “that they get an understanding of global needs, and to know that they are taking the most effective steps toward alleviating poverty and promoting economic development and sustainability.”
Baylor stressed that by providing these small loans, the students are helping parents provide for their kids, so they not only give them an education, but the tools to survive. “This way, they see that making a better world is not just theoretical, it’s tangible.” And, she added, “they see the return on their loans.”
Sounds like a win-win situation.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/6259596.html
Sunday, February 8, 2009
HOUSTON CHRONICLE STUDENT LEARN LENDING LEADS TO SWEET SUCCESS
Students learn global lending can bring sweet success
Konkel is one of the honey connoisseurs in the University of St. Thomas’ microcredit program, which encourages students to make small loans to would-be entrepreneurs in developing countries.
The students support several honey-producing efforts in Mexico and recently agreed to expand into a remote region of Pakistan.
Making honey, it turns out, isn’t just a matter of letting bees do their thing.
“There are a lot of factors to consider,” said Konkel, 20.
Students from the University of St. Thomas, along with a group from Rice University, have agreed to work with the Hashoo Foundation, a Houston-based organization led in Pakistan by Sarah Hashwani, a 2003 graduate of the University of St. Thomas. The project teaches women to produce honey and helps them sell it.
Cristal Montañez Baylor, executive director of the Hashoo Foundation, said the students’ financial help is needed, but their passion is even more important.
“They recognize the need to give back to the world,” Baylor said.
The Hashoo initiative has drawn international acclaim — it won the BBC’s World Challenge 2008 as a way to empower women.
The group will also be recognized next weekend when students from both schools attend a conference hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin.
Increasingly, students are using microcredit to engage in international issues.
“There are two characteristics of college students,” said Tommy Fu, 20, a Rice senior. “They want to make a difference, and they’re all short on money.”
Students say they like the idea that the loans allow people to help themselves.
“I’m so anti-handout,” said Michael Black, 24, a senior at the University of St. Thomas and one of the leaders of the student group there.
Students from both schools raise money for the loans. No school money is involved, and the students don’t get course credit for the work. Both groups make loans through Kiva.org.
The Rice effort began with students Dillon Eng, 19, and Josh Ozer, 20, who designed a training program to teach entrepreneurship during a class last year. Ozer spent the summer in Lesotho implementing the program as part of a Rice initiative to promote global health.
But they wanted to do more and set up their own nonprofit business, Owl Microfinance.
So far, they have made six loans and recently received their first payment.
Rice students say they would like to do something to help people closer to home, as well, although freshman Elena White noted that “$25 in Tanzania goes a lot further than $25 in the U.S.”
They have agreed to raise $270 for the Hashoo Foundation — enough to buy three beehives.
Students from the University of St. Thomas hope to take it further. Their program already sends students to Mexico to develop projects there, and the students are planning to send a team to Pakistan.
“We’re not just Santa Claus with money,” Konkel said. “We’re learning from them.”
jeannie.kever@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6253299.html
• University of St. Thomas: www.stthom.edu/microcredit
• Rice University: www.owlmicrofinance.org
• Rice Microfinance on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgeN7R5eK3Q
• Hashoo Foundation: www.hashoofoundation.org
By JEANNIE KEVER Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 8, 2009, 9:50PM
Joe Konkel and his friends may not be able to save the world, but they hope to make it a little sweeter.Konkel is one of the honey connoisseurs in the University of St. Thomas’ microcredit program, which encourages students to make small loans to would-be entrepreneurs in developing countries.
The students support several honey-producing efforts in Mexico and recently agreed to expand into a remote region of Pakistan.
Making honey, it turns out, isn’t just a matter of letting bees do their thing.
“There are a lot of factors to consider,” said Konkel, 20.
Students from the University of St. Thomas, along with a group from Rice University, have agreed to work with the Hashoo Foundation, a Houston-based organization led in Pakistan by Sarah Hashwani, a 2003 graduate of the University of St. Thomas. The project teaches women to produce honey and helps them sell it.
Cristal Montañez Baylor, executive director of the Hashoo Foundation, said the students’ financial help is needed, but their passion is even more important.
“They recognize the need to give back to the world,” Baylor said.
The Hashoo initiative has drawn international acclaim — it won the BBC’s World Challenge 2008 as a way to empower women.
The group will also be recognized next weekend when students from both schools attend a conference hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin.
Increasingly, students are using microcredit to engage in international issues.
“There are two characteristics of college students,” said Tommy Fu, 20, a Rice senior. “They want to make a difference, and they’re all short on money.”
Seed money
Microcredit — also known as microfinance and popularized in books like Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus — involves making loans ranging from $25 to $200 or more to people in developing countries so they can start their own businesses.Students say they like the idea that the loans allow people to help themselves.
“I’m so anti-handout,” said Michael Black, 24, a senior at the University of St. Thomas and one of the leaders of the student group there.
Students from both schools raise money for the loans. No school money is involved, and the students don’t get course credit for the work. Both groups make loans through Kiva.org.
Promoting global health
The University of St. Thomas program that began two years ago launched with a $100 loan to a woman from Peru, allowing her to purchase a mixer so she could sell baked goods. In all, the University of St. Thomas has made 125 loans, worth a total of $7,700.The Rice effort began with students Dillon Eng, 19, and Josh Ozer, 20, who designed a training program to teach entrepreneurship during a class last year. Ozer spent the summer in Lesotho implementing the program as part of a Rice initiative to promote global health.
But they wanted to do more and set up their own nonprofit business, Owl Microfinance.
So far, they have made six loans and recently received their first payment.
Rice students say they would like to do something to help people closer to home, as well, although freshman Elena White noted that “$25 in Tanzania goes a lot further than $25 in the U.S.”
They have agreed to raise $270 for the Hashoo Foundation — enough to buy three beehives.
Students from the University of St. Thomas hope to take it further. Their program already sends students to Mexico to develop projects there, and the students are planning to send a team to Pakistan.
“We’re not just Santa Claus with money,” Konkel said. “We’re learning from them.”
jeannie.kever@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6253299.html
ONLINE RESOURCES
For more, see:• University of St. Thomas: www.stthom.edu/microcredit
• Rice University: www.owlmicrofinance.org
• Rice Microfinance on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgeN7R5eK3Q
• Hashoo Foundation: www.hashoofoundation.org
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