It feels like just yesterday we introduced the four social entrepreneurs we’re working with, and now their businesses are gaining serious momentum as they approach the final stretch of their year with us.
In our last update, Becki from Glow Early Learning Centre (South East Asia), Yisehak from Hulu Medicine (Ethiopia), Sungeni from Village Solar (Malawi) and Julia from Our Sansar Recycling Centre (Nepal) had just started their one-on-one journeys with their carefully matched business mentors.
It’s time to lift the lid on their progress since then—what they've learned, milestones they’re celebrating, and the tasks on their to-do lists that are currently stealing the show.
Q: One of our key hopes in pairing you with business mentors is that it fast-tracks your learning. What’s one thing you’ve learned from your business mentor to date?
Becki, Glow Early Learning (South East Asia): I have gained so much from the various All Good Ventures’ mentors. Chris helped me to understand and create a marketing plan. His biggest piece of advice to me was to develop a clear and concise elevator pitch that immediately intrigues potential customers and leads to further engagement. Rod helped me understand the points of contact when engaging with potential families [enrolling at the Early Learning Centre]. Both of these enabled me to better engage with those interested in the centre.
Yisehak, Hulu Medicine (Ethiopia): Greg has made me realise the importance of a closed feedback loop when it comes to knowing if our pharmacies are making sales using our platform. He has advised me that directing medicine seekers to pharmacies might not be enough to measure the value we are delivering to pharmacies. We need a way of knowing how much sales they are making because of our involvement.
Sungeni, Village Solar (Malawi): One of the biggest lessons I have learned from my mentor, Guy, is the power of persistence. He has shown me that taking an idea from concept to reality takes time, constant testing, and a willingness to adapt. It is easy to get caught up in wanting quick results, but his advice has helped me focus on refining Village Solar’s approach step by step, learning from each challenge along the way.
Julia, Our Sansar (Nepal): To look over small details again and again, and think more of all possible scenarios. Our mentor, Bo, is very thorough, and by asking us some very detailed questions, she made us realise that we need to include a few more things in our plans and also explore further possibilities. So, it has been a very positive experience.
Our entrepreneurs have been lapping up the support from their mentors. Project leader for Glow Early Learning Centre, Becki, learned how to create a marketing plan and develop an elevator pitch to attract and engage potential customers.
Q: We want to share what’s happened in your business recently. Tell us one significant business milestone from the past few months.
Becki, Glow Early Learning (South East Asia): In January, we opened the doors for the Early Learning Centre with four kids. Since then, we have grown to 10 students. Three of these 10 are regular paying customers (which helps support our beneficiary's children). We have at least two additional students joining us in the next three weeks. My goal for 2025 is 15 students, so the school is more than halfway there. We will be a self-sustaining school at 35 students.
Yisehak, Hulu Medicine (Ethiopia): We have registered 62 new pharmacies [to locate elusive medicines for patients in Sub-Saharah Africa], taking our total from 48 at the start of the mentoring process to 110. We have five marketing students working as our sales representatives. We have also implemented a new, simplified onboarding process that's enabling us to register pharmacies faster than ever before.
Sungeni, Village Solar (Malawi): Our biggest milestone recently has been recruiting 15 women from four rural off-grid villages to undergo training in solar energy skills through our new Kwathu Kuwale ("let my village have light") initiative. What makes these women special is that, despite having no prior technical training and limited formal education, they are eager to learn and make a difference in their communities. They come from areas most affected by energy poverty, and by the end of their training they will be able to assemble and repair solar lanterns using locally available materials. It excites us that this is the first time ever that such a thing is happening in Malawi! These women are laying the groundwork for something incredible.
Julia, Our Sansar (Nepal): We had many delays [setting up our recycling centre enterprise] due to all the bureaucracy in Nepal, so we are VERY excited to announce that our social enterprise has finally been officially registered with the government, and that we have almost finished the actual building/structure for the recycling centre. Our machines have almost been finished as well. Another week or two and everything will be 100% completed, and we will finally be ready to start!
Village Solar recently launched the Kwathu Kuwale initiative, training 15 women from off-grid villages in Malawi to assemble and repair solar lanterns—marking a groundbreaking step in tackling energy poverty.
Q: We know there’s ALWAYS something to do when starting and growing a business. What’s top of your list—the thing consuming most of your time right now?
Becki, Glow Early Learning [South East Asia]: Providing a safe and engaging environment for our [Early Learning Centre] students is at the top of my to-do list these days. I am doing daily safety checks and updating and training staff on safety procedures. I also spend a fair amount of time creating advertising content and sending it out to various venues. I was recently asked what my daily work schedule was like, and I had to admit that each day is completely different. Oftentimes, I do not know what a day will hold until I walk into the school. There are so many pieces—both big and small—in constant motion.
Yisehak, Hulu Medicine [Ethiopia]: We are working towards reaching 400 registered pharmacies in the next 60-90 days. We are also trying to figure out a winning business model. We are working on decisions such as whether pharmacies or medicine seekers should be charged for our service, or if third-party companies would be interested in our app as an advertisement platform, and so on.
Sungeni, Village Solar [Malawi]: At the moment, what’s taking up most of our team's time is getting ready for the training of the 15 women in Kwathu Kuwale. This is one of our main activities over the next few months as we teach these women the skills to assemble and repair solar lanterns.
Julia, Our Sansar [Nepal]: Now we are preparing to start the actual operations of the recycling centre, so the next two months will be incredibly busy—training the families, ensuring we can produce good quality chips, and navigating ourselves throughout the recycling world. We are sure there will be loads of lessons for us to learn over the coming days!
Currently, Our Sansar is focused on preparing to launch the operations of their recycling centre, with the next two months dedicated to training families, ensuring quality chip production, and navigating the recycling process.
It’s been great to catch up with these four entrepreneurs and see the progress they’ve made. They’ve hit some big milestones, tackled new challenges, and have plenty to focus on in the months ahead. Look out for our next update next quarter.