Hot Air Balloon Necklace by GoPurpose

In Yunnan, over a million women have been victims of trafficking and many of them have been single mothers. Women who were facing unemployment due to the closure of businesses and factories, a situation compounded by the inability of the partnering NGO to provide adequate livelihoods support due to budgetary constraints. Consequently, a decision was taken by GoPurpose to pursue an alternative strategy that would enable the continuation of support for the women in question. This involved the training and development of a new skill set that would enable the sale of products created by the women. The motivation to acquire these new skills is driven by the potential they hold to open new avenues for future employment and livelihoods. The initiative entails the training of women in the design of necklaces and the acquisition of jewelry-making skills.

Through GoPurpose’s crowdfunding platform, this project has successfully raised awareness and funding to pilot the project with the project management of Cammier Huang, a Taiwanese entrepreneur trained in jewelry design and an influencer. With the proceeds, two metalsmiths were employed to teach the women jewelry-making skills and stone setting. The necessary tools and machinery were purchased, and the production costs of the initial set of 100 necklaces were covered.

In early 2014, GoPurpose’s founder, Serena, took the company on a new journey to drive social impact in a sustainable way. She launched and co-chaired the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Network in Singapore from 2015 to 2019. Founded in 2012 by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and world-renowned economist and professor Jeffrey Sachs, the SDSN promotes integrated approaches to implementing the SDGs and the Paris Agreement through education, research, policy analysis and global collaboration. Based on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the company became a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, focusing primarily on SDG #3: good health and well-being, #4: quality education, #8: decent work and economic growth, #11: sustainable cities and communities, #13: climate action, and #17: partnership for the goals. In order to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with greater impact and sustainability, a review of the crowdfunding business model was undertaken. It was decided to transform the existing model into an e-commerce marketplace since 2017. This business model will allow us to reach more beneficiaries, as well as supporters and endorsers.

GoPurpose has invested in creating a robust online marketplace where vendors and suppliers can sell their products, provided they meet our vetting criteria and sign a pledge to support the UN SDGs. As per the contract, we periodically deploy our staff to review the vetting criteria with vendors and gather social impact information for our internal rating.