Blog #1: Dustin Chance, 2/6/2014 - 6:58 am, Handbag company lifts Pakistani women from poverty

Summary:

This article revolves around a high-end handbag company, consisting of lush leather and hand-embroidered silk, which goes by the name "Popinjay".  A year ago, Popinjay, which was operating as the nonprofit BLISS, was on the brink of collapse.  Saba Gul, the MIT-educated founder, had left her six-figure paying job to launch the non-profit in an attempt to help Pakistani girls who were forced to leave school and work.  Due to BLISS operating as a nonprofit and working directly with the underprivileged, it experienced some complications.  With the lack of financial support, Gul re-branded BLISS as the for-profit Popinjay.  Negotiating the terms herself, Gul was able to raise $265,000 from investors.  In October of 2013 Popinjay launched it's first official line.  Popinjay now employs 150 who make $2.50-3 dollars an hour, which is 2 to 3 times what they were making at BLISS.

Analysis:

This piece was very intriguing to read.  It really gives you a great idea of how under-paid these women workers are.  It also talks about how, as a non-profit company at first, many investors refused or were uncooperative to help financially.  However, once she made this a profitable company, Gul was able to raise $265,000 from investors.  This occurred right as the company was on the brink of collapse.  Saba Gul is a Pakistani girl herself, and to see her leave a six-figure paying job and work to help these women, who are much less fortunate than she is, is very inspiring to say the least.  This article does a great job of covering global trade issues, as well as foreign policy.  Without the help of Saba Gul and the negotiations she made herself, this company would have without a doubt went under.  It is due to her bravery, risk taking, and financial selflessness, that she was able to take the company to another level, increase the working wages of the women by 2 to 3 times as much as they were previously making, and allow these women to work only 3 hours a day, yet make half of what their husbands make working full time.

Web Link:  http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/06/smallbusiness/nonprofit-bliss-popinjay/