“Shaping our Future. Building our Legacy” — A year in review of the #SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative
#SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative celebrates a groundbreaking 1st year while focusing on the next twenty years of Haiti’s ecosystem development.
Founded in 2018 by award-winning Haitian-American entrepreneur, Shaïna Silva, the #SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative launched as a platform to connect Haitian women to global opportunities and value chains.
OUR YEAR IN REVIEW
Since its founding, #SHE_BUILDS has created a global leadership network that spans 20 city chapters across 4 continents. From New York City to Gonaives, Dubai to San Francisco, #SHE_BUILDS Ambassadors have organized regular events in their respective cities to build the community network, share resources and spotlight the stories and achievements of incredible Haitian businesswomen, authors, artists, politicians, doctors, lawyers, fashion designers, and tech disruptors to name a few.
In addition to building its global leadership network and creating more visibility for women, #SHE_BUILDS has launched 5 different initiatives that are best described as “tools in our toolbox” to address gaps in Haiti’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
These “tools” were created to equip entrepreneurs and innovators with insights, skills, visibility and global networks to convert social, economic and environment challenges into tech-enabled business opportunities. Within the past year, these tools have already materialized in accelerating progress within the community, with women at the forefront of it all.
THE TOOLS
The 5 tools in the #SHE_BUILDS toolbox include: 1) The Digital Townhalls, 2) The Moonshot Academy, 3) The Global Chapter Network, 4) The Future Festival, and the 5) Renaissance2040 Movement.
Tool #1: The Digital Townhalls
“In order to build the future we imagine, we must first understand the problems that hold us back” — Shaina Silva, Founder of the #SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative.
Through its Digital Townhalls held on Facebook Livestream, #SHE_BUILDS offers the community an opportunity to gain awareness, understanding, and insights on the challenges and opportunities that exist in Haiti, learn from those who are aiming to solve those problems, as well as discover models that have worked in other countries.
Some of the topics covered during the townhalls included “E-Governance & Building a Smart Nation” with appearances from Sheila Laplanche who was a member of the team leading Haiti’s e-governance initiative 10 years ago, and Sandra Sarav, Global Affairs Director for the Estonian Government’s Office of the CIO. Other topics included “Modernizing Local Industries — How Haiti can Leapfrog into the 4th Industrial Revolution”, with George Sassine, President of the Association of Industries of Haiti, Jean-Max Dumond, a self-taught robotics engineer based in Port-au-Prince, and Zoe Bezpalko, Design & Manufacturing Sustainability Strategy Manager at Autodesk.
With over 30k views of our facebook livestreams, the townhalls served not only to offer insights on opportunities and challenges in Haiti, but helped spark digital dialogue and collaboration between viewers who discovered one another within the Townhall’s chat box. A new calendar of townhalls is scheduled for 2020, check shebuildsinitiative.com for updates.
Tools # 2: The Moonshot Academy
To address the gaps in business and technology skills in the Haitian ecosystem, #SHE_BUILDS is ramping up to launch its Moonshot Academy in 2020.
The Academy aims to facilitate Haitian women in becoming world-class tech-enabled entrepreneurs by offering workshops and bootcamps on leadership, business, design, and technology.
Entrepreneurship workshops powered by Tracey Laguerre and Naisha Silva of Google, at the #SHE_BUILDS_THEFUTURE Festival, August 2019
Tool #3: The Global Leadership Network
Through its Global Chapter Network, #SHE_BUILDS has created a bridge that allows members of its community to build business and professional relationships across the planet. This global network is particularly valuable for women in business seeking to enter new markets, whereby an entrepreneur in Port-au-Prince can now access the market in San Francisco through the #SHE_BUILDS San Francisco chapter.
Members of the community are able to access the global leadership network by invitation to the #SHE_BUILDS slack channel. To receive an invitation, attend one of our city chapter events!
Tool # 4: The Future Festival
The 4th tool in the #SHE_BUILDS toolbox, THEFUTURE Festival was launched in August of this year, and hosted over 460 professionals, entrepreneurs and university students from Haiti and across the world. Designed as a platform that celebrates Creativity, Culture, Nation Building and the New Economy, the festival covered a variety of keynotes, panels and workshops, networking events, an artisan marketplace and musical performances over the course of 2 days.
Prominent speakers in attendance included Michèle Pierre-Louis- Former Prime Minister of Haiti and founder of Fokal, Rachel Hislop- Editor in Chief of OkayAfrica, Cristina Ramos- Senior Producer at the Oprah Winfrey Network, Naomy Grand-Pierre- Olympic Swimmer, Senator Dieudonne Luma- the only female senator in Haiti’s 50th parliament, and Obama Foundation Fellow and founder of Anseye pou Ayiti, Nedgine Paul Deroly.
Left to Right: Anais Laurent of NPR, Rachel Hislop of OkayAfrica, Christina Ramos of the Oprah Winfrey Network, and Carel Pedre of Chokarella at the #SHE_BUILDS_THEFUTURE Festival in Port-au-Prince. Aug 2019
Festival workshops were hosted by various ecosystem partners including Google, HR-Connect, and Banj, and covered topics from entrepreneurship and innovation to tools for women to run for office. Haitian history and culture was reflected through performances by rising hiphop artist Niska, the artisan marketplace featuring local and international entrepreneurs, and a presentation by Lorraine Manuel Steed on the journey of her African slave ancestor. A short recap of the festival was produced by The Haitian Times! Check it out!
Tool #5: Renaissance2040
Making an impact in business and society is synonymous with #SHE_BUILDS’ mission. Consequently, #SHE_BUILDS 5th and final tool for the ecosystem is a roadmap to position Haiti as a self-sustainable Green Nation by 2040.
Titled “#Renaissance2040”, this initiative aims to engage local citizens, international diaspora and friends of Haiti in collective action to move the country towards a more climate-resilient circular economy, and propel Haiti into a new Era of self-sustainability and prosperity. The #SHE_BUILDS community will have an opportunity to join forces as a unit to achieve 20 goals in the next 20 years.
MOVING FORWARD
As 2020 quickly approaches, #SHE_BUILDS plans to march head-on into the new decade by launching the #Renaissance2040 Movement, with chapter events hosted by global chapter ambassadors worldwide starting in March. Stay tuned for activities and how you can get involved by following #SHE_BUILDS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and our newsletter!
THANK YOUS
#SHE_BUILDS’ incredible year in review has been made possible through the support and collaboration of ecosystem partners including Fokal, WOCO, Fotokonbit, #SMARTFANM, PRODEV, CHES, ImpactHub, Banj, Unibank, Haitian Times, to name a few.
If you would like more information about the #SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative and the Renaissance Roadmap, or to schedule an interview, please contact [Nathalie March-Charles Arias] at [join@shebuildsinitiative.com].