Help for Haiti believes in the value of social entrepreneurship and is seeing great success and growth within the entrepreneurship programs we offer. We are focused on changing Haiti socially from corruption by encouraging giving back, bringing motivation to do good and encouraging a community mindset. Haiti’s current unemployment rate is alarming - only 60 percent of employable adults are able to maintain regular employment and, still, most struggle to make ends meet. On average, teachers in Cap Haïtien live on less than $1200 USD a year. Teachers in rural areas, such as Marmalade, live on a fraction of this.
We recognize that the next generation of Haiti’s young business leaders rely on the efforts of their teachers and instructors to achieve success. We also recognize the teachers’ desire for a regular income, so that they can focus their energies on their students, rather than on whether or not they can afford to feed their families. Therefore, we’ve made a commitment to the Institution Nouvelle Etoile de Bethlehem and Institution Mixte Martin Luther to subsidize the salaries of the full teaching staff, as well as those in major supporting roles.
The Fulton Center for Entrepreneurs and One Hen
The Fulton Center for Entrepreneurs hosts programs that provide business education for children and adults. The One Hen for Kids program (“Yon Poul” in Creole) is designed for students starting in the 4th grade and is based on the children’s book One Hen by Katie Smith Milway. In her book, Milway chronicles the success of a young boy in Ghana who built a hugely successful business starting with the purchase of one hen. The One Hen program is a self-sustaining enrichment program designed to empower children to become social entrepreneurs by instilling within them four values: financial responsibility, personal initiative, global awareness and giving back. The One Hen program is equipping children with skills in sustainable business and social entrepreneurship, driving forward our mission to educate youth so that they are prepared for employment after graduation.
One Hen Adult Entrepreneurship Program
The success of the One Hen program for our students initiated the One Hen Adult Entrepreneurship Program (OHAEP), which incorporates the values of the kids’ program while providing a foundational business education to help adults research, develop and launch their own small businesses. Three principal components of the OHAEP are:
Providing beneficiaries with the language, core business principles, and coaching to break patterns of multi-generational poverty
Providing beneficiaries with start-up capitals that will empower them to create new small business of their own choosing
Introducing beneficiaries to the concept of social responsibility, providing pathways for them to support their local communities through social entrepreneurship
As of 2023, the Fulton Center for Entrepreneurship has funded 94 small businesses since we started. Participants in OHAEP are based on referrals within the community and participate in an entry exam to determine their level of capacity and financial literacy. Women within our two communities are consistently breaking old social constructs and now outnumber enrollment of men as business leaders through OHAEP. Our adult education training has also helped to create 22 self-help groups where Help for Haiti assists in providing a product to sell along with the OHAEP business training. Self-help group participants then share their business development and earnings! One self help group called Se Pa Pe Pè which means “It is Not Used- It’s New” in Creole has been selling clothing and shoes from donations as a means to build their own sustainable business.
The development of employment opportunities in North Haiti is the long-term goal for lasting, positive change in the country. Our active startup portfolio to support these businesses is worth $26,783 with a 93% repayment rate, a great testament to the success of the adaption of our business principles in a historically corrupt nation.
“Since we started the business life has completely changed for us…We have learned so much about business and we feel very proud and happy to have done these businesses. We’ve made a lot of profit, we are encouraged to think big so we are thinking big!”
One Hen Adult Entrepreneurship Program, Marmelade
Marmelade is a rural community located in the mountainous countryside of North Haiti. Lacking in rudimentary services such as clean water, electricity, transit, stores or banks and accompanied by a high poverty index and widespread illiteracy. Here, Help for Haiti is meeting the community where they are by introducing a tailored program for adult entrepreneurship. The Marmelade OHAEP program is being led by our Director of Operations and Human Resources, Smith Aury. Smith has designed a special program for Marmelade by combining OHAEP with a business model for rural and impoverished communities using the Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA).
The VSLA model is taught in the ‘oral tradition’ and creates a safe place to store money communally as to build funds to support the development of small local businesses and provide the funding to support them. Smith has been leading 125 adults in identifying needs within their community and providing training in creating business plans as solutions. Such as; what can we do to provide clean drinking water? Or, how can we be more resilient in hurricane season? Smith says the goal is for these adults “to take their destiny into their own hands,” Help for Haiti’s vision is to accompany our participants “to help them, help themselves.”
Marmelade OHAEP Program, Year 2 Participants
Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.
— Proverbs 16:3