Fighting Sex Trafficking Through Coconut Oil

According to a September 2017 report from the International Labor Organization, an estimated 24.9 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery. Sadly, most of these trafficked individuals are women and children. And what’s even more worrying is that most rescued victims would rather stay in slavery than go back home. This is because even in slavery, they are guaranteed money, shelter, and relevance. With that in mind, Erik and his team decided to fight back by developing a sustainable way of transforming communities. They realized that building schools was just not enough when tackling sex trafficking. And that’s why they shifted from a nonprofit charity approach and built a business that could employ thousands of people. As a result, they get to prevent sex trafficking from happening in the first place and guarantee financial freedom for the rescued victims.

Challenges Facing Socially Responsible Investing in the Philippines

While socially responsible investing plays a role in ensuring economic growth and development for communities, several factors directly impact the sector’s growth. For Dignity Coconuts, the first major hurdle was poor infrastructure. The proposed site for their manufacturing plant was in a remote Filipino village that was practically off the grid. Consequently, the movement of building materials and specialized labor was a challenging task. Fortunately, the local governor heard their plea and built seven bridges and paved 35 miles of concrete roads within the surrounding communities. However, like most third-world countries, The Philippines is a corruption-plagued country where no business goes on without bribes playing a part. Their reluctance to pay bribes meant that most of their projects stalled since permits took ages to be approved. 

Socially Responsible Investing and Portfolio Performance

The past couple of years has witnessed an increase in the number of people taking up impact investing. Millennials have become active in pursuing investment opportunities that generate beneficial social and environmental effects as well as financial gains. Erik explains that investors who take up impact investing believe in their duty to positively serve society as a whole while pursuing financial gain. Although the type of impact varies from company to company, as Erik explains, it all comes down to your preferences and beliefs. If you believe in fighting global warming, you could invest in electric cars, for example. So, the next time you think about investing or giving out to charity, make a point of checking how the company impacts the community. 

Listen now to learn about Impact Investing with Dignity Coconuts and Erik D. Olson.