Educate. Empower. Inspire.
This is the mission that the NGO Bosh Bosh so proudly and elegantly executes by way of education, business, and fashion to provide their members with vocational training, access to extra-curricular educational opportunities, scholarships, and employment.
I first heard about Bosh Bosh in January of 2019, and instantly knew I wanted to collaborate with them forever.
The inception of Bosh Bosh began when Charlene Espinoza joined the Peace Corps in 2011. She served as an English teacher in rural Salala, Liberia, where she saw first-hand the challenges that women and girls face on a daily basis. This experience led her to deciding that she needed to start the nonprofit organization as a force to educate, empower, and inspire girls and women in the area; but she didn’t stop there.
Now, Bosh Bosh is an ethical fashion brand and nonprofit organization based in the United States that unites people from all over the world who believe that poverty can be alleviated by empowering women and girls through education and economic development. They use social enterprise as a way to create opportunities for Liberian and Mexican women and girls in education, livelihood creation, and vocational training.
Which reminds me a lot of Sir Richard Branson and what he has been able to accomplish with Virgin Unite. In his book “Screw Business as Usual”, he talks about the importance of empowering people with the skills they need to take their life into their own hands, and not always just handing out money. This is something we feel like Bosh Bosh has expertly accomplished. They want girls to take charge of their own futures and empower themselves, their communities, and in turn the world.
It’s like that old proverb that says “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
Bosh Bosh has several programs and products, a few of them include:
Scholars
Scholars is their program where they provide specific knowledge through seminars and workshops that deal with central issues such as: Health, Family Planning, HIV/AIDS Awareness, Life Skills and Female Rights. Bosh Bosh also helps to motivate and encourage their scholars (female students) to stay in school by offering them full school scholarships, advising and tutoring, which is important because over 62 million girls around the world are not in school.
But of course, they don’t stop there.
Production Team
Bosh Bosh’s Production Team is a team of survivors! Survivors of the civil war that ravaged Liberia from 1990-2003. Now they work to start a new life for themselves and their children in Salala. Through Bosh Bosh, they are not only learning the trade of sewing (traditionally a trade reserved for men in Liberia), but they have the opportunity to attend school for the first time in their lives.
Education Team
They also have an Education Team and what they call their Star Program, where they promote social entrepreneurship and community service.
Bosh Bosh is nothing less than exceptional, and I know I am grateful for and admire the hard work they are putting in in both Liberia and Mexico to improve the lives of women and girls.
If you are interested in supporting Bosh Bosh [like we also do!], you can check out their growing number of products that are sewn by their production team right here: http://boshbosh.org/products/lappa/
Or donate right here: http://boshbosh.org/donate/
We are so impressed with all Bosh Bosh has accomplished to empower, inspire and educate women and girls, and we are very proud to call them out as a monthly business highlight, truly making important moves and a greater impact.
