JoyCorps is dedicated to economic development by building businesses in marginalized communities. Working initially in northern India, JoyCorps partners with businesses to yield results while transforming communities who traditionally find it difficult to find employment. Businesses like Joyn LLC, Saladi Enterprises and Dehradun Guitar Company have created more than 300 sustainable jobs and are locally led. And the companies JoyCorps supports have an employee turnover rate of less than three percent. For more info, see a selection of stories on the Joy Corps Videos Vimeo page.
JoyCorps is building its Center for Redemptive Entrepreneurship (CRE) in Thailand’s Golden Triangle, a remote area near the Thai/Burmese border. Two million refugees live here and have little access to education, medical care or stable employment. Job creation is critical to their wellbeing and helps protect people from issues like human trafficking.
The CRE empowers entrepreneurial leaders with the tools they need to create sustainable jobs in their communities. JoyCorps focuses on as few as six to eight ambitious entrepreneurs annually with strong potential and partners with them for a two to three-year period to create large, sustainable, and community-oriented businesses with strong job creation potential. Learn more about JoyCorps.
The US$20,000 grant from the P&G Alumni Foundation for 2020 will support JoyCorps’ expansion into new regions throughout Asia. Entrepreneurs from 15 ventures will join JoyCorps programs to drive the creation of 45 new jobs and impact 225 families and community members. JoyCorps will also establish three to five-year partnerships to ensure businesses can grow, expand and scale while also creating case studies to be used to train at least 10,000 individuals.
“Changing lives close to home.”
Divya’s family has farmed their land in the mountains of India’s northern regions for more than four generations. They worked with JoyCorps, receiving business coaching, encouragement, access to resources and a sense of community. With this knowledge they began to train local women to make gourmet preserves, sauces, juice concentrates and herbal teas from organic farm produce that was previously being thrown away. They help local village women become financially independent with work close to home. Their company now employs 25 village women, all of whom are financially supporting their families, with plans to grow to 100 in the near future.
“By helping us shape our thinking and our intentions, JoyCorps has inspired us to work harder for our community and to have greater impact. We’re a small business, but we can have a big impact.” – Divya