Blog

No crapuccino for our K Rudd

by Bec on 12 March 2010

Not sure how many of you guys read today’s Age, but I had to laugh when I read that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono got busted by quarantine bringing rare luwak coffee into Australia for K Rudd and the family. Luwak coffee for those who don’t know is coffee made from coffee beans that have been excreted by a civet cat. OK, so no crapuccino for Mr Prime Minister.

Maybe we’ll send him a bag of STREAT’s finest fair-trade organic non-excreted beans.

One Water will be stocked on STREAT's carts

by Tom on 11 March 2010

Good news for conscious consumers. We’ve been sourcing the beverages for our first food cart in Fed Square, and just settled on One Water for our water suppliers.

All of the profits from sales of One Water help communities’ access clean water. They build roundabouts in developing countries, so when kids play on the roundabout, the force that is generated pumps water for use in the village. This frees up the time of women and children who would otherwise be collecting water from far away, increases education levels in the community, and even promotes playing.

In selecting suppliers and products to trade from our food carts, I often ask myself three simple questions:-

  • Does the product benefit disadvantaged individuals or communities?
  • Does this product responsibly consider the environment?
  • Is there a financial premium for using this ethical product ?

I believe that One Water is great example of a product which recognises its potential to effect large scale, positive changes to the lives of disadvantaged communities. The product and the business model are simple and offer the customer a moment to consider “you know what, I’ve got it pretty good”.

Anyway, hoping that you enjoy the product and take some time to appreciate the back story to this amazing yet humble little bottle of water.

Let's break the pot

by Bec on 10 March 2010

I don’t think there’d be a social entrepreneur on the planet who doesn’t have Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus as their hero and guiding light. Well today I was privileged enough to have lunch with him – me and about 400 other people at the Business for Millennium Development luncheon. (Thanks to the Centre for Social Impact for their generous lunch invitation!)

From the first loan of $27 he gave out to some poor Bangladeshi women in 1974, Muhammad’s Grameen Bank has now lifted millions out of poverty by disbursing $6.6 billion in tiny loans.

Although much of the world is breaking their Millennium Development Goal promise to halve poverty by 2015, Bangladesh is tracking well. And Muhammad’s tireless work over the last 25 years is having real impact, particularly for women and their children. The primary and secondary school system is now comprised of 65% of girls and Bangladesh’s whole society is being transformed as a result. In his words a Bangladeshi woman can now say, “I’m in the driver’s seat of my life.” His talk seemed particularly fitting given that yesterday we also celebrated International Women’s Day.

Revisiting KOTO

by Kate on 15 February 2010

Listening to the Radio National replay a piece on KOTO last week brought back so many memories. KOTO was where Bec and I cut our teeth in social enterprise, but didn't even know it was called that back then. KOTO stands for Know One Teach One - a great philosophy that is about helping someone else after you have been helped. We travelled to KOTO in Hanoi many times, formed relationships with the young Vietnamese trainees and staff, and worked closely for several years with Jimmy Pham and others who were on KOTO's International Board alongside us. STREAT owes its inspirational heritage to KOTO - it's where an understanding of both the true potential and the enormous challenges of social enterprise dawned on us.

The documentary was made some years ago by ABC radio journalist Dai Le, a friend of ours, herself a Vietnamese boat refugee. It is definitely worth 10 minutes of time to listen to.

Hearing homelessness

by Sunisa on 14 February 2010

ABC just ran a 5-minute radio piece interviewing a homeless high school girl. Have a listen—it might debunk some of the popular myths about homeless youths. This interviewee is well-spoken and clearly smart. She becomes homeless because of one too many fights with her parents. It’s not a leap to image that happening to someone we know.