Laurien Meuter is a banker turned development entrepreneur. Earlier employed with ABN Amro, she moved from Amsterdam to Mumbai and founded Tiny Miracles, a social enterprise to empower underprivileged people to overcome poverty.

Tiny Miracles uses a straightforward modus operandi; First they enable people to Get Out of poverty and then to independently Stay Out of poverty. The social enterprise does not depend on donor contribution, but functions as a financially viable business. It trains and employs hundreds of people who make products consumers want to buy (not typical NGO product) and are willing to pay a price for. This enables people to Stay Out of poverty.

Tiny Miracles produces products for cosmetics company Rituals, several large museum stores such as Rijksmuseum, van Gogh, SF MoMA as well as Vitra, and KLM.

Going forward, Tiny Miracles’ ambition is to enable 1 million people out of poverty by 2030 and inspire others to do the same.

In a conversation with The Global Woman Leader team, Laurien sheds light on Tiny Miracles’ strategies for countering the challenge of poverty. She also explains the concept of stakeholder capitalism, emphasising on the social enterprise’s lofty future goal and much more.  

 

Poverty is a complex and multi-layered social challenge. How does Tiny Miracles go about navigating these complexities to help individuals overcome poverty?

 

For us, we look at poverty in a holistic manner – it’s such a complex issue – it can’t be reduced to feeding hungry mouths or paying for schooling. At the risk of over simplifying things, the solution to solving poverty lies in giving those afflicted by it, the tools to pull themselves out. At Tiny Miracles, we help people pull themselves out of poverty, we do not do it ourselves.

A key to solving it is to encourage and grow the area of social procurement. By encouraging organizations to use their buying power to generate social value, we can help more communities become financially independent. So far, we have worked with multiple companies in the west and created undeniable value for them, because they love our story and appreciate that they’re actually solving a problem via the products they purchase.

 

You mention that Tiny Miracles is not a charity organization. How does Tiny Miracles work towards social good while also being a viable business venture?

 

Yes, we say that as our social enterprise division is not a charity organization as at Tiny Miracles, we give value-based organizations the opportunity to contribute directly to a brighter world by buying aesthetically designed products that help raise the communities they’re made by, out of poverty. We aspire to thrive by creating a win-win-win for all involved. It’s the only way to get something done and create meaningful change. It’s called stakeholder capitalism. And it’s how we, as a civilization, can tackle the biggest challenge: Inequality and poverty. We all want a thriving future and a stable society.

We do this by pushing further ahead so that we have a more scalable approach with an ever-growing skillset that helps us create more value and attract more customers. None of this works without our partner companies. Our partnerships help us create more value, attract governments and NGOs and increase the well-being of everyone associated with us. We strongly feel there is an incredible opportunity right in front of us to reimagine the world and solve poverty within our generation. This approach helps us being a viable business venture.

 

Can you talk about the concept of stakeholder capitalism? How has the concept been leveraged in context of Tiny Miracles?

 

Stakeholder capitalism has gained increased attention in recent years as concerns about income inequality, environmental sustainability, and corporate social responsibility have grown. Some businesses and investors are adopting this approach as a way to align their practices with a more holistic view of value creation and to address the broader challenges faced by society.

Therefore, our solution has to be sustainable, it has to fit within the parameters of demand and supply. I strongly believe in the impact and the sustainability of this method.

We work with underprivileged communities in and around Mumbai where we currently help provide work to 500 women, whose children are able to be in school because their mothers are earning a living. Via these women, we make 2 million products a year which we export.  So we fulfil a part of organisations stakeholder capitalism and try to end the vicious poverty cycle both at once creating a win win win situation.

 

Tell us about the key features of Tiny Miracles’ ‘Get Out’ and ‘Stay Out’ programs.

 

As part of our 'Get Out' program we offer skills-training classes. We start by teaching sewing, folding, product manufacturing, and the basics of quality control. The classes can include only one or all three of these skills, depending on the abilities of the participants. We ensure all these skills are valuable and relevant for future endeavours. All classes happen within the communities, making participating in them more accessible and practical. Once the participants have passed an exam, they always have the possibility to work at our social enterprise which is the ‘Stay Out’ program. The jobs range from stitching and folding to quality control depending on their acquired skill. We believe that good employment is key to living a life in dignity. Besides being able to pay daily expenses, it also raises self-esteem. You can be more meaningful; for yourself, for your family and for your community. A job also offers a safe haven to learn, develop skills and socialize. By training and by granting certifications, community members turn into future-ready employees, ready for the job market after they leave Tiny Miracles.

 

Throw light on the grass root impact created by Tiny Miracles’ initiatives so far. Can you recount the story of an individual or a family and the change brought about in their lives through the program.

Yes, I’ll tell you about Simran, one of the first girls to attend English high school in her family. Simran is now a successful woman at only 25 years old. Back in 2011, Simran was living in a tiny wooden room in the heart of the slum, with her two sisters, her brother, and her parents. Her father, a cane worker who like many others suffered from the declining market and increasingly irregular orders saw no way to afford to send his children to school. Her mother did her best trying to support the family with the little money she made by stitching school uniforms. With the help of the Tiny Miracles scholarship program, Simran successfully completed an English-medium high school and later graduated from university with a degree in commerce, where she completed courses such as accounting, marketing, and financial law. Simran had a "student job" with the help of the skills she learned in the Tiny Miracles program. Her work was so valuable that she was even offered a staff job, which she declined so she could focus on her priorities: finishing her studies to become financially independent and helping her family break the poverty cycle. Today, Simran is successfully working in the real estate space, where she recently got a promotion. Having a stable income and being able to support her family is something she is very proud of but also being able to save money for her bigger dream.

 

Tiny Miracles’ vision is to help one million people escape poverty in India by 2030. What is your plan of action for achieving this goal?

 

We constantly look at our communities and see what they need. Then we act and solve. This has led to some unique features for both the Get Out (foundation) and Stay Out (social enterprise) phases. We are now looking to reach scale in communities – we are currently working with 8 communities in and around Mumbai and will be aiming to double that number by the end of next year beyond the current regions.

Through trial and error, we have developed an innovative community-based approach. Our vision is to eradicate poverty for one million people by 2030.

Based on our approach we are in the process of implementing the Miracle Worker Program through which we want to replicate our model within other social enterprises or NGO’s which is a tried and tested roadmap to escape poverty. Our current short-term goal till 2025 is to onboard 5 such NGO’s to add to the miracles worker program and multiplying this year on year to ensure we reach our target of one million.

 

What advice would you give to individuals who aspire to foray into the Indian social development sector? What are some key factors they must be mindful of?

 

I would invite such individuals to join our mission and follow our model (haha). The only advice that I would like to give in whatever experience I have is  just have a deep understanding towards the issues and challenges to overcome them, have a collaborative, data driven approach and ability to adapt, to learn and have a long term vision. Empathise and celebrate even if it’s a small win. Be mindful of cultural sensitivities, inclusivity and local context.