Giving Compass' Take:

• Dinadi is a social impact brand that creates employment opportunities for women by hiring and training them to produce high-quality and sustainable knit clothing. 

• How can we ensure that social impact brands are having positive effects on both the community they are operating in as well as their employees?

• Read about the steps toward building a social impact business. 

Now that I’m permanently settled in India, it’s been such an exciting journey coming across incredible social impact brands in Asia empowering people and protecting our planet. When I came across Dinadi on Instagram, I was thrilled to dive in and learn about their story.

Dinadi is a social impact brand based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The brand creates fair employment opportunities for Nepali women by producing sustainable, high-quality knitwear.

Dinadi launched in April 2016 from the living room of co-founders Preston and Mirjam’s home in Kathmandu. After a serious “kick start”, exceeding a crowdfunding campaign goal by more than 200% (!), the brand was able to move into a more modest, office space and scale their operations.

Dinadi means ‘dawn’ or ‘break of day’ in Nepali. When we launched Dinadi this was what we hoped it would be – a fresh start, a new beginning for our employees.

What initially drove the move from our home in Sweden to Nepal was the conviction that social entrepreneurship is the way to bring sustainable development to developing countries like Nepal, combined with a belief that every individual can make a difference with their life. Together we had visited Nepal back in 2000 and seen first-hand the enslaving reality of poverty and felt convicted to play a part in Nepal’s development.

Nepal suffers from an extremely high unemployment rate of 46%, leaving many without work and in desperate situations. Many feel forced to work abroad and leave families behind in order to provide for them – sadly many experience horrible work conditions and are victims to unethical labor work. Preston’s background in business and economics and Mirjam’s passion for knitting and teaching combined to create the framework for Dinadi.

Read the full article about Dinadi by Jazzmine Raine at Causeartist