Local Social Enterprise Invests in Refugee Women

More than 500 refugee women are resettled into Austin each year, many of whom have limited language, education and job skills. Through the Multicultural Refugee Coalition’s (MRC) sewing training program, refugee women are taught skills to empower them both personally and to have an opportunity for employment at Open Arms, MRC’s social enterprise that provides private label textile manufacturing. We recently had the opportunity to interview recent Mission Accelerator graduate and our newest investee, MRC’s Executive Director Meg Erskine about their social enterprise, Open Arms.In 2015, MRC was accepted into the Mission Accelerator with hopes of developing and executing a business growth plan for Open Arms. Following the intensive five-month process, Mission Accelerator participants, including MRC, pitched their ideas to Mission Capital’s Social Venture Partners and other local investors for additional support. Multicultural Refugee Coalition came away with top honors and was selected to receive $30,000 and three years of continued support.By honing in and defining their customer segments they discovered unique angles with which to better serve their customers and clients. Their value proposition became not only about employing refugee women—although that’s still at the core of their work—but also about providing quick turn-around, local, made- in-USA and custom products. The market for Open Arms is diverse with large retailers like IKEA for which their partnership became IKEA’s first social enterprise in the USA socially-conscious small businesses like Newton Supply Company, and customizable furniture cover businesses to name a few.“We’re witnessing a rise in conscious consumerism and simultaneously a decline in American manufacturing. Through the Accelerator we found that our services answered a social call as well as an economic opportunity with people looking for a local manufacturing option. We gained confidence in not only our social mission but a strong business opportunity,” says Multicultural Refugee Coalition’s Executive Director Meg Erskine.With their refined business model and a vision for significant growth, they’re already talking to funders and looking to raise $300,000 toward the Open Arms initiative. MRC sees significant growth in the coming years and will employ more women and expand the operations and physical facility.They’ve since expanded the IKEA partnership with a reorder of their pillow line to include the Dallas store in addition to the Houston and Round Rock stores and have products with other partners including Newton Supply Co, Purpose Boutique, and BottleTree Productions which are all carrying lines made by MRC’s seamstresses, refugee women living in Austin.“With the help of the Accelerator Program we will be able to continue to build upon our success with a clear business plan and growth model. With the additional investment from Mission Capital, especially the 3-year consultative support, we’re ready for the growth ahead,” adds Erskine.MRC’s three-year goal is to triple operations and create nearly half a million dollars of wages annual for their refugee textile producers, providing each woman a living wage that will allow her to become more financially empowered. In addition, they will reinvest at least 10% of the profits from Open Arms into MRC for their supportive programs for the refugee community that have already touched more than 800 refugees in Austin from 23 different countries.The first line of IKEA products (the HÅLLNING collection) which debuted in June of this year, on World Refugee Day, sold out fast! The next collection of Texas-themed, upcycled pillows, is launching in all Texas IKEA locations the week before Christmas so head on out to your nearest IKEA and pick up a few! Also consider shopping at one of their partner retailers, including Newton Supply Co., Purpose Boutique, and Raven + Lily, among others. As a nonprofit, MRC also operates on donations to fuel their mission and expand their services. Designers who want to have things produced by Open Arms, should also contact MRC about becoming an Open Arms manufacturing partner. This blog post was written by Vanessa Armstrong with support from 2015 consulting intern, Sayli Khadilkar.