From Exploitation to Empowerment: Rebuilding Communities Through Ethical Enterprise

Written By Scott Holthaus
 

What if solving trafficking and poverty required more than aid projects or skills training? What if the key was access to markets, to choices, to dignity?

In this episode of the Purpose & Profit Podcast, hosts Dave Raley and Carly Berna sit down with Erik Olson, CEO of Dignity Made. With two decades in international development and social enterprise, Erik has built a redemptive business that transforms the coconut supply chain in the Philippines.

By addressing exploitative debt practices and creating dignified jobs, Dignity Made is breaking cycles of poverty and providing choice to families long denied it.

From nonprofit projects that hit a ceiling to building a sustainable enterprise, Erik shares lessons on economic solutions, ethical supply chains, and the ripple effects of dignified work.

Key Topics They Cover:

  • Why economic problems demand economic solutions.

  • The role of choice and dignity in breaking exploitation cycles.

  • How asset-based community development guides sustainable enterprise building.

  • Balancing mission-driven storytelling with product credibility in the market.

  • The meaning of redemptive business and why it requires sacrifice.

  • The ripple effect of job creation on local economies and infrastructure.

Thank you for listening, supporting, and sharing the Purpose & Profit Podcast.

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Special thanks to editor and sound engineer Barry R. Hill and producer Scott Holthaus.

 
Scott Holthaus
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Purpose & Profit: Special Update from Dave and Carly