Lois Grandmaison's Contact Details

Lois Grandmaison's Company Details

Upward Ventures

Amherst Center, MA, US • 5 - 9 Employees
Import/Export

Upward Ventures is a nonprofit organization that empowers families to lift themselves from poverty through social business. Working directly with communities, we kickstart businesses that provide jobs, empowerment and dignity to people that need them the most. Poverty is a vicious cycle where uneducated and underemployed parents can't make the investments regarding health, nutrition and education their children need to thrive in life, therefore, these children most likely end up uneducated, disease-ridden and poor. Our work aims at providing stable employment that will help break this vicious cycle and propel families upwards. Based in Amherst Massachusetts, Upward Ventures is launching its first company in Las Malvinas, in the capital of the Dominican Republic, in the spring of 2015. Our first venture is a social enterprise that creates handcrafted soap in different formats for high-end local customers and international tourists. Our soaps will be made using the islands' showcase items: cacao, cuaba and rum; fruits such as mango, coconut and passion fruit; herbs grown locally such as lavender, peppermint and aloe. They will be made only using natural ingredients, have a distinct Dominican character and boast skin care properties.