FEATURE STORY — July/Aug. 2006

Social Capitalism

The Enterprising Kitchen uses income-generating strategies to help support its social mission of providing women with transitional employment and support services

By Lisa Stodder

It is Shiu’s last day at The Enterprising Kitchen, a nonprofit “social enterprise” located in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood that manufactures natural soaps and spa products while providing transitional employment and support services for women. Shiu, a young woman who was born in China, came to The Enterprising Kitchen two years ago and has since learned a number of useful job skills. Now it’s time for her to move on. Still, friendships have formed and leaving can be bittersweet.

Fifteen women have gathered in the staff lunchroom to share a cake and talk about what it’s meant to them to have worked with her. Buying a cake for a person’s “graduation day” has become a TEK tradition.

The women present are of all ages, nationalities and races, but they share one thing in common: All seek to achieve economic independence in order to support themselves and their families. Each woman will one day “graduate” and go on to work elsewhere.

Shiu has begun studying for her GED. Her goal is to work as an accountant for a bank.

Someone takes Shiu’s picture, which will join others on the photo wall, recalling all the faces and friends from previous graduations.

“You have a good eye,” says one of her colleagues. “I hope you come back and teach others. I think you’re very artistic.”

“Your life is what you give back and what you make of it,” remarks another. “Don’t ever sell yourself short.”

Then it is Shiu’s turn: “When I first came here, I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned how to be a good employee and I learned how to love my job.”

Operating with an entrepreneurial mindset

Just like these women, TEK is striving for economic independence. It is part of a growing trend among nonprofit organizations in North America that are adopting earned-income strategies to finance their social missions. Known as “social enterprises,” these organizations offer socially conscious programs, but operate with an entrepreneurial mindset.

“It’s become absolutely crucial for us to figure out how to generate revenue,” says Joan Pikas, program director and TEK co-founder.

More than 10 years ago, Pikas was teaching a GED class for women in Evanston and noticed that one of her students often came to class with great hair braiding and great nails. Pikas told the woman she could use her braiding skills to obtain a job. “She did not recognize that she had a saleable skill,” says Pikas. “It was an epiphany for me. I thought women needed an opportunity to build self-esteem and to have an income.”

Pikas’ inspiration to found TEK came from training programs for women offered by the “Women’s Bean” project in Denver, which prepared box lunches for local businesses. Another source was Inspiration Corp., an organization located in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, which provides social services and job training to the homeless.

TEK began operations in 1996 as a packager of organic grains. However, that changed after a friend of Pikas suggested that soap was the new hot product—and easy to make. Pikas got a recipe book and revamped TEK’s product line.

Switching to a more saleable product has turned out to be a smart move. Today, TEK products are sold online, at its Chicago facility and nationwide in more than 300 stores.

Business has been growing at the rate of 20 percent annually and sales surpassed $300,000 in 2005. TEK is “taking on a revenue-generating mission to support its goals,” says Lauri Alpern, ’86 MUPP, TEK executive director, who joined the organization after 13 years as an associate director with UIC’s Great Cities Institute.

Alpern is helping TEK reach its full potential by building and diversifying its revenue sources. For example, she has expanded the organization’s penetration into the corporate incentives’ market, a highly competitive but lucrative niche that allows TEK to sell its products to stores and corporations, which in turn use them as either premiums with purchase or as gifts to clients.

Alpern secured a contract with Eileen Fisher, a New York City-based women’s (and women-run) clothing company, which began offering TEK’s products in its 28 stores nationwide last December. Ten thousand TEK glycerin soap cubes were given away with Eileen Fisher purchases made during the holiday shopping season.

More recently, TEK made its largest sale ever, 50,000 lavender “spa kits,” to Quill Corporation, a Lincolnshire-based office supply distributor. Quill offers TEK products as a free gift with purchases on its Web site. In addition, Alpern has secured accounts with LaSalle Bank and Mesirow Financial, which have placed TEK product in gift baskets to clients.

Increased sales help TEK hire more women into its program and expand the services it offers them. In effect, TEK’s business side helps support its social mission and keeps the training going.

Learning job and life skills

“This is like a port in a storm, an opportunity for them to get their life in order,” says Pikas, reflecting on TEK’s social mission.

For some women, TEK represents a second chance. Many are referred by social service agencies. Some have personal histories that include substance abuse, homelessness, abusive relationships or prolonged periods on welfare. Others have never received their high school diplomas. But TEK is helping them recover from these experiences by building confidence and developing important skills.

In 2005, TEK trained more than 60 women; it expects to train between 60 and 70 in 2006. Participants take six months to complete the TEK program and they learn every part of the business, from making soap to distribution. In addition to helping them develop work and life skills, the program offers individualized career planning, high school equivalency preparation and computer-related training.

About 70 percent of those who complete the TEK program find work within six months to a year after leaving. Some women move on to attend a junior college or vocational school; others stay at TEK to work in “team builder” positions, supervising others.

The production cycle

Inside TEK’s Ravenswood facility, activity is bustling. Women are recording inventory, taking orders and tapping away at computers. Some are in the process of making the soap itself, presiding over a liquid compressing machine and cutting the soap to size. Others are labeling organic body oils, glycerin bars and bath teas.

A dark-haired woman works over an immense hotpot, churning the oils with what looks like a giant egg-beater.

A few others are busy shrink-wrapping and labeling soap for shipment. Products include TEK’s mission statement on the label and are signed by the women who packaged them.

“My favorite is Sea Mist, but unfortunately we don’t sell that anymore,” says Lastri, a young woman from Indonesia who came to TEK when she was 18 and has been there for three years. (After completing her six-month training period, Lastri has stayed on as a team builder.) She wants to become a lawyer one day and has begun work on her paralegal certificate.

“Everybody’s understanding and caring,” says Lastri. “Even if you don’t speak English well, you will eventually. We have people from China, Uruguay, India and the Philippines. We have one woman from India who can’t speak English but she’s trying. It’s better to try. I used to be like that.”