BEntrepreneur Magazine sat down with Jawaher Almoayyed to learn about social entrepreneurship, the gift that gives back and the power of education to inform, educate, and empower women and youth.

Please tell us about the concept of your business and what inspired you to create it?

White Spoon is a cookie company that supports women through educational causes. We sell cookies and other desserts and 50% of our profits go to an educational cause. The causes are mainly women who have the ambition to study but no funds. Once we have reached our goal for the cause, we move on to the next. By helping one girl at a time, we think we can slowly help bridge the gender gap that negatively affects our society.

What attracted you to social entrepreneurship and how do you think the world can benefit from it?

I am a believer in sustainability. I think the reason charities can sometimes become unsustainable is because they are financially dependent on the donations and funding of third parties. I wanted to create a model that would be self-sustainable, generate income and be independent of third party uncertainties. Hence I linked it to a business. As long as White Spoon is growing, our contributions to the society will grow. In fact, we have carefully chosen a cause that is also self-sustainable – education. Education ensures financial independence. Hence, the person who is educated through our contributions today will be self-reliant tomorrow; and hopefully also learn to be a responsible social citizen in the future contributing to causes that are dear to them.

What are the causes that you seek to support, and so far what has been the most inspiring cause for you?

White Spoon’s causes are focused on girls and education because we believe that it is the best investment one can make today for a brighter tomorrow. I want to quote Queen Rania who said “If you educate a woman, you educate a family. If you educate a girl, you educate the future”. Every cause is inspiring to me because each girl has her own dream. One that I would like to mention in particular is Erlyn. She is the daughter of my domestic helper Joseline. Joseline was in the university studying to be an engineer when she got pregnant.
This forced her to drop out of school. She did what she could to support her child and became a domestic helper. She is extremely hardworking and supported me in opening and getting White Spoon up and running. The business could not have been what it is today without her help. Erlyn is a bright girl like her mother, she got perfect grades in high school and even earned a full scholarship! She used to work after her classes to get money to pay for her dorm. So I thought her to be a most deserving and rather inspiring cause. Erlyn became our 4th cause and I hope in the future Erlyn is given more choices than her mother had.

Every business has challenges, what is yours?

White Spoon is transparent about who we donate to so we sometimes come across people that have an opinion regarding who we should help. So I often get to hear how I should help other more pressing needs like hunger, poverty and destitution as compared to education. To which I respond: I don’t aim to put out fires, I want to find the cause of the fire. That is how I see education and the solution to poverty. Like the old saying goes “Give a woman a fish, feed her for a day. Teach her how to fish, and she will feed herself and her family for a lifetime”. This is what I meant by sustainable giving. A personal hurdle was establishing the criteria in picking potential applicants. But I’ve come to realize that it is more effective to pick applicants that have the potential to help others rather than the applicant that needs the most help–to ensure that the ripple effect is greater. That is why one of the questions I ask of applicants is “how will you use your education to help someone you know”.

What is your advice to entrepreneurs who would like to add a CSR component to their business?

Consumers are becoming more and more conscious about their purchases and decisions. They now care more about how the products they use affect the environment, ecology and society. Not only that, but from a business owner point of view I feel like doing good constantly motivates me to do better. I want White Spoon to be the best because it helps people. If I stop doing what I do, how will I help these girls? I go to work everyday feeling like I have a purpose and a responsibility bigger than myself. So to add the CSR component to any business – first find a cause that is close to your heart and relevant to the present society. Then, create the right kind of awareness amongst your target audiences, involving them to make a bigger impact.

For more information:
www.whitespoon-bh.com
WhiteSpoon