Devin Hibbard
Executive Director at BeadforLife
Devin is a thought leader on social entrepreneurship and how to use business training + social empowerment to allow women to transform their lives. As the founder and Executive Director of BeadforLife, Devin has created an innovative model of Transformation Trade in which impoverished women earn income through the creation of hand-made paper jewelry, but use that as a spring board into starting their own local businesses before graduating. 81% of graduates have successful businesses 2 years after graduating, and over half are no longer considered poor by global standards. BeadforLife is itself a non-profit social enterprise, which is 90% self funded through product sales.
Devin and BeadforLife have been featured on the Today Show, O Magazine, Nick Kristof's New York Times column, Vanity Fair, Lehrer News Hour, Family Circle and dozens of other publications.
BeadforLife is now launching a global scale up of their entrepreneurial training for the ultra-poor, and will reach half a million women around the world by 2014.