Industrial designer Yves Béhar has become as well known for his social activism as for his work with companies like Jawbone and Herman Miller. Now his firm, Fuseproject, has joined Spring, a program to accelerate businesses geared toward young women in Africa and Asia. “At its core, the goal of Spring is to significantly impact the lives of 250 million adolescent girls living at the bottom of the economic pyramid,” says Béhar.
The program—funded by the Nike Foundation, USAID, and UKAID, among others—will launch this June, choosing 18 ventures in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda to participate in the first of several business boot camps. Spring invited Fuseproject to provide design consultation throughout the process, out of a recognition, says Béhar, that “if they wanted these businesses to be sustainable and scale globally, they would need strong design consideration.” Fuseproject experts have already started doing field research in Africa and will mentor local entrepreneurs through all elements of design, including prototyping and brand development.
While the first group of participants has not yet been selected, the Spring team is looking for businesses that will change the lives of adolescent girls in meaningful ways. “This could mean providing access to education, tools for hygiene and sanitation, lighting or heat in the home, or financial opportunity,” says Béhar. “It’s less about pretty toys, and more about tangible products and services that will dramatically affect the livelihood of girls and their communities.”
This isn’t the first time Fuseproject has used design as a launchpad for social good. The company worked with One Laptop Per Child, a program to provide underprivileged children with computers for educational purposes, and designs Ver Bien eyeglasses, which are distributed to low-income children. “Design is really how we experience the things around us, be it products, businesses, governments, or architecture,” says Béhar. “And good design shows us a different way to live.”
To learn more about Spring, go to springacceleratorrg . For more information on Fuseproject, go to fuseprojecom.
