For a laudable advocacy of empowering artisans by creating opportunities for them to earn fair wages, Rags2Riches (R2R) a Manila-based social enterprise was awarded as AirAsia Foundation’s first social enterprise grant in the Philippines.
Atty. Katrina Legarda , Chairperson of AirAsia Foundation ; Marianne Hontiveros, CEO of AirAsia Philippines handed the award to R2R CEO Reese Fernandez-Ruiz Through the award,
Rags2Rihes will receive USD13,275.00 from AirAsia Foundation to fund the training of 100 new artisan who will produce the ethical fashion and home accessories using upcycled scrap cloth,organic materials and indigenous fabrics. The awarding ceremony was held at
Vask Tapas and Grill Restaurant at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.The artisan are mainly from underprivileged communities in the Philippines and will be trained for at the
Rags2Riches Academy for 12 months. These artisan will gain access to the ASEAN Market because of the partnership forged with the AirAsia Megastore which will enable their products to be sold at AirAsia’s flights. To date R2R has trained 800 artisan in the country.
Starting July 7, 2013 two exclusively designed Rags2Riches bags,a wristlet and a foldable beach bag which will be available on all AirAsia flights from the Philippines and Malaysia.AirAsia Foundation is the philanthropic arm of AirAsia Group entrusted to share the company’s values of entrepreneurship, equal opportunity and innovation through ASEAN. Under its Charter, the foundation is mandated to support social enterprises as a way of empowering underprivileged individuals and to enable them to build sustainable livelihoods.
I super love this advocacy and the bags created by R2R! Kudos to R2R and AirAsia Foundation!
Stay gorgeous everyone!
good to hear more & more companies are reaching out. i love R2R! 🙂
First of all it is super cool that they won a grant and secondly OMG these bags are amazing! Are those pillows I spy in one of the first pictures? I would love to have some cute turquoise pillows that are hand woven, how cool!
Looks like you had a lot of fun. It is nice to see other programs in other countries!