Project Isuga, an Arlington-based business founded by Coetzee, promotes a cause by the same method Tom’s Shoes has made famous via those Visa commercials: If you buy one thing from us, we’ll give one thing to someone in need. Who does Project Isuga support?
Project Isuga is a company that solely exists to improve the lives of a group of AIDS orphans in South Africa. The way we do this is by selling scarves, and for every scarf that we sell we donate a school lunch to a child in South Africa.
Why the one-for-one exchange?
The reason we’re doing this is we really believe in terms of giving back in business, we believe that if you incorporate giving into the core part of your business model, you can really influence change in the world, and we’re embracing this movement and also trying to spread the word to other companies to embrace the one-for-one business model.
Who do the school lunches feed?
We work with a charity over there that houses and takes care of a group of AIDS orphans. They don’t really go for the mass-market approach, and they’re not looking after thousands of them and giving them food and a place to rest. They’re looking after 15 AIDS orphans and really taking them from when they’re really young, 2 or 3 years old, and take them to school, house them, and put 15 really capable individuals back into society. The kids don’t have AIDS, just the parents have died from AIDS-related diseases.
How does it feel to give back to your home country?
I’m a South African, and just have a huge heart for South Africa and improving people’s lives there, and AIDS orphans is just a huge problem in South Africa right now.
Ben Giles
