London - Popularity and
awareness of social enterprises - businesses that trade to
address social problems - has flourished in recent years. From
A-list actors to celebrity chefs, here are five famous faces
running businesses with a mission to do good.
Hugh Jackman participates in a lighting ceremony at the Empire State Building to promote "The Greatest Showman" film in New York. Picture: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
HUGH JACKMAN
Famous for playing character Wolverine in the "X-Men" series
of films, Australian actor High Jackman first stuck his tungsten
talons into social enterprise in 2011 after a trip to Ethiopia.
On the trip Jackman helped out local coffee farmer Dukale
for a day and saw coffee traded, sparking an interest in fair
trade which ensures growers get a fair price for their crop.
Laughing Man coffee was founded in 2011 to trade directly
with growers, with a Laughing Man coffee shop opening in New
York's Manhattan.
Next came a tie-up with Keurig, a popular coffee machine in
the United States with Laughing Man pods now available. Keurig
then introduced Jackman to Kroger, a major U.S. supermarket
chain, according to CBS News.
Laughing Man coffee is now available in 1,800 stores across
the United States. All the profits go towards education,
community development and new business development projects in
the developing world, according to the Laughing Man website.
Rosario Dawson arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Unforgettable" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in April. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
ROSARIO DAWSON
US actress Rosario Dawson, star of "Men in Black II" and
"Sin City", launched her social enterprise Studio 189 with best
friend Abrima Erwiah in 2013 after travelling in Africa,
according go the project's website.
Studio 189 sells clothes that challenge the idea of cheap,
mass produced, fast fashion with the garments handmade in Ghana
with a focus on African patterns and fabrics while paying a
decent wage to the people who create them.
Studio 189 is a part of the United Nations Ethical Fashion
Initiative which aims to build a responsible fashion industry
where workers earn a living wage in good conditions while also
protecting the environment.
Pharrell Williams performs at To the Rescue! Los Angeles Human Society Benefit in Los Angeles. Williams is using music to sound the warning about climate change. Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
PHARRELL WILLIAMS
The Grammy award-winning US producer and performer
Pharrell Williams has been creative director of social
enterprise Bionic since 2010. Bionic takes plastic, shreds it,
heats it and spins it into two types of yarn used to make
everything from jeans to the roof linings and car seat covers.
To date Bionic said by email that it has recycled nine
million bottles by making the material. This number will grow as
Bionic has partnered with the charity Waterkeeper's Alliance to
use plastic found in the sea and washing up on the coast.
The United Nations has warned that if current pollution
rates continue, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish
by 2050.
Actor Michael Sheen Picture: Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
MICHAEL SHEEN
It was at Social Saturday, an annual event that encourages
people to spend money on goods and services that have a positive
social impact, that Welsh actor Michael Sheen declared his
interest in social enterprise.
Donning a Social Saturday T-shirt in 2016, the actor, famous
for his roles in the "Twilight Saga" and Oscar nominated film
"Frost/Nixon", said he wanted to understand how social
enterprise might be useful to his home country.
In April 2017 it was announced that he would become a patron
of industry body Social Enterprise UK. At an awards event in
November he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he would launch
his own social enterprise in 2018.
"Social enterprise is one of those tools for communities
that want to create their own opportunities, like where I come
from in the South Wales valleys," Sheen said.
He plans to start a "community hub" in Port Talbot to help
people start community-owned businesses and services, as threats
to the steel industry have put traditional jobs at risk.
Jamie Oliver
JAMIE OLIVER
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver started his restaurant
Fifteen in London in 2002 when he was just 26. It was named
after the number of disadvantaged young people Oliver attempted
to train as chefs there.
The first group were all unemployed; some were truants who'd
left school without qualifications, others had anger management
issues. To date, a third of all candidates have had a brush with
the law, Matthew Thomson, Fifteen's managing director, told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation.
New chefs have three months training in professional cookery
at college which is followed by 11 months of work in a Jamie
Oliver restaurant. The last month involves work experience
elsewhere, which can lead to a job.
Further Fifteen restaurants were opened in Amsterdam and in
Cornwall in southwest England. Over 500 chefs have been trained,
with 80 percent of them still working in kitchens.