Haiti Hurricane Matthew, a category four storm, whipped through the poorest country in the western hemisphere with 145 mph winds and 3 feet of rain earlier this October. The destruction, devastation and death toll left behind are all too...
Women’s rights are human rights. 1. 1945 UN Charter With the goal of international co-operation in mind, the UN Charter gave “fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” 2. 1946 Commission on the Status of...
The word “sustainable” is mentioned nine times on the Prosperity Catalyst website. When searching Google for the word “sustainable” I found that results ranged from the Olympics to the United Nations. A word that is most commonly associated with...
We made a promise to the Iraqi women in our program. We promised to train them to make and sell candles, and two years later, we’ve completed our first shipment. Despite obstacles along the way, such as delayed shipments...
This week, Prosperity Catalyst was a featured exhibitor at the NY NOW Trade Show, a leading trade show for the home, lifestyle and gift market. The three day event represents an opportunity for a wide range of exhibitors to show...
Greetings from Port-au-Prince! As I sit to write this, the one word that stands out in my mind is “catalyst.” When I looked up the word in Webster’s Dictionary, there were two definitions that stood out: 1) to bring...
Our US-based Iraq program staff (Stephanie Finigan, Zedan Mohamad, and Liz Mastors) flew to Amman, Jordan last week to convene with our Baghdad-based staff (Farooq Gariyoka, Rawad Sabar, Mohanad Dheyaa Tawfeeq, Mayada Alsafi, and Zeina Vasee). The team came...
This Mother’s day, we are lighting a candle to celebrate more than a hundred mothers who are part of our program in Baghdad. These resilient women have overcome unimaginable hardship to provide a better future for themselves and their...
In order to administer candle-making training to women in Baghdad, our local team identified ten women willing to undergo intensive candle-making training so that they could pass on this knowledge to other women in our program and serve as...
By Linda Strohmeyer - I have served as Founding Board Chair of Prosperity Catalyst for over 2 and half years now. After my career at Goldman Sachs, I decided to dedicate time to supporting organizations that were having...
As I reflect on the current and future success of Prosperity Catalyst, I am reminded of a conversation I had recently with a former colleague, Sarah Mutesi, now Marketing Director at Gahaya Links, a Rwandan handicrafts vendor. Gahaya Links...
I remember the moment when I knew I wanted to be a part of Prosperity Catalyst’s mission to launch and incubate women-led businesses in distressed parts of the world. It was the unique business model that was focused on not...
Dear friends, I am writing to let you know that at the end of this month I will be stepping down as Executive Director of Prosperity Catalyst. It has been an absolute privilege to serve our mission by leading...
I’m currently in Istanbul with Mohanned, our Iraq Program Manager, Rawad, our Iraq Business Manager, and Ted, President of Prosperity Candle. We are here to provide training to four women who were all trained to make pillar candles during...
In April 2014, a group of Catalyzers traveled to Haiti to see and join in the work of Prosperity Catalyst. The following is a reflection by one of those Catalyzers, Dana Frost, on her time spent with the women...