Building a Sustainable Social Venture in Fast Fashion Retail
FeaturingTracey Chambers, Founder and CEO of The Clothing Bank,
and moderated by Professor Donald Weiss, Columbia Business School
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Columbia Business School, Uris Hall, Room 330
6:00-8:30 p.m.
Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres with RSVP
Join us for an interactive discussion to learn about how Tracey Chambers, founder and CEO of The Clothing Bank and former head of finance of Woolworths in South Africa, transitioned from corporate finance to social entrepreneurship. This session will explore
- how shared value partnerships between business and social ventures get established;
- what solutions The Clothing Bank uses to generate education and employment opportunities in underserved communities; and
- how insights from her experience in training women in entrepreneurship, trading, and micro-franchising, could be applied to other sectors or geographies.
About the Speaker:
Tracey is a Chartered Accountant with 25 years' experience in the corporate and social sector. Before starting The Clothing Bank she worked for Woolworths as the Head of Financial Planning and Performance Management. In 2010, she founded The Clothing Bank, a nonprofit organization which inspires, skills, and supports unemployed South Africans to eradicate poverty in their families.
The Clothing Bank has won many prestigious awards which include:
- Western Cape Premier Business Award in 2017 – Business of the Year and Social Entrepreneur of the Year
- Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2016 - an international award aligned to the World Economic Forum
- Western Cape Businessmen Women of the Year 2015
- The Clothing Bank was selected as an Ashoka Fellow in June 2018.