Blog: Creative, resilient, and dynamic women working towards a sustainable future

Happy International Women’s Day!

In 2022, International Women’s Day is focused on Changing Climates: Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow. To celebrate, we are sharing stories from inspiring women who are leading the way for the Business Partnership Platform (BPP). These leaders are bringing innovative market solutions to transform their communities today for a sustainable tomorrow.

“Harnessing the skills and knowledge of women to conserve our natural resources and create a healthier, more sustainable planet is central to reaching a net-zero 2050.” – UN Women

 We at the BPP support inclusive business partnerships that champion equality. Businesses can provide a wide variety of life altering products and services to women, break down barriers to non-traditional roles and help to shift gender norms.  

We are thrilled to support impactful business partnerships around the world, with women leading the way to sustainable climate action.

Meet Rohini Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of Sea&Soil

Fijian seaweed business Sea&Soil are working in 110 coastal villages, home to more than 100,000 women, to scale seaweed production and create a viable market for environmentally sustainable products. As CEO, Rohini is focused on harnessing the skills and knowledge of women to build an alternate income stream while introducing new carbon sink products to the market. Sea&Soil’s products reduce the use of chemicals in agriculture and animal methane emissions and improve yields.

Women were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in Fiji, particularly where tourism in rural areas was abruptly halted. Rohini and her team at Sea & Soil are partnering with the Australian Government through the Business Partnerships Platform to create more income earning opportunities for rural women and to scale their business model. The partnership supports the establishment of women producer groups and a digital platform to support skill development and financial literacy.

You can watch this video to learn more about the work Rohini and Sea & Soil are doing.

Meet Dr Lyndal Hugo, Co-founder of Orlar

“At Orlar, we don’t just grow food. We grow people too.”

Vietnam is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with more than 21.5 million people living in low-lying coastal and delta areas. Lyndal and her team at Orlar are supporting women and the environment by creating employment opportunities while rejuvenating the Mekong Delta’s agricultural land back to biodiversity.

Orlar’s vertical pod technology is ten times more productive compared to other farming alternatives, using 95% less water, less land, and zero greenhouse gas emissions. Lyndal and her team are women-led with more than 80% women in every level of the workplace.

Orlar is partnering with the Australian Government, Raise Partners and SNV through the Business Partnerships Platform to test and expand existing vertical farm technology to demonstrate the climate and economic value of vertical farms in the Mekong Delta, an area particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

See more about what Lyndal and the team are doing here.

Meet Kamili, ATEC customer

In Bangladesh, ATEC is changing the lives of women, giving time back in their days, improving natural environments, and providing cleaner air in homes.

BPP Partner ATEC has introduced biodigester technology to provide biogas for cooking. In Bangladesh, over 85% of households are reliant on firewood and cow dung for cooking. Women spend around 150 hours per year collecting these fuels and four hours a day setting fires, cooking, and cleaning pots. Biogas cooking has the potential to reduce indoor air pollution by 80%, offset greenhouse gas emissions from burning wood, generate carbon credits to make the biodigesters more affordable, and giving women valuable time back in their day.

Meet Kamili, an ATEC customer who now has access to ATEC’s biodigester technology.   For households like Kamili’s, this technology produces less smoke and soot, leading to improved health outcomes and reduced time cleaning.

ATEC is partnering with the Australian Government through the Business Partnerships Platform to provide more rural households with sustainable and affordable biogas. Watch this video to learn more about the partnership.

Meet sisters Didi, Bahini, and Tanahun, Build Up Nepal Entrepreneurs

Meet Build Up Nepal’s Didi, Bahini, and Tanahun, three sisters who joined together to form their own brick manufacturing company. Using Build Up Nepal’s compressed earth technology, women like Didi, Bahini, and Tanahun are becoming entrepreneurs building safe, affordable homes, and resilient incomes in their local communities.

A BPP partnership with Build Up Nepal, Engineers without Borders Sweden, S&S Management Services and the Australian Government is scaling up this eco-friendly brick business model throughout Nepal. The partnerships aims to save 10,305 tonnes of Co2 emissions from traditional manufacturing methods, while empowering women like these three sisters to establish brick manufacturing companies.

A year on from establishing their business, Didi, Bahini, and Tanahun are financially independent, “after working here, we don’t have to ask our husbands for money.” The sisters are now looking ahead at expanding their business and hiring more locals to help protect their environment.

You can watch this video to learn more about the BPP partnership.