Enterprise name Small Fires
What’s the trading activity We make kid’s books about growing up in different places around the world, that help little learners build empathy skills. Our stories are written by locals who tell what it’s really like to grow up in different countries, and which celebrate both our similarities and our differences.
What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?
We make real stories by real people about real places. That is to say, we make kid’s books that show what it’s really like to grow up in a different countries. Growing up, our understanding of the world was fuelled by news, advertising and very few (and boring) books, all of them selling a picture that was far from reality. Our stories are what we wish we’d had growing up: stories that show what it’s really like in other countries, with no agenda other than to build understanding, respect and empathy.
We partner with local change-makers from each country to write our stories, using their memories and photos to make the final book as true to life as possible. Money from each book (10% of revenue and 50% of profits) then goes back into supporting the change-makers work, empowering local leaders in that community.
How are you going with the work?
We’ve spent the last two years making the story and bringing it to life collaboratively, with four amazing women from around the world. It’s been a labour of love but we’re thrilled with what we’ve created together. Because our model involves profit-sharing, we’re not going with a traditional publisher and doing this ourselves. We’re currently selling advanced copies of our books (we need to sell 600 to be precise), to cover the costs of our first printing round. We’re excited to finally be sharing our story with the world, but finally getting started on the sales front is daunting!
Go to smallfires.co