Prosperity Candle L3C is a social venture that works to empower women entrepreneurs in distressed regions to not only survive, but prosper and thrive. We achieve this by offering high quality gift options to conscious consumers.

We have completed our pilot project in Iraq and are now piloting our model with Iraqi women refugees in Springfield, MA. Expanding our market presence and offering compelling gifts will position us to scale up in Iraq and expand to Rwanda and Haiti.

Six years ago, members of the Prosperity Candle team envisioned a simple yet innovative business model we call "shared prosperity". Simply stated, it is an import, marketing and distribution business that prioritizes social benefit to a group that is among the most isolated from global commerce – women entrepreneurs in places of distress – through ongoing support, sustained market access, and regular profit-sharing.

Taking fair trade a step further, our company considers a living wage as the starting point from which a Prosperity Candle producer can develop into a successful entrepreneur. We view each woman trained in candle-making as a partner eligible for quarterly profit-sharing. Rather than providing year-end charitable donations to worthy causes, we directly profit-share with each producer every 3 months. This assures the opportunity to earn well above an average income while also providing incentive to deliver high quality product.

Our model starts with the operational structure and margins of the founders’ previous successful import companies. It then modifies the value chain to incorporate thousands of independent producers in challenging environments by integrating existing programs of international NGOs (non-governmental organizations), removing intermediaries, and providing ongoing support through a linked non-profit foundation. Essentially, we rearrange the key players to account for a higher cost structure, and then distribute the benefits upstream.

The Prosperity Candle gift collection is now growing to include a wider range of candle products. As we grow our marketing and sales presence we prioritize connecting customers to entrepreneurs to create a compelling woman-to-woman connection through global commerce.