社企聚落

Author: Renee Hsieh
Translator: Alvin Lin

Blue Seeds is proud to have been welcomed to the Social Enterprise Hub as part of the second cohort of social enterprises, each working together to grow their businesses and carve their legacies into their respective communities. 

An unwavering commitment from Taiwan’s treasured soils to international lands

With pollution more severe than ever and health hazards on the rise, Blue Seeds CEO, Stephanie Chan, realized the need to take a stand against the environmental hormones that plague our ecosystems today. As she boldly took her first steps into Taiwanese agriculture, she aims to rediscover the sustainable relationship between humans and the environment. With this vehement passion to serve the Earth and our society, she has brought Blue Seeds into the Social Enterprise Hub to unite with other driven peers to a movement to improve all facets of our future.

The protection of our global home is the responsibility of every single person. Starting with our local lands, Stephanie and Blue Seeds aims to propel this sustainable vision into the global mainstream by using all-natural personal care products to invite everyone in supporting this journey. 

The Social Enterprise Hub’s first anniversary 

With the theme of “Using societal impact to drive a more sustainable future”, Taiwan’s first hub for local social enterprises celebrates its first anniversary on July 1^st, 2016. A day welcoming friends from all over the island, each organization proudly demonstrated their missions through presentations and workshops as they connected people of their community in a joint vision to work towards elevating our communities through innovation and gratitude. 

Of course, Blue Seeds wouldn’t miss out on this opportunity and quickly stepped up to the plate in holding a workshop to demonstrate how we can take care of yourselves by using the very plants that grow around us. Inviting long-time supporters and curious newcomers alike, Stephanie led the session by sharing the philosophy behind aromatherapy through Blue Seeds’ all-natural products, and even with plants that she grows herself at home! 

“Using the purest form of nature, we are able to take better care of both ourselves and our environment. This is how we can take the first steps to reconciling the years of damage that we have incurred on ourselves with overexposure to all the chemicals that exist in most market products.” In less than two hours, the audience was presented an entirely different outlook on the products that we use everyday and were given guidance as to how we can start this movement to a healthier future, one person at a time. 

「一開始就在 FlyingV 上贊助,使用產品之後覺得喜歡,所以當在 Facebook 上看到活動的時候就馬上找朋友一起參加!」芙彤園有感忠實顧客長期以來的支持與認同,特地舉辦《如何用天然香草作好自我保健》講座,由芙彤園執行長詹茹惠透過自身的經驗與專業的精油調配技術講述天然香草的益處。

「用天然產品是和環境相處比較好的方式,我們過去因為沒有意識到而生活在石化產品中,但對人體長久累積的傷害是很難去預防的,所以有機會利用天然的香草去減少化學的成分是很好的一件事!」短短兩小時的演說,涵蓋著各式各樣的資訊,但不變的是守護潔淨的心意。

Governments, social enterprises, and citizens united in a big step towards a sustainable future

Just in their first generation, the Social Enterprise Hub, comprised of 10 organizations at the time, already held over 300 events, from seminars to workshops, to better serve their local communities. Now inviting a brand new cohort, the tally is up to over 30 enterprises that are joined hand-in-hand with long-time supporters from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Legislative Yuan, and the Taiwan NPO Self-Regulation Alliance – and they’re ready to stir things up. 

“The growth of social enterprises needs to be fostered, whether by the public or private sectors. A vote for them is a vote for our future, so we are ready to provide all the resources we can give.” In the words of Wenyen Hsu, the Hub’s founder, “Right now, many social enterprises are still like children that need to be guided, but with the support of the government and of our local citizens, they can really work towards making our country, and ultimately our world, a better place.” 

Following this example, Blue Seeds has made an unwavering commitment towards promoting a more sustainable marketplace and an all-natural, clean production process as one of the many gears in the joint effort to a brighter legacy for the generations to come.

如同社會企業共同聚落策劃人徐文彥所言,創業如同孩子學步,即使路途崎嶇難行,但當政府、企業、民間齊心協力,共創美好的社會勢在必行。

當接下象徵希望與夢想的氣球那一刻,見證芙彤園對於堅定以「綠色消費」與「清潔生產」實踐「永續發展」的諾言,同時代表著芙彤園的正式進駐將成為壯大社會企業共同聚落的推手之一。