A women sells sachet soup items at the Mile 12 Market in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Capitalism gets a bad rap these days. Millions of Americans—Democrat and Republican—are frustrated with the U.S. economy, and manyIt’s simply not true. At the heart of capitalism is the entrepreneurial spirit. Unhindered by the government, the free market empowers an entrepreneur to start a business. It empowers a small business owner to open their first location and hire their first employee.
These are real people benefitting from small business—once poor, now prosperous. From America to Senegal, entrepreneurship also begets more entrepreneurship. I try to help other local businesses in the spirit of collaboration, leaning on their products and services which in turn leads to more job creation. For instance, each of my products comes in a hand-sewn leather bag made by CAWAAN, a family-run Senegalese company that has produced handmade leather goods for five generations.
My story is one of many and many. Around the world, there are countless entrepreneurs struggling, succeeding, and everything in between on behalf of themselves, their families, employees, job-seekers, clients, and customers.tells these stories, focusing primarily on female entrepreneurs who are defying all odds and embracing the free market to change their lives. There is Peru’s Gladys Yupanqui, who founded a mini-market and is now looking to expand.