The secret to success behind the work of Albina Ruiz can be found 3 minutes and 25 seconds into this Social Entrepreneur showcase segment produced by Deutsche Welle’s Global 3000 program. When one of Ruiz’s workers at Ciudad Saludable tries to explain her happiness to Ruiz by saying, “I used to be a housewife, but now I have a job, I sort the rubbish” Ruiz immediately fires back and takes it one step further. She has her arm around her co-worker’s shoulder and says: “No, you run a microbusiness! You’re not a refuse sorter, you’re a businesswoman, okay!”
Albina Ruiz and her organization, Ciudad Saludable, are living proof that a “social entrepreneur” does not always imply one who is dripping in business savvy, financial prowess, and an elaborate network. More than anything, you just need a little bit of grit and a whole lot of heart.
Ciudad Saludable is a leading organization in sustainability management that operates in Peru and the Andean regions. It came into fruition due to a simple observation by Ruiz. “I came [to study] in Lima, dreaming of a big capital city, but when I got there, everything was full of rubbish,” she explained. Unfulfilled expectations are a normal part of life, but what sets social entrepreneurs apart from others, is how they chose to respond to these disappointments.
When many of us enter a new environment that does not meet our needs, we do our best to re-adjust and “make do.” Yet there are always a few of us who take greater risks for the sake of common good. We ask ourselves, “What’s missing here? How can I fill this void? If I am feeling oppressed by my environment, surely there must be others who feel the same…How can we band together? How can we make this place better?” Albina Ruiz is one of those people.
She chose to enlist the outcasts of the community – those that sift through garbage dumps daily in order to find something to live on – and provide them official employment, health care and clean work uniforms. By organizing recycling and waste collection, negotiating trades, and partnering with the city, Ciudad Saludable has achieved enormous success. By working as a team, rubbish collectors gather more waste each day, make more trades, and receive a bigger paycheck. By recognizing the merit and importance of sustainability in the community, the rubbish collectors can now carry themselves with pride instead of shame. An incredible organization that came from an unlikely beginning.
An equally powerful moment in Global 3000’s story on Albina Ruiz comes at 6:18, when she says:
“This isn’t charity. We just put a seed in people’s hands so that it can grow and bear fruit.”
It’s not so much what she says as how she says it. Peru is a country of the rainforest and its people grow up with an understanding of the world that is cultivated around life in the rainforest. Ruiz could have explained her mission as “we just want to give people sustainable livelihoods and better opportunities,” but these are vague terms that do not conjure any specific imagery. If you want to be a social entrepreneur, you need to understand how to best relate to the community that you are trying to service. The example of a seed that will grow up and bear fruit is the perfect analogy for Peruvians as it speaks to a framework that they understand.
This is another valuable lesson on how to be an effective social entrepreneur: It’s not just what you do, it’s how you do it. Your delivery is as equally important as your message. As it is quoted on the Global 3000 website, according to a Chinese proverb: “If you can’t smile, you can’t set up a business.”
Ciudad Saludable
- Ciudad Saludable is a leading organization in the promotion of sustainable management and population health
- Organization Type: Non-Profit
- Website: http://www.ciudadsaludable.org/es/english.htm
- Founder(s): Ciudad Saludable
- Founded: 2001
- Location: Peru
- See complete company list here
Contributor Profile: Ashley
Ashley is a friend of anyone who is fighting the good fight for social change. She currently resides in Bilbao, Spain where she is teaching English and researching the history of the Basque conflict. Personal blog
Twitter: @socialearth
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