Provo CEO wins Worldwide Businesswoman of the 12 months | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

Courtesy World Commerce Affiliation

The World Commerce Affiliation of Utah named Melissa Sevy, founder and CEO of Ethik, their Worldwide Businesswoman of the 12 months.

Sevy, of Provo, was acknowledged on the WTA Girls in Worldwide Enterprise Convention. Ethik is a Provo-based company reward provider using artisans from around the globe

By Sevy’s management, the corporate helps hundreds of individuals escape poverty — together with human trafficking survivors, single moms, and widows — by means of truthful wages and dignified employment in creating moral handcrafts.

The WTA of Utah yearly honors a lady who has contributed considerably to worldwide enterprise, acts as a cultural ambassador and promotes worldwide relations.

“Their group has been capable of accomplish some outstanding and very worthwhile accomplishments for girls and women within the state of Utah and throughout the globe. It was an honor to current Melissa with the award this yr, and we applaud her success in Ethik,” stated Scott Bell, WTA of Utah president.

Courtesy World Commerce Affiliation

Since its inception in 2020, Ethik has employed over 2,800 artisans worldwide together with teams within the U.S., Guatemala, Palestine, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Rwanda and Uganda. These artisans help over 10,500 relations and labored almost 1 million fair-pay work hours to create a whole lot of hundreds of handcrafted objects.

“Melissa was chosen by the board of the WTA of Utah due to her extraordinary international and humanitarian relations,” stated WTA of Utah secretary MacKenzie Leavitt. “She has proven that you may have a compassionate and profitable enterprise. At her core, she has proven each instance of a pacesetter in enterprise and for girls all over the place.”

Sevy graduated from Brigham Younger College with a level in public well being. After commencement, she went to Uganda to work with a nonprofit educating individuals about well being care and sanitation. Whereas educating public lessons about well being, she discovered a useful lesson.

“Many individuals we have been educating couldn’t afford cleaning soap,” Sevy stated.

So, Sevy and two different school pals began a nonprofit in Uganda the place artisans would make necklaces to be bought to assist get out of poverty.

“The handcraft sector is the second largest on this planet with agriculture being primary,” Sevy stated. “This can be a nice lever to get out of poverty.”

Ethik purchases the crafts from artists and sells it to firms within the U.S.

“The 2 greatest points are that they (artisans) can’t entry the worldwide market and they’re underneath paid. The markup is with the center man,” Sevy stated.

Whereas Ethik’s workplace is positioned in The Startup Constructing in Provo, in addition they have a warehouse.

“In accepting this award, I’m right here as a proxy for a whole lot of ladies worldwide. These girls are extremely vibrant, gifted, and succesful,” Sevy stated. “Nonetheless, because of the coordinates of their birthplace, they’ve beforehand lacked one factor that I used to be simply born into – alternative. So from all of us, we categorical gratitude for receiving this award from The World Commerce Affiliation of Utah – a pacesetter in our state for championing girls. They’ve gone past mere rhetoric and have been one of many first organizations to create areas that help, join, and produce girls in worldwide enterprise collectively.”

Sevy and her husband, Devin Mattson, have a 1-year-old daughter who has already made her first journeys to Uganda.

Ethik boasts that they establish and empower handicraft artisans by paying an above-average wage that enables them to look past primary survival wants and spend money on training, healthcare, and long-term belongings — making a brighter future for themselves and their households.

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