Enrou cofounders Ann Wang and Jessica Willison (Credit: Enrou)
There's an interesting trend happening among Millennial consumers: While fewer purchasing dollars are going toward homes, cars and expensive brands, there's a clear preference for quality products that create an impact. And with $600 billion coming out of Millennials' wallets each year, it's a trend that Ann Wang and Jessica Willison have spent a lot of time focused on. They're the cofounders behind Enrou, a social impact shopping site selling products from small artisans around the world.
"We want you to meet other human beings through our products," Wang says. "We put a lot of travel experience in our messages, so it's a global feeling that you can explore different countries with Enrou."
Just over one year old, the company works with 31 vendors in 57 global communities, and they care about a lot more than just product sales. One big piece of the business is storytelling -- building a relationship between the person who crafted the shoes, bag or bauble with the one who clicks their mouse to buy it. Another piece is providing resources to the communities that create those goods.
"Wages and how we structure payment to artisans really depend on local customs and community needs," Willison says. The could take shape as microloans for are entrepreneurs or a pool for things like community Internet access, school lunch programs or other sustainable initiatives. "Makers on the ground usually don’t have access to build a future for themselves," Wang adds. "Our company is based around giving individuals access to provide a future."
That's the winning initiative that landed Enrou a $400,000 prize at FORBES' 2014 Under 30 Summit. "I think I probably did the pitch 300 times in 48 hours," Wang says. "We just ran on adrenaline for three days straight."
They were able to launch Enrou a month later, and after a website revamp in May, they've clocked more than a 400% spike in site visitation that has continued to climb.
"We still have the funding, too," Wang says. "We’ve been pretty scrappy." Outside the Summit prize, Enrou has only raise around $200,000 in an early seed round, and it still spends almost zero dollars on marketing. "We take a lot of pride in that," Wang adds. "There are so many people discovering the site in organic ways, and every item they come back, they're spending more time on the site."
For Wang and Willison, they've been spending time in Smashd Labs, a 10-week accelerator headed by Atom Factory founder Troy Carter. Before that? Giving a TEDx talk on doing good in the everyday world, visiting the set of Shark Tank to talk business with Mark Cuban and, in-between, ramping up for Enrou's busy holiday season.
"We hold all our inventory here in the U.S.," Willison says. "A lot of our customers are buying many different products, so...they love getting that package when one item is from Ethiopia and one is from Guatemala. It's great we can package it together and create that strong Enrou experience."
Jewelry and products (Credit: Enrou)
In the longer-term, the duo's dream is to partner with big organizations and help support their vendors in even more direct ways than they already do.
"One of the biggest challenges of being a really green team is acting and executing quickly with very minimal fear," says Enrou cofounder Ann Wang. "And doing it with limited resources, we learned one of the most important things to foster and nurture is people."
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