Starting a LOHAS company

My name is Sebastian Stjern and together with my wife, Lina, I’m starting a LOHAS company. LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyle Of Health And Sustainability and what we basically want to do is to save the world, one person at the time. As many agree we need to change certain things in the way we go about with our daily lives.
We want to give our customers a chance to make a difference with their actions as well as offer a product that is as good as or better than what you can get from other companies.

So it all boils down to the big question: What is it that we are going to do?

We are planning to start an online tailor shop which employs persons who are unlikely to be employed anywhere else, due to their past. We are planning to employ former prostitutes and street children who have little chance of making an honest living.
Our plan is not to give these persons aid in the traditional way, our goal is rather go give them a way of supporting themselves by getting a job.

This is what we want to do, and we want to do it in Nepal.

Why on earth have we decided on a small country in the Himalayans that, to be honest, most people couldn’t place on a map?
Well, we have several reasons.
1. We feel that we can make a difference in Nepal.
In Nepal the literacy rate is 29% among women and 49% over all. According to the CIA World Fact Book the GDP per capita in Nepal is $428 (rank 173 of 187 countries), in comparison The U.S. has $47,165 (100 times more), Sweden has $56,703 and the world leader in GDP, Liechtenstein has 145,734 (340 times more than Nepal).
2. We have managed to establish some important contacts in Nepal
3. Nepal has a long history of tailoring.
Today many Nepalese tailors are working abroad e.g. in Thailand, we want to keep this competence in the country, making it possible for persons to work in Nepal and not be forced to leave the country to make a living.

When we launch our site you will be able to order shirts made to your exact measurements, you will be able to choose among our ecological fabrics, what type of cuffs the shirt will have and much, much more.
Being 195cm (6’4 feet) tall I know first hand that it can be difficult to find a shirt that fits in many stores. So why not have one made that fits perfect to my measurements?

So is this just a blog to market a new site?
No, it’s not.
Of course, if the blog gets well liked more people will know about or company and thus, hopefully, we will succeed with our goals.
But that’s not all, we also want to:
1. Make you more aware about how your choices affect other people in the world.
2. Inform about the LOHAS concept.
3. Describe the day to day actions we take to launch the company.
4. Hopefully inspire someone else to start their own LOHAS company.

So if you find what I’m writing interesting, please continue reading this blog and tell your friends about it.