Art with impact

Chris Akin understands the value of focus groups when it comes to identifying the strengths and weakness of a product. This skill came in handy when the serial entrepreneur decided with his twin brother, Doug, to turn his attention to fashion, choosing one of the most easy-to-wear accessories: the bracelet.

Chris, 35, took to asking friends and acquaintances to pick their favorite of the various tribal bracelets he layered on his arms to gauge which might become a hit. The only problem was, time and time again, they’d point to the one bracelet that was his, instead of the test pieces. It was a band of "upcycled" PVC pipe, shaped into a cuff and hand-engraved with African tribal designs.

"I’d be like, ‘Guys, that’s not really part of it.’ But the reality was, people were lukewarm about everything else," he said. "Nothing stood out but that bracelet."

Which put him in a bind. The bracelet had been a gift from a friend who had been doing community work in Africa, and Akin had lost track of her.

"I knew it was from Namibia, so I started connecting the dots, trying to find out who was making them and how they were making them. It was like searching for a needle in the haystack," he said.

"I was talking to the embassy, Peace Corps workers, anyone who might have a lead and found a couple of tribes that made them. It took a year of going back and forth before I was able to get on a plane to Africa. I had never been to Africa before, and my knowledge of the country is probably the same as anyone, so first, it was ‘Let’s find Namibia on the map.’"

Before launching The Base Project, Akin had a successful career as the chief operating officer of AdWalls, a company selling advertising in public and alternative spaces. But during a visit to his family in New York two years ago, he started talking to his twin brother, who also had a successful career in marketing, "and a common theme came out," he said.

"Something was missing in our lives. We felt unfulfilled and were looking for meaning in our work, and we thought, why not join forces and do something entrepreneurial that’s triple bottom line?" — an enterprise that takes people, planet and profit into account by combining philanthropic work with sustainable practices, while allowing him to make a living.

He was already accustomed to doing volunteer work for nonprofit and community-based organizations. He said his first job upon arriving in Hawaii a decade ago was with Goodwill Industries, and he continued working with the organization over time, as well as the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii.

"When you’re working directly with a 13-year-old in Nana­kuli, you know about his education, you know his home life, what his health needs are, so you know how you can make a difference," he said of the rewards and instant impact of grass-roots community work.

AKIN IS currently board chairman for Envision Hawai‘i, which brings young, public-minded social entrepreneurs together to nurture future leaders and come up with creative solutions for community problems.

Akin always liked the feeling of helping others, so the brothers formed The Base Project with the idea of supporting artisans in the developing world, helping them to market their wares globally and returning a portion of profits to their communities.

It was not a simple matter of buying goods, shipping them out and finding retail outlets. The brothers had to create their own market infrastructure where none existed.

"These businesses involved casually selling at the roadside," said Akin, who is currently working with about 24 carvers. "Something like quality control, which we take for granted here as a basic foundation of business, is a foreign concept there. Then you realize, how are you going to create a distribution network, how do you ship to America, how do you transfer money to someone without a bank account?

"It took a lot of meeting and talking with people on the ground, asking how we can help, what do the artisans need, what is a good fair-trade price."

He found a lot of helping hands on the ground from Peace Corps volunteers and other people in nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, who are trying to do the same things. "So when you show up with a good idea, with a desire to help with community development, economic development and a respect for the culture, they’re happy to engage and give you the help you need, whether it’s with translation services or referrals," Akin said.

Beyond commerce, the Akins were interested in helping various tribal communities in ways that would make the most impact. For seminomadic people, they found the needs were clean water and basic education. They found some children shut out of the school system because they had no shoes, a basic dress requirement. Other families could not pay for books or school fees.

For more developed communities, they envisioned establishing craft centers that would provide a place for artists to store materials and inventory, "with someone on the ground teaching business skills."

The Base Project recently added cotton patchwork bags ($15) from Ghana to its product line, available only at the company’s website.

Anticipating the day the tribes run out of scrap PVC pipe, Akin is working with plastic manufacturing companies and recycling centers to see whether they can salvage used pipe for artists’ use.

"Fifty years ago they would have been working with bone, horn, teeth and various natural materials. The reality is, PVC pipe is a resource now," he said.

The bracelets sell for $22 to $55 and are sold with a tag that reads, "Wear your impact."

"I don’t know if this could have happened 10 years ago," Akin said. "Before, tribal arts might have been relegated to mom-and-pop stores or one-off importers. Now, socially conscious brands are mainstream. It’s the zeitgeist of our time."