| The Cool Company Awards 08 |
And the winner is…
DOIN’ TIME
No swanky office. No massive profits. No phenomenal growth statistics. But one very, very cool reason for being. Aside from producing and selling a cool clothing label of the same name, Doin’ Time is run by youth inmates at Port Phillip Prison as a program to teach skills and build self-esteem.
Anne Hooker, the youth development officer at Port Phillip Prison, has been helping youth inmates find their ‘inner entrepreneur’ since Doin’ Time was founded in 2005.
Initially established as an experiment to monitor prisoners’ ability to work with each other and motivate positive thinking within the group, Doin’ Time has evolved into a successful business that donates all profits to charities nominated by the inmates themselves.
According to Hooker, inmate turnover in the jail is very high, which proves both a blessing and a curse. While continual re-training is necessary, the constant ‘changing of the guards’ also gives a greater number of ambitious inmates the opportunity to work for Doin’ Time during their incarceration.
Being cool isn’t always about making money. Sometimes it’s about what value the company gives back. Doin’ Time was a clear winner in the Social Capitalist category for that reason. A prison sentence early in life can dash a young person’s hopes and dreams. However, with Doin’ Time, Port Phillip Prison has found a way to foster and grow the innovator within, through a socially-constructive medium.
At Anthill, we think that there is nothing cooler than entrepreneurs who fight through hardship to deliver the goods. And surely there is no bigger adversity than ‘doing time’.
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