Street Smarts

SOUFFRANT DESCENDS FROM A LINE of enterprising Haitian female street vendors. Now she’s taking the family business global, with a plan to unite street artisans worldwide as founder of the online marketplace Vendedy.

Incorporated in June 2014, Souffrant’s startup—dubbed the “Etsy of the Caribbean” and “eBay for Street Vendors” by Gulf Elite magazine—aims to digitize the estimated $10-trillion street vending industry by connecting artisans to global consumers through mobile technology. Following an initial launch in Haiti last winter, she partnered with IBM to scale up her platform to expand into the greater Caribbean region this fall and Latin America and Africa by 2016.

In Vendedy’s model, artisans upload photos of their crafts onto online galleries where consumers from around the world bid and purchase during 7-to 14day sales. Local agents help with logistics, and artisans receive payments via text messages. Vendedy promises a tenfold increase in artisans’ incomes by selling their merchandise at global market value in U.S. dollars—an effort that prompted the Clinton Global Initiative to honor the firm with a 2014 Poverty Alleviation Commitment award. Although Souffrant’s goal of engaging 100,000 vendors across 100 cities in 10 years sounds daunting, her passion and estimated multimillion- dollar business model have caught the interest of venture capitalists and the likes of Microsoft, UPS and cloud com- puting giant Rackspace. “This is a difficult endeavor, it’s bold,” says Souffrant from Dubai, where she is pursuing a business degree. “Vendedy is honoring the old traditions of the past and changing our perspectives on street vending.”

Souffrant connects street vendors to a global market.

“I grew up in this market and know it like the back of my hand. I’m not stopping. I’m relentless.”