Emprofit creates jobs through commission-based, door-to-door sales teams. We focus on employing the most vulnerable Haitians living in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Port-au-Prince. We lend products to our sales team, eliminating any debt or financial risk for our employees. We sell profitable products to middle and upper class consumers and subsidize the sale of social goods, such as solar lamps, to the poor. Profits are recycled to expand and provide employee benefits such as healthcare and education.  

Emprofit addresses the lack of jobs and economic opportunities in Haiti. The exacerbation of poverty continues each day that Haitians are unemployed, and hope decays with every broken promise. It is estimated by the CIA World Fact Book that 80% of Haitians live in poverty, with the majority earning less than $4 a day. The unemployment rate is at least 40%. The 2010 earthquake worsened conditions in Port-au-Prince with the loss of 250,000 lives and $8 billion in damages. In fall 2011, the IOM estimated that over 550,000 people still live in squalid IDP camps. 

Each day, our sales agents receive three products in a backpack. They are assigned to a certain middle or upper class neighborhood. Every sale that is made must be tracked with a receipt. Through the use of SMS messages, our managers will text us the total inventory, sales made and who worked everyday. We sell both profitable products, which allows us to earn money, and social goods, which gets life-changing products to those that need it most.  While working in the IDP camps, Haitians hand us their resumes, sometimes typed in English or handwritten in Creole. Emprofit hears Haitians loud and clear; job creation is the answer. We are taking a bold step in using door-to-door sales, a concept novel to Haiti, but our marketing research, including 231 surveys, suggests that Haitians are receptive to this approach. We feel that our model may be a sustainable way to help individuals in Port-au-Prince lift themselves, their families and their communities out of poverty. Our hope is to expand within Haiti but also use a similar approach to other urban poor areas of the world.