OYW Ambassador Kevin Smiley is the founder of SuraiTea Inc. - a Canadian tea packaging social enterprise which hires recently-arrived Syrian refugees. They offer five types of jasmine-scented organic teas; as jasmine is the national flower of Syria, it provides a meaningful connection to their home country.
Kevin conceived the idea in February 2016, and fully incorporated his enterprise the following month. With the aim of providing sustainable employment to refugees, Kevin sought to provide opportunities for them to succeed and better integrate in Canadian society. He also hopes to source corporate donations for the non-profits aiding their resettlement. He envisions that by demonstrating their ability to find jobs and flourish in local companies, Canada will accept more refugees.
SuraiTea from Cloud in the Sky Studios on Vimeo.
SuraiTea completed its first production run of 1000 tins of tea on National Refugee Day on 4 April 2016. SuraiTea also won the Startup Canada Social Enterprise Award for Ontario under the ‘Entrepreneur-Led Businesses Demonstrating Excellence’ category.
Congratulations to Kevin on his efforts to spread positive change for refugees.
You can support his venture here.
