Impulse Social Enterprises (ISE) is the heart of a collaborative ecosystem that provides sustainable livelihood and dignity for all, especially women and children, among tribes in Northeast India and other countries of South and Southeast Asia.

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The Impulse Social Enterprises ecosystem has created a range of products and services that use local knowledge, traditional arts and crafts, natural resources, and indigenous talent – layered with contemporary design and thinking, modern technology, professional marketing and sales support, and financial assistance.

The focus of all our efforts is trade, not aid.

For instance, we empower local tribes to leverage their traditional skills of weaving ethnic textiles and producing handmade products, and earn regular income through our artisan brand of apparel and home furnishings!

We use our knowledge of indigenous tribes, and insights on local issues, to provide research reports and consultancy services that feed CSR efforts and select commercial ventures, which in turn add value to the lives of artisans and tribes we work with.

Income generated from our research and consultancy projects is further invested back into development initiatives and helps sustain our own mentoring and financing efforts.

Why do we do all this?

It all started back in 1987, when our founder Hasina Kharbhih who was still in school, started volunteering with and helping out the less fortunate people in her hometown Shillong. One thing led to another and Hasina got drawn to the idea that she was going to spend her life helping those who’d been knocked to the ground by poverty, to actually stand up and earn a sustainable livelihood.

But it wasn’t to be an easy or simple path for Hasina. Because along the way, she and a group of like-minded individuals created the Impulse NGO Network and jumped headlong into fighting a related issue that had caught her attention and was giving her sleepless nights – the issue of human trafficking, and the unsafe migration of women and children from Meghalaya.

The Impulse Model (formerly known as the Meghalaya Model)

The Impulse NGO Network led by Hasina ended up not just rescuing countless victims and fighting traffickers across the eight states of the northeast, but also created awareness and support groups around the issue and its causes. This eventually led to the creation of the globally acclaimed Impulse Model (formerly known as the Meghalaya Model) that works with the protocols of 6Ps: Partnership, Prevention, Protection, Policing, Press, Prosecution, and 6Rs: Reporting, Rescue, Rehabilitation, Repatriation, Re-integration, Re-compensation.

Addressing the cause, along with the symptoms

Along the way, the Impulse Social Enterprises team also recognised and constantly pointed out that to eliminate human trafficking, it was imperative to eliminate the socio-economic problems that breed the evil. Which brings us to sources of sustainable livelihood and the purpose of Impulse Social Enterprises.

With the Impulse NGO Network well established, in the minds of the local populace as well as among powers that be, and encouraged by the full support of various state governments led by Meghalaya, state police forces, the judiciary, as well as recognition by the UN, Hasina and the team at Impulse NGO Network felt it was time to spend more time and effort on Impulse Social Enterprises (ISE).

While the Impulse NGO Network would continue to create awareness and fight the issue of human trafficking, ISE would focus on generating sustainable livelihoods, which would in turn help prevent unsafe migration and let locals live with dignity and financial security.

Profit, For Greater Good. The Birth of our Social Enterprise.

Impulse Social Enterprises (ISE) was formally set up as a for-profit entity, with the sole purpose of developing an ecosystem for sustainable livelihood.

The aim is not to maximise shareholder profit, but reinvestment in the enterprise for partner enhancement and long-term socio-economic impact.