Project Tres began with this simple but powerful belief. Growing up in a difficult environment, our founder, Carla Maria de Souza, fought for a different future. Education opened the first door, leading her into Brazil’s fashion industry. But after six years working with top brands, she recognised that the industry wasn’t built to uplift those behind the products. And she wanted to change that. In 2015, Carla left her job and set out to learn from women shaping their own paths. Her journey led her to India, where she connected with local women, immersing herself in their lives and their struggles. She met a woman called Farida Bapu, a single mother navigating long hours and unstable pay to support her children. Though their backgrounds were different, their vision was the same: a future where women had real economic and personal independence. From that shared vision, Project Tres was born in 2016. The organisation partnered with Farida and 14 other women in India to build a local NGO (established in 2019). We expanded to Africa by working with Hai Africa, a Kenya-based NGO focused on children’s education and health, to bring our programmes to Nairobi. In both places, we’ve created safe spaces for women facing complex challenges, prioritising stability and self-reconnection. From there, we nurtured their skills, provided training, fair wages, and a network of women supporting each other.