Giving Voice Through Innovation: Creating a New initiative for a Media Non-Profit

A wise innovator once told us, “Finding product market fit solves 100 percent of 50 percent of the problem–you have to build something that fits the organization’s strengths.” We found this sagacious advice while working with the Munathara Initiative, an award-winning non-profit championing free speech in the Arab world. Recognizing that donor priorities change, and sometimes radically so, The Munathara Initiative wanted to diversify its funding streams to include impact and commercial sponsors. The firm’s executive director, however, needed help learning about, and developing a product to transition into the world of for-profit social enterprise. Through interviews, on-the-ground research, business modeling and financial forecasting, WhiteLabel was able to identify a niche that fit the market’s needs and the organization’s unique capabilities and resources: The Munathara Creative Labs, a studio dedicated to fostering creative businesses, fueling democracy, and empowering civil society across the MENA region.