Shokay is a social enterprise that connected an 'unused resource' at Tibetan nomads' feet to world markets and pride. In 2006, Harvard Kennedy School graduates Carol Chyau (Taiwan) and Marie So (Hong Kong), inspired by Grameen Bank's Yunus, encountered yak down (a yak's inner coat) on the Tibetan plateau of Qinghai. At the time there was no product market for yak down, and to nomads the wool meant little more than clothing for their own use. Based in Shanghai, the two launched 'Shokay' (Tibetan for yak down), buying down directly from nomads and building an integrated system in which a women's cooperative in Shanghai's Chongming Island knits it. Fair-trade-style direct sourcing raised nomads' income 10–30%, and 1% of sales went to a community-development fund for health training and the like, benefiting over 800 nomads. Creating a yak-down market from nothing, it now has B2B supply to COS and Arket (H&M group), Bonobos and others, plus its own retail. Yak is low-carbon and helps conserve grasslands. Above all, it gave young Tibetans the pride of 'our wool becomes such beautiful products' and a motive to start their own businesses. Carol won the Cartier Women's Initiative and other awards.
●●○ medium
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
Shokay: Tibetan nomads' yak down, to world markets. The letter is B; certainty is medium. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q3; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
Zhou, a Tibetan woman in Heimahe township, Qinghai, wakes at 5:30 a.m. and leads a typical nomad's life of cooking, milking yaks, making butter/cheese, and carrying fuel and water. Like her, an early participant in Shokay, nomads sell yak down that had only been for their own use, raising income 10–30%, and can receive health training from the 1%-of-sales community fund. The benefit appears as the collective of Tibetan nomads like Zhou and the women knitters of Chongming Island.
Source nature: Shanghai Daily / P2 Independent (Shanghai Daily). Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- In 2006, Harvard graduates Carol Chyau and Marie So founded it. The world's first yak-down social enterprise: sourcing directly from Qinghai nomads → knit by a women's cooperative on Chongming Island. Nomads' income up 10–30%, 1% of sales to a community-development fund (over 800 in health training). It created a yak-down market from nothing, supplying COS/Arket/Bonobos and others. Carol is an Echoing Green Fellow and won the Cartier Women's Initiative.P1 Independent (Cartier Women's Initiative) / Cartier Women's Initiative
− effects (confirmed)
- No confirmed −.
- S
- c
- a
- l
- e
- i
- s
- l
- o
- c
- a
- l
- ;
- t
- h
- e
- 1
- 0
- –
- 3
- 0
- %
- i
- n
- c
- o
- m
- e
- r
- i
- s
- e
- i
- s
- s
- e
- l
- f
- -
- r
- e
- p
- o
- r
- t
- e
- d
- ;
- a
- p
- r
- e
- m
- i
- u
- m
- -
- f
- i
- b
- e
- r
- b
- u
- s
- i
- n
- e
- s
- s
- d
- e
- p
- e
- n
- d
- e
- n
- t
- o
- n
- d
- e
- m
- a
- n
- d
- .
- Expanding B2B supply to reach more Tibetan families; traceability (blockchain); best practice on mountain ecosystems and pastoralism with ICIMOD; collaboration at Shokay Lab.
A second look
The plus is Tibetan nomads' income, women's employment and cultural dignity (People) and low-carbon yak/grassland conservation (Nature), backed by independent evaluation from Harvard/Echoing Green/Cartier, several independent reports, and health training for over 800 people. Caveats: as a social enterprise the scale is local (hundreds to a few thousand families), the 10–30% income rise is self-reported (though corroborated in several outlets), and it is a premium/luxury-fiber supply chain dependent on demand.
Sources
How to read this assessment
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the story an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q3 | Back to top