Michaela Turancova, 21, wants her fashion start-up Wingal to help women out of poverty

When 21-year-old management consultant Michaela Turancova decided to launch into the start-up world as an online fashion entrepreneur, she resolved that it must be about more than trying to make her fortune.

Having read Richard Branson's book Screw Business as Usual, Turancova decided online fashion subscription service Wingal, would fund the creation of a side venture aimed at helping women in the developing world escape poverty and become fashion designers.

With Wingal, customers subscribe to monthly personally-shopped clothing packages containing a complete outfit under a selected style of casual, corporate, beachy or cocktail.

"The premise was that the traditional way of doing business, making profits at any cost, was so unsustainable," Turancova says.

The book was full of examples of social enterprises killing every aspect of business. The idea just came to me."

Each box of clothes costs $65 and includes three clothing pieces and an accessory. The clothes are predominantly vintage and brands range from Kookai and Review to designers such as Roberto Cavalli and Tommy Hilfiger.

All of the profits from Wingal will go towards starting Wingal Seeds, a for-profit business which will help women in developing nations design and manufacture underwear.

Turancova, who is originally from Slovakia and comes from five generations of tailors and seamstresses, says Wingal will pay the women a commission, sell the products and then pass back 50 per cent of the profits from every sale to the designer.

"Something like this has so much potential ... it could quadruple the income of these women and when someone is empowered to be an entrepreneur, it has flow-on effects in their communities," she says.

"It will be a lot harder to start and could need some investment, but the next trip I take will be to India or Nepal to find some people and get some samples made for a proof-of-concept."

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