The best advice I’ve ever received was from my college economics professor. “Think local, act global.” While this is a commonly used phrase, I’m not convinced it’s one that’s commonly acted upon … that is until I had the opportunity to interview L.A.-based startup Enrou, a central marketplace for fashionable products that empower communities around the world.

With retailers teetering on the line of using charities as a marketing strategy rather than actually supporting them, Enrou’s business model is based solely on helping others. This approach helped Enrou win Forbes’ “$400,000 Pressure Cooker” competition at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia last month. Ann Wang, the 23-year-old co-founder and CEO of Enrou, discussed with The Inner Circle the brand’s mission and how it plans to grow its impact over the next few years in this exclusive interview.

Inner Circle: What makes Enrou different from other online marketplaces?
Ann Wang: What makes us a little bit different is, yes, we are an online-conscious marketplace, but we only work within developing communities nationally and globally, not developing countries. That’s very specific. The idea is we partner with organizations that are working within developing communities, and we employ those local communities, wherever they may be, to create our product. It’s really providing a way to empower consumers to reduce global poverty with every purchase, while also providing a really unique experience shopping online. We want people to discover who made their product, where the product was made and, most importantly, understand how their purchase directly impacted and invests in an individual.

IC: How did the idea of Enrou come about?
AW: My background is in international justice. I’ve worked for a lot of organizations such as Invisible Children, and I wanted to find a way to make a global impact in everyday lives. I think everyone in this millennial generation knows how important it is to create a global impact and have that conscious lifestyle, but they may not know how to create that impact. Enrou is a way to connect those consumers, or really anybody, who wanted to build a better world within everyday lives. So we began working with organizations that we thought were incredible in the work that they were doing on the ground — market financing programs, education, health — and also producing products to help those initiatives expand, but they couldn’t go to market. We provide market access through Enrou’s platform and then connect them with consumers who are looking for ways to contribute, support and have an impact.

IC: How did the name Enrou come about?
AW: Enrou comes from the French phrase “en route,” and it’s all about being on this journey to create a better world.

IC: How do you decide which causes to highlight on your site?
AW: We try to clearly define a few causes that are very overarching of a number of our brands and programs. For example, women empowerment is a cause that many connect with. It’s a particular cause that we like to focus on, develop and tell the narrative of, but it covers five or six different programs within that category. So there’s one that’s a skills training program, another one that’s a micro-financing program for women. It’s all different, but we try to make the content and message a little bit more consumable for people by focusing on five main causes that are easily understood and have great impact in the way that multiple programs help support.

IC: How has winning Forbes’ Pressure Cooker competition affected your business?
AW: It really allows us to implement all of our ideas and expedite all of our ideas and help us gain momentum. Our goal is to not only get more features and products on the website, but most importantly provide a completely unique online shopping experience and potentially in-store. We want the idea that shopping consciously and reducing global poverty with your dollar is going to be second nature to people around the nation and the world. Our first step is to launch a national campaign to help our story reach others and then further develop our experience online.

IC: Do you see Enrou expanding beyond just an e-commerce platform?
AW: Absolutely, we definitely want to be in brick-and-mortar, whether that means opening up a brick-and-mortar store or having a showroom in L.A. We value the importance of having a physical storefront. And we have tons of ideas with mobile. We won’t be able to implement them within the next few weeks, but we just feel so lucky since the competition that these expansion ideas could become a reality in the future.