The word business often feels synonymous with capitalism: people selling goods and services to get rich. But all over the world, women entrepreneurs are setting up businesses. They are making a remarkable difference.

In a series of five short films (aptly titled "Five"), filmmaker Lisa Madison (opens in new tab) shares the stories of five women who have started businesses to impact their communities. Each woman comes from a different part of the world and has a different social mission, but one thing has remained the same. Carolina Ignara (São Paulo, Brazil), founder of Talento Incluir (open in new tab), a consulting firm focused on adding people with disabilities to the workforce; ONganic Foods (open in new tab), a business creating sustainable agricultural solutions ), entrepreneur Ekta Jaju (Calcutta, India); Sarah Beydoun, founder of Sarah's Bag (open in new tab). (Beirut, Lebanon), which teaches incarcerated and at-risk women to make handbags to support their families; Irena Orlovic (Split, Croatia), owner of Harfa (open in new tab), a publisher that creates educational resources for families struggling with developmental disabilities ); Maya-Camille Broussard (Chicago, USA), owner of Justice of the Pies (opens in new tab), a social mission-based bakery serving children in low-income areas.

Madison, vice president of distribution and influences for Square Zero Films, the production company behind Five, was the producer of all the short films and also directed ONganics Foods. It may change the way we think about what a company can really accomplish, especially with a woman at the helm.

Marie Claire: What drew you to the documentary style?

Lisa Madison: I actually started on the activist side. I was helping to produce a film about sustainable agriculture, and the filmmakers had no way to distribute the film. So I set her up with a political organizing platform to distribute the film through house parties and community screenings. My entry into documentary filmmaking was to focus on how to create social action film utility for communities around the world. Documentaries, especially social action films, are tools for change. I want to create something that people who are active in their own communities can use the film to make a difference.

MC: What attracted you to the "Five" project?

LM: Mastercard approached Square Zero Films because they were impressed with our previous film, "Soufra" (opens in new tab) Square Zero Films has always been about telling underdog stories, stories of resilience and hope. We have always focused on telling stories of underdog, stories of resilience and hope. It just so happens that, for the most part, it is a story of women improving their community through entrepreneurship.

For the "Five" project, we spent a lot of time sourcing stories from around the world. We also worked with MasterCard a lot. We collected over 100 stories of incredible women entrepreneurs. At the heart [of the stories we chose] are human beings who want to make a difference in their communities. Our guiding principle was to tell stories of emotional journeys, not business journeys.

MC: Let's talk specifically about "ONganic Foods," which you directed. In this film, Ekta Jaju, a woman from Calcutta, India, starts a company to create more sustainable and safe agriculture in her local community. What attracted you to her story?

LM: As I mentioned earlier, my first film was about sustainable agriculture. So it is definitely a topic close to my own heart. Ekta is a really strong and dynamic person. A few weeks before we went to shoot the piece, we had to jump on WhatsApp and get to know each other. I was inspired by her willingness to help communities in West Bengal, especially rural villages suffering from the effects of pesticides. Children were getting sick and communities were emerging with high rates of cancer and other diseases. She saw the problem and figured that if farmers could create a system where they could sell their organic produce at a higher price, farmers would produce organic produce. That was the trickle-down effect.

She has a very thoughtful perspective on a series of situations and how business can change a community. All of the pieces in the Five Series have a complex perspective on using business to make change on a broader level.

MC: The pandemic has made us focus on shopping small. The theme of community runs through all of your films. What are your biggest takeaways?

LM: The five films highlight the need to change the way we think about consumerism and our own capabilities. I think it is also about reimagining consumerism with more community in mind. I don't want to blame this solely on gender, but there seems to be a pattern that women-owned businesses are more aware and cognizant of the importance of building businesses that improve the community as a whole. All of these stories push us toward a more holistic approach to business.

MC: Were there any moments during filming that particularly moved you?

LM: During the filming of "Sarah's Bag," we had a very difficult time getting into the prison. We hadn't been in prison in 15 years. It was a great experience for us because we were able to tell the story of women learning beadwork in prison.

MC: What do you want the audience to leave thinking?

LM: I hope they see them and their success and think about the women in their own community who are doing the same work and facing the same hardships. These five women are amazing, but cases like this are in all of our lives.

Another thing is that in India (where Ekta is from), women are not always given equal opportunities. [What was interesting to me was that she never indicated that her gender was an obstacle to her success. There is a part of our culture that seems to assume that "because a woman is running a business, she must have struggled more." But I think that by changing that dialogue and trying to change the conversation, we can teach our daughters that they don't necessarily have to struggle. It just means that we need to speak up a little louder. Removing the word "struggle" is the next step we need to take as a community. We need to relearn what assumptions we have about the physical struggles and challenges we are born with, and reframe them as benefits, or characteristics that can help us.

Watch "Five" (opens in new tab) by Mastercard on ShortsTV (opens in new tab).