When we interviewed Blue Marble Ice Cream founders Jennie and Alexis back in 2008, they said they were "in the middle of our first fundraising effort" for Blue Marble Dreams, the Brooklyn-based company's non-profit organization. That initial effort has since become a reality as the ice cream parlor Sweet Dreams ("Inzozi Nziza" in Kinyarwanda) will finally open next week in the Rwandan city of Butare. The country's first-ever ice cream parlor, Sweet Dreams is the "pilot initiative" of Blue Marble's exploration into "ice cream's potential to inspire joy and spur economic growth," according to the non-profit's website. more ›

When Jennie Dundas and Alexis Miesen, founders of Blue Marble Ice Cream, discovered the lack of ice cream in Brooklyn, their shop was born. Just one year later they are now expanding their two organic, grass-fed ice cream parlors in the borough, and adding a third in Rwanda, naturally. With the launch of their non-profit organization Blue Marble Dreams, they'll "explore the transformative potential of ice cream not just as a source of fun and joy but also as a means of sustainable economic growth in developing countries with local but underutilized dairy resources." Not only that, but they'll be doing so with eco-conscious business models. This week the two ice cream queens told us a little bit about their business, some new flavors on the way, and their plan to set up shop in Rwanda. more ›