Social Entrepreneur is for aspiring and early-stage social entrepreneurs; and for those who want to make an impact on the world. Every Monday you hear interviews with social entrepreneurs, founders, investors and thought leaders. Listen to the stories that led them to become change makers. The guests give advice for early stage and aspiring social entrepreneurs. We always end each episode with a call to action. If you're ready to change the world, join us.
Favorable Treats is a cookie company and social impact venture.
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Forty-three percent of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive behaviors. Even in high school, nearly 1.5 million US students experience physical abuse from a dating partner every year.
Favorable Treats has a mission to let families across the country to enjoy warm cookies in safe homes. They produce and sell pre-portioned cookie dough. A percentage of their profits goes towards dating and domestic violence awareness and prevention.
The founder of Favorable Treats, Junita Flowers grew up in a large family with seven brothers and sisters. Her mother and grandmother cooked and baked together. Junita says “The majority of my best childhood memories were spent in the kitchen.”
In 2006, while staying home with her two small children, she began to experiment with cookie recipes. It reconnected her to her youth where she had enjoyed helping her mother and grandmother bake cookies. Her friends started to ask for the cookies. Then friends of friends. Soon, she had an inkling that she could launch a cookie business.
She enrolled in a 16-week business development program at the Neighborhood Development Center. To test her business, she sold cookies at Farmers’ Markets. At first, she baked cookies in her home kitchen as her children took naps. It took a year before she rented space in a commercial kitchen. A short time later, she moved to a second kitchen that also provided a retails space. For all appearances, her business was well on its way. But that’s not the end of the story.
Junita married in 2001. By the time she started her business, Favorable Treats in 2006; she says that she was in a “toxic and abusive marriage.” Junita had worked for more than 20 years in nonprofits, including working in a shelter for women who had to flee domestic violence. She was very familiar with domestic violence and the steps to keep safe. And yet, she adapted to the situation. “There was this internal shame of ‘oh my gosh, how did I get here?’” In the chaos of her marriage, Junita ended her business. Still, she says that “I always knew I was going to come back to it.”
She re-started the business in 2012, but in the meantime, she also invited her former spouse back into her home. The abuse continued, and Junita struggled to keep the business going. At one point, as Junita was struggling to grow her business, she shared her struggles with her husband. He replied coldly, “Junita, I don’t believe in you. I don’t believe in your business. Nor do you have the skill talent or ability run your business.”
Instead of being defeated, Junita says, “I knew at that moment that I couldn’t quit. To get back the confidence I needed in myself, I needed a stretch goal.” Junita signed up for the 2013 New York City Marathon, even though she had never run more than three miles. And, to make the goal even harder, she ran the marathon as a fundraiser for a shelter.
It took her many, many weeks of training and fundraising to reach her goal. On the evening before the marathon, Junita was still short of her fundraising goal. As she sat in Olive Garden loading up on carbs, she received notification that a generous donor had pushed her across her goal. “In that moment, I realized that you’re always in a position to give. And if you work really hard, you will reach success.” She says of her business “That’s the moment when I knew I had to make it bigger than what it was.”
Favorable Treats started as a straightforward cookie company. The social mission came later. Junita says “That give-back piece, that part of making my community stronger, has always been part of who I am.” In 2016, they started “Project Home-Aid,” giving a portion of their profits to dating and domestic violence awareness and prevention. “It was a way for me to say, that not only are our cookies made, in the concept of homemade cookie dough, but our cookie dough is now providing aid to homes so that they can be safer.”
Junita summarizes what she has learned like this. “Purpose is who you are. Passion is what you do. Clarity is what you find, only through active pursuit. The only way you’ll figure out any of this, is by pursuing it.”
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Junita Flowers“The majority of my best childhood memories were spent in the kitchen.”
“Baking cookies for me was an outlet.”
“I have known since I was 12 years old, that I would be an entrepreneur.”
“I did not start it as a business. I did it as an outlet.”
“Looking back, I’m like ‘What were you thinking?’”
“It’s amazing how you just adapt.”
“I knew my cookies were more than just a desert. I wanted to do more.”
“At that moment, I knew I had to fight through this.”
“I knew I needed a stretch goal.”
“That’s the moment when I knew I had to make it bigger than what it was.”
“I know it’s not just a cookie company producing cookies. There’s meaning behind it.”
“It was just sort of this epiphany. All of a sudden the pieces came together.”
“Clarity comes while you are actively working.”
“We have this limitless supply of goodness to give.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
Hack the Gap is a weekend event where women come together to build a project as a team.
Kristen Womack is a bona fide techy. She worked as a product manager for some well-known tech companies. She runs Night Sky Web Co. And she has been involved in the local tech scene from Geekettes to Mpls MadWomen. And yet, as she attended hackathons, she couldn’t help but notice the lack of women. “When I went to the bathroom, there was no line,” she told me.
The diversity gap in tech has been widely reported. The problem starts early in life. In a recent survey, only 0.4% of teenage girls plan to major in computer science. Only 6.7% of all women graduate with a STEM degree. According to a study by MIT, about 20% of undergraduate engineering degrees are awarded to women, and only 13% of the engineering workforce is female. According to Google’s annual report, only 31% of its employees are women. Worse still, Hispanic workers account for only 4% of their workforce, and black employees make up only 2%.
Kristen and Jenna Pederson of Hack the Gap believe that, while there is a problem with getting more women in the tech pipeline, the problem goes deeper. Tech has a culture problem. Kristen says that “We fundamentally believe that, if we increase the pipeline of women and girls who are interested in technology, they are going to enter a world where they could potentially drop about due to death by a thousand cuts.”
A recent New York Times article painfully documented the culture of sexual harassment in the tech industry. Male founders of tech companies have come to a slow realization that their practice of hiring from within their network has caused them to exclude talent from diverse backgrounds.
Kristen points out that the problem is multifaceted. “We have to fix every part of the journey from childhood to adulthood for women in technology.” That’s a big undertaking, Kristen acknowledges. “So, we decided to focus on this one particular segment of adult women.”
Hack the Gap is a weekend event where women come together to build a project as a team. During the weekend, women can become more confident in their skills, or learn a new skill. Not all the women who participate in Hack the Gap are coders. Some have skills in project management, marketing or other skillsets.
The Hack the Gap event strengthens the community of women business leaders. Kristen says, “We have seen several women come out of our hackathon and go on to continue with the business from what they built at Hack the Gap.”
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Kristen Womack“There is a need for everyone at the hackathon.”
“12% of all engineers are women.”
“The problem is multifaceted.”
“How do we show the rest of the community what these women are doing, and elevate them even more?”
“There are more men named John who are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies than there are women CEOs.”
“We might have more diversity in technology if we had more women in hiring positions.”
“These women are bringing real-world problems into the hackathon, and building tech that will solve those problems.”
“Testing your idea in the smallest state possible is really key.”
“You start to see patterns when you start small.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is the sister organization to the World Economic Forum. They manage the world’s largest network of late-stage social entrepreneurs.
Katherine Milligan says, “I have always been deeply touched by the inequities of the world.” She spent time in the Peace Corp. She lived in a village in Benin without running water or electricity for two years. While there, she saw first-hand how an international shift in the commodity price of cotton had a significant impact on local cotton farmers and their families. “It opened a deep curiosity in me to understand why the conventional ways of delivering solutions to these populations where failing.”
Her curiosity led her to pursue a Master’s degree in Trade and International Development. This was followed by two years as a Research Fellow, traveling the world and interviewing stakeholders from ambassadors and trade representatives to the WTO and farmers. She says that this study gave her an appreciation for how complex problems are. “When you know very little about a problem, it’s very easy to see it in a black and white way and to propose a simplistic solution. When you dig into it and you understand the complexities of it, that’s when you appreciate just how challenging and complex these problems are to solve.”
Katherine’s search for solutions to large, complex global problems led her to the World Economic Forum in 2005. In 2009, she took over the lead role for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is the sister organization to the World Economic Forum. They manage the world’s largest network of late-stage social entrepreneurs. They elevate the work of late-stage social entrepreneurs on the platform of the World Economic Forum.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship was launched in 1998 by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and his wife Hilde. Their initial goal was to introduce the work of social entrepreneurs on a global stage. At the time, the concept of social entrepreneurship was mostly unknown.
Each year the Schwab Foundation recognizes several social entrepreneurs through a “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” competition. This year they selected 17 social entrepreneurs from 13 organizations. These social entrepreneurs become part of the broader Schwab Foundation community of more than 300 entrepreneurs to exchange expertise and experiences. They are also fully integrated into the World Economic Forum’s events and initiatives, giving them a global presence and visibility.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Katherine Milligan“When you get that kind of spotlight and exposure, it changes the dynamics and resources come to you.”
“I’ve always been deeply touched by the inequities in the world.”
“When you know very little about a problem, it’s easy to see it in a black and white way.”
“You have to log those hours.”
“We need a reality check on the problem spaces.”
“Know your strengths.”
“Surround yourself with people who compliment your skills.”
“This is a really challenging path.”
“Understand the role of self-care.”
“If you let the cause consume you, what good are you to the cause?”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
Bunker Labs, Minneapolis is a non-profit built by military veteran entrepreneurs to empower other military veterans as leaders in innovation.
This year, 200,000 military veterans will leave the service. Twenty-five percent of them want to start a business. In 2013, Tim O’Neil was one of those people.
Tim is a native of the Midwest. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin. He was commissioned as an infantry officer in 2006. He spent seven years in the Marines. As he left the military, he entered the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business to pursue his MBA. As he graduated in 2015, he knew he wanted to start a business.
Tim started Fidelis Co manufactures carried goods: backpacks, duffle bags, cases for electronics. The company has a veteran’s thesis. Tim took components of what he was familiar with in the service and brought it to the urban professional. They launched the company in the Spring of 2015 with a Kickstarter campaign. When they reached their goal in the first 48 hours, they knew they were onto something.
About 12 months after the initial launch of his company, Tim had a chance to be in Chicago for a photo shoot for Fidelis Co. He was introduced to Todd Connor. Todd was running Bunker Labs. Bunker Labs is a national not-for-profit organization, built by military veteran entrepreneurs to empower other military veterans as leaders in innovation. Because of their common background in the military and entrepreneurship, it made sense to both Tim and Todd that they should meet.
Tim was immediately taken with the idea of veterans helping veterans to start businesses. He had several follow-up conversations. Tim says, “Eventually, you sit in on enough conference calls, and you ask enough questions, and you own it.”
There are fifteen Bunker Labs chapters across the United States. They focus on educational programming, mentors, events. They are building a thriving local network to help veterans start and grow businesses.
For people who are still in the military but are planning on leaving the service in the next six months or so, Bunker Labs offers Bunker-in-a-Box, an online training course. The language of the course reflects the military. For example, instead of lessons, there are fourteen missions.
When a military veteran returns to their home community, they can connect through a fun, casual social event called Bunker Brews. “That’s where the catalytic collisions really start to occur,” Tim told me.
Once a veteran has an idea for a business, Bunker Labs provides a 14-week long program called EPIC. They meet one night per week for three hours. Tim explained, “That’s really, how you get from idea to invoice.” In the last cohort in Minneapolis, there were ten veteran-led companies.
By the time a veteran-led organization grows to $500,000 in recurring revenue, Bunker Labs provides a program called CEO Circle. This is a monthly, hosted breakfast.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Tim O’Neil“I live in Minneapolis, and they were doing all this stuff in Chicago.”
“Timings not everything. It’s the only thing.”
“It was a lived experience.”
“We say we’re a community.”
“We are decidedly not an incubator or an accelerator.”
“Our only interest is the success of the companies that are inside of our community.”
“One in four military veterans leaving the service are interested in entrepreneurship or a small business.”
“We have something to help veteran entrepreneurs at each stage.”
“We’re only going to do things that we ourselves are excited about.”
“Learn how to listen, and talk strategically.”
“The veteran community is tight knit.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
Rose McGee reminds me of that quote from tennis legend Arthur Ashe. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Rose calls sweet potato pie “the sacred desert of black culture.” She grew up with her grandmother and great-grandmother in Jackson, Tennessee. As an adult, Rose decided that she wanted to make sweet potato pie. She called her grandmother and got the recipe. “Nothing was written down,” she says. “It was a pinch of this and a handful of that.”
Rose’s first experiments with making sweet potato pie did not turn out. But she kept baking. Soon, friends were requesting her pies. And after a while, she had a small business. She would sell her pies at flea markets and other events. She soon learned just how important sweet potato pie can be. Some refused to try her pies. “No, I only eat my own pies.” While others would be drawn to the pies. “This reminds me of my grandmother,” they would tell her.
Rose realized, “I was getting more satisfaction out of how people were feeling, more so than selling the pies.” While she enjoyed the experience of baking pies, pie baking was not a sustainable business. “Lord knows I was not making money.” So, she shut down her pie-making business. But a couple of years later, an incident sent Rose back to the kitchen, baking sweet potato pies.
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. This incident brought long-simmering issues to the surface. Protests broke out, some peaceful and some violent. Rose was at home watching the news of Ferguson from her home in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Rose thought, “This is awful. I have to do something.” Instinctively, she went into the kitchen and made sweet potato pies. She did not stop until she had 30 pies.
She called a church pastor in Ferguson and arranged to bring the pies. Rose and her son loaded the pies into the trunk of her car and drove to Ferguson. When they arrived, much of the initial turmoil had ended. They drove to the makeshift memorial for Michael Brown. There, Rose encountered a woman in her early twenties. Rose says that the woman was “fussing at” Michael. “Why would you do that?” the young woman cried out in grief.
Rose approached the young woman and asked if she would accept a sweet potato pie. “I just wanted to do something for her,” Rose recalls. Once the young woman realized that Rose had come all the way from Minnesota with the pies, she accepted. This was the pattern with Rose. She did not foist her pie on others. “I would ask if they would do me the honor of accepting it.”
Rose gave away all 30 pies. Each pie had a unique story. For example, one woman accepted the pie as a sign that her mother was watching over her. The woman cradled the pie and rocked back and forth, refusing to eat it.
Being in Ferguson brought a new sense of urgency to Rose to deal with the complex issues of culture and race relationships. These are not simple issue. They require nuanced conversations. “I recognize the complexity of creating the desert, which tends to run metaphorically with the complexity of the issues we’re dealing with in society,” she says. She began to think of sweet potato pie as “a catalyst for caring and building community.”
When Rose returned home to Golden Valley, Minnesota, she approached the mayor with an idea. She wanted to bring the community together to discuss culture and race. The mayor agreed. They held an event on Martin Luther King Day in January 2015.
This was not the last time that Rose would bake pies that facilitated dialog. She brought pies to Precinct 4 in North Minneapolis after the shooting of Jamar Clark. She took pies to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. She even took pies to Standing Rock.
By the summer of 2016, Rose realized that she needed to focus. So many tragedies happened back to back: Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando; flooding in Baton Rouge; and the shooting of a police officer in Dallas. She is currently planning how to take Sweet Potato Comfort Pie forward. If you want to learn more about Sweet Potato Comfort Pie, you can connect through their Facebook page.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Rose McGee“We consider it to be a catalyst for caring and building community.”
“I consider it to be the sacred dessert of black culture.”
“I did not call myself into this thing. It called me.”
“People have to tell their stories. People have to be heard.”
“Our intent was to help people recognize the power of having conversation.”
“The more of us who try to bridge relationship gaps, the better.”
“Pay attention to who is hurting.”
“It’s healing and nurturing when people step up and respond to community.”
“Anyone can do it.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
Mighty Axe Hops is using experimentation to create an ecosystem within an ecosystem.
Eric Sannerud is an experimenter. He tries small experiments, gathers feedback and then adjusts. For example, in 2013, he was graduating from the University of Minnesota. At the same time, he had several irons in the fire.
He was part of a team that launched Twin Fin, an innovative urban farm start-up, growing fish and greens in a city warehouse. At the same time, he was involved with the Famers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG). He was also involved with Urban Oasis, the winner of a $1 million Forever Saint Paul Competition to create a sustainable food center on the East Side of Saint Paul. And, he cofounded the Sandbox Center for Regenerative Entrepreneurship. And, in his spare time, he managed to co-found Mighty Axe Hops, building and leading a new industry in Minnesota.
Eric explains, “There’s a sliver in your life where your commitments and your personal life might not be as stringent as they tend to grow to be, and I wanted to make full use of that time.” He talks about the importance of an experimental mindset. “They were all really low-risk. As they begin to grow, you try to commit more resources to the ones that look like they will bring better results.”
Eventually, Eric began to focus his efforts. “That time of being involved in many things, I’m really shrinking it down to just being involved in the things I want to be involved with.” Today, he spends his time growing Mighty Axe Hops. He and his co-founder Ben Boo have grown their operations from 20 plants to a new 80-acre farm.
Mighty Axe Hops is creating a hops-growing ecosystem in Minnesota. Where no hops industry existed before, a cottage industry of inputs, processors, marketers, farm implements is beginning to grow. The hops industry is an ecosystem within an ecosystem. The rise of craft beer and microbreweries gives rise to the need for local hops with unique flavor profiles.
Not only is Mighty Axe Hops creating an ecosystem, they are growing within the fertile ground of the Minnesota social good ecosystem. They started as a student-led start-up, launched during the Acara program at the University of Minnesota. Eric is also a member of the local Global Shapers Community and is an active member of the Impact Hub, Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Eric Sannerud“I was looking for something that would or could become a job.”
“I was involved in a number of startups through late college and just after college.”
“It boils down to, I want to make a difference with my life.”
“At that phase of my life, I was just saying yes.”
“I know what I want to do for the next five years.”
“That was the little money we needed to put more proof behind our concept.”
“Our main goal is to create a vibrant Minnesota hops industry.”
“It never felt sharky.”
“I think the reason I like entrepreneurship is because of how challenging it is.”
“We’re directly measuring water quality and soil health.”
“The thing that helped me the most was learning to just do it.”
“Start something and try something, but in a smart way.”
“I always approach it like a scientific hypothesis.”
“Test as many of your assumptions in your business plan as possible, with the least amount of risk.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
Echoing Green identifies and invests in transformational leaders.
How we spend our time is how we spend our lives. Unless you’re independently wealthy, there’s a good chance that right now you’re getting ready for work, on your way to work, you’re already at work, or you’re thinking about work.
If we’re going to spend this much time at work, we might as well make that time count. But the path to meaningful work is not always a straight route. In fact, it might only make sense in hindsight. So, if meaningful work is so important, and the path is not always clearly marked, how do we find our way?
Cheryl Dorsey describes her path to her work as “fairly circuitous.” She even went so far as to say, “I’m the Forrest Gump careers. I had no clue most of the time what I was going to do, or where I was going to end up. I just stumbled into things.” But when pressed, you hear a slightly different story. She didn’t know where she was going exactly, but she figured out how to find what was right for her. The secret is being awake for the journey.
As Cheryl looks behind her, the path makes sense in retrospect. What she can see is that, at each juncture, there was a sign pointing the direction. But, you must be alert to notice. “I think maybe there is a grand plan and there are signals and data that we receive all the time. Most of us ignore it and don’t pay attention to it. But I think if you’re open to it, and allow those experiences in, it really does lead you to your path.”
She sees a key characteristic in the many entrepreneurs she knows. “I think the most successful entrepreneurs are amazing, not necessarily because of their entrepreneurial effort. It’s because they figured out their passion and their purpose and they’re completely aligned. They’re doing something that is the physical manifestation, aligning their gifts, talents, and skills.”
Cheryl’s passion for social justice started early in life. She grew up in Baltimore, the daughter of two public school teachers. Her parents instilled in her a respect for education as a tool for upward mobility, especially in an African-American household. Cheryl was born with a sense of social justice. “My mom used to tell me that my most common refrain was ‘That’s not fair!’ It was a child’s expression of ‘Why are things the way they are?’”
When she arrived at college, even though she was premed, she spent a lot of time studying history, in particular, African-American history. This study provided a historical context for the structural inequities she saw around her. She could see both the existing inequities and the distance traveled by African-Americans.
As a medical student in 1990, Cheryl read a five-part series in the Boston Globe called “Birth in the Death Zone,” that documented racial distinctions in infant mortality in Boston. Cheryl told me, “At Echoing Green, we often talk about people’s “moments of obligations,’ when you are struck by something and a problem becomes yours to own.’” Cheryl asked herself, “Why does this problem exist, and what is my role as a citizen to do something about it?”
Cheryl went to work with Dr. Nancy Oriol to solve the problem of infant mortality in minority communities in Boston. Together, they developed the concept of The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit.
As Cheryl was searching for funding and support for the project, she happened to see a flyer for a fairly new organization, Echoing Green. Echoing Green identifies and invests in transformational leaders with disruptive ideas.
In 1992, Cheryl received a fellowship from Echoing Green. The fellowship came with seed funding. But it also came with something just as important: a community of social justice leaders. Other Echoing Green fellows include Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America; Michael Brown and Alan Khazei, co-founders of City Year; and Maya Ajmera, founder of Global Fund for Children.
Cheryl and Dr. Oriol ran the Family Van for a couple of years, but Cheryl needed to complete her pediatrics residency, so they turned the operations over to a new team. About the time Cheryl’s residency completed, she was invited to join the board of Echoing Green.
Cheryl spent time in Washington working in the Department of Labor under Secretary Alexis Herman. This was a momentous time of digital transformation and disruption. And, under Secretary Herman, Cheryl had a chance to work on pay equity issues. However, Cheryl says “You go to Washington to see how the sausage is made. I recognized that it is not for me.”
Around the time that Cheryl was leaving her role in Washington, Echoing Green was in need of a new President. As a member of the board, Cheryl volunteered to step into the role for what was expected to be two months. That was 15 years ago.
Echoing Green identifies exceptional emerging leaders. They connect these leaders to a global network of more than 750 Echoing Green Fellows working in more than 70 countries. They accelerate the growth of these leaders in order to increase their impact.
A Call to Action from Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing GreenWhen I asked Cheryl for a call to action for listeners of Social Entrepreneur, she began with this: “Be less reactive and more reflective.”
Cheryl points out that, globally, we are in a time of transformation. This is a time of great challenges, but also of great opportunities. Therefore, it is critical that each of us tap into our inner wisdom to guide us in making a difference.
Cheryl says, “I think that each of us is uniquely suited to do something special and particular that is aligned with our gifts, passion, and purpose.” She encourages you to be still and reflective. Take the inner journey to discover not only your strengths but also your weaknesses. She encourages you to become familiar with your “core IP,” that part of you, that makes you unique. “Figure out how to best align your core to the problems in the world that you most care about.” That requires you to be very still and very honest. That is where you’ll find your path.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Cheryl Dorsey“We talk about people’s moments of obligations.”
“It just was not fair.”
“We were passionate and committed. We didn’t have much else.”
“What was supposed to be a two to three-month transition – here we are 15 years later.”
“We just have to be open to the universe.”
“In many ways, [Echoing Green] is an intermediary organization that stands between service and problem.”
“Echoing Green is in many ways a leadership development organization.”
“Leaders solve problems. Leaders are atop all great social movements.”
“Leaders mobilize communities and others around them to help solve problems.”
“Echoing Green provides the onramp for next generation talent.”
“We’re now getting close to 3,000 applications from over 160 countries.”
“We’re looking for a transformative social change leader who has a disruptive innovation that can lead to significant change.”
“Our relationship begins the moment someone thinks about applying to Echoing Green.”
“We are a community for Fellows, by Fellows, with Fellows.”
“It’s a very sticky network. Once a Fellow, always a Fellow.”
“The first piece of advice is, do not start something new.”
“You need to know your problem and own your issue better than anyone else.”
“What impresses me about social entrepreneurs is, they inhabit the issue.”
“Be an expert of your own issue, problem, and solution.”
“Have a couple of North Stars that are nonnegotiable, and nothing else matters.”
“The minute you write your business plan, it’s obsolete.”
“Be less reactive and more reflective.”
“This transformational moment is upon us.”
“It is a time of great challenge, but also opportunity.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:GLITCH promotes the exploration of digital games as a culture, career and creative practice.
If I were to tell a joke about Evva Kraikul, it might go something like this “A game designer, a neuroscientist and an entrepreneur walk into a bar. She ordered herself a drink.” Evva brings her experience in game design and neuroscience to the startup world where she is the cofounder of GLITCH.
Evva was an extraordinarily early adopter of technology. At the age of four, she was interested in all things digital. She used a laptop to explore online. When she was ten-years-old, she set up a website and sold Beanie Babies. Her first online transaction was for $1,000. She built battle simulators in AOL chat rooms. She is a true digital native.
Evva’s parents encouraged her to be either a doctor or lawyer. “Those seemed to be my only two options,” she remembers. She pursued her degree in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, but her interests in all things digital would not let her go. She looked for local resources for emerging game makers but found none.
Evva and fellow student Nic VanMeerten set up programs and events. They invited gaming industry insiders to give lectures and workshops. Fellow students were enthusiastic, paying to attend these events. With this proof of concept under their belts, Evva and Nic were awarded a $45,000 grant to continue their work. This work eventually led to the startup, GLITCH.
GLITCH supports emerging game makers through a series of ongoing programs, events, and residencies. GLITCH recently began providing small grants to game makers who are doing interesting work.
By supporting emerging game makers, GLITCH is bringing a unique perspective to the gaming industry.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Evva Kraikul“My parents didn’t believe me when the first sale was $1,000.”
“There was something missing.”
“There weren’t a lot of resources and support for emerging game makers.”
“We tested them. We did small programs.”
“That’s the most powerful thing – going in open minded.”
“My initial ideas change drastically. They aren’t the same as when they started.”
“How do we allow people to be vulnerable and talk about the issues they’re facing, in games?”
“All you can do is put your design in the world, let people use it, and iterate.”
“Everything you put into the world should be a living thing.”
“The thing that was the hardest and continues to be most difficult is learning how to lead.”
“I’ve been learning how to say yes, and more specifically how to say no.”
“I want to support emerging game makers who are doing interesting and innovative work.”
“I love games. I don’t love where games are right now.”
“Be bold. Be daring.”
“Find a community that you’re specifically passionate about.”
“Find a problem you’re itching to solve. Jump in and shut it down.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:UnLtd is the UK’s largest supporter of early-stage social entrepreneurs.
Mark grew up in the time when Land-Aid, Band-Aid, and Live-Aid were popular. “The idea that you can be a rock star who saved the world was pretty damned compelling when you’re fourteen years old” he confesses. But, with a lack of musical talent, Mark decided to focus on changing the world.
As an 18-year-old, Mark volunteered on London’s east side, working with Father Duncan. “He was much more of a social activist than he was a priest,” Mark explains. “He was five-foot-nothing. He was a British-Asian guy who experienced a lot of racial abuse…He also fostered a young kid who had come from an abusive background. And he had a rare blood disorder that caused him to have to take whole body blood transfusions.”
During his work with Father Duncan, Mark experienced a world different from his own, from domestic abuse to illiteracy, to the lives of the elderly. “That was where I realized that what I needed to do was to try to make a difference.”
After university, Mark worked in non-profits but did not quite find the sustainable model he was looking for. He eventually enrolled at INSEAD where he encountered social entrepreneurship. With social entrepreneurship, he saw the bridge between service and economic sustainability.
Mark helped set up INSEAD’s Social Innovation Centre where they introduce and developed new business models that deliver sustainable economic, environmental and social prosperity. He also was a trustee at Bridges Ventures. It was while at Bridges Ventures that he first had contact with UnLtd. In 2016, he joined UnLtd as its Chief Executive Officer.
UnLtd has backed over 40,000 individuals over the last 15 years. They provide three levels of awards to early-stage social ventures:
These awards come with support such as business advice, coaching, mentoring, and peer-to-peer support.
UnLtd has also runs the Big Venture Challenge, an award program that provides match funding to help growing social enterprises to raise investment and deliver social impact at scale.
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Mark Norbury“Everything we do, the social entrepreneur is at the heart of it.”
“I grew up in the Land Aid, Live Aid, Band Aid era.”
“UnLtd is a gem, but it’s not realized its potential yet.”
“You’ll find social entrepreneurs in these communities making something with nothing.”
“They’re creating a micro-conglomerate of brilliance and hope, and it’s all self-sustaining.”
“Make it about the people and communities you’re serving.”
“Do it in a co-production model.”
“Social entrepreneurs don’t always ask for help enough.”
“I’m an idealistic optimist.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:SEE Change Magazine is a global digital magazine focused on social entrepreneurship and social change.
Like most people I speak to, Elisa Birnbaum’s career path was circuitous. She studied political science and law. “I was going to save the world as a human rights lawyer, of course,” she says tongue-in-cheek. But along the way, she found that she had a gift for writing. When she graduated from law school, she told herself, “I’m going to take some time off to see what this thing called storytelling is all about.” That was more than 15 years ago.
Elisa honed her journalistic skills with several organizations. Her portfolio includes articles for the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, Profit, Zoomer, Elle Canada, iVillage, Microsoft Home, Lifestyles, Dreamscapes, and Via Destinations. She was a TV Producer for TV Ontario. She was a writer and producer for the CBC / Radio-Canada. And she is a regular contributor to the National Post.
In 2008, Elisa was a writer for CharityVillage. Nicole Zummach was her editor. At the time, the economy was taking a downturn. Philanthropic giving was down. The government was cutting back on funding. Charities were scrambling to find new business models. Elisa and Nicole found themselves writing about social entrepreneurship. “This was a nice alternative and a smart way to help [nonprofits] in their challenges.”
When Elisa pitched the stories of social entrepreneurs to several publications, the uptake was slow. “It was hard to get mainstream media to say ‘Hey, yeah that’s a good story. Let’s put that in.’ We just looked at each other one day and said, ‘We’ve got to get these stories out.’” So, in 2009, Elisa and Nicole launched SEE Change Magazine. Elisa is the publisher and Editor-in-Chief.
SEE Change Magazine is a global digital magazine focused on social entrepreneurship and social change. They provide content on issues affecting the world of social entrepreneurship. They profile inspiring individuals using business ventures to transform their communities and the world.
Elisa expanded their offerings through SEE Change Communications. They offer workshops, communications services and consulting services to help social enterprises to develop and tell their social change story. They host speaking events where social entrepreneurs can tell their stories.
Elisa also offers an excellent podcast called In the Business of Change. And, if that were not enough, Elisa is also working on a new book. “The book is not just going to highlight social entrepreneurs. But it’s going to focus on lessons learned.”
Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Elisa Birnbaum“A lot of people didn’t get it.”
“Business and tech stuff were never my things.”
“I got sidetracked. I really enjoyed writing.”
“I love storytelling in all its different forms.”
“I think I always had an ability to write.”
“What I always had was a curiosity for people.”
“Social enterprise became my strongest niche.”
“I try to keep opinions out of it.”
“Media can be a real force for good.”
“Storytelling is imperative to people meeting their mission.”
“If your story’s not getting out there, you’re not getting much done.”
“It all comes back to the same idea of helping social entrepreneurs to succeed.”
“A podcast is a different way of getting these stories out.”
“You want to feel relevant. You want to feel you’re making a difference.”
“Funding is incredibly difficult.”
“Passion is beautiful, but you need more than that.”
“It’s not enough to have a good story.”
“Do it. Because it’s worth it.”
Social Entrepreneurship Resources:
