In late 2013, Tony Loyd had a crisis of conscience and began to explore the role of business in doing good in the world. He learned about social entrepreneurs, benefit corporations and impact investing.
In 2014 Tony left his corporate role and started a company that provides strategic planning and talent management. While calling on customers, Tony heard about the impact of the rapid rate of change and how every industry is undergoing disruption.
The very characteristics that were advantages in the industrial era have become disadvantages in the connected economy. The asteroid has struck the earth and the dinosaurs are dying. It’s just that some of them don’t know it yet.
Eventually, Tony began to understand that there is no greater way to make a significant impact on the world than to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are reshaping the world, and social entrepreneurs are using the power of startups in order to take on the grand challenges of the world.
Starting companies is difficult and complex. Tony believes that,
“If we’re going to go through the arduous task of starting a company, shouldn’t we take on the biggest challenges we can find and have the greatest impact?”
That’s where social entrepreneurs come in.
In this episode we find out how Tony built his successful podcast business, what has worked for him and has not, where it’s going next and where he sees social entrepreneurship going overall.
There’s the traditional way; then there’s the Mallika Dutt way. Breaking down barriers is nothing new to Mallika, Founder, President, and CEO of Breakthrough.
Change Creator Magazine issue 4 cover story, Jacquie Berglund is The Rambunctious Social Entrepreneur, CEO, and Co-Founder of FINNEGANS, the first beer company in the world to donate 100% of profits to fund fresh produce for those in need.
Through the creation of both FINNEGANS Inc. and its nonprofit counterpart, FINNEGANS Community Fund, Berglund has championed an innovative, hybrid market-based approach to addressing and raising awareness about food security in communities across the Midwest.
Berglund has pursued her entrepreneurial spirit to make the world a better place, from being an important role in bringing together government officials through the OECD to train Baltic countries in market economy laws, to Marketing Director at the successful Cara Pubs where the spark for FINNEGANS began.
As the tenth largest Minnesota beer company, Berglund has generated over half a million in donations through FINNEGANS profits, partnerships, and successful events while raising significant awareness about local hunger issues. Driven to innovate, with astute leadership and the ability to rally people and organizations for a cause she has built the longest running social enterprise to donate 100% of profits behind Newman’s Own. She has built a team of four full- time and one part-time staff dedicated staff and engaged thousands of volunteers and supporters to move the mission forward and scale FINNEGANS’ impact.
Berglund’s trailblazing social enterprise has earned her prominent accolades over the years. In 2004, she received the B. Warren Hart Distinguished Service Award from the St. Paul Jaycees, and in 2005, Berglund received a “40 under 40” nomination from the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, which recognizes and honors the top 40 business people in the Twin Cities under the age of 40. She is also a recipient of the Minnesota Jaycee top honor of Ten Young Outstanding Minnesotans, and in 2010 she was featured on CNN’s “Leaders with Heart” and “Small Business Success Stories” segments.
Berglund was named one of the “200 Minnesotans You Should Know” by Twin Cities Business magazine and was recently nominated as a 100 Year Centennial Award honoree by the Girl Scouts. In 2012, FINNEGANS was awarded the Small Business of the Year Award by the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and they also received the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award for Minnesota Business Magazine. Berglund has been awarded a 2014 Bush Fellowship. Most recently, Berglund was selected as one of 12 business leaders to watch in 2016 by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal and most recently Berglund was named a 2016 TrailBlazer by Growler Magazine
Recently, I read an article about the Dalai Lama and why he believes women make great leaders and could lead to a less violent world.
He has even gone on to state that his successor, the 15th in the holy line of his Tibetan monastery, could be female.
Why is this? Well, according to science, females biologically tend to demonstrate more affection and compassion.
At the same time, women can be tough and unstoppable! My sister is a Ph.D. in psychology who spent several years in the Air Force and also trains dogs for special needs. My wife is one of the toughest female leaders I know as she blazes a trail through her years of residency as a rock star surgeon and works hours I wouldn’t wish upon my own worst enemy.
This article is a tribute to women out there crushing it and hopefully an inspiration to others that we need out there taking a lead!
There are countless female social entrepreneurs literally changing lives and the world around them. Social entrepreneurship more important than ever today for tackling large global challenges.
Without further ado, here are 3 impressive women shaking things up.
Mallika Dutt, President, CEO and Founder, Breakthrough.
As a bold passionate leader, Mallika Dutt, is an attorney and human rights activist taking on what seems to be an impossibly large problem. Breakthrough was founded in 1999 with the mission to prevent violence against women by transforming the norms and cultures that enable it.
Here’s a shocking statistic – discrimination and violence impacts more than a BILLION females!
Breakthrough was founded in 1999 after she produced a music video that was intended to engage whole societies and bring the taboo subject of domestic violence into pop-culture.
Now they regularly use theater, social media, pop culture, and to drive change on a larger scale.
For example, their #DeportTheStatue campaign used a stunt-style strategy to draw attention to the specific disadvantages and abuses that immigrant women experience in a flawed immigration system. The campaign reached more than 20 million people and mobilized new audiences in support of the rights of immigrant women.
In addition, they even train police, government officials, teachers, and frontline healthcare workers to help prevent future systemic violence against women and girls.
Breakthrough is one of the six recipients of the 2016 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship!
I had the honor of interviewing Mallika to find out how she did it all. You can find the feature story along with the interview in issue 4 of Change Creator Magazine.
Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, Founder, Rags 2 Riches.
Rags2Riches is a brand creating positive change through fashion. They work with women in an area called Payatas. Also, known as one of the poorest parts of the Philippine capital.
The Payatas waste dump is home to 12,000 families and women created a way to earn a living by recycling scrap material to make rugs. However, when middlemen got involved they took the bulk of the profits, leaving the women to earn just $.02 per rug.
In 2007, Reese Fernandez-Ruiz cofounded the social enterprise, Rags2Riches, a fashion & design house empowering community artisans.
Fernandez-Ruiz and her team connected with designers who demonstrated how the rugs could be transformed into fashion handbags, eyeglass cases and wine bottle holders, all for sale in top-end shops. They partner with local artisans to create “eco-ethical fashion and home accessories” out of upcycled, overstock cloth & indigenous fabrics and arrange for them to sell their products direct to retailers.
Over a few years they were able to increase the earning potential for those women from less than $.02 per day to $10 per day.
If you’re not already aware, the world is facing a major challenge with plastic pollution, specifically water bottles. According to the UN, “of the 300 million tons of plastic produced in the world each year about 6 million tons end up in the oceans.” Americans throw away approximately 35 billion plastic bottles per year!
Teeki actually takes water bottles and turns them into clothes giving them new purpose through an eco-friendly process. They are on a mission to keep plastic out of landfills. Plastic bottles take hundreds if not a thousand years to breakdown and biodegrade. Teeki’s process of turning plastic into clothing helps remove the need to produce more raw materials. According to their website, “every pound of Teeki conserves an equivalent of half a gallon of gasoline.
Now, I learned about Teeki because my wife bought their Yoga pants. One pair of pants might use up to 25 plastic bottles and the material that is the result is amazingly soft!
Teeki is all about living an active and conscious lifestyle.
These strong women are changing the world, creating meaning and acting with a purpose in their own ways and share a common characteristic of a great leader and social entrepreneur, compassion.
John Lee Dumas knows a lot about success. With a clean break from his 9-5 job in real estate investments, he started his own 7-days-per-week entrepreneurial podcast, EOFire, and hasn’t looked back.
He now owns a million-dollar business that continues to grow. And, of course, there’s still the podcasts. Getting to interview some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, like Tim Ferris, Barbara Corcoran, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Robbins, just to name a few, gives a guy some perspective. So we decided to sit down with John Lee Dumas, pick his brain and get some keys to entrepreneurial success.
“Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value. Albert Einstein”.
For John, working in a job he wasn’t passionate about just wasn’t good enough. Day after day he got up, drove to work, and began the drudgery that was his career. He was making good money, but what value did he bring into the world? His passion for podcasting came from listening to podcasts on his long commute back and forth to work. With an idea and passion, he decided to jump in and get his business going. Today his company brings real value to the world. It’s not unusual for him to spend entire days, from sunrise to sunset in the office now, doing that thing he loves. What value are you bringing the world today? Don’t just focus on the success part. That will come when you bring true value into the world.
Don’t be afraid to make a bad decision.
John learned the importance of good decision (we didn’t say perfect) making during his 8-year stint in the military. At the tender age of 22, he had a lot of responsibility thrust upon him – instead of waiting to be better prepared or worrying about the fact that he had little military experience, or had never led anyone, John did something revolutionary. He made choices. Then he confidently followed through on those choices. In war and in business, A good decision now is better than a great decision later. Business is competitive. We don’t have time to wait for better circumstances. Don’t be afraid to make a “good decision” now – just follow-through with confidence.
Do make one great decision. Hire the right mentor.
Any entrepreneur will admit that they’ve made plenty of bad decisions, especially early on in their journeys. This is no exception for John, but he did make one really great decision that changed the trajectory of his business – he hired the right mentor. At the beginning of his business, John went out and found someone who was already where he wanted to be. (You have to hire somebody who is where you want to be, right from day one.)
This gave John the advantage right from the start, from branding to logo designs, to networking connections, to setting business goals. His knowledge of the industry was invaluable. Know where you want to go first, then find and hire somebody to help get you there. Don’t just hang out with “successful” people. Find that person who most closely resembles the kind of success in career, business, or life whom you want to emulate.
This excerpt was taken from issue 3 of Change Creator magazine. Subscribe now to read the full article and more.
Ben Simkin is the founder of BusinessNET, a leading Online Marketing Firm that to-date has increased clients’ sales by over $1.45 billion. BusinessNET provide end-to-end marketing and sales services to established companies worldwide.
Understanding who your audience is and how to reach people who are predisposed to what you’re offering is essential. You offer must match your audience.
We love Facebook marketing but until you master this craft you will struggle to get results.
In this video Ben Simkin discusses the must have elements for getting Marketing working, whether it be on Facebook, Google, Newspaper, Direct Mail or any kind of marketing.
