Young social entrepreneurs
They’re seeing that ethics profit more than their conscience.
“During his M.B.A. studies at University of California at Berkeley, Jeff Denby told everyone his ultimate career goal: to start an underwear company…
“But Mr. Denby—who had formerly worked in industrial design and went to business school interested in supply-chain management—decided early in his program that he wanted to create a company that was about more than just boxers or briefs. In his view, it was critical to create a product that was environmentally friendly and sustainable—and whose sales could help support good causes.
“This type of social entrepreneurship – that is, building a for-profit company with a social conscious or linked with a social cause – is becoming increasingly attractive to would-be business founders. The idea is to make money while either directly impacting consumers with its services or funneling a portion of profits to charities. Often, these companies employ people or source resources from economically depressed areas of the world that then also benefit from the charitable donations from the profits.”
This is the upside of the global economic crisis, and also the answer. Human resourcefulness and the unlimited power of a creative mind.
“Sean Conway needed to raise funds for his start-up, Notehall.com, an online marketplace for college students to buy and sell class notes. But a year into the venture he was broke and investors weren’t willing to infuse the company with a capital boost…
“I had invested my life savings and I knew there was no turning back,” says Mr. Conway, a 2007 graduate.
“So last March he submitted his idea to DreamIt Ventures, a sort of entrepreneurial boot camp in Philadelphia—funded by four economic development organizations—that provides office space and mentoring to fledgling business owners, and helps set them up with potential investors. Notehall.com, one of 10 ventures chosen to participate in the three-month summer program, walked away with about $500,000 in investments…
The common thread to all these stories is the enterprising spirit of these individuals who had ideas but needed money to launch them. What they had to invest was time and determination.
“I quickly realized that to do this, I’d have to reach outside my comfort zone,” [Marc Fienberg] says. “There was no room to be shy or humble.”
I would re-word that to say don’t be defeated or humiliated…different from humility, which remains a virtue. But then, we’re all outside our comfort zones now, so time to learn new behaviors. And the moral of this story is that we benefit from new ventures the more they benefit the common good.
