Social Entrepreneur: Conscious Companies | Benefit Corporations | Impact Investing

In this interview leading to World Toilet Day on November 19, Isabel Medem talks about her work in hygienic sanitation in Lima, Peru. X-Runner Venture is a social enterprise that brings toilets to the residents of informal housing. Lima is the second driest capitals on earth. In the informal housing, many people resort to pit latrines which spread disease. Because the pit latrines are dug near the houses, they can cause the ground on which the houses are built to become unstable. Some people try to delay using the pit latrines, which can cause further health problems. After university, Isabel worked in microfinance in Africa. Later, when living in Berlin, she met her cofounder, Jessica Altenburger, who was working on hygienic sanitation. Eventually they moved to Lima where, today, their toilets are in about 400 households. In this episode of Social Entrepreneurs, Isabel compares the running of a social venture to the care and feeding of a child. In this episode of the Social Entrepreneur podcast, we discuss:

November 19 is World Toilet Day. Why? Because globally, about 2.4 billion people, about one-third of the world’s population, do not have access to a basic toilet. Sanitation-related illnesses kill over a thousand children per day. This problem is compounded by the concentration of informal housing in urban setting. This week we are bringing you two stories of hygienic sanitation, starting with David Auerbach and Sanergy. David’s mother was a psychologist and social worker. His father was an economist. It seems to him, that he has always been thinking of social justice. When David was a teacher in rural China, he saw first-hand a lack of hygienic sanitation. In 2010, David and his cofounders participated in the Development Ventures class at MIT. The team quickly settled as hygienic sanitation (read that toilets) as the problem that they were going to tackle. In January 2011, they traveled to the urban slums near Nairobi, Kenya where they researched and confirmed their ideas. What they found when they arrived w

As a Vice President for Philips Electronics, Rick Hooper was actively involved in Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. While in Thailand, he and his wife supported a local school and charity. There, he began to see the difference that for-profit companies can make. Today, Rick is the CEO of Barefoot Power, a for-profit social enterprise that assists people in developing countries to access affordable renewable energy while reducing poverty and creating new markets. Today, Barefoot Power has revenues in the tens of millions of dollars. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: The trend toward and the challenges of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The ambition of the developing countries. Barefoot Power’s business model. The economic ecosystem required for Barefoot Power to do its work. The role of the micro-entrepreneur and microfinance in lifting people out of poverty. New, innovative approaches to lighting up the rural country side. Rick also has advice to offer more experienced business le

Du’Anyam works with local women’s wicker weaving cooperatives. Du’Anyam markets these woven products to high-end hotels. The funds allow women to care for themselves during pregnancy with healthier foods and savings programs. As a graduate student at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, Azalea Ayuningtyas traveled to the slums of Mumbai to conduct research on sanitation. There, she was confronted by a woman who challenged her to push beyond research and to have a direct impact into the lives of others. After receiving her Master’s degree in Epidemiology, Azalea took a role in a prestigious consulting firm. Soon her days in a cubicle conducting market research caused her to feel that her life was moving in the wrong direction. Eventually, she connected with high school friends and, together, they decided to take on high-risk pregnancies in the poorest, most remote parts of Indonesia. This led to the foundation of Du’Anyam, a social enterprise that provides alternative employment for pregnant women in

At 37 years-old, Michael “Luni” Libes had just completed his fifth successful tech startup. Looking for a way to support his fellow entrepreneurs, Luni became a mentor-in-residence for Pinchot University’s MBA of Sustainable Business program. After watching graduates struggle to launch their mission-driven businesses, Luni founded Fledge, the Conscious Company accelerator. Each year Fledge runs a program with seven mission-driven, for-profit companies. With six cohorts completed, Fledge has 39 graduates from ten countries, one-third of whom are in Africa. Each company is making an impact on some of the most pressing challenges of our times. In this episode, Luni shares: The story of how he started Fledge The difference between an “impact company” and others who claim that they are going to change the world The Fledge model for accelerating impact companies Examples of Fledge Alumni and their impact Luni’s latest innovation FledgeX And three business models for mission-driven, for profit companies, including w

In this episode of the podcast Social Entrepreneur, we interview Nathan Chan, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Foundr Magazine. He is building a multifaceted platform for young entrepreneurs. Nathan takes us back to his roots and describes his journey from a middle-class suburbia life to crushing it on the internet.   In this episode, Nathan describes: How he rose from an unremarkable life in the middle of the pack to being a thriving entrepreneur. He’ll describe the crappiest job he ever had and the boss that was even worse, and what it taught him. How he went from a dead end startup (yes, he really did have a web site called BestSmellingCologn.net) to growing a massive following. And, the vacation that, when compared to his everyday life, created so much pain, he finally took massive action to succeed.   Resources: The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene The Four Steps of the Epiphany by Steve Blank Ask by Ryan Levesque   Contact Nath

For Yoav Lurie, an early experience with life and death created a sense of urgency to make an impact. Today, Yoav is the founder and CEO of Simple Energy. Simple Energy is a software as a service that is taking on climate change by changing how millions of people save energy. Their customers save enough energy on a daily basis to power a small city. In this episode, Yoav describes his startup path from an early sense of justice, through the Techstars accelerator, and several pivots of their business.   Mentioned in this podcast:   Simple Energy: http://simpleenergy.com/  Simple Energy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimpleEnergy  Yoav Lurie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yoavlurie  Do Cool Sh*t: Quit Your Day Job, Start Your Own Business, and Live Happily Ever After http://amzn.to/1iITwCQ  United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP21, Paris, November 30 through December 5, 2015: http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en  Techstars: http://www.techstars.com/  Camp Kesem: http://campkesem.org/  The Redwoods Group: ht

This is the “getting to know you” episode of the podcast Social Entrepreneur. In this initial episode, I tell the story of how a woman in Kenya, who simply wanted to get the best price for her chickens led to the founding of this podcast. I’ll describe what a social entrepreneur is and what they do. I’ll also go over the form, frequency and the topics of the podcast. In this episode, you'll hear: The story of "Mrs. Ruto buys a phone" The story of "Tony's River of Life takes a turn"  The challenge of doing good while maximizing return to shareholders  My Jerry Maguire moment  What is a social entrepreneur?  The format, frequency and topics of this podcast  Two calls to action    Resources: Show Notes for this episode: http://tonyloyd.com/000/  The New York Times article that started my journey: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/science/earth/25fossil.html Infographic: What is a Social Entrepreneur? http://tonyloyd.com/socentinfographic Work on Purpose: http://bit.ly/WorkOnPurpose