Social Entrepreneur: Conscious Companies | Benefit Corporations | Impact Investing

The Skoll Foundation drives large-scale change for the world’s most pressing problems. They invest in, connect and celebrate social entrepreneurs. Sally Osberg’s reading early in life shaped her outlook. “I was reading biographies of people like Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jane Adams, and people who convinced me that you could make a pretty powerful difference in the world. And somehow that seeped into my consciousness and gave me a real sense of agency, and I could be meaningful in the scheme of trying to make the world a better place.” Sally is the President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. She describes what they’re looking for this way. “We look for the convergence of an innovative idea; a great innovator with the determination and wherewithal to stay at this work; and an inflection point where there is sufficient evidence that this idea works.”  Jeff Skoll founded the Skoll Foundation in 1999. Jeff was the founding president of eBay. Jeff’s vision is a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. In 200

BinaryBridge creates software that helps humanitarians do their work effectively and efficiently. Lori Most grew up seeing television commercials of humanitarian crises, especially in Africa. Lori recounted, “I always wanted to go to Africa and help…I thought ‘I’m going to grow up and go over there.” In college, she started as a pre-med student. Part way through she switched to engineering. “I changed directions a lot,” she laughed. When she graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in mathematics, she was left with this sense that she still wanted to help. After graduating, Lori quickly found work in the booming field of software development. She worked as a software developer, business analyst and product manager with well-known brands such as UnitedHealth Group, Target, and C.H. Robinson. She felt like the work she was doing was important, but she says, “It wasn’t quite the mission I was looking for.” Lori thought about working with a nonprofit. She explored several opportunities. Eventual

Perk Health is a website and app that helps you pick up healthier habits in a way that is sustainable. Zach McGill and Doug DeBold grew up playing sports. Games taught them so much: achievement, competition, leader boards, point scoring, rewards, rules of play, self-expression, socializing, mastery, and status. When it was time for college, Doug went off to college in Vermont while Zach attended the University of Minnesota. Initially, Zach studied engineering. He wanted to invent things. But, he says, “I realized, with engineering, there would be less inventing and lot more equations.” So, he started studying entrepreneurship. “It became clear to me that my path was going to be to start and build companies.” Zach built side businesses while he was in school. He became involved with the Acara Institute at the University of Minnesota. He traveled to New Delhi where he and a team developed a business plan to build a small biogas plant. The proposed plant would reduce greenhouse gasses while providing reliable

Northside Economic Opportunity Network, better known as NEON, provides entrepreneurs in North Minneapolis with business development services. Marcus Owens is a product of North Minneapolis. He grew up there, graduating from North Community High School. He bought his first home there. Then his second. He says, “I always wanted to find a way to give back to this community.” Marcus has long been an entrepreneur, operating real estate and financial services businesses. He also worked at a regional bank and a large retailer. He ran a small nonprofit. By 2012, he was looking for more ways to give back to the community. He found his way to the board of NEON. Two years later, he took over as the CEO. NEON works with low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs to build wealth and develop a sustainable community. They offer training and coaching. They also provide access to capital and access to markets. Their coworking space is on West Broadway in North Minneapolis. Marcus says that “We’re trying to revitalize [North Minn

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 P

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 problem

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

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 resourc

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.”

She Inspires Her is an online and mobile media platform that shares stories about women entrepreneurs in emerging African markets. Lisa O’Donoghue-Lindy was born in Ireland. When she was 12 years-old, she moved to the United States with her family. After college, she went back to Europe working with major corporations in communications roles. Lisa and her husband have lived in South Africa, Greece and Finland. As we spoke, they are in the process of moving to Namibia. Because she has moved so often, she has done work that can be accomplished from anywhere in the world. In 2014, Lisa and a friend launched a side project called Career 2.0. They wrote stories of women who had experience major mid-life shifts. They featured women, mainly from the US and Europe, who had found a way to live a fulfilling life. It was through this work that Lisa wrote a story about Hyasintha Ntuyeko, and entrepreneur from Tanzania. After the story came out, Hyasintha applied for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) fellowsh