b-corp

Advocacy Through Industry, with Raan and Shea Parton, Apolis Global

Apolis is a socially motivated lifestyle brand that empowers communities worldwide. Brothers Shea and Raan Parton grew up in the privileged surroundings of Southern California. To ground the brothers in reality, their parents traveled with Raan and Shea. Seeing how the rest of the world lived afforded the boys a perspective shift. This early experience of diverse cultures made them comfortable enough to eventually move from the passive role of tourist to participant: “The most rich way to experience places or cultures is to be working there and to be part of it.” By the time Shea was in high school and Raan in college, they shipped their first orders…

Read More

Social Entrepreneurship: An Introduction

Social entrepreneurship is, in its simplest terms, the utilization of business practices to fundamentally change the most intractable issues of our time. Having said that, I feel like I should quickly add, “But wait! There’s more!” In recent years, entrepreneurs of all types have profoundly altered the marketplace. Companies like Dropbox, Airbnb and Red Hat have transformed their industries. What if we could utilize the incredible power of startups to permanently change the landscape of social and environmental issues such as climate change, food security and access to clean water? That’s what social entrepreneurship does. Definition of Social Entrepreneurship Bill Drayton, Ashoka founder and CEO seems to have coined the term social entrepreneur. According…

Read More