social impact Archives - Page 12 of 14

Hacking the Diversity Gap, with Kristen Womack, Hack the Gap

July 10, 2017

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…

The World’s Largest Network of Late-Stage Social Entrepreneurs, with Katherine Milligan, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

July 3, 2017

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 where 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 were failing.”…

Start and Grow a Veteran-led Business, with Tim O’Neil, Bunker Labs, Minneapolis

July 3, 2017

Bunker Labs, Minneapolis is a non-profit built by military veteran entrepreneurs to empower other military veterans as leaders in innovation. This year, 200,000 military veterans will leave the service. Twenty-five percent of them want to start a business. In 2013, Tim O’Neil was one of those people. After 7 years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, Tim left the military. He enrolled in the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Business to pursue his MBA. When Tim graduated, he started Fidelis Co, a manufacturer, and distributor of carried goods: backpacks, duffle bags, cases for electronics. The company has a veteran’s thesis. Tim took components of what he…

A Catalyst for Caring and Building Community, with Rose McGee, Sweet Potato Comfort Pies

June 26, 2017

Rose McGee reminds me of that quote from tennis legend Arthur Ashe. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Rose calls sweet potato pie “the sacred desert of black culture.” She grew up with her grandmother and great-grandmother in Jackson, Tennessee. As an adult, Rose decided that she wanted to make sweet potato pie. She called her grandmother and got the recipe. “Nothing was written down,” she says. “It was a pinch of this and a handful of that.” Rose’s first experiments with making sweet potato pie did not turn out. But she kept baking. Soon, friends were requesting her pies. And after a while,…

Experimenting within an Ecosystem, with Eric Sannerud, Mighty Axe Hops

June 26, 2017

Mighty Axe Hops is using experimentation to create an ecosystem within an ecosystem. Eric Sannerud approaches life like a scientific experiment. 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 working with Urban Oasis, the winner of a $1 million Forever Saint Paul Competition to create a…

Equipping Emerging Game Makers with Tools for Success, with Evva Kraikul, GLITCH

June 18, 2017

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…

The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, with Mark Norbury, UnLtd

June 12, 2017

UnLtd is the UK’s largest supporter of early-stage social entrepreneurs. Mark Norbury 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 the second half of the equation, 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…

Things Just Got Real

June 9, 2017

Well, things just got real. I just created promos for my *gulp* brand new radio program. Seriously. Did I just type that sentence? Here is what the promo sounds like. In case you have not heard, we have the opportunity to produce a weekly, one-hour, drive-time radio program. The show will reach tens of thousands of new listeners. In order to launch, we’re running a crowdfunding campaign. So far, more than 50 people have jumped in to help. As I’m writing this, we’re 35% of the way to our goal. If you want to be part of the movement to bring Social Entrepreneur to the radio, click here to…

See Change Magazine Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Elisa Birnbaum

A Storytelling Platform for Social Entrepreneurs, Elisa Birnbaum, SEE Change Magazine

June 5, 2017

SEE Change Magazine is a global digital magazine focused on social entrepreneurship and social change. Like most people I speak to, Elisa Birnbaum’s career path was circuitous. She studied political science and law. “I was going to save the world as a human rights lawyer, of course,” she says tongue-in-cheek. But along the way, she found that she had a gift for writing. When she graduated from law school, she told herself, “I’m going to take some time off to see what this thing called storytelling is all about.” That was more than 15 years ago. Elisa honed her journalistic skills with several organizations. Her portfolio includes articles for the…

Find your funding with Ned Tozun of d.light

How to Find Your Funding, with Ned Tozun, d.light

May 29, 2017

Ned Tozun talks about how to find your funding as you start and grow your social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs take on intractable problems. To tackle global challenges, you’re going to need to find funding. One such massive problem is global energy poverty. According to the International Energy Agency, globally 1.2 billion people are without access to electricity. To light their homes, they often depend on kerosene, which is expensive, consuming precious resources from those who can least afford it. Kerosene fumes are hazardous to breathe. When families gain access to solar lights, their expenses go down, their health improves, and often children in the home study later into the night,…

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