Build yourself while building your business.  This is the message of Megan McDonough of OCEAN Accelerator; the nation’s first and only independent faith based high tech business accelerator. Megan shares a different story of social entrepreneurship.  This story does not require putting your personal, family, and spiritual life on hold in order to start a social venture, but instead encourages growth in these areas as you strive to grow your business.  OCEAN is dedicated to providing resources that allow founders to develop a business while still fostering growth in the other important things in their life.  As part of the program, entrepreneurs receive a $20,000 uncapped convertible note, financial support for finding a residence, a branding package, access to dedicated office space, a rich customer network, and two mentors with specific skills matched to the needs of your venture.  OCEAN also cultivates small group sessions and Bible studies focused on growing entrepreneurs into strong followers of Christ.

Megan gives an eye-opening testimony about how faith has played such a vital role in her personal business career as well as the founding of the company.  She also shares how believers do not have to go into the ministry or mission fields to impact others. We can minister to those around us through how we run our business, how we treat people, and how we conduct our daily lives.  Whether or not you adhere to a religion or belief system, social entrepreneurs have a higher calling to create something that is more than just a business. As a social entrepenuer you can impact lives for the better and create a legacy of social change. But Remember…

You got to have FAITH!

Shownotes:

• The best piece of advice:

  • Time is Short.

• What is a book you think all of us should read:

  • To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

  • Anything by C.S. Lewis

• What Tech Tool are you using to helping grow OCEAN?

  • Mail Chimp

    • Email Marketing

  • FundaCity

    • Connecting startups and investors to grow the next big thing

  • F6S

    • Where founders grow together

  • Batterii

    • Cross-functional teams use Batterii to share and build knowledge securely and effectively, building creative capabilities to produce innovative breakthroughs again and again.

• What is the first thing that we can all start doing to change the world?

  • Look at what you love to do, start doing it, and see how it can be used for the greater good.

  • Do not be afraid of challenge.

• Tim Mentzner Video

• Contact:

  • Email Megan

  • Twitter — @oceanaccel

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Youtube

  • OCEAN Website

Ari Raz feeds off his passion for food and nutrition as he runs his social venture that feeds those in need.  Pure Joy Foods was founding in February and is dedicated to delivering high quality nutritious food to as many young children as possible, whether or not their families can afford it.  As of now, they primarily focus on premium organic baby food, but hope to grow into providing different food products as their customers mature.  Azi sheds light on the nutritional issues facing children in the United States.  22 million children are using food stamps, and are not being exposed to nourishing organic foods that are harder to access in lower income areas.  Pure Joy Foods partners with the non profit organization Martha’s Table by providing them with 1 nutritious food item for every 5 items sold.  This interview is the third in our series of interviews featuring fellows of Halcyon Incubator social venture accelerator of of Washington, D.C.  We focus in on Azi’s plan to utilize the the Incubator resources to help his company be more professional, communicate better, and build its social mission. He also shares his desire to see the need for new structure and components put into place in order to accommodate those in the social entrepreneurship movement.

Shownotes:

• What is the best book you have ever read?

  • Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

  • Fed Up With Lunch by Sarah Wu

  • Rebuilding the Foodshed by Phillip Ackerman-Leist

• What is the Best piece of advice you have ever received?

  • “Try to become the least important person in your organization.”  

  • A successful organization is one that does not always need you there, but needs you pushing it forward onto the next stage.

• What is the favorite tool you are using to grow Pure Joy Food?

  • Tasting parties for parents to help generate interest and gain subscribers.

• What is a social venture to watch besides Pure Joy:

  • Datasembly

    • Making Public Data more accessible .

  • Arcadia Foods

    • Mobile Farmers Market

• What is the fiirst thing everyone can do to start changing the world?

  • Believe that you have the power to make a difference!

• Contact:

  • Email Ari
  • Pure Joy Foods Website

Oliver Kamandan gives us some good news about social entrepreneurship as he shares about his social venture Ideal Impact!   This chat with Oliver is the second in our series featuring entrepreneurs working through the Halcyon Incubator in Washington, D.C.  Ideal Impact is a community oriented tech company designed to bridge the gap between those who want to serve and organizations that vitally need support.  The App serves as an online platform that matches people with opportunities to volunteer, donate, support, and advocate for various causes based on the news stories they follow.  Oliver developed the algorithm that categorizes 97 percent of all news websites to find the articles specific to your personal interests.  Oliver discusses many things vital to the life of a new social venture, including the decision to have a for profit structure.  He wanted Ideal Impact to be a company whose mission is to build a community around worthy causes while generating sustainable income.  Oliver’s impact through his company and his experience in politics, law, computer science, and as volunteer Sous-Chef has made his story newsworthy in his community and across the country.  His last words in the interview were encouraging others to act and not sit back when they feel moved by particular causes or movements.

Are you ready to make in impact that is newsworthy?

Shownotes:

• Personal Hero:

  • Barack Obama

• Favorite Book:

  • Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

• Tool using to use

  • Pocket

    • Put articles, videos or pretty much anything into Pocket.

    • Save directly from your browser or from apps like Twitter, Flipboard, Pulse and Zite

• Best piece of Advice

  • From Oliver’s mother,

  • “Always work harder than you think you have to.”

• Another social venture to checkout:

  • Hand Up

    • Sets up homeless with crowdsourcing websites for donations.

• Favorite meal cooked as Sus Chef at Marion’s Kitchen

  • Learning how to make his first Omelet and making many many more

• Ideal Impact Website

• Email Oliver
• Twitter: @idealimpact
• Facebook

Be sure to take notes as you listen to Diana Sierra share how she used her background in product design to start the social enterprise Be Girl Pads.  As the first in a series of interviews featuring members of the Halcyon Incubator in Washington D.C., Diana touches on every aspect of a starting a social enterprise on how sharing ideas and resources in a group setting can be vital to success.  Be Girl Pads makes environmentally friendly and affordable feminine menstrual management products that help women in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Malawi overcome barriers to have an improved quality of life.  Diana saw firsthand how the lack of access to sanitary feminine products affect the women of rural Africa, causing some to miss 30 percent of the school year.  Diana Sierra recognized the importance of menstrual health management in improving the quality of life, health, and economic development for the women of Africa.  She set out to find a solution and used her creative design skills to develop a prototype pad using an umbrella and mosquito net.  She was overwhelmed by positive feedback she received while testing the product during her time volunteering with Millenium Promise.  Two years later, Be Girl is still pushing towards empowering women by designing products that let girls celebrate their femininity and be proud to be girls.  

Shownotes:

• Best book you have ever read:

  • The Persian Boy by Mary Renault

• Social Venture to check out:

  • Apopo- a social enterprise that researches, develops and implements detection rats technology for humanitarian purposes such as Mine Action and Tuberculosis detection. APOPO is a Belgian NGO, with headquarters in Tanzania and operations in Mozambique, Thailand, Angola and Cambodia

• Best piece of advice

  • Good things happen to good people even if sometimes they do not look like that.  

• Biggest challenge you have had to overcome in your life

  • Overcoming the perception that a girl from a small town in columbia could not dreams to change lives on a global scale.

• First thing everyone can start doing right now to change the world:

  • Think Small: look for ways you can impact someone in a positive way in your own neighborhood.  

  • You don’t have to do have a huge breakthrough to change the world. Start by changing one life.

• Contact:

  • Email Dianna
  • Dianna’s Website

Listen in as we hear from the founder of MADI Apparel and native Kansas Citian, Hayley Besheer.  MADI stands for: Make a Difference Intimate Apparel, and was founded three years ago to help provide undergarments to women in need.  Hayley was compelled to help solve this issue after hearing the statistic that underwear is the MOST NEEDED and UNDER-DONATED item of clothing in the US.  Something as simple as having new clean underwear has benefits beyond that of health or comfort.  MADI donates underwear primarily to women at domestic violence shelters, where it symbolizes wealth, independence, and power and makes them less susceptible to sexual abuse.   MADI apparell donates one pair of their high quality and sustainable underwear to woman in need for every pair sold.

Hayley shares how she went from looking for journalism jobs one day, to starting her own social enterprise the next.  She stresses that MADI’s for-profit model is not about making money, but is all about donating the most pairs of underwear possible to create the greatest impact. She explains that giving back as a social enterprenuer is the greatest feeling of satisfaction she has ever experienced.

 “Give back and the world will thank you.”

 Show Notes

• Best peice of advice:

  • Move forward, don’t look back!

• Book everyone should read right now:

  • Start Something That Matters by Blake MyCoskie of Tom’s Shoes

• Favorite tool using to grow your business:

  • Square App-mobile credit card payment system

• Favorite fun activity:
  • Reading
  • Sitting and watching the ocean

• First thing we can all star doing right now to change the world:

  • Pursue your gut feeling on a social issue and create social change!

Bridget Hilton, got her inspiration for LSTN Headphones after watching a viral youtube video of a woman hearing her own voice for the first time.  She knew then that she wanted to help give the gift of hearing to the hearing impaired and created LSTN to achieve that mission. Headphones were a natural fit for her social enterprise because Bridget had worked in the Music Industry since she was 15 and believed in the power of music to change lives.  LSTN Headphones offer top quality acoustics and an incredibly unique design featuring a sustainable wood casing.  For each pair sold, LSTN donates gives the gift of hearing to one of the 360 million people worldwide who are hearing impaired.   Bridget shares many tips and tricks of how she has grown her social enterprise to impact over 15,000 patients in under 2 years.  Listen in to find out more about Bridget and how LSTN is changing the world through music.  Pick up your own headphones and listen to the next Voices of Social Change podcast with a pair from LSTN that looks good, sounds good, and does good.

Show Notes:

• LSTN Headphones

• Best piece of advice ever received:

  • Life is Short/You Only live Once.

  • Ask yourself, “Am I living the life Iwant to live.”

• Books we should all read:

  • Four Hour Work Week and Four Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss

  • The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Brawn

• Favorite thing to do for a fun escape:

  • Traveling and doing things outdoors.

• Tool used to grow business:

  • Shopify-Ecommerce Solution

    • No Design Skills Needed
    • Sell one product or millions
    • Accept Payments Instantly

• One thing everyone can do now to start changing the world:

  • Put your money where your mouth is and buy products that are made by companies that give back.

Listen to David Dietz, founder of the sustainable fashion company Modavanti, share his story of harnessing fashion as a force for good.  David was a conflict journalist covering revolutions in the Middle East before he discovered the dirtiness of the textile industry and set out to start his own revolution.
The fashion industry is one of the highest producers of waste and pollution, and is a vital component in the effort to change the current trends of global warming and climate change. Modavanti is completely dedicated to changing the world through sustainable fashion by selling clothes made by designers using sustainable practices and dedicated to a cause.  The company also donates 2 percent of all profits to organizations making an impact by supporting artisans and providing clean water in developing countries.  David shares about the challenges of starting a new startup social enterprises as well as the great satisfaction that comes with seeing profits and progress go hand in hand.  He believes that sustainable fashion revolution can improve our world as consumers join the movement and start caring about how things are made and who made them.

Show Notes:

Shop and Learn more about Modavanti

·         Personal Hero: President Bill Clinton

·         Favorite tool use to help grow business: Google Drive, Google Calendar

 Best piece of advice you have ever received:   Find a need and fill it.

·         Favorite thing to do for fun:   Rent a sailboat and spend the day out on the water.

·         First thing everyone can do to start changing the world:   Know the story behind what you buy.

Join us for this week’s recap podcast as Josh chats about what social entrepreneurship really means, the lessons from our latest interviews on sustainable fashion, and other cause minded musings…

Key Takeaways

-Entrepreneur Magazine will be profiling a bunch of great social entrepreneurs here - I’d highly reccomend checking it out.

-We need ensembles, not soloists for social change.  Check here

WEBSITES OF SOCIAL BUSINESSES FROM THE WEEK:

Panda

Mission Belt

Jewelry for a Cause

Zac Holzapfel is the Co-founder of Mission Belt, a company whose mission is to help people around the world break out of the poverty cycle through their belt business.  Zac shares his inspiration and philosophy on Social Enterprises.  Zac believes in producing captial for change, and not merely asking for donations.  That is why Mission Belt is a for-profit company that produces and sells belts in order to have the means to change the lives of those living in poverty.  Mission Belt does this by funding Micro-Loans which are given to those in poverty to start a sustainable agricultural business.  Zac stresses that without sustainability, there is no mission.  As you listen to Zac, think about how you can produce your own change.  Young or old, we all have been given the opportunity to make money as entrepreneurs and business professionals.  Why wait to give back?

Show Notes:

• Best piece of Advice:

  • Be Authentic

• One Magazine we should all subscribe to:

  • Foreign Policy

• Fun Escape:

  • Chill out in the water

• Favorite Tool:

  • Google Docs

• First Thing everything can do right now to start changing the world:

  • Be  a producer. Pay your own way and help someone else pay their own way.

  • You can’t get anywhere waiting around for something to happen.  Whatever you are doing, get out there and make it grow.

• Contact:

  • missionbelt.com