Social Enterprise Meets Social Impact | Flynn Coleman

So social enterprise and social impact. So I'm a social entrepreneur. And all of you here in this room are entrepreneurs, budding entrepreneurs or established entrepreneurs that have come here to take it to the next level. And I'm here to tell you that I'm not an entrepreneur because I care about being an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur because I'm interested in impact. And as a human rights lawyer, as a founder, as a writer, as a speaker, as a teacher, I've found that Entrepreneurship is so exciting because it has such an ability to have an impact on the ground. I wanted to know that if I died tomorrow, there were people whose lives were better because of what I was doing. You know, and ultimately as a lawyer, I believe we need to change laws and we need to change policies, but it's that on-the-ground, day in, day out, figuring out how to make a difference. And the whole key is that there's no right or wrong way to do that. You know, when you're caring for your grandmother, it's the same thing as, helping to solve some huge problem. And it can be solved with money. It can be solved with time. It can be solved with partnerships. There's no right or wrong way to do it. But entrepreneurship and social enterprise is so exciting because you have such an ability to make an impact. And there's no right or wrong way to do that, which is exciting. I had an engineer in one of my General Assembly classes that said, this was so mind-blowing for me because as an engineer I realized I don't have to solve poverty to make an impact. And that's what stops us so often. Well, I can't do that, so I'm not going to do anything. But that's just It's just simply not true. So Malane is an example, because it's a company that I started, of this idea of social impact embedded into a mission, but also the idea of impact kind of helping you come up with solutions. So these are 2 photos. This is me with my friends in Rwanda, my friends and partners in Rwanda. And then this other photo is me with my little friend in Ethiopia. And Malane is a company that provides innovative approaches to human rights issues, to economic development issues. And the idea is not unlike what you're doing here at Draper University, which is The idea is to invest in people so they can invest in themselves how they so choose. So my conversations with people around the world, whether it was dealing with survivors of mass rape, of genocide, people that had gone through the worst atrocities, is that we all want the same things. We want to belong. We want something to believe in, health for our families. But we also— we want control over our own lives and our own futures. So it's not— and again, aid is critical in times of crisis, but what people really want is to make their own choices about their futures. That's why you're here, right? You want to have choices about your future. And people also know what they want. Sometimes they just lack the tools or the access. Right. So we're sitting here simply because we have more access to things than other people. That's the only difference. We've been given opportunities that other people haven't. That's the only difference. And so the idea is providing opportunities so people can make their own choices about life. And that goes for anything in entrepreneurship. The idea is to enable people to make their own choices, to empower them, which I think someone said when we were talking at the beginning. So the other interesting thing about Melyna is that in addition to that, I patented a new technology for crowdfunding. And we partnered with Kiva and Kiva Zip to launch it as well. And what's interesting is that social impact was embedded into the mission, but social impact helped me to solve a general business problem that's helpful with business. So it goes both ways. It's not just about necessarily having impact kind of embedded into the origin of your business, but thinking about impact can help you solve general business problems. So when I created this technology to solve a problem for vulnerable communities, that's actually applicable to the entire business community. Right? So you can use these problem-solving skills to also scale and to solve problems that may not necessarily traditionally have to do with impact. So we kind of brushed upon this at the beginning, but social impact is good for business as it turns out. And it's getting more and more so. And what's exciting about now— so I have a background in behavioral economics. And what's exciting is in addition to just saying this and, oh yeah, social impact is good for business, the studies are actually coming in that it's true. So there was a recent study that showed, for example, that 60% of Americans are now willing to pay more for organizations, companies, and products that make a difference, that give back. Right? So the studies are coming in. It's actually good for business. And what's exciting about this and what's exciting for you all sitting in these beanbags is that there's a real opportunity here. Kind of the wave is growing and there's a real opportunity. Someone said customer retention. So there's a real opportunity here to take initiative and yes, to do good and to give back, but there's a real business opportunity here too, which is really exciting. I recently gave a talk to a huge group of travel professionals, and there's a huge gap and a huge kind of hole being waiting to fill there too because it turns out that people actually are wanting this experience And this is a way to get customers in addition, of course, to making a difference. And, you know, Bill Clinton is someone that's kind of said it in some, I think, very clear terms, which is, it turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics. Because discrimination, poverty, and ignorance restrict growth while investments in education, infrastructure, and scientific and technological research increase it. creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us. So here is just a couple of examples of innovative social impact business ideas. And I specifically chose ideas— these are not charities and these are not NGOs. These are business ideas. So these are kind of ways that people have connected innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship to make a difference and also make money. So is anyone familiar with Jerry the Bear? So Jerry the Bear is a company that creates stuffed animals. And the stuffed animals help people, help children with chronic medical issues and disabilities to learn how to care for another being. So you kind of help Jerry the Bear eat, you help it kind of do basic things, and it helps kids that have medical issues or chronic issues of any kind learn how to take care of themselves. And of course it's a for-profit business. Smart glasses. So the glasses that are helping people that can't see. to see. Reverse the Odds, anyone familiar? No. So Reverse the Odds is a video game in which when you play this video game, you contribute to data that helps with cancer research. So there's a lot of really cool stuff coming in with gaming. Avant Game, Jane McGonigal is someone working at the intersection of these issues. Maybe some of you are familiar with her. So the idea of gaming, which of course can have some very negative implications as we've seen, but also as a way to also build empathy and compassion and kind of practice for real life. I'm a huge sci-fi nerd. I could have done this whole thing on Game of Thrones, but I won't, unless you ask for it. But this idea of using gaming for good. Hope Lab. Are some of you familiar with Hope Lab? If you're not, you're probably familiar with the Omidyars. So Pam Omidyar started Hope Lab, and they are doing a lot of research into creating compassion and empathy through data, through science. So they're doing very interesting work. Obviously, the Omidyars are kind of at the forefront of this idea of philanthropy through investment. Liftware. Liftware is that spoon that helps people that have motor neuron issues, so things like Parkinson's, and it's a mechanical spoon that kind of corrects those motor neuron issues so people that have shaky hands, for example, can feed themselves. Right? A very simple thing, but it provides this basic dignity. Again, it's a company. Open Bionics. Has anyone seen the kids that have those cool Iron Man arms? So it's like if a kid is an amputee, they create bionic limbs for them that look like Iron Man. So these are just some of the ways that companies have connected innovation, creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship for good in a for-profit sense.