Archive for category: Featured Enterprise

my Panda helps people get trusted, reliable help from right in their own neighborhood. my Panda has a culture of women helping women. 95% of the Pandas are women, they understand the struggles our members face, and they hire those who are passionate about helping. GSIC caught up with founder Tamara Lucas to learn more about her journey and my Panda’s success with connecting neighbors and local communities.

By: Kayla Jones, Social Impact Fellow

GSIC: Tell us about my Panda, and why you felt it was necessary to start this business. 

Tamara: So, it was a problem that I have, right? I am a single mom of two kids. My career before this was working in sales and marketing management in the fine wine field – working as a distributor. I was representing different wineries, and as a single mom with two kids, I was super overwhelmed. It was too much on my plate, as many of us can relate. The idea was born actually when one day, I was talking to a friend of mine who worked as a dog walker. She was like, “Oh, my God, I go into people’s houses, and they need much more than just a dog walker! I go in there and take their dog out, but then their kitchen is a disaster. If they would like throw me $20 bucks, I’d empty the dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen, too!”  And I thought to myself, “Holy cow, that’s what I need!”

So, at that point, I was like, “You know, if someone was driving by my house anyway, they could just stop and spend 30 minutes in my kitchen, and I paid $20? Oh, absolutely!” And then I thought about how many other people there are all around us – primarily working women. We’re the ones that have the brunt of everything put on us. And how many other people are all around us, in our community, have little bits of time, little pockets of time, and would want to help?

That’s where the whole idea came from. I thought, “Hey, if we can just connect these people, that would be great.”  So I asked myself, “Well, why don’t we try to build an app?” And I’m non-technical. So I had no idea what was involved in that. Then I began to realize, as I talked about this idea with more and more people, how many people needed it. Basically, everybody I talked to was like, “Oh, my God, I need that! I need someone to help me just get to these everyday things that are just too much.” So then I was like, this is something that can really be a business, and we can grow it. And that was the birth of it. We went ahead and built the app and it has kept growing from there.

GSIC: That’s great. Can you speak more about the decision to make it an app? Or the other possible ways my Panda could’ve come about? 

Tamara: Yeah, sure. So we actually launched with a browser-based system because it was really simple to build. People would just log into the website, put in the request, and then the request would be there for us to view. We developed the app because we envisioned people being out and about and realizing, “Oh, my God, I left the laundry in the washing machine, I need someone to go by! And maybe, I’ll just have them take care of the dog, too.” 

We wanted people to just go to their phones and put the request in. We saw it as a very simple way to use this tool. Most people carry their phones around them all the time. We wanted it easy for people to hire our Pandas, and Panda stands for “Personal Assistants Next Door App.” We envisioned people thinking, “Oh, I can go get a Panda” and getting one flowed seamlessly into the person’s life. That being said, right now, we are reworking our website. We’re rebranding and everything, and going to have a browser-based capability of putting in requests. We’re building that back in because there are people that might not want to download an app or sometimes getting the app is a barrier for them. We think it can help our marketing because if people can use our services just from the browser instead of downloading the app too, we think that will make a difference.

GSIC: That’s great. Can you speak about some of the favorite moments about doing this work?

Tamara: I’m passionate about helping people. I have a Master’s in social work, which I got from UGA back in the mid-90s. Helping the community and helping people drive me, and that’s what I see my Panda as. It’s helping the people that need help, and it’s also helping Pandas who want to have a flexible job. It’s rewarding work because they get to step in and help people.  It isn’t just a gig, you know? I can’t think of an exact moment per se, but when I get emails or text messages from our users, like, “Oh my God, my PANDA just left, and my life has completely changed!” I love that feeling of completely changing someone’s day and, by doing that, changing their life.

Also, many women left the workplace during the pandemic, and it’s been a big issue. So many of our PANDAs are women. And having the job flexibility of making $20 an hour and the opportunity to work within the local community is pretty special. That’s the other unique thing about us – we’re hyperlocal. Our PANDAs only work a few miles from their homes and serve the same people within the local community. They get to support local independent businesses. We have many people who submit shopping requests for the DeKalb Farmers’ Market. So Instacart, for example, doesn’t go there.  Some of our PANDAs are skilled and know their way around the market. They can go when the market isn’t too busy, which helps our users that work during the day and can only go during peak hours. It makes my day when I get those stories about how we completely affected somebody’s life.  

GSIC: That’s really cool. It’s neighbors helping neighbors, and also helping the small businesses that may not show up on other food delivery apps.

Tamara: Exactly. And it’s also keeping the money in the local economy. It’s really important for us to support our local businesses and keep that money locally. When we do that, that money gets amplified so much more. It helps communities instead of going into huge corporations and helping the shareholders.

GSIC: That’s great. So then, on the other hand, what has been some of the more challenging experiences of running it? 

Tamara: With running a startup, you’re building the plane while you’re flying it. I don’t have a business background – I have a social work and psychology background and experience in wine sales. So the learning curve was really steep, and then having the resources that you need. Being a first time founder and a female founder, getting access to funding is tough. It’s changing now, for underrepresented founders, though. There’s a lot more funds out there that are specifically targeting us and helping us but, bootstrapping is hard. And accessing cash has been very, very hard.  It’s hard when this is your full-time job, and you’re not paying yourself, and you’ve got two kids to raise. So that has been really difficult – accessing resources. 

We’re essentially a marketplace business. We’ve got a supply side and a demand side. Making sure that that’s balanced is tough, too. Making sure we have enough Pandas hired so that when requests come in, they’re getting picked up time on time. But then also, we get Pandas hired and don’t have enough jobs coming in, and they quickly lose interest, and they fall off. So as far as the style of business that we are, that is the biggest challenge we have with running the business.

 

 

GSIC: That makes a lot of sense because the PANDAS provide on-demand services, right?  

Tamara: Yeah, they do. So a person can put in “on-off” requests, and they can be completed within an hour or two. But generally, we don’t get to them that quickly. So you can do same-day services, but we also have subscription services where a person gets partnered with Pandas, our Panda Partner program. So depending on the needs, we find the Panda whose schedule works with the client’s. Then that Panda becomes the “go-to.” Those people schedule the Pandas more regularly, which helps the Pandas have more consistent work. We’re hoping to move to a membership-based model soon to help with some of our scheduling challenges. 

GSIC: Thank you for your transparency in talking about the challenges as you operate. So how did you build those connections in the first place and get customers using the platform? 

Tamara: The startup and technology ecosystem here in Atlanta is robust. I’ve tapped into that ecosystem to help give me support. As a first-time founder, I really needed help building a strong foundation for the business. I also tapped into ATDC and Emory’s Goizueta Business School, which has the Start:Me program. I went through the City of Atlanta Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative program, LaunchPad 2X, and right now I’m in TechStars Atlanta. Getting into all these programs helped my network to expand. 

That was all hard because our app launched in September 2019, right before the pandemic. So, as I was building the business, everything was virtual, and getting to know people was difficult. But a lot of the foundation was laid during that time period, and now that people are getting back out and about, it’s been great to access that network again.  

Pretty much all of our growth has been because of word of mouth, we’ve had very little marketing. That’s been great because my Panda is a very personalized, trust-based business. So if you hear about it from your friends, you’re much more likely to use it. Much of our growth has also been from Facebook groups, especially Mom and Neighborhood-based groups. I started it in my neighborhood and then moved to the neighborhoods around us. Facebook has been a huge way that our business has grown. 

GSIC: Wow, that’s pretty cool. Using Facebook groups is really really smart. So what do you believe is my Panda’s superpower?  

Tamara: Connecting with people and connecting people. My undergraduate degree was in psychology. And when I was going to college, I thought, “What am I gonna do? I thought I might as well get a degree in psychology because all I ever did was help people with their problems.” I might as well get paid for it, you know? (laughs) So, I definitely connect with people and establish relationships with people really well. my Panda is a connector for sure! 

GSIC: That’s great. Well, thank you so much for your time! We wish my Panda all the best.

Tamara: Thanks for having me!

Find more information about my Panda here: 

Donate Panda hours to New American Pathways to help with Afghan refugee resettlement: https://www.mypandaapp.com/napw

Download the myPanda app”

June 6, 2022

By: Kayla Jones, GSIC Social Impact Fellow

Bread and Butter Farms aims to utilize what the earth provides holistically to grow vegetables,  fruits, and herbs with zero chemicals. They simply take care of the soil, plant heirloom seeds, and harvest to provide the most nutrient-dense produce possible.

 

GSIC caught up with founders and owners Micole and Musa Hasan to learn more about Bread and Butter Farms and their mission to provide a “true farm-to-table experience” for the community. 

 

 

GSIC: Tell us about Bread and Butter Farms and the challenges you hope to address with your mission. 

 

Micole: Bread and Butter Farms initially started as a way to afford to feed our family the way we wanted to eat, without having to buy foods or produce full of chemicals. We began very small in our apartment. In each space we lived, we started indoor growing. Then we would go to the balcony and backyard, making a natural progression.

We finally got a house and a yard, so we turned the whole backyard into raised beds. That’s when we started selling at a market. We would take pictures and post them on social media, and people started showing interest in what we had. So, we would just sell bundles here and there, and then somebody said, “Well, you guys should come to the Athens Farmer’s Market.”

We were like, “Sure, why not!” So, we tried it, and it was like getting bit by a bug because we did not realize that we could make money doing something that we enjoyed. We were already doing it for our family but saw that we could provide income for ourselves. It was our opportunity to get out there as farmers, scientists, and Black people. The farmer’s market was an area in a food desert, too. We partnered with the Athens Land Trust, which tries to work with Athens’s underserved and underprivileged communities.

So, we felt it was a good space for us and a good fit because we got to talk to all sorts of people. For example, people would come to tell us about their health challenges, like high blood pressure and heart problems. Our experiences, along with our education, helped us talk to people about what they should eat to mitigate the issues that they were having.

We are both very passionate about farming. It keeps us going on some level, especially when it comes to our customers and seeing the needs that we can fill.

 

GSIC: That’s wonderful. How long have you all operated, and how have you grown over time? 

 

Musa: We started in 2012 and have been pushing ever since. 

 

Micole: Yes, we came up with the name “Bread and Butter Farms” in 2015 because initially, we were farming without a name. We were operating, giving produce to families, selling a little bit here and there. But we became “Bread and Butter Farms” once we were at the Athens Farmer’s Market. The name came because I make bread and cakes and Musa makes butter. We took that to the market with us and the produce, which is how we began.  

 

GSIC: That’s awesome. Did you grow up farming, or did you get more involved as you got older? 

 

Micole: I grew up growing and gardening. My mother and my uncles always had gardens. I come from an agricultural family to the point where agriculture was the only thing that supported the family. My mother grew up on a self-sufficient farm operation. Everything came off the farm – we grew cotton, corn, and mostly cash crops. We also had chickens and hogs. My father grew up in the same kind of farming operation as well.

It was deeply rooted in my upbringing; I was the only one out of four kids interested in it. Every fruit seed I got, I grew. I grew some flowers on my front lawn and my parents, thankfully, let me have that independence to be able to do that. I’d have my gardens, too. When Musa met me in college, I had a balcony garden. So, I’ve always loved growing.

Wherever the two of us moved, I said, “We have to have sun; I have to be able to grow something!” When I met Musa, he shared that he grew up on a farm. He’d still go back to the farm while we were in college, going to visit his grandfather and help him on the family farm in Monroe. Musa has more of an upbringing with agriculture firsthand, and my family was more into gardening. I’d say that I’m first-generation, returning to farming, and Musa is a second-generation farmer.

 

GSIC: How has building connections and relationships helped you all run and expand Bread and Butter Farms? 

 

Micole: We’re so grateful for our network. We try to reach out and take part in whatever we can in terms of growth and development, but we are also pretty selective about opportunities. We don’t deal with any bank loans, and we don’t deal with any interest. It is very important for us to be able to farm and make an impact without it being stressful and without negatively impacting our mental health.

Because farming is very stressful, you put everything in the ground at the beginning of the season. And we lost 85% of our crops, for example, from the frost that we got a couple of weeks back. So, you do these things, and sometimes it feels like you’re on a hamster wheel. But thankfully, we have a network. We do have places like Emory Start:ME, where if we need to share something, they can help us.

We have the opportunity to work with the American Heart Association and receive publicity through that. We work with MARTA stations and various farmers’ markets. We also meet people in different organizations and partner with these micro-food systems throughout Atlanta. We try to collaborate with them and provide them with produce the best way we can because we’re kind of far out – we’re an hour from Atlanta.

So, connecting with those individuals and knowing that our food is getting to the people who need it is a huge thing for us. We’re happy to work with anybody who moves in a direction parallel to our values and what we feel.

Working with the school system is another opportunity for us. Starting with the kids, you need to build from the ground up. Creating that knowledge base and that interest when it comes to agriculture and farming, that’s how we move. When it comes to SNAP benefits and people that are low-income, we try to squeeze into that space as well.

Good food is not a privilege. You shouldn’t have to make a certain amount of money to go to Whole Foods and be able to buy stuff – and who knows how old the food is!

Anybody that needs food should be able to get it. 

Musa: That’s exactly right! 

GSIC: Can you all speak to Bread and Butter’s farm share initiative and the benefits of this farming model? 

Musa: So, the farm share is pretty straightforward, and it is a model that started in Tuskegee, Alabama. Basically, the idea is to have individuals interested in zero chemical, organic produce. They buy into the program ahead of schedule – so people start purchasing full and half shares around November and December for the springtime growing season. A family of four might buy a full share, and they would get a weekly distribution of veggies for ten weeks. That allows us to know exactly how much we grow and who we are growing for. Those seeds and plants are already allotted, and as farmers, we don’t want to waste anything. It helps us save tons of food.

And there’s a difference in quality, too. When you’re eating certain types of food, and you go to a farm or a farmers’ market and grab something harvested less than a couple of hours before, or at most a day, the taste is absolutely amazing. Even if you are buying conventional produce, just the fact that you’re getting it earlier than two weeks, the taste is different. And we don’t use any chemicals or pesticides either, so the nutrient density of the plant and produce is astronomical. 

GSIC: Do you all teach people how to farm as well?

Musa: We are working on that, and we recently hired our first staff member. We’re hoping to hire another person, which will free us to host more farm dinners and workshops. 

Many people don’t understand what’s happening in society right now. There’s a decline in produce and meats, and other food products that are typically readily available. Our culture needs to understand growing practices and the benefits of growing.  And just growing, even if they live in an apartment, to grow whatever they can. “Grow where you are” has been one of our mottos since we started.

Micole: Exactly, and the whole agricultural system in the U.S. is not sustainable. The conventional farming system, mass-producing everything and importing, is not sustainable because it destroys the land and the soil. 

If we can get more micro farms and micro gardens going, people don’t have to be so co-dependent on a grocery store. Then, if there’s a fault in the system, people can keep moving without stress and pandemonium. We have been talking about moving more to an educational farm-based operation instead of market and Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) models.

As we age as farmers, that’s something that we think about – how long we can sustain the physical labor and how much longer we can keep doing it. We can’t assume that our kids will automatically want to farm and carry on the business, and a lot of times, that’s not the reality with farmers. We are considering and remain passionate about creating an on-site educational program for people who want to learn how to farm as a business or just learn how to grow.

GSIC: What do you believe is Bread and Butter Farms’ superpower?

Musa: I’ll answer for Micole, and she can answer for me. Micole’s superpower is her organization. With thinking outside the box and her critical thinking skills, she’s a chess master when it comes to outlining details that I wouldn’t typically think of when it comes to business, farming, and things of that nature. Her creativity and great ideas – that’s a huge superpower. 

But other than that, honestly, it’s the balancing she’s consistently doing. This balancing act between a wife, mother, and business owner, engaging in self-empowerment and community development. All of that together, I think, is a superpower. 

Micole: Thank you, babe. I appreciate that! Musa is a networking king. He’s good at greeting people and getting into spaces that will benefit us. He’s great at making connections that end up helping us in the present moment or down the line. 

Another thing is his work ethic. He has a way of tunneling in and getting things done. He helps me execute my ideas, and he’s good with numbers. I think we’re a good business match in that way. He presents information in a format that people can read and understand, which has helped us in our grant writing and securing funding. We’re playing off our strengths.

GSIC: What other programs are you planning to start at Bread and Butter Farms? 

Micole: We’re pushing our farm stand to get more people down to the farm. It’s a precursor to having a school program, so we want more people to learn about growing. Those happen on Sundays. As we move forward, we’re hoping to grow and develop more as a company. We’d also love to provide jobs for more people interested in agriculture. 

Musa: Yeah, we think that’s important. Our whole motto is self-sustainability. Farmers’ markets are good spaces to be in as a farm, but we may not always be able to depend on them. 

Everything is done as a steppingstone to something else. Bill Gates purchasing farmland, for example, is a stepping stone to things that might come down the pipeline. Rules and the policies that get passed will likely protect big corporations or other big farmers from small farmers. Down the line, this might require farmers to get different certifications to keep farming. To avoid those regulations and policies that will come later, we believe that selling from our farm itself and dealing with the people around us will help us as we move forward. 

GSIC: Thank you both so much for your time.

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Get connected and learn more about Bread and Butter Farms!

Bread and Butter Farms Instagram | Facebook

Monroe, GA. 30655 | 470-487-3959 | [email protected]

How can a campus achieve aggressive reductions in energy use, and reduce its carbon footprint, through efficiency upgrades? Agnes Scott College initiated the college’s Green Revolving Fund (GRF) in 2011 as a practical solution to this common challenge shared by colleges and universities that have committed to a goal of climate neutrality.

By 2015 Agnes Scott’s GRF had become a model for meeting this sustainability challenge, especially for schools with 5,000 or fewer students, by revolving more than $1 million to support energy capture and efficiency as well as water fixture retrofits campus wide. Now, five years after that first major goal was met, the Agnes Scott GRF has invested in efficiency retrofits totaling close to $2 million, including direct support for several large scale, innovative projects. Most notably, 10% of the college’s 1 million square feet of building space gained geothermal heat and air conditioning with support from the GRF. In addition, this fund has proven not only to be an incredibly effective tool to finance efficiency projects, it has also been a key element in advancing two other campus sustainability objectives: engaging our students in research to solve “real world” sustainability challenges, and creating a campus culture that supports the goal of advancing climate neutrality initiatives.

The basic concept of a green revolving fund is to establish a pool of financial resources dedicated to investing in energy and water efficiency upgrades that will generate utility cost savings. The money saved through these projects is then recycled back into the fund for future projects, resulting in a sustainable funding source for climate neutrality efforts. At Agnes Scott the GRF was designed to strengthen the college’s institutional capacity for building upgrades while ensuring that the campus will be more energy efficient. It was also designed to be managed by the campus community rather than by one department. 

Agnes Scott is a liberal arts college for women founded in 1889 and located in Decatur. The enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year was just over 1,000 students. The college’s mission statement is to educate women “to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times.”  The approach that the college has taken to the GRF reflects this mission.

Sustainability and climate action are viewed by the leadership of the college as important components of Agnes Scott’s mission. In 2007 Agnes Scott was a charter signatory of Second Nature’s Carbon Commitment and in 2015 the college added a commitment to complete a Climate Resilience Plan with the surrounding community of Decatur. The college also participated as one of the first colleges to join the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, committing  to invest $1 million toward its GRF within the first three years after startup. 

Soon after signing the climate commitment, the college completed its first greenhouse gas inventory and drafted a Climate Action Plan (CAP) with a goal of climate neutrality by 2037. At the same time the Board of Trustees passed a resolution that all major renovation and new construction projects on campus would be required to achieve at least LEED Silver status. Since then three renovation projects have been completed:  The Anna Young Alumnae House (LEED Silver), Campbell Hall (LEED Gold), and Rebekah Scott Hall (LEED Platinum). The Campbell Hall and Rebekah Hall renovations benefited directly from GRF support and now operate on 100% geothermal HVAC.

The GRF has been a major driver in helping Agnes Scott College reduce its energy and water consumption and in the college’s efforts to achieve climate neutrality. Results include:

• As of the 2017-2018 school year the college has reduced its emissions overall by close to 30% and emissions per full-time student by 39%.
• Projects funded thus far funded by the GRF save the college an estimated total of $1 million in avoided water and energy expenses. 
• Six individual student internships have brought students from different academic departments to the Center. These are often students that may not have had a sustainability focus previously. 
• Moreover, the educational objective of the GRF has given many more students the opportunity to engage in environmental and sustainability issues and to wrestle with trying to create the right balance of environment, economics and equity as they make decisions. Students participating in the GRF Committee have made valuable contributions to proposal discussions, and have influenced the decision-making process with inventive solutions. 

At Agnes Scott the innovation investment of the GRF is truly seen as a tool for college improvement. It builds trust. The improvements from GRF projects, while not always flashy, have made the Center for Sustainability better at showing that climate mitigation takes a community approach and involves projects ranging from lighting upgrades to solar panels.

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Susan Kidd is the Executive Director of the Center for Sustainability at Agnes Scott College. In addition to the attention that the GRF has received, Agnes Scott’s overall sustainability profile has increased recently. The college received its STARS Gold rating in 2018 from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and then in 2019 received recognition for data accuracy in the Sustainable Campus Index that was released by AASHE. In 2020 Agnes Scott was ranked 13th in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges. This marked the first time Agnes Scott has been ranked in the top tier, and is the only college with fewer than 5,000 in the top 15. Agnes Scott also earned a top performer award for energy conservation from the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge in 2019.

• Entrepreneur Names: Asha Owens and Rebecca Kwee 
• Venture Name: BestFit 
• Impact Focus Area: College Success, Civic Tech 
• Business Stage: Startup 
• Year Venture Established: 2018 
• Business Type: Private, Social Enterprise 

 Basic needs insecurity among college students is worse than you think. 

 Millions of college students in the U.S. rely on their school for stable access to food, housing, transportation, and work: At least 48% of college students experience food or housing insecurity, and they are disproportionately Black & Latinx, first-generation, financially independent, parents/caregivers, or working 30+ hours.  

 While the federal government invests billions of dollars annually in higher education, financial aid alone does not cover the economic, social, and psychological costs associated with persisting and completing college. Many students still struggle to meet their basic needs, and may drop out of college as a result of competing financial obligations. Additionally, because of stigma, lack of awareness, and lack of time, students underutilize the many institutional & public benefits that are available to them —  the US Government Accountability Office estimates that 57% of students at risk of food insecurity and eligible for SNAP did not collect those benefits. 

 The disparity in basic needs security among college students, as well as its impact on college persistance, is concerning given that 65% of jobs today still require some form of postsecondary education. However, 75% of low-income, underrepresented minority, and first-generation students who attend college will not graduate. 

 Redefining student success in a post-COVID-19 environment 

 We founded BestFit in 2018 to address the low college persistence rates among historically marginalized students. As graduate students at Columbia University in New York, we bonded over the fact that we both attended college without visiting in-person, and struggled to find a support system as well as access basic needs such as food or healthcare. Asha is a Columbus, GA native who left her home state to attend Brown University, while Rebecca attended Columbia as an international student from Singapore. Drawing from our past careers as software engineers and college counselors, we initially built a web platform where college students could share honest advice and insights through video stories. 

When COVID-19 struck, we’d recently relocated to Atlanta to join Techstars + Cox Enterprises’ Social Impact Accelerator, and were in the middle of a pivot. We were disturbed by the fact that many college students were displaced from campus housing with little to no warning–while low-income, rural, foster-care, and international students were scrambling to find food, shelter, and/or internet, they were still expected to complete their coursework and finish the semester. 

 This drove us to design, launch, and build our free resource portal for displaced college students within a week. Our web platform helps students design their own safety nets by leveraging college, community, federal, and philanthropic resources all in one place. We’re building the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource portal for college students, and our team is hard at work updating resources on a weekly basis.  

Students can use BestFit to: 

• Find verified local and national resources for food, healthcare, transportation, financial assistance, and other basic needs; 
• Determine eligibility and next steps;  
• Submit resources they’ve found useful; and,
• Sign up for weekly updates on newly added resources. 

In the wake of COVID-19, we’ve found the urgent need to expand our target population beyond college students to anyone facing a basic needs gap. After initial feedback from students, colleges, and community-based organizations, we’re developing a version of BestFit that helps any organization better connect their constituents to resources they need, when they need them.  

 Now, our goal is to scale our technology as a tool for building more equitable and resilient communities. 

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BestFit empowers college students to find and access the help they need, right when they need them, so they can focus on what matters—graduating. They are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator (powered by Techstars). The company is actively seeking organization, city, and corporate partnerships for their recently launched community resource tool. Please reach out to them at [email protected] for more information. 

Other ways to stay updated: 

• Instagram: @bestfit_app 
• Twitter: @bestfit_app 
• Sign Up through Website: http://best-fit.app  

 

• Entrepreneur Name: Mario Cambardella
• Venture Name: ServeScape
• Impact Focus Area(s):  Landscape and Environment
• Business Stage:  Startup
• Year Venture Established: 2020
• Business Type: Private – Landscape Consulting 

There is a disconnect between people and the natural environment. We get in our cars, park in our garages, work in our offices, and repeat. Yet even in our status-quo, there is a longing for connection. This is especially true as we struggle with the disruption to our social fabric caused by COVID-19. In a time where disconnect from people makes us feel isolated, we are searching for a tangible anchor; something that grounds us to our sense of place, gives us hope, and spreads joy.  

For me, this occurs when I am connected to the natural world.  For example, when I see the seed that I planted is sprouting, or the tree that I planted is blooming. Instantly, in the midst of instability, I feel rooted as I realize that the choice I made to care for a plant will serve the entire landscape with beauty and resiliency. In other words, my action directly contributes to the environment that I want to create.            

This is the foundational idea behind ServeScape. ServeScape seeks to bridge the disconnect between humans and nature by making it easier for people to create their own beautiful and resilient landscapes. This is done through leveraging technology to perform plant curation; a novel concept in the relatively antiquated landscape industry.  

Previously, plant suppliers and landscape professionals were stuck using old technology to account for inventory, make sales, and find the best plant. This was a slow process where plant inventory sat in the nursery for months, sometimes years, before being moved. Using our online marketplace, individuals and landscape professionals can shop real-time plant pricing and inventory.

In addition, ServeScape’s extensive plant attribute index allows for customers to design a multi-functional landscape by choosing a plant with an array of desired characteristics. These tools provide a systematic approach to meeting the needs of suppliers, landscapers, and individuals all on one website. Once the order is submitted, ServeScape uses our network of Georgia-grown plants and suppliers to deliver the plants right to your door. This system allows for you (the customer) to have full control over the environment you want to create for yourself, or your client, and ensures you are receiving the best plant at the best price.    

At ServeScape, we recognize that a healthy ecosystem is dependent upon the connectedness of each individual part that makes up the whole. While our mission is to connect people with place through plants, we believe that large-scale social impact is dependent on multiple missions sharing the same vision for a more sustainable, socially just, and resilient future. We are excited to be a part of the GSIC conversation and look forward to serving your scape!