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Goodr’s Origin Story: How One Local Business is Ending Hunger and Food Waste

By: Zeb McLaurin VI

January 24, 2020

Globally, there are 821 million people who are hungry. That’s 1 in 9 people on the planet. Every year, nearly 40 million people experience hunger in the United States, including more than 11 million children who go to bed hungry every single night. Yet, we’re wasting more food than ever before— 80 billion pounds a year to be exact.  According to the EPA, food waste has increased by 50% since the 1970s and is now the largest solid waste contributor to landfill. And as this food sits, it gradually rots and produces harmful methane gas, a leading contributor to global climate change.

Not only is this bad for the environment, it’s bad for the bottom line and our communities. There’s the waste of the food itself, the waste of producing the now wasted food, the waste of labor, the social inequity between people who really need food but can’t get it — and those who have too much and just trash it.

This is where Goodr comes in. We realized that hunger was not an issue of scarcity but rather a matter of logistics. In 2017, we set out to end hunger by using technology as we believe that technology and innovation have the power to solve big problems and especially hunger.

Goodr developed an app that would inventory everything a business sells and, at the end of each night, donate surplus food (that would normally go to waste) to food insecure communities. The app allows businesses to simply click on items, tell us how many they have and request a pick-up. Our platform then calculates the tax value of items being donated as well as analytics on metrics like most wasted items. The app then connects with local drivers to get this food picked up from businesses and delivered right to the door of nonprofits and people in need.

We provide data and analytics to help businesses reduce their food waste and even save millions of dollars. Our mission was simple: Feed More, Waste Less and by 2018, our clients included the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson airport, and major companies and brands like Hormel, Papa John’s, Chick-fil-a, the NFL for Super Bowl 53 and more than 200 businesses. We diverted more than 2 million pounds of food from landfills to people. This accounted for about 1.7 million meals and then we started to expand our reach to other cities like Washington, DC, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia and more.

In 2019 we decided to take things a step further by collecting organic waste (nonedible food scraps), so we developed our Organics Recycling division where we either compost, feed animals, feed insects that produce fertilizer, and more! Once we collect, we take it to one of our partners who utilize the scraps in their operations. As conversations around sustainability continues to grow, we hope that both people and businesses keep Goodr in mind when they decide to embark on their journey to 0 waste.

Hunger and food waste doesn’t sleep and neither do we. Contact Goodr at [email protected] to join the fight!

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Deriving Success From Purpose: Helping Others Helps You

By: Jane Curth, Co-Founder & CEO, FitFixNow

January 21, 2020

 

I’ve been a health and wellness professional for my entire adult life. I know firsthand how working on one’s own health dramatically improves quality of life, and have always looked for ways to make a real difference in the lives of others.

When we started FitFixNow, there was an obvious issue. The industry of providing continuing education to fitness professionals was almost completely offline. And the companies that did offer these products and services to fitness professionals weren’t all that different.

They had webinars at particular times, or if they offered an online course, you still had to wait to enroll, and attend at certain times. So it was technically online, but in the end, all that they gained from “online” was saving a commute. It still wouldn’t fit neatly into their busy lives.

So we decided to put together an option that would absolutely fit into any schedule. Then, they could attack the course work on any device, anywhere — and, most importantly, anytime.

But it had to go further. We wanted to rethink the nature of what we were teaching our customers.

Turning Fitness Professionals Into Entrepreneurs

 

The fitness industry has exploded in the past decade. You can see it in everything from gym attendance to standing desks at work, and everything in between.

But fitness professionals still struggle to make a living. Many opportunities for trainers and group fitness instructors are only within an existing system. Fitness professionals have largely been “gig economy” members long before the term was popularized.

So we asked the question, if fitness is booming, why aren’t fitness professionals reaping the benefits? That’s when we realized that fitness entrepreneurship was an essential component of becoming successful in the industry.

Seeing this need, we put together a suite of professional development courses that give fitness professionals the roadmap to success, whether they’re working at a big box gym or training clients out of their garage.

Turning Fitness Professionals Into Quality Of Life Heroes

 

Another need we discovered within the industry is with special populations, especially with seniors. Fitness becomes more important as we get older and experience more significant health conditions.

As such, we’ve developed courses that specifically will help trainers improve the quality of life for their clients within special populations, like those living with autism, Parkinson’s, or even teen athletes.

We think success isn’t measured in a bottom line, but rather how we empower our customers to make their own positive change in the world. 

Purpose Must Drive What You Do

 

When it comes to making something work as an entrepreneur, at every step of the way, it’s our values and purpose that act as the compass to finding our way in the dark uncertainty of the market. And it acts as a check on our decision making.

It’s this fundamental philosophy that pushes us to do more, to go further, and to make a positive difference in the lives of the people we touch.

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3 Rules for Engaging Millennial and Gen Z Talent in the Workplace

Originally posted by The World Economic Forum

By: Judy Oh, Global Shaper, Atlanta Hub, BrightHouse

January 15, 2020

 

  • Millennials and Gen Z will be the majority of the workforce in 2020.
  • For younger generations, workplace purpose must be reflected by authentic actions.
  • Companies can examine purpose through the lens of humans’ innate psychological needs.

We are entering a new era in which the purpose of a corporation is evolving from the shareholder-centric model to one that serves to benefit all stakeholders. Corporations looking to thrive in this beyond-shareholder world must focus first on creating a purpose-driven employee experience, as employees have the potential to be a corporation’s strongest advocates and champions.

Specifically, corporations that want to succeed must engage millennials and Gen Z, as their presence in the global workforce will represent 59% in 2020.

For this new generation, it is not enough for their employers to simply have a compelling purpose. They want to see purpose lived out authentically through bold actions. As evidenced by the 32,000 French students from over 300 universities who have signed a pledge to only work for environmentally conscious companies and more than 1,000 Google employees across the world who staged a walk-out in protest of sexual harassment, misconduct and lack of transparency, they are emboldened to hold their companies accountable to their purpose.

Understanding the new generation of talent

To understand how to engage and motivate this new generation of talent, corporations need to examine their needs through a human lens. Motivation psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan found that all humans have three innate psychological needs essential for well-being: autonomy, sense of belonging and mastery.

While these needs are universal, they have new timely meaning and implications for millennials and Gen Z in the workplace.

1. Autonomy

Younger workers are looking for more decentralized environments where they can decide how work gets done. A Gallup study of the American workforce finds that 42% of millennials would switch to a job that allows them to work independently on a project of their choosing and 63% to a job that allows them flextime.

2. Belonging

Newer generations are looking for a deeper sense of connection in the workplace. A study by BridgeWorks shows that millennials and Gen Z consider their work a reflection of their identities, while a study by American Express shows that 75% of millennial leaders prefer to work with people and organizations that share their values.

3. Mastery

The new generation of talent is prizing employability above long-term employment. They seek continuous skills development and want to find meaningful growth opportunities at work. A global study by Manpower Group indicated 93% of millennials want lifelong learning, and four out of five said the opportunity to learn new skills is a top factor when considering a new job.

The lens of purpose

Purpose, which is the company’s reason for being, is the most powerful tool companies have at their disposal to meet the intrinsic needs of new talent. Purpose guides culture – providing a framework for consistent decision-making, creating connection through shared values and inspiring employees to reach their unique mastery. In order to fulfill the intrinsic needs of the new generations, companies must use purpose to reimagine the employee experience in three ways:

1. Purpose and autonomy

While the new generations crave expanded notions of autonomy, organizations cannot simply extend it without a mechanism for alignment. Purpose is the single most powerful edit point that aligns the organization. By clearly articulating and embedding the organizational purpose and the principles that uphold it, employees will be empowered with guardrails to make decisions at any level.

For example, Delta Airlines’ purpose harkened back to its founder’s philosophy of “customer service and hospitality from the heart” and inspired the “flat tire” policy, in which service agents were empowered with the autonomy to waive fees for fliers delayed by unforeseen circumstances.

2. Purpose and belonging

Purpose is a rallying cry that drives employees to emotionally connect to the company and to each other. When fully leveraged, purpose is not a static statement, but a powerful unifier and foundation for employees to understand and live their shared values.

KPMG, the international audit, tax and advisory firm, reinforced a sense of belonging within the organization through purpose-driven storytelling. In 2014, KPMG unveiled the Higher Purpose initiative, where the firm invited employees to share their own stories of purpose-driven work. It started a movement within the organization where more than 40,000 stories were shared across their 29,000 employee base, and key metrics, such as level of engagement, retention and pride, increased.

3. Purpose and mastery

To help employees prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, companies will not only need to upskill and reskill employees to meet market demand, but also personalize their learning journeys to align with their personal purpose. This means fostering a growth-mindset culture and creating opportunities for employees to elevate their strengths and passions in their day-to-day.

Under Satya Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft has used purpose to create a continuous learning culture. Microsoft’s purpose “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more” has helped embed a growth mindset in performance and development processes, shifting their focus from being a group of “know-it-alls” to a group of “learn-it-alls.”

To win in this next era, corporations must pay close attention to the unique needs of younger workers and reimagine the employee experience through the lens of purpose to deliver on those needs. Corporations that choose to act swiftly and deliberately in engaging this new generation stand to reap significant performance gains. By fulfilling the intrinsic needs of the new generations of talent, companies will enable them to unleash their full potential and be in a position to benefit from greater creativity, productivity and commitment.

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Ron Clark Academy to Receive an $8 Million New Markets Tax Credit Allocation

Originally posted by InvestAtlanta

January 7, 2020

Atlanta Emerging Markets, Inc. (AEMI), a U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Entity created by Invest Atlanta, officially closed an $8 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) transaction supporting the Ron Clark Academy (RCA).  SunTrust, now Truist, was the investment partner on this project.

The NMTC allocation will assist with the construction of the new 42,000-square-foot state-of-the-art Ryan Marshall Performing Arts Center, which will expand the existing school building both for student activities as well as for RCA’s teacher training programs. As a result, the school will be able to serve an additional 30 students annually and train an additional 2,500 teachers annually, increases which will help make the school 100 percent financially sustainable as well as subsidize tuition for students from households earning less than $30,000 annually. The $23 million expansion will also create seven new full-time positions.

Located in South Atlanta in a formerly vacant warehouse, RCA is an innovative nonprofit middle school and teacher training facility founded in 2007 by Ron Clark and Kim Bearden, both award-winning educators. Stated on its website, RCA’s mission is to: “Deliver the highest quality educational experience where global citizens are born through advanced rigor, engaging teaching methods, and a passionate climate and culture.”

AEMI specializes in providing gap financing for projects that create jobs and revitalize Atlanta’s distressed neighborhoods.  South Atlanta qualifies as “highly distressed” based on the 2011 – 2015 American Community Survey with a median family income of 31.84 percent of the area median income, a poverty rate of 40.9 percent, and an unemployment rate of 20.8 percent (2.5 times the national average).

Currently, the school teaches 150 children in grades fourth through eighth and offers a sliding tuition scale to assist families of all socioeconomic backgrounds. As a result of the school’s huge success (100 percent graduation rate with 95 percent of its graduates attending college or enlisting in the military), the RCA developed the “Ron Clark Experience,” for outside educators to learn about the school’s unique techniques and practices. The registration fees for the training program help cover student tuitions and enable 14,500 teachers to come from around the globe and train at the school each year.

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5 Reasons Why B Corp Certification is Right for Your Business

By: Nathan Stuck

January 3, 2020

It’s 2020 and times have changed in the business world. More and more every day, becoming the gold standard of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is taking on a bigger role in C-Suite conversations.

No longer does the economic philosophy of Milton Friedman – to serve fiscal shareholders above all else – dominate the landscape. Customers and employees are demanding that the corporate world serve all stakeholders, including their employees, communities, and the environment. The number of companies listening is increasing. They have begun incorporating CSR initiatives into their day-to-day business operations. But with everyone doing it, how can you make your company stand out and work towards becoming a “gold standard of CSR?”

The answer is simple, join Ad Victoriam Solutions, Goodr Co., Decisely, Rubicon Global, and 11 other Georgia based companies and have your company certified as a B Corp.

B Corps Defined

B Corps are for-profit businesses that have a proven (and certified) commitment to serving all stakeholders. They use business as a force for good, ensuring fair pay and benefits to a diverse and inclusive workforce. They also promise to be good stewards of the environment. That means they are actively serving in their communities, and believing purpose and profit can harmoniously coexist.

However, the process isn’t easy. But as the saying goes, “if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it.” But it is worth going after and here’s why: 

1. The Gold Standard of CSR: A True Differentiator

In a workforce and consumer base increasingly dominated by Millennials and Gen Z, people are demanding more than just profit from the companies they buy from and work for. Consumers and potential employees are more likely to sniff out blatant “greenwashing.” Defined by Investopedia, “greenwashing” is “an attempt to capitalize on the growing demand for products that are environmentally sound.” Simply put, it is companies claiming “they are more natural, healthier, free of chemicals, recyclable, or less wasteful of natural resources,” with no real evidence to back up their claims. 

But with B Corps, the research and investigation into the legitimacy of a company’s claims have already been performed. After the company completes the B Impact Assessment (BIA), on which a company must score 80 out of a possible 200 points, B Lab, the nonprofit accreditation body that certifies B Corps, performs an audit of a company. The handbook and its policies are reviewed, numbers are verified, and an audit is performed. Succinctly put, B Corp certification is to for-profit business as Fair-Trade is to coffee or certified organic is to milk. The B logo is seen as a stamp of legitimacy on your CSR efforts.

2. Raising Capital

An often overlooked feature of B Corp certification is the ability to seek out investments in your business. According to Forbes, “The Global Impact Investing Network’s most recent estimate for the minimum size of the impact investment market doubled to $228 billion in assets under management, up from $114 billion in 2017.” More and more investors are looking to diversify their portfolios beyond industry. They want to include companies with environmental and social goals, following global standards like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

As investors scramble to find investment opportunities that align with their personal values, “B Corps may attract capital better than non-b-businesses,” according to an article in Fast Company. In the article, Abi Barnes, the author of “An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Going B,” published by the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, alluded to the B Corps’ ability to differentiate themselves to attract these investments. He stated that “in an era of ‘greenwashing’ and misleading labels, certified B Corporations and benefit corporations help consumers identify trustworthy companies.”

3. Hiring the Best Candidates

While often labeled as the entitled “me” generation (millennials) or as out-of-touch social media junkies (Gen Z), millennials (born between 1980-1994) will make up roughly half of the workforce in 2020. And a staggering 61 million Gen Z’ers have entered the workforce since 2016. To put it rather succinctly, these are, and will continue to be, the majority of your new hires. 

And they care passionately about everything from climate change to human rights to LGBTQ to equality, and the list is endless. More importantly, according to research from Sourcing Journal, a whopping “84% of millennials and a staggering 94% of Gen Z expect companies to address pressing social and environmental issues.” And the efforts have to be sincere, as a massive majority of both groups don’t trust traditional marketing. 

Positioning yourself as a leader in the CSR space signals your authenticity to these companies. As I personally recruit and interview at the University of Georgia, I am astonished at how many candidates approach us and begin the conversation with B Corp related blogs and social media posts they found when planning which companies they wanted to talk to. Our status as a B Corp has definitely helped us recruit top talent from both of these growing generational groups. 

4. Mission Lock

One of the biggest benefits of B Corp certification for a growing company is the ability to lock in your mission. When Ad Victoriam Solutions went through the assessment, we only had eight employees. We had to implement a lot of new policies and practices. More importantly, we had to envision what we wanted our company to look like as it grew. Fast forward three years and we have almost 70 employees and our old vision is our new reality. The mission and purpose are now baked into the DNA of our organization.

When we make strategic decisions, our status as a B Corp influences our direction. Whether it is how we recruit employees to ensure a diverse candidate pool or deciding on whether we want to take on a new client based on their mission and values, our certification weighs heavily on everything we do. And knowing that B Lab requires member companies to re-certify every three years ensures we are always thinking of a decision’s impact on everyone.

The truth is, not just focusing on the bottom line has been good for business. Since Ad Victoriam started the process three years ago, we have doubled our revenue every year.

4. Best Practices, Industry Standards, and Benchmarks for Improvement

An unexpected byproduct of B Corp certification is the inspiration from the B Community to always strive for more. There will always be another B Corp doing more than you for their employees, the environment, or their community. Allowing these companies to inspire you to deepen your commitment opens the door to becoming an even better corporate citizen. Being open to measuring your company’s performance to that of others allows you to identify areas for improvement.

In an interview with Forbes, Barnana CEO Nik Ingersöll stated, “Being a B Corp has solidified our commitment to the way we run our business. They also have an amazing framework that has given us more ideas on how to become even more sustainable. It has given me a path to constant and continued improvement.”

And in an article from the Harvard Business Review, “It Pays to Become a B Corporation,” Richard Stammer, VP of B Corp Cabot Creamery, highlights the use of benchmarking to achieve operational cost savings as well as to recruit and retain employees. Stammer also points to Patagonia, who “report[ed] that certification helps promote and validate its employee-centric culture, which attracts great candidates because of the company’s reputation as a great place to work. Since becoming a B Corp, Patagonia expanded the medical, military, and paid maternity and paternity leave for regular full- and part-time U.S. employees.”

5. Walk the Walk

On top of everything, you are signaling to the marketplace that your mission is sincere and genuine. It helps potential investors, customers, and employees more easily sift through the noise and find companies that truly believe in CSR.

B Corp Certification isn’t a pledge or a commitment to simply do better. It is the etching of your mission and your beliefs in stone. As such, it requires time and commitment to achieving. But in the end, it is worth it.

Curious to Learn More?

In collaboration with B Local Georgia, GSIC will be hosting a celebration of Corporate Social Responsibility in Atlanta, Georgia on March 10, 2020. With a mix of certified B Corps, companies currently taking the assessment, and others redefining the way business gets done. The event will offer a chance to meet leaders in the CSR movement, share ideas and best practices, and get inspired.

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Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG) Invests in Atlanta’s Entrepreneurs

By: Aayush Gupta (22C)

December 18, 2019

EIIG has a mission of working with entrepreneurs who have little to no prior business experience and frequently lack the skills necessary to start and grow a company of their own.

The organization provides microloans ranging between $5,000 and $10,000 at low interest rates to entrepreneurs who undergo a rigorous evaluation process conducted by both students and faculty advisors.

Perhaps more critical than the capital, however, are the services that EIIG provides to the entrepreneurs, providing consulting services during the three year loan repayment period. Simply possessing the resources is not enough – it is essential for entrepreneurs to be able to effectively use the capital and resources at hand for the benefit of the business.

When asked about dealing with the challenges and fears of starting a new business from scratch at a recent EIIG panel, Nicole Massiah, founder of Massiah Law & Associates, said that you should be “trusting your gut, and spending time with yourself and realizing whether this is the right thing for you to do.” One must have a deep passion for the business to be able to pursue the highly demanding and often frustrating avenues of success, or it may be difficult to find the motivation to continue.

When talking about his motivations for starting SHWAXX, Kevin Rodgers said that the most important part of his business, for his personal self, was “to serve” the community around him, and focus on the “impact” part of “impact investing.” He aims to reciprocate the support shown to him by society by providing them with products catered to their needs. Improving his products based customer feedback became one of the central pillars of his business model.

Akissi Stokes, founder of WUNDERgrubs, had some profound insight to share with her peer entrepreneurs. “Keep yourself true to what you said the company was going to be.” She further added, “Planning is very important; utilizing the pool of resources, be it capital, people, or having a business plan or marketing strategy, you need to have a plan to refer back to.”

These founders – Akissi, Kevin and Nicole – each faced barriers when starting their companies. But leveraging the ecosystem of Atlanta’s accelerators and the funding EIIG has provided them, they have each built businesses that are creating jobs and giving back to their communities.

Impact investing holds the potential to change thousands of lives. These entrepreneurs show the dedication and passion they have for their cause, and their potential for growth when provided the necessary resources and capital.

This is part two in a series on student-led impact investing. For part one, see Atlanta Entrepreneurs Discuss the Benefits of Impact Investing at Emory University.

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Run by Emory undergraduate students, Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG) provides microloans and financial consulting services to Atlanta entrepreneurs to unlock the full economic potential of traditionally high poverty areas by increasing the number of successful small businesses. EIIG is currently fundraising $40,000 by December 31; if you’d like to contribute, please visit their website.

Pioneering Partnerships: Emory’s Commitment to Enabling through Innovation

December 12, 2019 

By: Franzene Minott

In 2015, Emory solidified its position as a sustainability pioneer after their Strategic Vision outlined the ambitious goal that 75% of food served in the university—and 25% in the hospitals—would be locally or sustainably sourced by 2025. Reaching this target would require an ambitious and innovative plan. 

Meeting these expectations, metro Atlanta’s largest employer engineered a partnership that not only propels their mission forward but makes the support of next-generation agricultural entrepreneurs an integral part of the process. 

With fast rising land values, agricultural and nonagricultural businesses alike face concerns of creeping costs. These rising prices are driving Georgia’s ranking among the top 12 states with the highest conversion rate of farmland to development. Moreover, since families own 96% of existing American farms, the mounting unaffordability makes the opportunity of ownership feel nearly impossible for many farmers—especially those affected by institutional racism, gender discrimination, and other barriers historically targeting underserved communities. 

Through a partnership with The Conservation Fund, Emory will ensure that farmers will be able to afford their farmland many years into the future. Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI), which is led by Director Ciannat Howett, is working with the Conservation Fund to resolve one issue within the ecosystem: Creating a pathway to land ownership for new farmers while guaranteeing a market for their goods. 

The Conservation Fund leads the nation in the fight against today’s most pressing conservation issues. It has already protected nearly 150,000 acres of land in Georgia alone. When describing the motivation behind the collaboration with the Fund’s Working Farms Fund to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Howett states, “We were looking at our options because we weren’t seeing enough local and sustainable food available to get to that goal, at least not in a way that was affordable to us.”

From Georgia Farms to Emory Tables breaks down how the newly formed alliance intends to accomplish this feat. In simple terms, The Conservation Fund has committed to buying viable land within 100 miles of metro-Atlanta, protecting it from development through placed easements, and then leasing the land to farmers over the course of 5-10 years before ultimately selling them the land at the end of the agreement. 

Emory has also committed itself to be a faithful customer to the selected farmers, thus allowing them to focus on their business objectives without the added pressure of developing their own pipeline from scratch. This twofold project not only serves social entrepreneurs while bringing sustainability options to the community, but simultaneously brings Emory closer to achieving their 2025 sourcing goal. 

Expected to launch in 2020, Emory and The Conservation Fund plan on having 50 farmers participate in the program by 2040. In the same AJC article, Stacy Funderburke, co-director of the Working Farms Fund, explains that the criteria used to assess applicants will include “farming experience, markets, business plans, and match with individual farm sites.”

The mutually beneficial outcomes of this strategic partnership are what both Emory and the Conservation Fund hope will prove as an effective blueprint for others across the nation in their own sustainability efforts. In terms of the region, this unification demonstrates how enabling entrepreneurship through innovation can be achieved through the available resources within Georgia’s ecosystem. 


Interested in learning more about Emory University Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI), please visit:

Further Readings:

AP Story via U.S. News & World Report – Emory University Forms Partnership to Buy Local Produce

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From the copy room to the operating room, from the classroom to the residence hall, the Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) guides the efforts to meet the challenges of sustainability across all of Emory’s institutions. Emory OSI carries out this imperative by helping to restore the global ecosystem, fostering healthy living and reducing the University’s impact on the local environment.

Founded in 2006, Emory OSI has firmly established the University’s place as a sustainability leader in higher education.

 

Fall Conference Roundup: Emory MBAs Recap Social Impact Events

Avi Scher

December 5, 2019 

By: Sydney Maier, Carolyn Bero, Avi Scher 

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School recently sent several students across the U.S. to attend conferences on social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and socially responsible investing. Here is what they learned:

MBArk2Boulder Food Leadership Conference (Sydney Maier)

Dedicated to strengthening the relationship between MBAs and the natural foods industry, MBArk hosts three annual conferences: one specifically for students, and two in conjunction with Natural Products Expo (an industry event showcasing new and innovative natural and sustainable food and products).   

The first and smaller of these, Expo East boasts 1500+ companies showcasing new products and trends from mushroom jerky to compostable bandages to CBD-infused everything. Hundreds of suppliers, sales professionals, and grocers attend, so most booths are manned by founders, directors, and C-Suite, who are eager to answer any question asked. In addition to the expo itself, MBArk programming includes several opportunities to engage with industry leaders: a mini case competition with an emerging brand, scheduled floor walks with company heads (ex Beyond Meat, Oatly), and a CEO speed-dating session to name a few!   

While Atlanta is not yet a hub for this industry, it’s growing. Further, only a handful of schools partner with MBArk– Emory is one of the few schools with (heavily subsidized) access to Expo! Pro tip: bring an empty suitcase for all your samples! 

NI19: 2019 Net Impact Conference (Carolyn Bero) 

The Net Impact Conference focuses on exposing undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals in corporate social responsibility, nonprofits, academia and government, to a range of social entrepreneurship topics. The conference features areas such as community development, mobility, sustainability, impact investing, and corporate social responsibility and presents these through keynote speakers, panel discussions, and interactive workshops.  

The 2019 Net Impact conference hosted in Detroit was a great way to get a feel for what a career with socially responsible companies look like and to hear from leaders in a range of spaces. But the conference is much more focused on education than career connections. If you’re interested in attending to find your next social impact oriented job, it pays to do your homework ahead of time so that you can set up one-on-one conversations with attendees in your field of interest. Net Impact allows you to search the attendee database ahead of the conference. More information on Net Impact and the schedule from the 2019 conference can be found here! 

SRI30: 2019 SRI Conference (Avi Scher) 

This year, I represented the Goizueta Impact Investors (GII), a student-run impact investment fund at Emory University, at SRI30, the largest gathering of socially responsible investors in the U.S. Over the course of the three days, I attended lectures, panels, and coffee chats with asset managers, entrepreneurs, financial advisors, and students all committed to using private capital to address environmental, social, and economic challenges.   

What stood out was the array of methodologies used towards achieving a common goal. As an example, Gary White, who co-founded Water.org with Matt Damon, is raising a $150M fund through Water Equity Partners to provide financing for low-income residents to purchase water and sanitation devices.   

My key takeaway was stated by Brin Enterkin, Founder of The African Soup, which provides educational support to children in rural Uganda: “As holders of immense amounts of capital, our responsibility is immense.” It is on each and every one of us to continue exploring ways to meet this responsibility while achieving both profits and impact.   

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Social Enterprise at Goizueta (SE@G), an action–oriented research center within Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, supports the next generation of social innovators through both coursework and hands-on experiences through student club activities including Goizueta Net Impact, Goizueta Impact Investors along with national social impact conferences. To learn more about Goizueta’s next generation of social innovators, please visit SE@G’s website. 

 

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Misconceptions of Money & Value

By: Davion Ziere

December 2, 2019

For at least 3,000 years, money (including but not limited to coin, shell, paper and digital currency) has dominated how mainstream society measures value. It was originally developed as a tool to simplify the process of trading and assessing the worth of assets, goods and services. Its creation has subsequently accelerated the rate of commerce & human exchange.

In the same breath, money, in and of itself, is nothing… It is not recognized by any universal principle or law of nature, and yet it has grown beyond helping us determine the value of a person or a thing. It has been a key factor for the type of life one can live – a restrictive experience shared by billions of colorful souls across the globe. While few thrive, many strain.

As we approach 2020, we are experiencing the dawn of new economies, the constant displacement and resettling of diverse identities, the decimation of our environments and the expansion of our collective consciousness via the internet and close engagement with ideas, values and energies from around the world.

Given the conditions, this is a good time for us to ask ourselves critical questions about money and our value: Is money a genuine mirror for how much we are worth individually & collectively?

 

Our Approach at Culturebase to Answering these Questions

At Culturebase, this issue of value is critical to us. We exist to advance socio-economic structures so that all identity groups, especially the marginalized, can actualize our full potential and have healthier, happier lives. The questions that birthed Culturebase were: 1. How do we build towards a world that empowers people to flourish being who they are most authentically? 2. What are valuable assets that nearly any person possesses that we could build around?

We first identified the assets that all people possess some level of: identity, culture, and data. This led us to defining two categories of people to serve first: 1. People who are proud of their culture and how it’s shaped them into who they are (their identity.) 2. People who are passionate about creating culture and how their creations impact and permeate the world around them.

Once we selected these groups, we deliberated on how we could cultivate an economy that accurately reflected the value of their lives and works. Fortunately, we discovered that there were already major existing markets that universally support culture and identity owned by the people producing them: tourism and local cultural consumption; both trillion dollar markets globally.

In order to connect these groups to markets that would support their value, we have created a platform that leverages AI and human curation to enable travelers and local culture seekers to tap directly into the offerings and subcultures of our city’s communities, in the same fashion that Spotify and Apple Music use AI and playlisting to curate music and genres.

We have also positioned ourselves to partner major brands with local brands, creators and small businesses in order to bring more visibility to the value produced within our communities. A great example was our “Brand New Day in the A” event, where we partnered Atlanta Falcons, TESLA and MET ATL with more than 50 local vendors for a 4 hour community activation. 

The result? 1200+ attendees produced over 1000 materials recycled, over 5000 transactions and tens of thousands of dollars driven to small businesses and the local creative community in just one day. 

Since then, we have also partnered with the likes of Google, MINT Gallery, Artpocalypse and more to hold workshops in Atlanta that educate small businesses and creators in Atlanta on how to assess their value, how to maximize their value in business and to legally protect themselves. 

So far, we have impacted over 1500 creators and small businesses in Atlanta. As we roll out our tech in full force, we are growing our reach exponentially in 2020. We have already seen an increase in brands seeking consultation on how to uplift our community’s economies while also activating their products, and look forward to continue bridging this gap.

These are just a couple of the ways we have made a dent thus far on the questions we asked above, and we are excited to share the economic data and community impact as we scale.

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If you or a brand you know is looking to make a strong positive impact in communities by helping more diverse groups flourish while also getting your brand activated in authentic ways, contact us for a consultation at: [email protected]

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Atlanta Entrepreneurs Discuss the Benefits of Impact Investing at Emory University

By: Aayush Gupta (22C)

November 26, 2019

“Most people think of entrepreneurs as risk-takers. I was taught that you have gifts, you have talent, so you invest in those,” said Kevin Rodgers, founder of SHWAXX Laboratories.  

On Wednesday, November 13, Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG) hosted a panel attended by students, faculty, and Atlanta community members, at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.  

The event discussed the challenges and experiences of entrepreneurship, and how impact investing can facilitate the empowerment of small businesses in local communities. Almost 48% of the American workforce is employed by small businesses, accounting for approximately 44% of the American GDP. There is, however, a large gap in the presence of micro-businesses between high-income and low-income areas. The difference can be attributed to the income gap and inequality in the U.S., as corroborated by Goizueta’s very own Professor Peter Roberts’ research.  

EIIG, led and run by undergraduate students, aims to provide microloans to local entrepreneurs who lack access to capital in an effort to help close the micro-business gap by increasing the number of successful small businesses in high-poverty areas. This goal is pursued by providing access to early-stage financing, student consulting, and networks necessary for the sustainable growth of a business. Three of the several entrepreneurs that EIIG works with were featured at this panel: Kevin Rodgers, founder of SHWAXX Laboratories, a company selling hair care products targeted towards people of color, Akissi Stokes, a former Emory graduate (92 Ox, 94C) and founder of WUNDERgrubs, a bakery that sells protein-rich mealworms through traditional snacks (cookies, granola bars, protein powder) to deliver increased nutritional gain to customers, and Nicole Massiah, founder of Massiah Law & Associates, a company providing legal services.  

Also in attendance were representatives from Start:ME and CREATE, two Atlanta-based accelerators that EIIG works with to identify and assist promising entrepreneurs.  

Brian Goebel, Managing Director at Start:ME, extensively discussed the research conducted by Professor Roberts and how it shows the disparity in the presence of microbusinesses between high and low-income neighborhoods. “[There is] no difference in talent, there are amazing entrepreneurs in both low-income and high-income communities. But there is a difference in the ecosystem of support, and on average there are 26% fewer businesses in an underserved, lower-income neighborhood,” Goebel explained.  

More important than just the financial inequalities, however, is the availability of networks that help a business succeed. It is essential to have a system to advise and support an entrepreneur. Start:ME was founded on the principle of “[bringing] knowledge networks and capital together” to reduce this microbusiness gap in Atlanta, the city with the highest level of income inequality in the U.S.  

Jonathan Tescher, Program Manager at CREATE, said that these entrepreneurs have a lot of “common challenges, obstacles, and fears” that they face. CREATE strives to help them overcome these issues with their program, through which they impart knowledge and training to the entrepreneurs to help them tackle the problems facing them. “Most people we work with have no prior business experience,” he said, which means they often lack the skills necessary to start and grow a company of their own.  

Entrepreneurs face many barriers when starting their own businesses. CREATE, Start:ME and EIIG make sure they don’t have to overcome those barriers alone.  

This is part one in a series on student-led impact investing.  For part two, see Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG) Invests in Atlanta’s Entrepreneurs.

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Run by Emory undergraduate students, Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG) provides microloans and financial consulting services to Atlanta entrepreneurs to unlock the full economic potential of traditionally high poverty areas by increasing the number of successful small businesses. EIIG is currently fundraising $40,000 by December 31; if you’d like to contribute, please visit their website.