Social Entrepreneur: Conscious Companies | Benefit Corporations | Impact Investing

Airbnb.org to support emergency response around the world. Natural disasters are on the rise. Climate change has accelerated wildfires and hurricanes. Healthcare workers are responding to the global pandemic. People find themselves displaced without warning. Who better to provide a safe place to stay than Airbnb and their global network of hosts? To respond to the need for safe housing during disaster, Airbnb has launched Airbnb.org. Airbnb.org is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating temporary stays for people in times of crisis. The inspiration for Airbnb.org began in 2012 with a single host named Shell who opened her home to people impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Since then, Airbnb hosts have responded to natural disasters like an earthquake in Nepal, and manmade tragedies, like the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Airbnb hosts have provided stays to evacuees, relief workers, refugees, and asylum seekers. Recently, frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19 have ben

For extended show notes, see: https://tonyloyd.com/regina-larko A place and a community shaped Regina Larko. Regina Larko was born and raised in Vienna. “Three generations raised me,” Regina says. “My great-grandmother played a huge role in raising me. Her generation had experienced the hardships of the second world war. One of my great grandfathers never came home from the war.” When Regina was around nine years old, the former Yugoslavia broke apart, plunging the territory into ethnic wars. Refugees poured across the border into Austria. Many of Regina’s classmates moved to Austria to escape the fighting. She heard first-hand the stories of refugee children. “I felt immense gratitude for growing up in a peaceful, safe city,” she says. Regina also spent her summers in a small village of 300 inhabitants located 50 kilometers outside of Vienna. There, she learned the value of community. She saw how community members took care of one another. “There is so much purpose and meaning in every single s

How do we get more people involved in social innovation? NOTE: For extended show notes, see https://tonyloyd.com/tom-dawkins Tom Dawkins is the founder of StartSomeGood, the leading home of cause-driven crowdfunding, innovative partnerships, and social entrepreneur education. I first interviewed Tom nearly five years ago, on December 14, 2015. You can hear our previous interview at https://tonyloyd.com/018. Tom keeps coming back to one fundamental question. How do we get more people involved? “All of us are smarter than any of us,” he says. “It’s essential in a world that is evolving so rapidly. It’s never good enough to come up with a single good idea, a single solution, because things that were proven to work yesterday won’t work tomorrow. “Those of us who care about the future, the planet, and the community, we need not just to find innovations, we need to build an innovation muscle. As a community, the best way to innovate is to ensure that every perspective is heard. Everyone has an opportu

In season two, we’ve been telling stories of a just and equitable transition to a clean energy future. The Coronavirus is a wakeup call. If you don’t know by now, the way we’ve been living isn’t working for the earth. Most of all, it is not working for the poorest inhabitants of the earth. Climate change, extreme weather, hurricanes, floods, droughts, melting glaciers, rising sea level , wildfires, degraded food supplies, tick-borne diseases, mosquito-borne diseases, climate refugees, political instability  – these are just a few results of our current way of living. The way we produce, transmit, and store our energy, hurts the poorest among us. The way we grow, waste, and consume food hurts the poorest among us. The way we transport ourselves, and our goods, hurts the poorest among us. We way we produce and consume goods, hurts the poorest among us. The way we build, heat, and cool buildings, hurts the poorest among us. The climate crisis is a social justice crisis. But there are solutions

enVerde converts organic waste into sustainable clean energy. The Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) is the office at the University of Minnesota whose mission is to facilitate the transfer of technology to licensees. This allows for the development of new products and services that benefit the public good. It also fosters economic growth and generates revenue. Since 2006, the University has spun out 170 startup companies. But there is a challenge. Technology transfer is not simple. For a venture to be successful, it must be desirable (the market wants it), feasible (an organization can produce a market solution), and viable (the cost structure and returns are sustainable). There is a vast desert from license to commercialization. Research can create an idea that is desirable but is not viable or sustainable. It takes time to prove out and commercialize a technology. The time and effort to commercialize a technology is often called the commercialization gap. On today’s episode of Social Ent

For extended show notes, look here: https://tonyloyd.com/sebastian-sajoux/ 93% of plastic is not recycled.   Only seven to nine percent of the plastic that is generated on an annual basis is recycled. Sebastian Sajoux explains, “The plastics go to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF, pronounced “Murph”), and then go into a recycling system. Still, 50% of plastics that are manufactured are impossible to recycle with current technologies.   “The number that’s really scary is, by 2050 the amount of plastic used and discarded will double.”   “We are in this race to become more efficient in separation and recycling, but we are still manufacturing products that cannot be recycled.”  Why Some Plastic is Born Unrecyclable   "Plastics are divided into categories,” Sebastian told me. “Usually, you see the numbers one through seven in a recycling system. They can only be recycled within the same stream.   “There are also rigid plastics, such as a shampoo bottle, and flexible plastic, which is a wrapping, for exam

How do you reduce your carbon footprint without breaking the bank?   Did you turn on your heat this week? A lot of people in the northern hemisphere either already did, or they will soon. For 12 million homes in the US, that meant burning heating oil or propane, both of which contribute to climate change.   For single family homes, the cost of replacing oil and propane furnaces is unrealistic. According to Bankrate, only 40% of Americans could absorb an unexpected expense of $500 or more. Lots of people want to reduce their carbon footprint, but they don’t have extra money to spend.  That’s where Harmony Fuels comes in. They are the only carbon-neutral provider of home heating fuel in the US. They didn’t invent a new oil or propane. They make it easy for consumers to reduce their carbon footprints by offering carbon offsets. For each gallon of heating oil or propane its customers purchase, Harmony Fuels buys the equivalent number of pounds of carbon offsets from certified green energy projects.  Steve Dow

For a extended show notes and a full transcript of this conversation, see https://tonyloyd.com/lauren-gregor. Rent-a-Romper makes parents' lives easier while reducing the negative effects of the fashion industry.   For just a moment, think about your clothes. At some point in time, you chose each item and brought it into your home. Your neighbor did the same thing. So did the house down the street, and the one several miles away. The same thing happened in a house on the other side of the world.   The global population is increasing. The middle class is growing. And so is our demand for fashion.   By 2030, the world population will increase from 7.8 billion today to 8.5 billion. You can watch the world population increase in real time here.   Not only are there more people on the planet, our standard of living is increasing. The GDP per capita is growing at 2% per year in the developed world and 4% in the developing world. That means more demand on our world resources.   Apparel consumption is expected

General Mills is blending regeneration and philanthropy to create impact. How do you feed a hungry world without destroying the planet? And, how do you do so in a way that is just and equitable? Agriculture and forestry activities generate 24% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The world population will reach 9.7 billion in 2050. And, a growing middle class in emerging countries is straining our global food supply. Mary Jane Melendez is Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer for General Mills. She also serves as President of the General Mills Foundation. “It’s broader than philanthropy and broader than sustainability,” Mary Jane says. “It’s those two areas coming together to drive greater social impact.” General Mills is a leading global food company whose purpose is to make food the world loves. They are a 150-year-old company that is using their scale to produce more quality food while reducing their footprint. Regenerative Agriculture “Our work is rooted in the earth,” Mary Jane expl

Optimizing building energy efficiency can be complicated and expensive. According to Deepinder Singh, it doesn’t have to be. The world has more than 230 billion square meters of building space with another 65 billion square meters coming online in the next decade. Buildings account for 6% of global greenhouse gasses. With the ongoing global pandemic, the CDC has developed guidelines that encourage more fresh air circulation. The goal is to maintain lower viral load in the work atmosphere. Those guidelines could increase energy consumption. Improving energy efficiency could make a significant dent in climate change. It Started with His Daughter Deepinder Singh is a computer network engineer by training. He designed some of the world’s fastest core networks for AT&T, NTT, and Verizon. In his work on complex systems, he found ways to simplify operational complexity and to make products intuitive. “If you use Verizon,” Deepinder told me, “there’s a 95% chance it goes over a network I built. My claim to f

Solar Bear is a Native American owned solar installation company. Robert Blake of Solar Bear has a habit of mashing up two problems and coming up with a solution. His driving philosophy is “healing is in the environment.” Solar Bear is a Native American owned solar installation company. They train people on the Red Lake Indian Reservation to install solar power. “If we can do this in Red Lake, we can bring this out to other tribal nations,” Robert explains. “We’re going to see that solar energy can solve a human health crisis. On Native Nations and reservations, there is a high poverty rate, alcohol addiction, and drug addiction. What I’m hoping is, with this energy source, we can provide opportunities and give purpose to community members.” Solar Bear also works with the Department of Corrections, and the Willow River Correctional Facility to provide a solar installation workforce development program for the inmates. “The idea here is to battle mass incarceration with climate change,” Robert says. “H

Routific uses AI to cut mileage and drive time by 20%-40%. Marc Kuo is the Founder & CEO of Routific. He is a routing expert with nearly a decade of experience in last-mile logistics. But he didn’t always work in logistics. “Being a fresh grad out of school, I just wanted to get into either management consulting or investment banking, simply because of its prestige,” Marc told me. “I was ambitious. I wanted to aim for something challenging. “Once I was in finance, I was on the equity trading floor for one of the investment banks in Hong Kong. It was a glamorous dream job. I was sitting on the fifty-first floor of one of the tallest skyscrapers in Hong Kong. But I just felt a little empty. I was quickly disenchanted by this glamorous job and the corporate life. “I wasn’t adding much value to society, using algorithms to move money from the retired pensioners to the rich bankers. I didn’t feel like it was value added to society.” After being on the job for a year, Marc decided to go back to what he stu

The Environmental Resilience Institute helps midwestern communities understand and prepare for environmental change.  There’s something powerful about understanding how a global trend impacts your local community. For example, it’s one thing to hear about world hunger. It’s another to hear about hunger in your state. But there’s a different feeling when you realize that there’s a hungry kid in your neighborhood. As Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.” It’s the same thing with climate change. You’ve probably heard about the global climate crisis. And, when your state is mentioned, you might pay attention. But, when you notice the impact on the health and wellbeing of your local community, well, there’s something compelling about that. Climate Change in the Midwest We hear a lot about the impacts of climate change in far-flung corners of the world. We are aware of the dangers of flooding along the US coastline. But what about the Midwest? The average annual temperature has been increasing across

The problems are systemic and complex. So are the answers. Globally, the United States accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but we produce 15% of the energy-related CO2 emissions. Coastal flooding, hurricanes, drought, and fires are all related to climate change. And who suffers the most from the impacts of climate change? Mostly the poor and vulnerable. Bringing this closer to home, in the US, 5.9 million people live within three miles of a major coal-fired power plant. On average, these people have a per capital income of $18,400, which is 17% lower than the average in the US. A Yale University study found that Hispanics have the highest exposure rates for 10 out of 14 air pollutants. African Americans have higher exposure rates than whites for 13 out of the 14 air pollutants. 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant. Black people are exposed to 1.5 times more particulate matter than white people. Hispanics have about 1.2 times the exposure to particulates than

If you could invent a post-pandemic world, what world would you create? I hear a lot of people talking about the desire to return to “normal.” However, normal was unsustainable. Before the pandemic, there was another crisis, an environmental crisis. A crisis in our food systems, our energy systems, our clean water systems, and our unequal economic systems. Coronavirus did not break our systems. It revealed how broken our systems already are. There is a saying, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." That is why, when faced with intractable problems like COVID-19 or the climate crisis, I like to talk to thought leaders. On the other side of the pandemic, we have an opportunity to begin again. What world can you imagine in a post-pandemic world? I asked this question to Jessica Hellmann, the Director of the Institute on Environment at the University of Minnesota. The Institute on the Environment has a bold vision for the world: Sustainable agriculture feeds the world.Re

In season two, we are telling stories of an inclusive and just transition to a clean energy future. Happy Earth Day! Welcome to Season Two of Social Entrepreneur. You already know that we tell positive stories from underrepresented voices, focused on solutions. In season two, we are focusing on stories of an inclusive and just transition to a clean energy future. Here are the kinds of guests we will feature: Underrepresented voices such as women entrepreneurs, people of color, Native Americans, LGBTQ voices, and others who don’t normally get the spotlight. The venture capitalist Arlan Hamilton refers to them as the underestimated. We highlight the true hustlers, those who have overcome the most on their journey.Are working to solve big problems, tied to sustainable development goals. In this season, we are focused on an inclusive and just transition to a clean energy future.Have a sustainable business model. We give preference to for-profit businesses. We will consider nonprofit businesses who sell a prod

Positive stories of resilient people who thrive in life, connect with others, and contribute to the world in the face of adversity. Who do you know who is modeling resilience during difficult times? Have you heard any good stories lately? In this critical time, we are surrounded by acts of heroism, both large and small. I want to introduce you to the podcast, Thrive. Connect. Contribute. Here is What You Will Hear: I am sharing stories of resilient people. Here are three examples. Episode 3: How I Overcame Anxiety, Found the Purpose of Life, and Lived a Year of Personal Bests. If you’ve been wondering “What happened to Tony?” This answers the question. It’s been quite a year. Episode 4: These Children Show Us How to Connect with Others in a Time of Crisis. I interview a 10-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister. They launched a new podcast so that kids can learn and have fun. Episode 10: Crowdsource Kindness During the COVID-19 Crisis with Morgan Schmidt. According to Morgan, the world is full