Keep your eyes open for a special edition covering the recent pitches from the 2019 Cohort of the SEA Change social entrepreneurship accelerator… this is where change is happening!
[1] Business as Usual Will Not Save The Planet
The United Nation formed 17 sustainable development goals to help the private sector focus their attention on some of the world’s most pressing issues. But when the Harvard Business Review examined their progress, they found that almost every company was only making cosmetic changes, relabeling existing current corporate social responsibility initiatives and not making any real change.
The TL;DR version on their advice for success:
- Choose fewer and more specific goals
- Focus on the most promising business opportunities
- Adopt meaningful near-term targets
- Reallocate resources
- Be honest about and address inconsistencies
- Require accountability for and verification of all corporate claims
- Add up the commitments
- Facilitate partnerships
[2] Shining Example
But outside of big corporates – there are many new ideas tackling social change through new enterprises. For example, Daria Day is a luxury jewellery brand, working to break the cycle of poverty for the female artisans in Pakistan. This keeps money in the local economy from gems which are usually smuggled out, and helps create new opportunities. They work with the NGO, the Rupani Foundation to find the right people to work with, and make sure the resources are mined ethically, and the people are being treated fairly.
[4] B-Corp Lineup
Speaking of new ideas, B-Labs, the company behind the B-Corp certification, posted their 2019 awards for top businesses affecting change. Need some inspiration? Check out some of these companies.
[5] Eight Million Stories
Need some more stories for inspiration? Eight million stories is providing alternative pathways for at-risk youth to finish education and find employment. They work with youth one on one, taking them off the street and helping them figure out what’s best for them. In Houston, there are 12,000 juveniles arrested each year… it costs $30k each to incarcerate them. So in addition to transforming a youth’s life, they are reducing costs and making things all-around better for society.
[6] Bird Therapy
Yup, birt therapy. Just because birds are fascinating, they can fly, and live in a totally different universe from us. (They don’t have busy work schedules, weird commutes, soap operas, charged politics, or movies about superheroes from other planets.) Here’s how birds helped one guy heal from a breakdown.