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Interview with Zoe Hunton, Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Attorney [AUDIO]

Attorney Zoe Hunton, shares something in common with many of her social entrepreneur clients. Not only is she their attorney, but she is a fellow entrepreneur as well. It wasn’t always that way, after completing her undergraduate studies at Brown, attending law school at University of California, Davis, and clearing the California bar exam, Zoe took the fairly-traveled path of accepting a role at a law firm.However, after a persistent sense that her job didn’t mirror her core values, she took a detour.

Meet Zoe Hunton

Zoe left the firm and started her own solo practice, Hunton Law,  specifically focused on social enterprise and nonprofit law.

photo adapted from Full Circle Fund image here: goo.gl/UQ86a2

photo adapted from Full Circle Fund image
here: goo.gl/UQ86a2

It was a bold decision for a newly-minted attorney to devote her practice to a still-emerging space. In doing so, she has had to adopt the mindset of an impact-minded entrepreneur—in addition to understanding their legal needs.

With a renewed sense of purpose and alignment with her personal values, she is not only making her decision work—but is also contributing to creating an ecosystem within the social enterprise law space through her efforts outside of her practice.

In 2012, Zoe and Natalia Thurston (audio interview here) launched the Impact Law Forum (ILF) in the SF Bay area.

Innov8Social has covered interesting ILF events in the past including a brainstorming session at StartX led by the founders of LawGives, and a talk on human-centered design in law by the General Counsel of IDEO.org.

Listen to Zoe’s Interview

Innov8social had a chance to catch up with Zoe to ask her about her experience being a solo practice attorney and the (nonlinear) path that led her to the space. The interview explores trends that Zoe has noticed with the various company formation options social enterprises have in California and her advice for legal professionals and law students looking for a spot at the social enterprise table.

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Interview with Nileema Mishra, Leading Change in Womens’ Empowerment and Microfinance in Rural India [AUDIO]

What does change look like? As much as we would like to think of it as an artfully directed four-minute video montage, complete with action shots of initial struggle, hard work and ultimate success—all scored to an inspired soundtrack—in reality, change can be adamant, demanding, and at times, unyielding. It can inch along, threaten failure at every turn, and require monumental perseverance.That is why was such an honor to meet and interview Nileema Mishra, an innovative leader who works through the odds, to achieve social impact, and continues to find new ways to serve, sustain, and succeed at the projects to which she has dedicated her life and career.

Meet Nileema Mishra, Founder of BNGVN, Womens’ Initiatives, and Microfinancing Efforts in Maharashtra, India

Nileema Mishra, Leading Change in Womens’ Empowerment and Microfinance in Rural India

Nileema Mishra, social innovator and  recipient of Magsaysay Award (2011) and Padma Shri Award (2013

Nileema Mishra was the 2011 recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize of Asia. She is the recipient of the 2013 Padma Shri Award, one of the India’s highest civilian awards recognizing distinguished contribution in various spheres, including social service.

Nileema’s accolades and recent recognition only tell a part of her story. After she decided to dedicate her life to serving the poor in her village and surrounding villages at only thirteen years old, she went on to spend over a decade engaging in her work before receiving such esteemed national and international recognition.

Her journey with her organization, BNGVN—dedicated to empower “everyone willing to work for earning his/her living must get an opportunity to do so”—has spanned:

13 years.
200 villages.
25,000 families+

Her reputation for initiating change made her a go-to resource for leading microfinance initiatives in her region of Maharashtra. And, when farmers in nearby villages began committing suicide when they struggled to re-pay steep bank loans in the face of continued famine—Nileema answered the calls for help by farmers in her village by raising funds to be able to loan funds directly to the farmers. Then, similar to BNGVN’s microlending initiatives, she instituted microfinancing for farmers.

Learn more about Nileema’s work, her next immediate goals, and how she has elected to structure her organization in her interview below.

When asked about what advice she has for emerging social entrepreneurs, Nileema emphasizes engaging in work that would benefit not only an initial cohort, but that would create benefit for the last person.

“If our work is only for us,” Nileema reflects, “the soul will not be there.”

Listen to the Interview

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Interview with Nicholas Fusso, Program Director of D-Prize [AUDIO]

Earlier this year Innov8Social interviewed Nicholas Fusso, Program Director of D-Prize. D-Prize is an innovative competition dedicated to scaling distribution (i.e. the “D” in D Prize) of solutions to global poverty.Now that multiple cohorts have passed through the social innovation competition, Nicholas back in an audio interview to overview past winners, the types of social entrepreneurs that have been selected as D-Prize recipients, and what is ahead for the program.The call for Fall applications concluded at the end of November. Applicants from that round who advance past the first round will have until the end of December to submit their social venture plan, and if they are selected to advance, will be required to complete additional items by January 24, 2014. Winners can receive up to $20,000 to implement their proposed solution.

There will be another call for applications in Spring 2014. You can find out information about past winners and competition details at www.D-prize.com. Good luck to all of the D-Prize participants!

 

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Interview with Zack Rosenberg, Founder of DoGoodBuy.Us [AUDIO]

It is always fascinating to follow the ideation story of a social enterprise.

The Ideation Behind a Social Enterprise

Sometimes, the catalyzer is a clever innovation (i.e. “what if there was something that could do both…), or connecting to an untapped market (i.e. “If millions of people are already using mobile money, what if we…”). Still other times it is identifying a noted gap in what is available (i.e. “I can’t believe that they don’t have access to clean water…”)
In speaking to Zack Rosenberg, Founder/CEO of DoGoodBuy.Us it was clear that his social enterprise story started with a realization of what was missing–i.e. a robust online e-commerce platform to buy socially good products and support charities with each purchase. You can hear Zack recall the details of  the story behind DoGoodBuy.Us, more about the legal structure and business model behind his website, as well as his tips for social entrepreneurs in his audio interview below.

Meet Zack Rosenberg

Zack is not a first-time entrepreneur. He has founded websites such as Gimme20, which became a social & sharing network for Zach Rosenberghealth and fitness enthusiasts and SixDegreesofZR, which connected jobseekers and available jobs within Zack’s network. While the sites do not appear to be active, there are a number of references to them online.  His work also spans roles at WebMD, Buzzfeed, and SmartBrief and he regularly writes and speaks about startup entrepreneurship.

Zack may be an encore entrepreneur, but his latest venture has taken him to new realms including social enterprise and ecommerce. He noted that as he dives deeper into ways to empower his platform to do good and do well, he has started becoming more aware of the broader social innovation community. When he attended his first Social Venture Network conference in New York earlier this year he was pleasantly surprised to engage with the strong community of social entrepreneurs who participated.

DoGoodBuy.Us

The tagline for DoGoodBuy.Us is “the marketplace for social good/s”. The site lets users search products using various parameters including, by the cause that the product supporters, by type of gift you are looking to give (i.e. for teachers, clients, babysitters) as well as by price point and type of item. Up to 50% of proceeds are donated to support poverty-eradication, access to food, healthcare, and environmental sustainability measures.

In his interview, Zack talks about his decision to form DoGoodBuyUs as a for-profit and the reasons for doing so. He also explores what is ahead, introducing the concept of crowdcommerce—which allow groups to support specific initiatives.

Listen to the Interview

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Interview with Thane Kreiner, Executive Director Overseeing Santa Clara University GSBI [AUDIO]

Thane Kreiner, Executive Director of SCU Center for Science, Tech, Society

Thane Kreiner founded, led, and developed multiple life sciences startups before joining Santa Clara University as Executive Director of the department that houses its prestigious GSBI program for social entrepreneurs.

A neuroscientist by training, Stanford Business School graduate, and an experienced serial entrepreneur himself, Thane brings a pragmatic optimism to his role at the helm of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at SCU.  Listen below to is interview to learn more about GSBI, what kinds of social entrepreneurs should apply, past successes, and his advice for those thinking about launching a social innovation venture.

What is GSBI?

Piloted in 2003, Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) applies Silicon Valley acumen to help scale proven early-stage impact innovation for-profit and nonprofit ventures. It does this through offering 2 curriculum programs: the GSBI Accelerator is a nine-month program that combines online modules with mentor meetings and culminates in a in-residence bootcamp at SCU’s campus in California’s Silicon Valley.  Social entrepreneurs can also engage through the GSBI Online program—which provides more general startup training through an exclusively online medium.

Both GSBI programs focus on startups that have progressed past early ideation (i.e. blueprint) and validation stages of their startup and are in the ‘prepare to scale’ stage of startup development, as articulated in From Blueprint to Scale.

Alumni of the program include Kiva, WE CARE Solar, Husk Power Systems, World of Good and over 200 other social innovation ventures with entrepreneurs spanning over 50 countries.

Applications for GSBI are open now and due this Thursday, October 31st 2013.

Meet Thane Kreiner

I had a chance to catch up with Thane about GSBI and his own experience and views on the importance of resources for social entrepreneurship. He is articulate and passionate about social innovation, and incredibly well-versed on the Silicon Valley startup experience.

Thane’s education spans a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Texas, Austin to a PhD in Neurosciences from Stanford School of Medicine, to an MBA from Stanford GSB. His professional portfolio includes a number startups that he has founded, led, and guided through development, such as:
Second Genome, Presage Biosciences, iZumi Bio, Inc. (now iPierian).

Listen to the Interview

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Interview with Natalia Thurston, Founder of Social Venture Law on Crowdfunding Trends [AUDIO + SLIDES]

Natalia Thurston heads Social Venture Law in San Francisco, and also co-founded Impact Law Forum along with attorney Zoe Hunton.  During the August meet-up of Impact Law Forum, she presented a workshop on trends in the crowdfunding—with a lens on how it can impact social entrepreneurs. She covered a number of topics including rewards-based crowdfunding (i.e. platforms such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter), peer-to-peer lending, direct public offerings, new SEC rules on crowdfunding, and the unanswered questions that remain the in the field.I had the chance to catch up with Natalia to learn more about her own path into business, law, and social enterprise, and to overview some of the key topics covered in her talk.

Meet Natalia

Natalia Thurston’s path into law actually began in business school. She completed her MBA Natalia Thurstonfrom San Francisco State University where she was especially focused on mission-driven companies and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

After a few years of being in industry she sought to further her interest in the intersection of business, impact, and policy by pursuing a law degree at Berkeley.  She was drawn to Berkeley law in part because of its strong public interest program. While there, she was exposed to a number of thinkers and concepts central to social enterprise law.

Natalia launched Social Venture Law in 2011. Over the past few years she has helped startups, social enterprises, and nonprofits on issues from formation, regulatory compliance, as well as crowdfunding, and debt and equity financing.

 

Listen to the Interview

 

See the Slides

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Interview with David Jaber, Sustainability Consultant and Principal at InNative [AUDIO]

A social innovator can take form in a number of avatars, including social entrepreneur, innovative nonprofit leader, corporate social responsibility lead, or associate with an impact role in a large company. A sometimes-overlooked path in social enterprise, however, is that of sustainability consultant.

Meet David Jaber

[photo adapted from Gigantic Idea Studio]

[photo adapted from Gigantic Idea Studio]

David Jaber, is such a consultant. Over the past fifteen years, he has carved out a successful path in energy efficiency site assessments, performance metrics tracking, supply-chain analysis, greenhouse gas inventories, and pollution prevention. In his interview below, David shares his experience in consulting with social enterprises and social entrepreneurs as well as the growth of the field and opportunities for those interested in this impact career pathway.David was a former Project Manager at Natural Logic before founding InNative. He serves on the board of the Permaculture Credit Union and is a former chair of TribalP2, a national pollution prevention workgroup. He graduated from Rice University with BS chemical engineering and from Berkeley with an M.S. in Environmental Engineering. He is LEED (EB)O+M accredited.

I had the pleasure of meeting David on a few different occasions during the passage of the AB 361, California’s benefit corporation legislation in late 2011. After a particular event titled “How to Become a Benefit Corporation” hosted by law firm Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP and Green Chamber of Commerce in December 2011, we struck up an interesting conversation about the growing interest in third party standards.

To put into context, after the then-newly passed benefit corporation legislation required that a benefit corporation be assessed as creating “material positive impact” by a neutral “third party standard.” So, naturally, many social enterprises considering the new structure had questions about their options on various third party standards. David and I collaborated on a post for Triple Pundit addressing the growing interest, titled “Third Party Standards for Benefit Corporations.”

 

Listen to the Interview

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Interview with Attorney Doug Park, Partner at Rimon Law, Professor, and EdTech Co-Founder [AUDIO]

[Since the time of this interview, Doug Park has taken on a new role. He is now Director of Education at SASB – Sustainability Accounting Standards Board]

Sometimes you can learn as much about people by what they ask as by what they say. I learned that early when meeting Doug Park. Read his bio– showcasing his success as a student, attorney, professor, and leader—and you might be surprised by his thoughtful curiosity and desire to continue exploring when you meet him.In addition to sharing his own experience, he asks nuanced questions, poses hypotheticals, and probes into issues of relevance to the social enterprise.I had the pleasure of meeting Doug Park a few months ago at an event showcasing the potential of social entrepreneurship, and recently sat down with him for an interview about his journey to the social enterprise space and the his tips for entrepreneurs.

Meet Doug Park

Doug ParkDoug specializes in problem-solving related to corporate governance, securities law, and responsible investment. He is an attorney partner and Chief Sustainability Officer at Rimon PC–a law firm dedicated to innovation and community that is a certified B corporation as well as a benefit corporation.
Most recently, Doug has ventured into the social enterprise space as as a co-founder of ThinkTomi. ThinkTomi is an education platform combining the innovation of online education with the benefits of live/group learning. It is aimed at sharing the learnings of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship across the country and globally. Doug serves as General Counsel and the primary education architect and professor.
He studied at Harvard (BA), University of Michigan (J.D), and Stanford GSB (Ph.D. in Strategy and Organizations) and has taught courses at Stanford continuing education  on entrepreneurship.  Doug is President of the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley and is active in the community.
Beyond his stellar academic credentials, Doug has been a long-time blogger. He sat down recently to share his journey, wisdom he has gained along the way, and his thoughts about what is in store ahead for social enterprise.

 

Listen to the Interview

Continue Reading

In case you want to learn more about Doug and his work, you can take a look at the articles below:

The photo used above has been adapted from LinkedIn.

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Interview with Tristan Pollock, Co-Founder of Storefront and SocialEarth [AUDIO]

One of the remarkable things I have noticed from speaking to many driven social entrepreneurs is that their current effort is usually not the first they have worked on.And judging by the experience of Tristan Pollock it is often not the last.I first had a chance to connect with Tristan and co-founder Erik Eliason when they were cultivating and growing social enterprise SocialEarth.

SocialEarth, a Platform for Social Enterprise Content

SocialEarth—overviewed here last year (“What is SocialEarth?“)—crowdsources social innovation news, narratives, and features from around the globe. It was founded by Tristan and Erik in 2009 to provide a dedicated platform for seasoned journalists and bloggers as well as those new to penning thought to blog for the purpose of sharing and learning about impact-related events and stories.

Their endeavors resulted in favorable traction among a burgeoning community of social innovators.  By 2012, the site featured 170 contributors from 25 countries, and had a fan following of over 13K Twitter followers and 14K Facebook fans. (Today, those numbers are up to 200 contributors, 23K Twitter followers, and 80K Facebook fans)

Cognizant of the challenges of running a journalism-rooted site, when Tristan and Erik received an offer in March 2012 by leading CSR content distributor 3BL–the co-founders decided to sign the dotted line. And that made way for a new adventure.

Storefront, Pop Up Retail

Within months of SocialEarth’s acquisition, the co-founders were developing an innovative new startup idea, this time focusing squarely on the sharing economy and retail marketplace. From disrupting channels of social news, the latest effort—Storefront—disrupts retail sales outlets.

Instead of committing to lengthy leases in single locations, Storefront allows retailers of all kinds (i.e. brick-and-mortar, online, and specialty stores) the opportunity to engage in short-term leases (including single-day!) in a variety of locations.

Storefront joins other startups in the “sharing economy” by championing “pop up” retail experiences. It provides the platform for retailers to connect with available space and provides ways to let audiences know about pop-up experiences nearby.

Meet Tristan

Tristan Pollock is located in one of the social entrepreneurship capitals of the world, San Francisco. He and Erik launched Tristan PollackStorefront just months after SocialEarth was acquired. This effort has been unique from SocialEarth in a few respects: 1) the topic is distinct; and 2) the funding path has been different. In their latest venture, Tristan and Erik participated in AngelPad, an accelerator program for startups. Their work caught the interest of angel investors including 500 Startups, Sandhill Angels, and Great Oaks Venture Capital. They ended up raising $1.6M in initial seed funding.

The funds are enabling the duo to grow their team and expand their operations to New York City and beyond.

After following Tristan and Erik over the past few years, it was exciting to be able to chat with Tristan about his personal journey to the social enterprise space and what he has learned from two startups with very different paths and areas of focus.

Listen to the Interview

 

Further Reading

Interested in learning more? Here are a few links to posts and articles about Tristan and Eriks’ startups. And, you can take a look at the cool time lapse video of one of the pop up shops in San Francisco below!

Storefront Gets $1.6M To Grow Its ‘Pop-Up Shop’ Marketplace For Short-Term Commercial Rentals [TechCrunch]
Making Renting A Store As Easy As Booking A Hotel Room [FastCo]
Q&A with Storefront Founder Tristan Pollock [The News Funnel]
What Launching in New York Means To Us  [Storefront Blog]

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Interview with B Lab Co-Founder Jay Coen Gilbert [AUDIO]

Sometimes to understand a river’s path, it helps to go to its source. As a co-founder of B Lab, Jay Coen Gilbert is one of the original architects of B Lab which has facilitated the B/benefit corporation movement that has been gaining traction across the nation (including legislation passed in 19 states!) and globe.

About B Lab

B Lab is the 501(c)(3) non-profit engine behind the benefit corporation and B corporation certification movement—designed to foster business that serves the community and environment in addition to pursuing profit. Founded in 2006, B Lab took the idea B Labof impact-driven business out of abstraction and thrust into a working reality. One of its first major acts for the organization was drafting the B Impact Assessment—a tool that lets organizations and companies evaluate their impact. Another milestone was the approval of the first B Lab certification in 2007—which has paved the way to today’s 800 certified B corporations spanning 27 countries and 60 industries.

On a personal note, following the B/benefit corporation movement in 2011 was the early subject of Innov8Social’s exploration of social innovation. I had the pleasure of meeting Jay along with fellow co-founder Andrew Kassoy following the passage of AB 361—California’s benefit corporation legislation.

Meet Jay

Talk shop with Jay for a few minutes and you will note that his stance on sustainable business is firmly rooted in pragmatism as Jay Coen Gilbertwell as possibility. His early career as an entrepreneur informs his approach to impact-driven business. Jay co-founded AND 1 an athletic footwear and apparel company which was later sold for $250M.

He has become one of the key spokesperson for the movement—-authoring articles on Huffington Post, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and speaking at TED talks.

By the time most people learn about a movement for change—it usually has already been long in the works—and it is its sheer momentum that draws new supporters.  In talking to Jay, I wanted to learn more about the genesis of the idea that has turned into a movement as well as the path ahead involving adoption. He highlighted a key impetus for B Lab as the golden rule of doing unto others as they would have them do unto you—and applying that to business.

 

Listen to the Interview

 

Additional Reading

Every 500 Years or So by Jay Coen Gilbert [Stanford Social Innovation Review]
Jay Coen Gilbert on Huffington PostJay Coen Gilbert on ForbesJay Coen Gilbert on Sustainable BrandsBenefit Corporation Info CenterDo-Gooder: Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder, B Lab [Social Good Network]
Q&A with Jay Coen Gilbert, Co-Founder of B Lab [Philadelphia Generocity]

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