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Interview with Nisha Kulkarni, Communications Consultant to Social Enterprises & Nonprofits [AUDIO]

Over the past 2+ years of founding, blogging, and editing Innov8Social I have learned a few expected and (even more) unexpected things about blogging. A blog can be your brand. It can be your calling card—the way you communicate ideas and experiences to others. And, interestingly, it can be the catalyst of things—such as collaborations, interactions, and great conversations.

It was through Innov8Social that I met Nisha Kumar Kulkarni. She reached out via social media to learn more about the blog and my interest in the social innovation sector. This could well have led to a great coffee meetup—but considering our coastal divide (Nisha is now based in NYC)—has led to multiple fascinating conversations instead.

A Perspective on Social Innovation in India

See, Nisha has a unique global lens on social innovation. She is of South Asian origin but raised in the US—however she and her husband relocated to Mumbai in 2010 for three years. It was there that she really grounded herself in her conceptualization of the social innovation space.

Nisha’s return to New York City had her excited about expanding her involvement on the US-side. However, she soon noticed that though social innovation in India and in the US may rooted in the same tenets of creating impact + value; they have taken surprisingly distinct forms. She details more about her path into social enterprise, her immersion into the field in India, and the differences she has observed on her return to the US in her audio interview below.

Meet Nisha Kulkarni

Nisha Kumar KulkarniBefore Nisha found a path in social innovation, she started off in the Economics and Finance realm— holding a BA in Economics in addition to a Minor in English from NYU before taking on roles at Lehman Brothers.  After two years on Wall Street, she pursued her interest in development economics with an MA in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University.

The move to Mumbai accompanied her growing interest in social enterprise space and she has since taken on roles and projects at Intellecap, Catchafire, Dowser-–and most recently launched her own communications and content strategy consulting practice at nishakkulkarni.com.

Listen to Nisha’s Interview

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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 Dirk Sampselle, Founder of B Revolution Consulting [AUDIO]

This podcast episode features an interview with Dirk Sampselle, and attorney and founder focusing on supporting social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and nonprofit organizations.

The Numerous Choices Available for Social Entrepreneurs Can Be Overwhelming

Increased choice can create confusion. Barry Schwartz’s 2004 book titled Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More even suggests that the process of making a decision among many choices can actually decrease our enjoyment and confidence in our choice.Viewing social innovation through that unique lens, there seems to be a certain trend emerging. The trend of more. Today there are new legal structures, new business models, additional sustainability certifications, and more choices than ever before when it comes to effectuating change and measuring impact.The space that is emerging, while exciting and motivating, can seem overwhelming to both the consumer as well as the entrepreneur. The increased choice creates opportunities for experienced guides who can use and make sense of growing data to guide social entrepreneurs through the space.

B Revolution, a Consultancy for the B Corporation Movement

That’s why it was fascinating to come across new initiatives such B Revolution, seeking to address the potential problem of increased choice in social innovation. Founded by Dirk Sampselle in 2011, B Revolution serves growth companies, nonprofits, as well as individual and early-stage entrepreneurs. The consultancy assists its clients in projects such as designing an impact strategy, identifying investment sources, and taking a holistic look at legal and business needs in evaluating structuring options.

B Revolution has launched a few initiatives related to the impact space, including:

  • ezBcorp – a new B Revolution initiative that combines Legal Zoom type automation with benefit corporation legal structure to create an online platform for social entrepreneurs to explore benefit corporation options as well as incorporate as one.
  • B Revolution Consulting – consulting service for entrepreneurs, impact investors, companies, and nonprofits traversing the impact space.
  • B Revolution Capital – pairing mission-driven entrepreneurs seeking $50K-$1M in funding with impact investors seeking new avenues of creating impact-aligned investments.

Interestingly, B Revolution Consulting is itself structured as a California benefit corporation subsidiary of B Revolution, Inc., a B Corporation-certified Maryland benefit corporation.

Meet Dirk

DIrk SampselleDirk Sampselle grew up in Maryland and completed his undergraduate education at the University of Florida, where he also created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called “Citizens for Social Justice.”

His path to finding new ways to create meaningful change in society and business drew him to become involved in the benefit corporation movement early on and he has co-authored several white papers for B Lab on the subject. He recently graduated from Pepperdine University with dual degrees in business and law.

Listen to the Interview

 

Learn More

You can read Dirk’s white papers on benefit corporations here:
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