Social Entrepreneur

When it comes to social good, we often think we have to do something world-changing. In his book All the Trouble in the World, P. J. O'Rourke said

“Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.”

If you think about it, that’s human nature. We love the grand gesture, the transformational speech or the disruptive technology. In the meantime, we pass homeless people on the street and we wonder what to do.

I understand this feeling well...

Laurie Lane-Zucker has had a long and interesting path to Impact Entrepreneur. He was the Executive Director at the Orion Society, a highly respected environmental organization and publisher of Orion magazine. In 2007 he launched Hot Frog, a Founding B Corporation, a GIIRS Pioneer Company, a Founding Member of Mission Markets.

Laurie is also the founder and manager of the LinkedIn group, Impact Entrepreneur, with nearly 10,000 members from more than 150 countries...

Francesco Piazzesi grew up in the construction equipment industry. He noticed that the brick mason who spent his days building houses went home to a tin shack with a dirt floor. In many countries around the world, including Mexico, 2/3 of the houses built are built by the owners. The homeowners gather whatever materials they can afford and, step by step, over many years, they build their house. These houses are often not safe or sanitary and the vast majority have dirt floors...

Being a serial social entrepreneur seems to be in Miki Agrawal’s blood. You can read her story in her very fine book, Do Cool Sh*t: Quit Your Day Job, Start Your Own Business, and Live Happily Ever After. After a wakeup call on September 11, 2001, Miki determined to live her life with her eyes wide open. She left her role in investment banking to play professional soccer, and produced films. In 2005 she stared having recurring stomach aches...

Charitable giving seems to be stuck in a time warp. While we easily bank, shop and communicate across mobile apps, online charitable giving is not always the best user experience. This poor user experience came to the attention of Tesla Motor’s Director of Quality Product Engineering, Mike Vo.

Something else came to Mike’s notice. After 5 years of working 90+ hours per week with almost every day of the year, his accrued personal time off, or vacation time, was about to be forfeited...

Social impact expert Neetal Parekh was born in Oklahoma City. Her parents had immigrated from India. She and her family moved frequently, about 20 times in 20 years. When Neetal and her family visited their family in India, she observed the gap between wealth and abject poverty. Even as a child, she thought about how she could close that gap – to make an impact.

Neetal trained as an attorney and, as part of her job, she wrote blogs about changes in law...

After experiencing sexual violence in high school, Joy McBrien decided that she wanted to prevent this tragedy from happening to other women. When she read about the high incidence of violence against women in Peru, so she decided to travel there. As an 18 year-old, she decided to start a non-profit.

After working with local women, she raised funds and built a women’s shelter. Over the next six years, Joy visited 18 countries, listening closely to the needs of women...

Social Entrepreneurship can come from almost anywhere. Sometimes we hear stories of people in a position of privilege to use their resources to do good for the world. Chris Ategeka’s story does not start like that.

Chris lost both parents to HIV / AIDS as a child in Uganda. Later he understood that, if his parents would have had access to simple healthcare and the required medicine, they could have lived to be a ripe old age.

At the age of 7 Chris became the head of a household...

Social Entrepreneur Olivia Rothschild always wanted to be of service. Growing up in multiple countries and traveling widely, she learned to be open-minded and curious. She said yes to opportunities that were presented to her.

You can see these traits in her work today as a co-founder of 109World, a platform for positive change. 109World is built on 7 passions: water, children, the environment, education, women, food and animals. These passions are interconnected...

If you hang around the startup community long enough, you’re going to run into some founders that make you think “I don’t know what business they’re starting, but I want to back their play.” Elise Maxwell is one of those people. She is authentic, transparent and relentlessly helpful. She’s just someone you want to cheer for.

Elise spends her days talking about women’s intimate health...