Daniel Fine’s younger brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 7. One of the major struggles with diabetes is ensuring that you take the proper amount of insulin necessary. However, this level changes based on how much food you have in your body, how much exercise you’ve had that day, and many other factors. The math for this can get complicated, especially for young kids. It was out of this place that the Fine brothers created the app “Dosed.” It is an app that helps you calculate the amount of insulin you need to take. This is incredibly helpful because it removes the aspect of human error and makes the math simpler to do. This is especially helpful for children who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This brings peace of mind to parents and kids because they know they are injecting just the right amount of insulin.

This app represents innovation because these brothers saw a need in a very specific place and knew that they could find a solution to a problem. It is something as simple as having a computer (aka phone) do the math for you, but know one had thought of it yet!

In 1999, Kerry and Annie Hilton moved into an apartment in Kolkata, not realizing they had just moved into the largest Red Light District in the World. When they did realize the location of their apartment, they decided to take action. Two years later, in 2001, Freeset employed its first women.

Freeset exists to employ women and provide frredom to them and their families from the bonds of sex – trafficking. What is really unique about this is that the Hilton’s saw the need for a business alternative and not just a non-profit. The company started out by making bags, and has since grown to printing T-shirts, making bags, and weaving scarfs. The women are taught to read and write so that they can sign their paychecks. The company is concerned with creating an alternative for these women, but is also concerned with being a competitive company. Because of this quality control is important to the company.

The next time you think about getting shirts printed or need to order a bag for something, consider buying from Freeset and support a company that is providing alternatives for women trapped in sex-slavery. http://www.freesetglobal.com/

Bryan Pape became passionate about philanthropy after a serious ski accident and had been passionate about business for some time. After working at a friend’s start up, the opportunity came up for him to start his own business. In merging his passions for business and philanthropy, Miir was born. Pape noticed that he had no simple and functional water bottle. He decided to make a water bottle that was simple. With one twist you could open the top, the opening at the top was the perfect width to drink but not spill any on you, and it fit in cup holders. The company has since grown and now sells water bottles, backpacks, and bicycles. The coolest thing about this company is that every product funds a trackable giving project. Their drinkware funds clean water projects over the world, their backpacks help fund education projects around the world, and their bicycles help fund transportation projects around the world. The way the company gives is also incredible. They do not use a one to one, but rather give to projects in a way that is more sustainable and practical. What started with a skiing accident, progressed to a water bottle design, which progressed to a company that is helping develop various projects around the world. What innovation.

Hot Bread Kitchen is a bread baking company in East Harlem. The founder and CEO Jessamyn Rodriguez came up with the idea in 2000 when she accidentally said baking instead of banking in an interview. She envisioned an international women’s baking collective. It all started with a baking class and job from Jessamyn’s kitchen. Hot Bread Kitchen has two main programs, Bakers in Training and HBK Incubates. Bakers in Training is a 6 month long program for women facing economic insecurity. These women, many from different parts of the world, learn how to bake and are trained in proper technique for baking artisan breads, learn English, math, and science. When these women graduate from the program the team at Hot Bread Kitchen helps them find a full-time, fair wage position with benefits and opportunities for advancement.

Innovation practically seeps from every part of this business. Their artisan breads can be bought online or at the bakery, which is the funding for a large part of their programs. They have taken something as simple as bread, something we eat every day, and created a social enterprise out of it. Jessamyn saw the deep need for women in economic instability to have training opportunities that will allow them to provide for themselves and their families. The more I have researched this business, the more exciting and inspiring I find it. They are literally changing lives by teaching women to bake bread.

I had the privilege of interning with a church in Granada, Nicaragua the summer after my sophomore year of college. One of the programs the church ran is called the Jicaro Project. The project started as a way to fund the YoungLife Club that meets at church (called Vida Joven). The Vida Joven kids and the church really wanted to participate in more outreach possibilities and grow their ministry, but found that they couldn’t because of a lack of finances. So, they got creative. In 2007, they looked at the trees on the property of the church, and realized some of them were Jicaro trees. These trees grow gourd like things on their trunks that fall off on to the ground when ripe. After many months of experimentation, they developed a process that allows them to sand and finish the Jicaros to be smooth and shiny. The Jicaros are then painted and sold to short term teams that come down as well as in local businesses in Granada. Since then, the project has grown and they are now making necklaces, bracelets, bowls, earring, and wind chimes out of Jicaros. Those who began Vida Joven desired to see life in the barrios made better. The Jicaro Project is doing just that. By providing jobs sanding and painting the Jicaros to teenagers desperate for work in the barrio, employing women in the barrio, supporting Vida Joven, and encouraging the local economy, The Jicaro Project has lasting impact on the barrio and all of Granada. Who knew a simple gourd on a tree could become a business venture.?

http://www.thejicaroproject.org/

The Town Kitchen was an idea born out of the brain of Sabrina Mutukisna. It is a community focused business in Oakland, California. Having grown up in a low – income, immigrant family, she had a unique perspective on what it was like to be a working youth in California. So, she decided to unite three of her passions – youth appointment, entrepreneurship, and food. Low income youth in the Oakland area are hired to work in a kitchen with professional chefs to make boxed lunches for businesses in the area. This idea is so fascinating to me because she took something so simple, the need for working people to have lunch, and the need for low-income youth to be employed, and put them together to offer a solution that is not only practical, but one that also makes an impact socially.

The youth that work at The Town Kitchen not only have to opportunity to work with professional chefs and learn about the food industry, they are also trained in entrepreneurial thinking and social justice. This business is having a direct impact on the youth of the community, increasing their likelihood of graduating from high school and college, and decreasing their likelihood of being incarcerated. The Town Kitchen is also having a direct impact on its local community. By using food that is locally grown and employing local youth, and by giving $1 for every $10 earned back into the community, this business is supporting its local economy.

I think the reason I am so inspired by this idea is because it is so simple. It is literally making lunches. However, it is done so well. There was a need and a gap that were seen in a different light than anyone else had seen them, and an incredible business was created. The commitment to serving others and caring for young people is also something I am passionate about. The Town Kitchen is not just interested in solving a problem that presents itself right now, it is a business that is seeking to create a sustainable solution.