Social Entrepreneur :: Page 3 :: millennialentrepreneurs.com

Archive for Social Entrepreneur – Page 3

Zev Shapiro – The Social Activist Entrepreneur

Posted by warburgle21

· Friday, December 10th, 2021

· 1 Comment

Zev Shapiro is no ordinary college student. His childhood was unlike his peers. Born and raised in Cambridge Massachusetts, he is currently a sophomore at Harvard University. At the age of 10, he helped manage Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. In 2014, he was invited to the State of the Union Address as Elizabeth Warren’s guest. He enjoys reading academic law and public policy journals for fun and discussing politics. He always has had an entrepreneurial spirit, especially with his visionary personality; he often looks ahead as to what can be solved and improved in our society. Before graduating high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin in 2020, he launched TurnUp (in 2019), a non profit application dedicated for young activists to increase voter turnout. TurnUp targets Generation Z progressives by having the capability to connect with other progressive individuals for specific causes. Zev wants to provide his peers with a network to organize events, marches, and protests for teenage activists. He specifically focuses on increasing voter turnout in all U.S elections but there are some other causes such as social justice, racial inequality and educational rights issues. The use of TurnUp proved to increase 36 million young voters nationally in 2020. Additionally, TurnUp made it possible for 17,000 people to make connections with one another and attend progressive events and it has over $2,000 individual donors. This new progressive activism app has grown in such a short amount of time. Through TurnUp, Zev Shapiro brings together a new generation of young activists for leftist causes.

Despite Zev Shapiro’s political beliefs, as Christian entrepreneurs we should be inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication so that we can create some kind of innovation which spreads Biblical Truth, the Word of God, and conservative thought to Generation Z. So what are we waiting for?

To Learn more about Zev:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zevshapiro

https://www.turnup.us/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zev_Shapiro

1 Comment

Categories : App, App development, Communication, Creating, Entrepreneurship, Male Entrepreneurs, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Nonprofit, Online Companies, Politics, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Social Justice, Social Media, Startups, young entrepreneurs

Tags : Generation Z, Startups, Youth Activism

Flash Forest

Posted by blendermannkj20

· Monday, December 6th, 2021

· 2 Comments

To say that our ecosystem is important would be an understatement. It is absolutely vital to the world’s health and the care of our human society. Forests are one of the main factors in supporting a strong ecosystem, but deforestation is a major problem that many countries face around the world. Deforestation is when woodlands are purposefully cleared for agricultural expansion, logging, or infrastructure growth. However, one new entrepreneur, Angelique Ahlstrom, hopes to improve the ecosystem with her own business, Flash Forest.

Cofounded by Angelique Ahlstrom, Flash Forest is a “Canadian reforestation company that uses UAV technology, automation, and ecological science to regenerate ecosystems on a global scale.” She started the company this year in 2021 and uses advanced technology of artificial intelligence, Plant Science, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and geographic information systems (GIS) to map, analyze, and automatically plant tree seeds in damaged forest areas. This company’s technology costs less and is safer and faster than other traditional methods. Flash Forest is actively working towards the goal of planting more than one billion trees by 2028 to reduce carbon in the atmosphere and restore worldwide ecosystems. They have tested 18 species of trees in planting trials to achieve biodiversity in forests. Flash Forest works with different organizations and industry partners to help plant trees and fulfill their “carbon offset pledges.” They even work with government industries to help them meet their reforestation targets that are expensive and difficult to complete.

Angelique says, “Our motivation is to have a tangible impact on climate change and all species within our lifetime, to revolutionize the reforestation industry on a truly planetary scale.” This is a very ambitious goal put forth by Flash Forest, but the first step to develop a socially minded business is to have a goal and fall in love with the problem, not the solution! Currently, Canada is one of the world’s leaders in sustainable forest management and Angelique aims to continue this with her company. She found a problem and used her passion for the environment to cause true social impact with her innovative brand and design.

2 Comments

Categories : Business, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur, Technology, Women Entrepreneurs

Reforming the System: Clementine Jacoby

Posted by mccommonsme21

· Friday, December 3rd, 2021

· 1 Comment

“I left Stanford thinking that I would be a professional circus performer,” says Clementine Jacoby, who graduated from Stanford in 2015 with a degree in software engineering. Interestingly, Jacoby spent her first year after graduation teaching acrobatics in a Brazilian gang diversion program. During that time, Jacoby witnessed the flaws of the criminal justice system in Brazil, which disproportionately targeted citizens of lower socioeconomic status and often imprisoned those who committed petty crimes with excessive sentences. At the time, Jacoby did not realize that her experience would become the foundation needed for a company that advocates for criminal justice reform here in the United States.

More than 2 million people remain incarcerated in the United States, and among those in prison, experts say thousands of them don’t pose a public-safety threat. The problem? The data that allows them to be released is backlogged because it is spread out among different departments.

That’s why in 2019, Jacoby created Recidiviz, a nonprofit that works with more than 30 states to consolidate key data points of prisons around the country, such as whether an incarcerated person has shown progress by completing a treatment plan or how well equipped a correction facility can handle a COVID-19 outbreak.

Although no algorithm is perfect and there is not one solution that can solve the criminal-justice system problem alone, Recidiviz demonstrates early signs of success. To date, Recidiviz has released nearly 44,000 inmates in 34 states. Despite her young age of 29, Clementine Jacoby is changing the way our country views the criminal justice system. It’s giving those who deserve another chance, a second chance beyond the bars.

To read Clementine’s feature in Forbes 30 Under 30,

click on the link below!

Clementine Jacoby (forbes.com)

1 Comment

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Nonprofit, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Social Justice, Women Entrepreneurs

Eli Zied Spreads a Positive Message

Posted by colbertml18

· Thursday, November 18th, 2021

· No Comments

Eli Zied is the founder of the clothing brand Habits 365. Eli has the mind of an entrepreneur from a very young age. When he was 12, he started buying and reselling sneakers which then eventually lead him into the clothing industry. At the age of 15 Eli started a few different streetwear lines that eventually formed his brand Habits 365. Eli said that one way he learned was following and watching what other companies were doing. He would watch what other companies would do on social media and started developing ideas of his own by taking what he saw other brands doing and adding his own ideas into the mix.

Eli’s motivation for Habits 365 came from his passion to create a lifestyle brand. Meaning a brand that had more of a social impact that promoted a positive way of life. He wanted to draw people’s attention to their habits and remind them how important it is to have good habits. Since these are things, you do every single day he wanted to remind people that bad ones can have a huge negative effect in their lives, and they should try to change bad habits into good ones.

Eli started designing the brand logo, clothing designs, and took to social media to start building his brand presence. Eli really took a leading role in the startup of his business, and I think this shows great entrepreneur characteristics. He tackled each piece of the puzzle that came up and successfully created a brand with a positive reputation that represents his original message well. Habits 365 started to spread by word of mouth and social media and any other ways Eli could get the name of his brand out there. Today Habits 365 is still doing well and Eli has not stopped developing and improving his brand into something unique and special. I think it is cool to see a young entrepreneur doing his best to spread such a positive message.

No Comments

Categories : Social Entrepreneur, Young Entrepreneur

Erin Zaikis and Sundara

Posted by blendermannkj20

· Monday, November 15th, 2021

· 2 Comments

We don’t think much about soap. It’s just a simple necessity for us to wash our hands and keep ourselves clean. But would you be surprised that there are people in the world that have never seen a bar of soap before? Probably not, but in many impoverished countries today, over 800 children under the age of 5 die from diseases as a result of compromised hygiene and sanitation. Erin Zaikis hopes to change all that with her company, Sandara.

Erin’s company Sandara recycles used hotel soap to redistribute across Uganda, India, and Myanmar in an effort to increase hygiene and education as well. She knew that children around the world were dying without access to sanitation products, while big corporations like hotels were throwing out old soap after just one use. Erin saw what a big problem this was and founded Sundara in 2013 to combat this current issue. Sundara first started as a non-profit business recycling used hotel soap, but it evolved into a bigger company that now works across different countries and provides education and work opportunities to single mothers, domestic abuse victims, and widows. Their main values include fostering dignity, building sustainability, agility, and female empowerment. This is shown through Sundara’s two different programs, Rise Fellowship and Emergency Aid. Rise Fellowship provides “mentorship, seed funding, and resources to female entrepreneurs living in low to middle class income countries.” In addition, Emergency Aid is a program dedicated to providing urgent, short-term relief to those who need it immediately. Erin’s company has impacted thousands of women and children around the world and over the past 8 years, has recycled over a million bars of soap and reaches 200,000 people with serious hygiene education every year.

Erin has worked with Sundara for the past several years to help fight the rampant issue of sanitation and hygiene for women and children in poor countries around the world. Her company has changed the lives of many, giving dignity and respect back to those who need it. Erin Zaikis is a true entrepreneur with her company and let’s hope she continues to change the world with her innovative ideas.

2 Comments

Categories : Business, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneur, Women Entrepreneurs

Trisha Prabhu: ReThink-ing Online Hate

Posted by mccommonsme21

· Sunday, November 14th, 2021

· 5 Comments

Trisha Prabhu is a 21-year-old social entrepreneur and the founder of ReThink, a patented technology that detects and stops online hate. In the fall of 2013, Trisha, then only 13 years old, read the shocking story of Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide. Rebecca, after being cyberbullied for over a year and a half, took her own life at only 12 years old. As a victim of bullying herself, Trisha felt heartbroken and horrified. In that moment, she decided to no longer be a bystander and created ReThink, which detects online hate at the source before bullying occurs.

Trisha has received worldwide acclaim for her endeavors. In 2016, former President Barack Obama invited to Trisha to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to share her story with other entrepreneurs. ReThink also made an appearance on Shark Tank, and not long after, Trisha received the prestigious Elevate Prize, as well as an Adrian Cheng Fellowship at Harvard. Trisha is the youngest honoree named to this year’s Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Impact list.

To date, Trisha has spread the message of ReThink to over 30 cities in 3 languages. Trisha is also an avid supporter of empowering women in the entrepreneurial community. Whether volunteering her time to teach young women how to code or finding ways to bridge the diversity gap in entrepreneurship, Trisha is inspiring a generation of fierce young women to tackle the world’s most important issues.

Check out Trisha’s TED Talk below!

5 Comments

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Female Empowerment, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Women Entrepreneurs, Young Entrepreneur

Miracle Olatunji: Helping Students Discover their Passion

Posted by grossmanlj21

· Saturday, November 13th, 2021

· No Comments

Miracle Olatunji is the founder of an OpportuniMe, a platform to connect high schools with opportunities for career development. She started it as a high school student. Olatunji created OpporuntiMe because she wanted to “democratize the process of helping people find opportunities.” Though she knew such programs existed, they were typically too obscure to discover. Olatunji gained her passion for OpportuniMe when she participated in the University of Delaware’s Diamond Challenge. This competition allowed her to see the power of entrepreneurship and how it can be used to instigate fruitful change. Olatunji wanted to start OpportuniMe as soon and as simple as possible; hence, it began as a newsletter. She is now working towards a website that will provide even more resources.

Olatunji is an admirer of social entrepreneurship. As such, she is working on another project called MIRACLE. Although MIRACLE is her first name, each letter represents something unique: Making Impacts, Raising Awareness, and Creating Learning Experiences. She states, “The vision is to create this organization, and under the umbrella of the organization would be social enterprises that meet the goal of creating and launching social ventures that empower, enlighten and educate people.”

Olatunji’s mission for students is clear: discover your passion, execute, and make a difference. She also wants young entrepreneurs to be ambitious, refusing to let their age or background limit them. Olatunji tries to encourage this by adopting Steven Johnson’s idea of a “liquid network,” which permits ideas to collide, connect, and evolve. This idea is evident in her effort to connect students with mentorship and other entrepreneurs. In a Forbes article, she shared: “You can’t really take an idea off the ground without collaborating with people and having mentors.”

Clearly, Olatunji values social entrepreneurship. Her investment in students shows her appreciation of guidance and how anyone, regardless of their age, can be innovative.

https://youtu.be/Hk-XjgRFlvw

Sources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthaharrington/2018/01/16/how-high-school-founder-miracle-olatunji-is-democratizing-opportunity/?sh=706d2fcb2154

The evolution of OpportuniMe, and founder Miracle Olatunji

No Comments

Categories : Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Young Entrepreneur

Creating Temporary Housing from Origami

Posted by blendermannkj20

· Monday, October 25th, 2021

· 4 Comments

It’s amazing how the simple practice of folding paper has managed to find itself as the hobbies of many nowadays. Origami came from the ancient Japanese practice of folding paper into different shapes and figures. This seemingly simple idea of folding paper was the exact inspiration for Tina Hovsepian and her company.

Cardborigami is a combination of origami and cardboard. Tina’s idea for the company came to her during a senior design project when she was asked to rethink the idea of ‘temporary shelter.’ That’s when she made her first prototype of a temporary, foldable, and cardboard shelter for the homeless. It was immediately a hit, and she started her company in 2010 and it has been successfully running for the past 11 years. The Cardborigami website says, “Our centerpiece product provides immediate emergency shelter to homeless and/or disaster-impacted populations, allowing us to support the work of established partner organizations that offer transitional pathways into permanent housing and other long-term services.” This statement sums up Cardborigami very well and establishes what their goal is. Cardborigami even offers other programs like social enterprise, disaster preparedness, and pop-up homeless shelter sites in addition to their main product.

Carborigami’s mission supports the homeless, which is a big social issue nowadays, and their main product is very clever. Cardboard is biodegradable, so it’s healthy for the environment after it breaks down, and it’s foldable and easy to transport, so anyone can bring it with them for an easy and temporary roof over their heads. Tina even comments on design by saying, “Design fundamentally impacts the daily life of people. Architects are armed with aggressively creative ideas and innovative solutions to complex problems. With more designers taking leadership and focusing their talent on socially responsible design, the world would be a better place.” It is absolutely true that designers bring a lot to the table when it comes to coming up with new ideas and changing the world for the better. “Socially responsible design” could be this company’s mantra, and they are truly succeeding in their mission. It is a wonderful idea to address this issue in the world and I hope to see more Cardborigami products giving shelter to those in need.

4 Comments

Categories : Business, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneur, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Mark Sotomayor – Buy a Tea, Plant a Tree

Posted by dawsoncm21

· Wednesday, October 13th, 2021

· 1 Comment

Mark is a recent 2020 graduate from Grove City College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship. He started his business, Treecup Tea, during his sophomore year at Grove City College. Through a development process of his product, he learned a lot about branding and what it takes to start a business. He began selling samples of his grandmother’s chai tea recipe at local events and pop-up shops out of Dixie cups. He now has 4 different flavors of tea packaged in sleek glass bottles, and he sells it in large stores such as Whole Foods and local farmers markets. His success took time and hard work. Although Mark experienced setbacks and help along the way, that is what grew into the success he has today.

Mark’s tea business is especially unique due to his passion behind the cause he helps with. For each tea that is bought, a tree in Haiti is planted. This serves to combat deforestation in one of the most poverty-stricken places in the world. Mark accomplishes this through partnering with a foundation called Haiti Friends. Mark values transparency in marketing, so he feels strongly about sticking to this purpose behind the business.

Mark is driven by the commitment to “Jesus Christ and follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. He wants to manifest God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven.” Mark is led by the Lord in everything he does and does not focus on the money. His purpose is bigger than the profit he makes, and this is apparent in his business. I believe this is what makes Treecup Tea unique and a great idea. It can be hard to find businesses that truly stick to their cause and do not drift from their true mission when they are blinded by success as their sole purpose and fall into the trap of greed.

I find Mark’s story truly inspiring because even through setbacks, he found a way to work through them and dig deeper. I can apply this to my own life and future business career because it is important to keep in mind that setbacks are what help us learn and grow. I aim to have a Christ-centered focus in everything I do just as Mark does. As Mark puts it, “if your business isn’t about God then what is it all for?”

1 Comment

Categories : Business, Charity, Entrepreneurship, Enviornmental, Haiti, Handmade, Redemptive Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Startups, Uncategorized