Archive for December, 2010

Doug Holt Profiles Ben & Jerry’s and Fat Tire Beer in His Challenging New Book, Cultural Strategy

Posted on: December 20th, 2010 by socialventurenetwork No Comments

SVN member Doug Holt challenges the traditional wisdom that innovation should focus on breakthrough functionality in his new book, Cultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideologies to Build Breakthrough Brands. Doug and his co-authur, Doug Cameron, develop a cultural approach to innovation: champion a better ideology and the world will take notice. The book contains both theoretical case studies, including one on Ben & Jerry’s, as well as practical strategy projects that were implemented by the authors, including at Fat Tire Beer. You can download the chapter on Ben & Jerry’s here and read the chapter on Fat Tire Beer on Doug’s website. Click here to order the book from Amazon.

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Fall Conference: Women Growing From Micro to Millions

Posted on: December 16th, 2010 by socialventurenetwork No Comments

Written by Tamara Schweitzer

On Saturday afternoon, Nell Merlino, founder and president of the non-profit organization Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, led an extremely relevant breakout session for women (and men who want to help them!) grow their micro businesses into million dollar enterprises. Nell led the session with three panelists, all women entrepreneurs who have won Count Me In’s “Make Mine a Million $ Business” competition and all are socially conscious enterprises. The panel consisted of Sarah Endline, the founder of activist candy company sweetriot; Dawn Gluskin, the founder and CEO of SolTec Electronics, which sells obsolete electronics to engineers and manufacturers; and Gina Stern, the founder of d_parture spa, a spa experience designed specifically for airport terminals.

All of these women have encountered struggles and setbacks along their path to growing their businesses, and they shared their experiences and lessons learned with an engaged group of attendees. Nell says one of the obstacles that many women entrepreneurs face is they get stuck in the micro category, and don’t know how to get their business to the next level in both size and revenue. Nell cited a staggering statistic that 70 percent of the 10 million women businesses in this country generate less than $50K in revenue. Additionally, only 243,000 of those 10 million businesses are at a million in revenue, compared to 1 million men who are at a million. However, given the sheer numbers of women business owners (and the fact that more women are starting businesses today than men), the group represents enormous economic potential. This prompted Nell to start the Make Mine a Million program in partnership with American Express, to give women the tools and encouragement to dream bigger. The organization has a goal of helping a million women hit the million revenue mark by the end of this decade. It’s amazing to think about what meeting that goal would mean. According to Nell, it would mean a trillion dollars in revenue for women-owned businesses, and the creation of at least 4 million jobs (assuming an average of 4 jobs created per business).

The Make Mine a Million program has already achieved impressive results (there are 192 awardees to date and 41 percent have reached the million mark), and the women in the room that day proved that it is possible even if the face of incredible odds. And, while achieving that million revenue mark is the immediate goal of Make Mine a Million, the breakout session provided guidance and encouragement on a number of issues facing women business owners today. When Dawn of SolTec Electronics launched her business in 2008, she had a 6-month-old daughter and she was the only one working out of her living room. She and her husband had closed out their retirement funds and she had 10 credit cards maxed out. Just two short years later, she has 15 employees, a 2500 square office, and $2.5 million in revenue. Another encouraging tale of beating the odds is Gina’s, who was on the verge of losing d_parture spa’s best retail location in Newark’s Liberty airport due to a deceitful deal by the Port Authority to take away her lease. Through the support of the Count Me In network and Nell’s guidance, Gina not only fought the Port Authority and won, but her Newark location just got nominated as the most innovative eco concept in airports.

The session certainly generated a lot of lively conversation and will no doubt prompt more women to take control of their economic independence, because as Nell said, “growth is a decision that you can make.”

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Plenary with Katrina vanden Heuvel

Posted on: December 14th, 2010 by socialventurenetwork No Comments

Written by Tamara Schweitzer

As a cap to a weekend that focused on the theme of “Building the Bridge from Passion to Action,” Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, took the stage on Saturday night to talk about what that action might look like, and what the role of socially responsible business leaders is. Katrina put a lot of faith in SVN members to mobilize people to action. She doesn’t believe that we can have a just and equitable America without progressives and socially responsible business people at the table. Katrina referred to the group as the “enlightened business community,” and those are the people we need to stand up and organize. She talked about the potential of this community to become the antidote to the chamber of commerce.

According to Katrina, real action will be defined by the possibilities of forming public-private partnerships. She said there is danger to letting America be defined by the big banks. One of the ways that we can take action is by taking that leap to forge more relationships with the private sector. “Privatization has too often led to the privatization of profit and the socialization of risk,” she said. Once the conversation gets going, there is an opportunity to start strengthening democracy and what Katrina calls “sustainable politics.”

She pointed to the example of Elizabeth Warren and her recent appointment as the special advisor to the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She says we shouldn’t forget that there are changes like that happening, and the more we get behind these developments, the more the conversation will switch to right vs. wrong in this country.

Katrina added we need to continue rethinking the role of corporations in our society. She talked about the admiration she has for B Lab and the work they are doing in creating a new classification for socially responsible businesses called the B Corp (Better Corporation).

Often times, action stems simply from reframing the conversation and by measuring what we are doing by different standards. Rather than focusing on the lack of opportunities, we need to be fighting to make sure alternative ideas are not excluded from our debates. There are huge demographic shifts happening in this country – there are more young people, African Americans, and women that are becoming part of a rising electorate, but much of this shift and the progress that is being made, is invisible to people in power. The Nation is helping build the bridge to action by being a storyteller for the positive steps that have taken place, and to ensure that mission-driven initiatives are heard. The publication will be launching a rubric to look at “models that work” – the idea being to create a platform in the magazine to call out people and initiatives that are succeeding. Ultimately, it is up to us to tell the story the way we want it told.

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Mitch Rofsky on The American Dream

Posted on: December 8th, 2010 by socialventurenetwork No Comments

This post was written by SVN member Mitch Rofsky, CEO of the Better World Club, and was originally published on The Huffington Post. Click here to read the full post.

Given the results of the mid-term election, perhaps it’s inevitable that President Obama is again using the term “bi-partisanship”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s gotten any better at it.

During the first two years of his Administration, Obama acted as if wishing for Republican cooperation would make it so. This was silly to begin with and its failure became obvious.

You can’t be bi-partisan by yourself.

Click here to continue reading this post on The Huffington Post

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On Black Friday, “Go Local” Instead

Posted on: December 2nd, 2010 by socialventurenetwork No Comments

This post was written by SVN member Laury Hammel, President and General Manager of The Longfellow Clubs, and Stacy Mitchell and was originally published on the Boston Globe website. Click here to read the full article.

For many Americans, Black Friday has come to epitomize all that’s gone wrong with this season of gift-giving and the long hours we’ll spend in the coming weeks negotiating traffic jams, crowds, and the endless aisles of big-box stores. That’s why we propose that New Englanders take a new approach to holiday shopping this year. Let’s use this special time to slow down and really savor the places where we live: our public squares and historic buildings, our sense of community, and the rich variety of locally owned stores and restaurants that contribute so much to the flavor and spirit of our region.

There’s no better place to begin than by reclaiming the day after Thanksgiving. Last year, a group in Oakland, California, came up with a great idea: “Plaid Friday.” It’s a simple concept. On Friday, shift away from the malls and “go local” instead. Stroll your neighborhood or downtown, stop by a few independent businesses, meet friends at a local coffee shop — in short, simply enjoy your community. And, while you’re at it, wear something plaid. This mainstay of New England wardrobes is the perfect alternative to Black Friday. With its endless variety of colors and combinations, plaid is a fitting symbol of the diversity of New England’s cities and towns and the local entrepreneurs who give them life.

Click here to continue reading this article on Boston.com

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