“Never start a business just to make money, start a business to make difference” (Marie Forleo, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist)
Social entrepreneurship is on the rise because people have become increasingly careful about the impact of the money they spend. They now prefer purchasing brands that are working towards sustainability or any other social cause. Below there is a list of Inspiring Ted Talks give by prominent social entrepreneurs to inspire you to create a sustainable and socially benefitting business model.
1. Founder: Jacqueline Novogratz
Project: Acumen Funds
Sector: Finance
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of Acumen Funds, a project that provide low income consumers with access to facilities such as healthcare, housing and early business investments. The business model of Acumen funds work on the concept of saving on mortgage payments. Throughout her career, Novogratz has passionately worked for eradicating poverty from the world. In this particular talk, she discusses about her trip to a slum town in Nairobi, Africa and how a local encounter inspired her to develop a social business model for Acumen Funds. She says, “When systems are broken, like the one we are seeing around the world, it’s an opportunity for invention and innovation. It is an opportunity to truly build a world where we can extend services and products to all human being, so that they can make choices and decisions for themselves”. You can listen to the talk here.
2. Founder: Muhammad Yunus
Project: Grameen Bank
Sector: Banking and Microfinance
In this TED Talk, Muhammad Yunus explains about his journey of founding Garmeen Bank, with a humble start of only $27. He talks about the reasons behind the huge success of Garmeen Bank. He discusses how he defied all the conventional and traditional rules of a banking system and financed those who had no collateral to offer. In doing so, he provided an opportunity, to people with limited resources, to have a chance at life by building their own businesses. He adds that, “We are not interested by the apst of our borrowers; we are only interested in their future”. You can listen to Muhammad Yunus’ Ted Talk over here.
3. Founder: Salman Khan
Project: Khan Academy
Sector: Education
Khan Academy is a social startup that produces educational videos and began as a personal project in 2006. In this video, Khan discusses how the idea of Khan Academy was born, when he first started to make videos for his cousins in New Orleans from his home in Boston. And since then his venture has reinvented the concept of remote learning. His social business model has helped kids with autism and enabled them to learn at their own pace, from the comfort of their own homes. You can listen to the full version of Khan’s talk over here.
