Category: social entrepreneurship

business, entrepreneurship, NBC, social entrepreneurship

Shine A Light Competition – Your Chance to Help a Small Business Doing Great Work in Their Communities

Christa Avampato

Hi all,

Just a quick note to tell you about Shine A Light, a great on-line competition that is currently running to provide a $100,000 grant and American Express marketing support to a small business doing good works in their community. It only takes a minute to vote and can make a world of difference to a small business. Personally, I voted for Beacon Paint because of their dedication to New York City public schools. If you’re interested in voting, visit Shine A Light’s website.

The finalists are:
Beacon Paint has been on the same street for 109 years. They are proof that longevity alone does not always tell the story. Their warmth and hospitality is well known in the neighborhood. They are proud of their generosity and community minded spirit, particularly among the NYC public schools in their neighborhood.

Sacred Wind Communications (SWC) is a for-profit telecommunications company with 40 employees and has a non-profit educational arm of the corporation which serves the Navajo people in New Mexico.

HAPPYBABY organic baby foods launched on Mother’s Day 2006 with 5 products in 5 small NYC stores. The business is the brainchild of a social entrepreneur who wanted to make a difference using business, support sustainable agriculture, provide our children with the best start to instill eating habits for a healthy happy life, and simultaneously provide basic nutritional needs for less fortunate children simply trying to survive.

This competition is made possible by the partnership between American Express and NBC Universal.
books, poverty, social change, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – Muhammad Yunus

Christa Avampato

“I am always optimistic. There is no other way…I am not interested in a person’s past. I care only about their future.” ~ Muhammad Yunus

Many economists tell us that so long as there is capitalism, there will be poverty. So long as there are “haves”, there will be “have nots”. Tonight I went to 92Y to see Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank, Noble Prize winner, and an economist who has stood up to the cynics time and time again. The most remarkable thing about him is not that he blatantly defies his peers, but that he defies them, has proven the fallacies in their beliefs through the outcomes of his own actions, and garners the respect of his detractors.

When I consider what it’s like to live an extraordinary life, Professor Yunus is the first person I think of. His indomitable will, compassion, love, and concern for others is unmatched, particularly in the financial field. He is my hero so it was with great excitement that I sat in the audience at 92Y waiting for him to be interviewed by Matthew Bishop from The Economist. Yunus did not disappoint. From the moment he stepped on stage, he glowed with goodness.
The more he discussed microcredit and entrepreneurship, the happier I became. I could feel his goodness making its way into my own heart. His calm, charming confidence is something to behold and emulate. I could barely take my eyes off of him.
Then a strange thing happened. Professor Yunus began to talk about how to get started, how to begin building a life that truly contributes to the benefit of humanity. “Make a pact from where you are, now, to help 5 people up out of welfare.” He discussed how he didn’t try to tackle the whole country of Bangladesh in his early work. He worked with a handful of people in a very small village. And when that seemed to work, he ignored the nay-sayers, as always, and helped a few more people. And encouraged those he’d helped to help others in the same way. Take tiny, tiny steps to help others, and never, ever give up. “That,” he said, “is the miracle seed.”
It was in that instance, in Professor Yunus’s miracle seed comment, that my heart and mind joined forces and took a decided turn. I could feel a physical, mental, and emotional shift within me. At the conclusion of the talk, I ran home, literally. My friend, Richard, is always encouraging me to write to anyone and everyone who interests me. This advice as served me well in the past, so I got home and cranked up the letter writing machine.
On my way back through Central Park, I composed a letter in my mind to a very wealthy businessman who runs a company that has recently set up a very profitable service. I’ve written to him before, once by name and once anonymously, offering up thanks and suggestions to him, respectively. Today, I asked for his help is using a very, very small portion of the money his service has made to set up a small test of microcredit in New York City, similar to the work that Professor Yunus’s Grameen Bank is doing in Jackson Heights, Queens. When I got home, I typed up the letter, printed it, signed it, and stuck it in an envelope. I ran out to the mailbox on the corner outside of my apartment building, and dropped it in. I had to get it written and out the door before I got too scared to send it. So now I’ll wait and see if a response comes.
It’s an odd thing when we hand over the reigns to our future. When we leave rational thought behind and follow our hearts, it’s amazing what we find, what we can accomplish. Professor Yunus closed the talk by telling a story about Dannon yogurt. He kept pushing them and pushing them to develop a yogurt product, in a special edible container, that would benefit the children of Bangladesh. (Half the children who live in Bangladesh suffer from malnutrition.) “An edible container?” they asked him. “Yes, yes, we must,” demanded Professor Yunus. He thought they’d be angry. Instead they thanked him for pushing the boundaries of their work. “How can we answer something we are not asked?” they said. Perhaps this businessman I wrote to will feel the same way.
And now the fear is setting in. What have I done in writing this letter? Who do I think I am to go around suggesting that a large financial institution consider taking a tiny slice of their profit during a recession and using it for a microcredit program? And then I smile, and think to myself “I just let my inner-Yunus run free.” If I’m scared, I must be doing something worthwhile. What could our world be like if we all did just that? What if we suggested the impossible and then went for it?
children, education, innovation, social entrepreneurship, theatre

My Year of Hopefulness – In the Beginning

Christa Avampato

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” ~ Louis L’Amour


Today marked an end and then a beginning, in one single action. After almost a year of considering how I might help children in public schools in New York City, I mailed off two packages, one to Bronx Charter School for the Arts and one to M.S. 223. Inside the packages is a folder with a cover letter, my resume, and an 8-page concept paper that outlines an after-school program that I’d like to pilot beginning in January 2010. The after-school program uses theatre to teach innovation, product development, and entrepreneurship to 6th grade students.

The journey to the concept paper was a long and winding road:

Early Summer of 2008
Began to consider how I could build an on-line innovation kit for kids

August 2008
Changed jobs and got involved in an at-work volunteer program with Junior Achievement of New York. Wondered if I missed my calling and should become a public school teacher.

December 5, 2008
Volunteered for a day-long program at M.S. 223 in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx. Felt scared, responsible, and at home, all at once. I taught economics for a day to 7th graders. I got more of an education than the students did that day. Have been thinking about those kids every day since.

May 17, 2009
Started building my first draft of the concept paper, initially named “Innovation Workbook”. It was terrible. I was afraid to show it to anyone because I’d thought they’d laugh at the idea. Put my fears aside and kept working.

June 3, 2009
Wrote the first draft of a mission statement, or what I termed “A Reason for Being”. It was awful, though I began to think that I might be on to something.

mid-June 2009
Began to talk to some friends about the concept. No one laughed; they got very excited about the idea and that got me more excited. They had great ideas. I used all of them to build a better concept. My friend, Liz, offered the idea to make this an after-school program rather than try to build it in to the traditional curriculum.

July 4th weekend, 2009
I started sending a rough draft of the concept paper to my friends who offered their ideas and were excited about the project. I knew the paper was terrible but the idea was getting better. My friends offered more help, more advice. The concept kept getting better.

July 23, 2009
Named the project Innovation Station while laying on my couch, unsuccessfully trying to take a nap. Decided to use short theatre scripts as a way to communicate the material.

Early August 2009
While reading the book, Eiffel’s Tower, decided to feature famous innovators throughout history as part of Innovation Station.

August 2009
Continued to revise the concept paper, did more research. Many friends suggested I dig into data to prove the need and value of my program. Was startled by the statistics I read about after-school programming and public school education in inner-cities. Kept shopping around my ideas and taking any and all suggestions. Wrote 8 full drafts in total.

September 15, 2009
Heard about Bronx Charter School for the Arts. Researched them and thought they may be a good fit for Innovation Station. Put them on the very short list with M.S. 223.

September 22, 2009, afternoon
Made a few last minute edits, and dropped the proposals in the mail to M.S. 223 and Bronx Charter School for the Arts in the hopes that one of them will be the pilot program location.

September 22, 2009, evening
Waiting. Hoping. Nervous Excited.

My friend, Jamie, went to the post office with me to put the packages in the mail. I adore him, even though he can be a little curmudgeonly at times. He is exceedingly generous with help, advice, and contacts, despite his rough around the edges personality. It comes from being so brilliant and highly educated. He is one of the friends I count on to keep me grounded. I try to add more whimsy into his life. “So what do you do now?” he asked. I hadn’t thought of what I’d do now; I guess I have been worried that I’d just edit myself to the point of being paralyzed. I never imagined myself sealing up the envelopes and dropping them in the mail. I guess I was worried that I’d never figure it out. “I wait,” I said to Jamie.

This morning, my old friends, Fear and Self-ridicule, were back with a vengeance. Maybe this was a stupid idea. Maybe it would never help anyone. Maybe no school would ever be interested. Who am I to think I can write curriculum? I began reading and editing again. And something truly miraculous happened. As I re-read the proposal, I got more excited. I began to think that maybe, maybe, maybe this was the beginning on the a life-changing road for me. Just as I was finishing the proposal, I thought “this might be the beginning of something really exciting. I just might be able to help some kid who’s facing the same circumstances I faced when I was that age.” And with that thought I sealed up the packages and headed for the post office.

Fearing that I’d have a last minute panic attack, I quickly put the packages under the slotted window for the postman to grab and stamp. There was no turning back once he tossed them into the bin. And away they went, into the abyss of mail, on a very simple mission to try to make a difference in one kid’s life. I ran for the door and never looked back. I had to get on with my beginning.
books, social entrepreneurship, women

The Journal of Cultural Conversation: What Can You Do To Help The World’s Women?

Christa Avampato

Last weekend, I went to 92Y to hear Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn discuss their new book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The book chronicles their travels through Africa and Asia, interviewing women who are enduring unbelievable circumstances and exhibiting equally unbelievable strength. It is filled with data, facts, and figures that methodically document the travails of women in the developing world. Their stories simultaneously broke my heart and lifted me up. They are issuing a call to action, today, to each of us.

To read the full article, please click here.

business, change, entrepreneurship, social change, social entrepreneurship

NY Business Strategies Examiner – Interview with Teju Ravilochan of The Unreasonable Institute

Christa Avampato

This week I had the opportunity to interview Teju Ravilochan, Connections Strategist and Co-Founder of The Unreasonable Institute. I found out about The Unreasonable Institute through Social Earth’s Twitter feed and was intrigued by the name. Some of the people I admire most consider themselves unreasonable, those who push boundaries, who work toward building a world that is far better than the world as we know it today. They strive and thrive on their creativity and imagination. Teju and the team at The Unreaonable Institute fit this bill perfectly. The Unreasonable Insttiute’s missions is to intensive training, effective collaboration, and expert guidance to provide Unreasonable social ventures the momentum to take flight.

To read the interview with Teju, click here.

business, entrepreneurship, Examiner, social entrepreneurship

NY Business Strategies Examiner – Social Earth Video Launches

Christa Avampato

Social Earth, an organization dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship, has release Social Earth Video on their website. Social Earth Video is a broad collection of videos that include footage with top social entrepreneurs.

For the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m7d9-Social-Earth-Video-launches-today

business, education, friendship, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – For Others

Christa Avampato

“Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

4th of July weekend is always an inflection point in my year. Somehow a switch flips in one area of my life or another and off I go. This year was no exception, except that I feel much more confident in this year’s 4th of July inflection point than I ever have any other year.

I’ve been batting around an idea for a social enterprise for a number of months. I’ve gone down a few different avenues and always ended up scrapping the plan. I had an idea of what I wanted the end result to be; I just didn’t know how to get there.

A few weeks ago I went down to DC for my friend Eric’s engagement party and was able to catch up with my friend, Liz, whom I used to work for in DC. She is one of the most talented researchers around and she has tremendous first-hand knowledge about urban education, exactly the area that I want to focus on for my social enterprise. I pitched my idea to Liz, and without blinking an eye she had a plan for my idea – how to execute it and how I could find funding.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve worked on a rough draft of the idea and passed it to a few people for review, one being Liz and another being my close friend, Amy, who has done work similar to what I’d like to do with this social enterprise. With their help I am revising the draft of my project, and their excitement over it has made me even more hopeful. I actually believe I can make a go of this.

Next I passed the draft on to a Twitter friend who is writing a book about social enterprise. He liked it so much that he asked if he could send it on to several friends of his for their input. Of course I whole-heartedly encouraged that!

While I’ve been so interested in entrepreneurship for some time and dabbled in it in one way or another at different points in my career, for the first time I am gaining the courage to take that plunge and never look back. So what’s different this time around? The motivation isn’t money or job security or what else the company might be able to earn for me. It’s motivated by this unrelenting idea to make a difference for urban public school kids who need this program. It’s a combination of timing and resources and passion for an idea. I know I can do this more than I’ve ever believed I can do anything. My answer to life’s most urgent question just couldn’t wait to be answered any longer. It’s just time.

Africa, creativity, innovation, new product development, simplicity, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – Clay Pots

Christa Avampato

I was witness to a conversation today that round and round in circle so many times that I began to feel dizzy. The two parties couldn’t get out of their own way, despite the fact that both were seeking a common goal. The more they talked, the more complicated and convoluted the conversation became. It was a welcome relief to then dive into the book The Pursuit of Elegance and learn about Mohammed Bah Abba’s clay pots.

Recognizing that subsistence farmers in Nigeria needed a way to keep fresh produce from spoiling so quickly, he took a common object in Nigeria, clay pots, and combined with a little middle school science to build a refrigeration device. Abba put one clay pot inside another larger clay pot, packing wet sand in between the two. Then, he placed a wet towel over the inner pot and let the science of evaporation do its work. As the water evaporates, it cools the inner pot, and any contents stored inside that pot. Farmers could preserve their produce longer to increase their sales at the market, raising income for those farmers and their families, spurring all of the positive side effects in a community as wealth increases.

So simple. Clay pot, sand, basic science principles. When cobbled together by Abba’s creative mind and sense of empathy, these three things transformed a community. Abba’s business has expanded throughout Nigeria and into other Africa countries. Abba saw a problem, took what he had, and crafted an elegant solution that could be made available to many at a very low cost. So simple, it make us wonder why it wasn’t thought of earlier.

Abba’s story made me re-consider the conversation I witnessed earlier today. It made me consider the importance of clarity of vision and the value of a solution that combines design and function in a simple, elegant fashion. And the equation to get to this type of solution isn’t complex. Ask three questions: What are we trying to solve for? What assets do we have available to us? How can we use those assets to transform what we’ve got into what we need?

The photo above can be found at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/mohammed_bah_ab.php

entrepreneurship, Examiner, social entrepreneurship

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: the defining value of entrepreneurs

Christa Avampato

When I was a kid, I loved Mr. Rogers. My favorite part of the show was the very beginning when he would come into his house, take off his dress shoes, and put on his sneakers – signaling that he had left the outside world and his job behind. The fun was about to begin the moment he put on his sneakers.

For the full story, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d17-The-defining-value-of-entrepreneurs

entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, technology

My Year of Hopefulness – Kiva expands to the U.S.

Christa Avampato

If you want to open a small business, are concerned about borrowing from a bank, and wonder how on Earth you can get some necessary capital outside of your friends and family circle, there is finally an answer. On June 10th, Kiva.org, the organization responsible for providing +$76,000,000 of microfinance to the developing world, has expanded their operations into the U.S. market.

In the Kiva model, would-be investors check out entrepreneurial endeavors looking for funding, make a loan to an entrepreneur they’re interested in(for as little as $25), and the loan is paid back to the lender over time.

About 6 months ago, I decided to give Kiva a whirl and supported a woman starting a hair salon in Ghana. Every once in a while I go on-line and check out how she’s doing. The $25 I gave, along with 14 other gifts of $25, meant the world to this woman. It’s giving her and her family a shot at a better life. After making this loan, I did some checking around to see if a similar program existed in the U.S. To my knowledge Kiva.org is the only one organization making it easy for Americans to lend microloans to other Americans.

Maria Shriver, an ardent supporter of Kiva. org and leader of the Women’s Conference, said, “we all have the power to be Architects of Change in our own lives and in the lives of others. This partnership with Kiva.org is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to team up as a community and empower women entrepreneurs here in California and across the United States to start and sustain a small business, become more financially independent, and ultimately fulfill her dreams. By pooling our resources, a loan as small as $25 can change a life. Thanks to Kiva.org, being an Architect of Change has never been easier.”

After reading about this program, I also did a little poking around for other great opportunities to participate with Kiva.org. They have opened up their tools to allow outside developers to create Kiva apps. For example, an application called Kiva Heads allows users to browse loans on Facebook and gives you kudos on your Facebook page for the loans you make to Kiva while another app called Kiva World provides a live map of global Kiva loans in all phases and the ability to read more about the entrepreneurs with a single click any where on the map. Best of all, Kiva is working to create an app developer community on-line. Build you own app by visiting: build.kiva.org

There are now more ways that ever to do well by doing good and Kiva makes it easy for us to be a part of shaping the world as we’d like it to be, abroad and now within our own country, too.