How the younger generation are changing the world

Changing the world is something a lot of people talk about and aspire to do. With it becoming more and more of an occurrence that people set out to do this and make it their life goal, whether you become an entrepreneur or investor, there are so many ways you can make a difference to the world around us.

It’s undoubtedly a great thing to see so many people set their aspirations so high. After all, why set low goals and achieve them when you could set high goals and do your best to get to them? Even if you don’t reach the high goals you set yourself, you will likely achieve much more than if you were to settle on the lower goals.

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do” — Steve Jobs

Why the youth invest for impact

As I have discussed before, young people seem to be phasing away from the whole ‘just working for money’ as more and more want their work to make a real difference. It’s not just our work, either — many of us want our investments to mirror this focus as well and we are more likely to invest in a company that has a clear plan and objective to make a difference in the world.

And I think this is due to the world we have grown up in. As younger generations we grew up during one of the worst financial crises there has been for years and this made us more financially aware. Additionally we have grown up being told by multiple news outlets and significant global leaders that there is a problem with global warming and that plastic is destroying our oceans. It’s therefore no real surprise that we want to do something about it.

Life is about making an impact not making an income — Kevin Kruse

It’s great to see so many companies and entrepreneurs out there making a difference, and as investors we can support them by either becoming an entrepreneur and pursuing similar goals or by backing them with much needed capital to help them on their way. Both are ideal results.

What’s more, the impact investing market is expected to be worth a staggering $1 trillion by the end of the year 2020. There is clearly a huge demand for it as an investment focus and it’s clear more and more young people are getting involved.

Entrepreneurs that are changing the world

What’s important to point out is that this isn’t something that’s happened overnight. We’ve seen younger generations invest in themselves and their ideas for years now — the difference is it’s becoming more and more apparent and celebrated as time goes on.

Names such as Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Alexis Ohanian are household names in the tech and digital sector, and they all established themselves before the age of 30. They’ve quite literally changed the world with Facebook, Google and Reddit respectively, and they are just three examples. In the tech sector alone it’s easy to find dozens upon dozens of younger generation individuals making a difference.

Now I could talk about some of the most famous young entrepreneurs all day but the point is everyone starts somewhere and no entrepreneur is born into fame.

Start unknown, finish unforgettable

Vibin Joseph

Take the founder and and Executive Director of BiOZEEN as an example. Vbin established the bioprocess engineering company in 2005 to directly combat the fact 6.6 million children die every year from diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. As of present, BiOZEEN are responsible for the immunisation of 1-in-3 children worldwide with its manufactured vaccines.

Vibin is directly addressing an issue that is affecting many third world countries across the globe and as a direct result of BiOZEEN’s investment in the medical sector, lives across the globe are being improved.

“All our activities should benefit society and make our world a better place” — Vibin Joseph

This is without doubt something that all impact investors can relate too.

Enass Abo-Hamed

Founder & CEO of H2GO Power, a clean-tech company that provides safe methods of hydrogen production and storage to generate power on the move, Enass was a finalist in the 2015 Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards. What’s more, Enass was the proud recipient of the Best Energy Startup award at the 2016 HT Summit.

A direct example of an entrepreneur wanting to make a difference related to climate change, it’s brilliant that entrepreneurs like Enass are using their skill set to help aid the global struggle with climate change. A very prominent topic across the world and something we can all do something about, there are many opportunities out there to invest in and many small changes we can make in day to day life that help this — and H2GO Power are showing just how much of an impact we can have by harnessing the technology around us.

Rainier Mallol

Rainier co-founded AIME, a software that uses epidemiology, public health best practices and artificial intelligence to predict deadly outbreaks. Aiding world governments in tackling diseases even before they happen, AIME was listed as a finalist in Forbes’ Top 40 for World Changers in 2015 and won the PitchGov Sao Paulo competition in the health category.

As the world becomes more and more connected, the topic is becoming an increasing concern. However, alongside this we are fortunate that there has been advances in the medical fields to counter.

Public health will always be a notable talking point across the world, but as the population of the world increases at a rapid rate (we’re currently at around 7.6 billion) health services get stretched. This is what’s happening in the UK, we are so fortunate to have one of the best health services in the world, but you have likely heard about the issues the NHS has with this.

What Reinier is doing could help improve efficiency massively. Just think if we could predict outbreaks, so much could be done to help prevent it spreading, reducing the burden on health services and ultimately resulting in a better world for everyone.

Make your mark

It’s promising to see more people get involved in making the world a better place to live and whilst many may think they are not able to make a difference, the simple reality is you can. Anyone can make a difference whether, you do this by investing or by becoming the next ‘impact entrepreneur’, we all have the ability to do so and there are so many opportunities out there to go after.

What is important to remember is that you don’t have to found the next MedTech or clean energy startup to make a difference and solve a global crisis. You can make a difference by investing. By supporting these entrepreneurs. By helping them achieve their vision. The entrepreneur and investor relationship is one that is key to so many successful companies hitting their goals.

Ideas need funding and investors want to fund them — present the right vision to the right network of investors and not only does the entrepreneur get the financial backing to move along on their journey, but the investors get to make a difference. A real difference.

Thanks for reading!

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