Entrepreneurs: Creating a Better Future One Startup at a Time
“There’s lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world.” Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, expresses the motivation that drives entrepreneurs around the world to start their own company. No one will tell you that starting a company is easy. It’s a daily challenge to put out the best possible version of your product, find customers, convince others that your idea is worthwhile. However, for many entrepreneurs all these challenges are worthwhile in order to do exactly what’s said above “change the world.”
There’s been a change in the entrepreneurial mindset within the past decade or so. Young entrepreneurs have been embracing the idea of using business to build a better future. They’re opening social enterprises, businesses whose goal is to make profit while also having a positive social or environmental impact, a cause that is at the core of their mission. In the United States, 89% of all social enterprises that existed in 2012 were created between 2006 and 2012. That’s a pronounced uptick in the number of people who began social enterprises. Modern entrepreneurs want to change the world by creating a better future. While making money is important for the success of their business, the social impact that they generate is at the heart of their enterprise. In a world that becomes more connected by the day, new entrepreneurs are increasingly more motivated by pressing social or environmental problems that they see in the world than by purely financial motivations.
At Bridge for Billions, we believe that this is the best way to solve the problems that plague our world. (You can read more about how to start your own social enterprise here!) We are motivated by these same problems, especially the inaccessibility of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our CEO, Pablo Santaeufemia, saw that the entrepreneurship world had a chicken vs. egg problem, where you needed a strong business plan to apply for funding, but many entrepreneurs need funds in order to develop a viable product and business plan (Read more on this problem here!). So he developed Bridge for Billions, an accessible online incubator that allows entrepreneurs to develop a strong business plan with the help of a mentor at a low cost. Along the way we’ve helped some amazing young entrepreneurs who are looking to create a better future through their business ideas. Here are some of the ways young entrepreneurs are leaving us with a better future:
Good Rags- Nicole Castro- Santiago, Chile
Nicole’s project sprung out of her hobby of going to street-markets in Chile in search of used clothing. Through her searching she often found articles of clothing that were valuable for either their high quality or their aesthetic value, and they tended to be quite cheap as well! She began to buy those that she liked and then she resold them through Facebook as a way to make some money while she pursued her hobby. However, she soon realized that in Chile there was a huge demand for used clothing, which they tend to buy from the United States, yet Chile also throws away huge amounts of clothing annually. So she decided to capitalize on this market by revalorizing second-hand clothing in Chile and inserting them back into the Chilean clothes market. At the same time through her venture, Nicole encourages environmental sustainability.
Agro Mindset- David Asiamah- Soko, Ashanti, Ghana
David began his venture as an undergraduate project. He saw that there were vast professional opportunities in the agricultural sector in Ghana, yet there was a void in agricultural education. So he began developing Agro Mindset which facilitates youth engagement in agribusiness. They do this in a two-fold manner. They make agricultural education more accessible to young people in order to help them acquire the knowledge and skills needed to meet industry expectations. They also have a production farm where they produce safe, quality, and affordable food in a financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner. David has a singular goal for his company for “people to realize the opportunities and potential that exists in [their] backyard.”
Learning Center Gauss- Admir Huseini- Tetova, Macedonia
Since his youth, Admir was always a dedicated student who was interested in mathematics and science. Through his hardwork and perseverance, he became a mathematician, a life-long goal. However, through his work with public schools in Macedonia he realized that there was need for improvement in their science and math curriculums. There were gaps in the education provided. Motivated by his desire to help students pursue Mathematics and Computer Science and fill these gaps, Admir began the Learning Center Gauss. The Learning Center Gauss provides young and talented students with the ability to learn mathematics and programming skills that they might not be able to access elsewhere. Admir hopes to empower communities to contribute to the digital world of software production.
We’re proud to have helped these awesome entrepreneurs build stronger businesses. If you want to learn more about the projects we incubate and how Bridge for Billions has helped them develop, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook.
