GIC 2018. In Review: Why Detroit’s future is in safe hands — GIC Soup
The Detroit Soup event at this year’s Global Internship Conference felt like a home from home for myself and Andreu Gual i Falco. Pitching is a key part of our Experienceships as we challenge our students to pitch business ideas that are less 4 weeks old to a panel of local business owners and so getting to watch 6 local and budding entrepreneurs pitch during the Conference Reception was a real treat!
I am so grateful to the GIC team for introducing us to the concept of ‘SOUP’ and especially arranging for the co-founder Amy Kaherl to come and speak to us about what SOUP means and the impact it is having not just in Detroit but around the world. (Having done some digging, I was amazed to discover that there are 79 active ‘Soup’s’ in the UK alone!)
I think collaborating with Detroit SOUP at this year’s conference was particularly powerful because the ‘world of startups’ and ‘being an entrepreneur’ is often presented as a pretty exclusive (and so what unobtainable) world with talks of Forbes 30 under 30 lists, angel investors and seed rounds of $2 million. It was so refreshing to be presented with local startups that are working tirelessly to make a mark in their neighbourhoods and to impact the people and communities they live in.
This was also the first time I had heard of microgranting let alone seen it in action. The process of Detroit SOUP is so seemingly simple and it is in that simplicity that the impressiveness of the initiative lies.
Local residents attend a SOUP, pay $5 on the door which gets them some food and the chance to watch 4 local business owners pitch and vote for their favourite. The winner of the pitches then gets awarded the entry money as their winnings.
Reflecting on the event as I write this I have also realised a common thread between this story and last week’s about the creation of Motown. Local people making things happen and making positive changes for the communities they live in; the physical space, the people and the economy.
Truly, the more I think about Detroit, even in the short amount of time I spent there, for me it has become synonymous with grassroots and what it means to make positive change at the most local level.
Again, thank you to the GIC for organising, to the 6 teams who stood up and pitched on the night and to Amy and the Detroit SOUP for sharing just a fraction of the SOUP magic with us!
GIC SOUP Presenters:
Mental Health Support Plan for Adolescent Refugees
If you enjoyed reading this story, please give it some love using the ‘claps’ button. If you think other people in your network would also enjoy reading it then we would love for you to share it with them!
briony@corkscrew.io :)
