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What Does ‘Making An Impact’ Really Mean?
By: We Share Ventures
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Climate Change, Impact

What does the word ’impact’ mean? According to the Oxford Dictionary, an impact is ‘a marked effect or influence’ while the Collins dictionary defines it as ‘a sudden and powerful effect’.

If we’re talking about the environment of business and investments, an impact has a more specific meaning. Sir Ronald Cohen is his latest book “On Impact: The Guide to the Impact Revolution” provides a definition of impact which fits the understanding of this term among companies, investors and governments.

‘An impact is the measure of an action’s benefit to society and the planet’.

Overall, Sir Cohen outlines 8 core beliefs with the aim to ‘bring together consumers, pension savers, entrepreneurs, managers and employees of companies, citizens and governments, and philanthropists, to take action and play a role’. These principles of making an impact include adopting a new paradigm of risk-return-impact, doing well and doing good at the same time, acting now and some others.

It is possible to do well and do good at the same time (Principle 3)

One of the primary aspects of the ‘impact’ concept is ‘doing measurable good’. It is linked to the fact that there are a growing number of social and environmental challenges that we as society members can, and must, tackle. Climate change, growing population, hunger, inequality — all these and many other issues have to be addressed now.

Amsterdam’s First National Climate Change March. March 10th, 2019.

So, in the end, what exactly does ‘making an impact’ mean? To sum it up, making an impact critically involves stopping ignoring our world’s problems and making your (even small) contribution towards a better future. It means to do your part in supporting initiatives which offer solutions to pressing problems — famine, water scarcity, and poverty, to name a few. It is to join the movement of like-minded, compassionate people who realize that we have to act now.

Together.

To have a better future tomorrow.

Are you making an impact?
#MissionPrecision #Multiply
By: Chad Wleczyk
Tags: Discipleship, Impact, Growth, Community, Jesus

Tonight we will be wrapping up 8 weeks of the #MissionPrecision Bible Study with a group of committed Men online from across the nation!!!

I am praising God for the hunger of these men that are expecting more + > in Jesus name!!!

Will you praise God with us for ?

+Growing Deeper with God, Defining Truths Every Disciple needs to know and Each Other

+Rest

+Growth

+Impact

+Community

+Investment in prayer, God’s word, and worship

+Consistency

+Returns on Kingdom, Community and Investment +Activation in our everyday marriages, relationships, work and cities

Would you pray and agree with me for the #Multiplication of 12 new small groups of men!!!!

If you are interested in joining me, or leading a group please send me a message today or comment below and I will send you the details!!!

Connect with me here and schedule a time to meet > @ChadWleczyk

“The best thing in life is seeing someone else happy”

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🔥🔥🔥❤️❤️❤️ #Jesus #GoandGrow #Discipleship #Leadership #Impact #Growth #Prayer #Word #Worship #Multiply #Community #More #Greater #Rest #Generations #GodAnswersPrayerEveryday #IronSharpensIron
10 Simple Conversation Starters that would make you stand out!
By: Samruddhi Borse
Tags: Beyourself, Conversations, Impact, Networking, Connection

Today I’ve got a solution to something that nowadays many people are struggling with, i.e. ‘How do I start a conversation with a stranger?’. Often, people start with some random stuff and within a few minutes, end up with awkward silence. For example:

“Wow! So you like this color?”. “Yes!”

What then? It’s a Dead End to the conversation! No further discussion, therefore, it’s very difficult for people to communicate or have a good and healthy conversation with anyone. Today I’m going to help you learn how to start with a discussion, and naturally, it will flow through long sentences, that is, a concise conversation.

1. How do you know? :

Imagine yourself at a party or any other social gathering or event, and then you are all invited by a single individual. This event is hosted by one person and everyone is invited by him/her. So you can always go to someone and ask that person

“Hey! How do you know Tina?” or “How do you know Bob?”

Now finally that person will tell you that,

“Hi, Tina is my colleague, that’s why I’m here. And how do you know her?”

So you respond by something like,

“Tina and I shared the same town, but in time she moved to another city. But we’re still friends, and that’s why I’m here.”

So the person who knows you both forms the basis of any conversation. Hence this is a good starter to any conversation.
Covid 19 And Lockdown
By: Alok Mathur
Tags: Public Health, Covid 19 Crisis, Impact, Lockdown, Second

Covid 19 and Impact of Lockdown on Low Income Group Public

Once again in India, the corona epidemic crisis has started deepening. This epidemic has changed in front of us this time. This time its form is more fierce than before. The figure of those who die from Karona seems to be higher than the last time. Many such people who had survived the previous infection are also being caught by it. Everyday on the news channel, we see and read in newspapers about the increasing cases of corona and the increasing number of deaths. All this is scary and startling, but a question also arises as to how this epidemic spread again.

The truth is that no one else is responsible for spreading it again. The memory of the common man is very weak. After the last phase of the corona epidemic, the situation started coming under control and the work of the people started again. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but as soon as things became normal people forgot that this deadly epidemic still exists among us. People stopped wearing masks. The markets started getting crowded again, people started gathering at tea shops to drink tea and gossip without friends of social distance. Guests began to gather without masks at weddings, processions, birthday parties.

People understand that it is the responsibility of the government to deal with disasters and crises. Government employees, doctors, health works, sanitation workers, police are all busy fighting to save us from this disease. But don’t we have any responsibility to save our own lives? Will the government pressurize us to wear masks only if we do not wear them otherwise? If you are going to ask for social distancing, is it a brave act not to follow it?

Due to our negligence, once again lock down is being put in place in the country. Lockdown means bad impact on the economy of the country. It has the worst effect on middle class and low earning families.

It is certain that it will take time to control this epidemic, how much no one can tell. It is better that we make a habit of living with ways to prevent corona.
Impacts of social media
By: Khushbu Sharma
Tags: Sharpnote, Social Media, Impact, New Blog, Articles

Social media has emerged as an important part of 21st-century people. Platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Twitter etc. enable us to interact with each other. They connect us to the world. But every coin has two sides and the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different viewpoint on this debatable topic.

In the last two decades, social media has tremendously accumulated millions of users around the world and youth partakes a remarkable part of it. However, it helps them to interact with their friends and family eventually there are some adverse consequences of this.

Practically when you enter these platforms you are not time-honoured of using them, but soon after, when you find people or things of your interest you start spending more time in them. The oversharing causes children to become the target of cyberpunks or hackers.

In addition to this, some users involve in some catastrophic activities like trolling and cyberbullying. Sometimes the unwanted abusiveness on such platforms is the cause of bigger controversies. Apart from that, it assists criminally minded people to execute fraud or crime.

Although in some cases it affects the victims morally. These activities result in anxiety, uncertainty and mental stress. Especially teenagers with less experience and awareness have to confront such troubles.

Psychiatrists say that social media has negative impacts on the young generation.

But if we talk about the positive aspects it enables us to conduct a lot of worthwhile activities such as gathering information, sharing ideas, thoughts through building virtual networks and communities. It even helps users being popular.

Thus concluding this, we can say that we must be prudent while using social media. We should use our discretion and should be cautious while dealing with social media, thus balancing our social life with our studies, work, family and duties.
Impact of Uber
By: Piotr Rees
Tags: Ridesharing, Uber, Taxi, Lyft, Impact

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

I became curious about this topic a few years ago, when I came across a Quora answer on a question about how profitable working for Uber might be. The answer was extremely well written and included earnings calculation and if I remember correctly, personal experience. It came to the conclusion that considering all fees, etc imposed by Uber, the income earned was rather more like a loan dealt out by Uber.

The reason I write this article is two-fold

To find out whether or not the Quora answer provides an accurate summation of an Uber driver’s earning potential and To understand whether the effect of Uber is ultimately a positive or negative one, as in my own locality there have been several attempts by the incumbent taxi industry to block all ride-sharing services.

Analysing the impact on both Uber’s riders and drivers

To begin with, Uber has linked on their website a study by EDR Group in the United States. Some of the interesting findings were:

Uber’s contribution to the U.S Economy in 2017 was $17billion in GDP

Net impact of Uber stands at $591million(basically the difference of national income with Uber and without it)

The riders of Uber benefit in various ways such as

Need of owning a car(and costs that come with it)— Uber negates the need for a second car, and in some cases, even a first. This is evidenced by the fact that 15.7% of Uber riders in the US own no vhicle as compared to 9.1% of all residents. Costs saved include lease and purchase payments, insurance payments, licensing and registration, fuel, maintenance, parking and depreciation.

Non-money amenities — Riders are reportedly willing to pay more than available non-Uber alternatives for reasons like comfort, GPS-location safety, schedule flexibility, reliability and possibility of visiting destinations they may not have been able to via other alternatives.

When it comes to the drivers ways in which they are benefited include

Supplement to their main source of income — 87% of drivers earn income from sources other than Uber. Considering all these sources, 66% of the drivers now make more than they did before partnering with Uber. In addition, 23% of the drivers were unemployed before Uber’s arrival.

Schedule flexibility — To give a sense of how important this is to the drivers: 80% of the Uber drivers report benefiting from its schedule flexibility while 42% report they would not partner for Uber if not for its flexibility. Infact, up to 34% chose this flexibility despite higher earnings opportunities in their previous jobs.

Other reasons — Both income & non income factors influence a drivers decision to join Uber.

Percent responding “Yes”

It’s cogent to say the riders and drivers themselves are not aggrieved, but the present taxi business.
If You Have To Explain What You’re Doing, You’re Doing It Wrong
By: Evan Wildstein
Tags: Promotion, Marketing, Nonprofit, Impact, Nonprofit Marketing

Small Changes → Big Impact

The orchestra was always affordable and accessible, but that language started permeating all of their materials ad nauseam, like this week’s announcement about their upcoming performance season.

To “further expand access to performances” they advertised pay-what-you-wish prices, and they talked about how current they are with concerts that “spotlight timely and impactful topics.”

After so many years of watching them walk the talk, I was struck by the difference in tone — this weird new practice of informing audiences.

Imagine modern Diet Coke advertisements doing this. “No calories — to help you fit into your pants!” That would be silly for a popular beverage brand that has already proven its mettle. (A few years back the brand did make an update, with one of their marketing heads noting, “We’ve stripped away the glossy marketing and we’re just telling people how good Diet Coke really is.”)

Nonprofits are behind the curve with such practices, and they’re also notoriously wont to apologize for unnecessary things. For instance, ticket prices.

People know tickets are expensive. An Australian study noted the average price of a classical concert ticket was just over $77. That’s less than someone might spend to see Coldplay or Lady Gaga, but still not a pittance. But if the going rate is $77 and your tickets are pay-what-you-wish, the low price is all the incentive your patrons need.

Advertising a low price and telling stakeholders that you’re doing it to expand access to their concerts is something you might put in a grant funding application, but not marketing for public consumption.

The extra language is gratuitous and unnecessary, and it’s disappointing when organizations feel the need to lean into these clarifying statements for consumers.
HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE LITTLE DETAILS?
By: Temitayo Ajakore
Tags: Appreciation, Project Management, People Management, Impact, Teamwork

Support Is All It Takes

We often ignore the little details and focus on the ones we categorize as more important. When working on a project, we channel our attention to managing our client, consultant, team, milestone and project scope. We direct effort towards implementing processes, managing performances, and chasing timelines.

As a Team Leader or Team Member, have you ever taken a moment to send a “Thank You Note” to your Consultants, an “Appreciation Mail” to members of your team”? As a Project Manager or Event Coordinator, have your vendors ever gotten a “Well-done Note” or you just send a mail to get their invoice for the service rendered?

While managing a project on “Organizing a Workshop on the Future Value of Data” at the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy in partnership Future Agenda and Facebook, I got an “Appreciation Mail”.

It was a few lines of words, but it made my day and increased my commitment to the project.

Take time out to pay attention to the often neglected little details. Appreciate people even when you are paying them for their services. Let people know how competent you find them when they work/collaborate with you.

Put People before Activities. Pay Keen Attention to the Little Details!

Originally posted on LinkedIn at: www.linkedin.com/in/temitayoajakore
The experiential Lab: Collaboration, experiment and expansion
By: Jeannette Meier
Tags: Collaboration, Evolution, Impact, Experimental, Community

The experiential Lab: Collaboration, experiment and expansion

There’s much going on in these days in my life in what I feel is a beautiful transformation of what there is to come. Jeannette Meier Jul 19, 2020·2 min read

I am co-creating this amazing community that is transforming the way we collaborate. No one is changing their means of being to fit in or to belong to, nor giving up anything for the sake of working together.

We respect each other with who we are and what we bring along. Our projects are to grow along our individual growth and that of the evolution of our community by experimenting the services we provide to others like us.

I’ve learned throughout the years that the projects we Socially-Conscious Change Makers create, are projects that are part of who we are and that they continue evolving with us as we continue growing. We carry them within us and at a certain point of time, we give birth to them to then nurture them through the service we offer to others.

What we provide to the world are projects that relate to our own change and experience. We want to improve the life of others for them to learn what we’ve learned ourselves. We want to empower them to become who they are meant to become, because we respect each of these human-beings with their uniqueness and capacity to expand.

By servicing others through our project, we start understanding that competition is no-sense, because no one will ever be able to compete with us since our projects are unique — and we never will want to compete with others, because we respect their creations, which are authentically theirs. We begin opening up and sharing about what we do, and continue nurturing our project for it to continue adapting to the needs of those we are servicing.

We understand that by coming together with others like us, and collaborate, our projects are strengthened, and at the same time, we support the empowerment of their projects (and themselves!) by openly sharing our experiences.

This is what I am observing today. I see how the community is evolving, how our members open up and share in this safe place. I see how new opportunities of co-creation become available and how we together grab them to experiment with what we know, building in togetherness through the learning, experimenting, practicing and expansion of each individual and of the community itself.

We work towards a common goal for the community and through it, we experience and expand ourselves and our projects through this experiential lab we call PiMOV.

With love, JEM

Evolution — Community — iMPACT | the Positive iMPACT Movement

#powerofbeing #togetherwearelimitless

[original post on jeannettemeier.com]
Motivational Quote — Why is it necessary?
By: Jean Desire Kouassi
Tags: Motivation, Youth, Social Media, Impact, Leadership

Motivational Quote: A new trend with great benefits on youth!

Picture Credit : https://speakerhub.com/blog/101-quotes

These years have been really marked by a new wave of speakers sharing positiveness around them wherever they find themselves. As joy and positive attitude carriers, theses speakers receive the title of Motivational Speakers.

Truly speaking, this trend is having a great impact on youth. Characterized by breakdown, give up mind, our youth was indeed in need of positiveness recharge. Many young entrepreneurs have emerged by listening to Motivational Speakers. It is such a huge blessing for listeners who now believe in a bright future despite the current reality. We are falling when someone just tells you “You can do it”

I definitely approve this new trend of Motivational Speakers but this wave must be very well educated and based on personal experience rather than collection of quotes from books where the Motivational Speakers have not yet experienced these quotes. Big thanks to all the Motivational Speakers around the world.
Sickness And Civilization
Tags: Civilization, Comforting, Impact, Sickness, Coronavirus

The Impact Of sickness (Coronavirus) On Civilization, This is a comforting message to the world that faces a lethal sickness.

“Everything, everything in war is barbaric… But the worst barbarity of war is that it forces men collectively to commit acts against which individuality they would revolt with their whole being”

Ellen key: war, peace, and the future. ch.6. (Get the book)

“It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it.”

In the realm of darkness beyond the borders of light of civilization lie in hiding the forces that have as allies lack of knowledge and relative ignorance of the nature of the foes inherent in nature and human nature waiting to annihilate civilization and the human race.

The human race achieved a state of civil society based upon relative bounty and a measure of the generosity of the heart and mind that bred the liberal traditions, and especially upon people being close together in times of hardship.

Now, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic lighted upon civilization from the regions of darkness outside the lights and peace of civilized life, in a lethal duel between nature with its destructive face and culture.

Pandemics enact the natural motto: the war of all against all.

This pandemic has its disruptive side against the logic of human togetherness: social distancing becoming the only hope of not developing this new sickness.

The human body has been integrated into the realm of nature where it belongs.

But the human mind is, thanks god, still free; it is working hard to deliver the body from its viral captivity!

This pandemic, unfortunately, claimed thousands of victims around the globe and disrupted economic, commercial, cultural, emotional and entertainment life.

In congested cities all over the world there are no signs of social life: in Venice the city of love and poetry, streets are empty, Terrace cafes are lifeless the gondolas carry lovers no more………

The pandemic affected a grievous separation of body and mind it seeks to invade the body and destroy it; it doesn’t care for the heart and the mind: it is an essentially a corporeal sickness like the bomb which destroys the buildings but leave humans intact.

The mind, the human mind is working hard to deliver the captive body from the beast.

This pandemic is not enough, hopefully, to destroy civilization; it takes a total sickness that destroys the body and the mind together: to target the unity of body and mind.

The region of darkness within human nature and in the cosmos sometimes causes havoc to civilization.

Until that day when science discovers and at the same time stretches the batch of light forward the cafes of Venice will be lifeless and levers will find no havens to revel.
OneTech Pre-Accelerator Week 3— Developing Your Product 📲
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Startup, Impact, Business, Entrepreneur

Week Three Highlights

This week in OneTech Pre-Accelerator we were joined by Alex Fefegha. Alex is a partner at Comuzi, a small team of builders, thinkers, designers, and explorers using technology to build a better future.

Alex works with brands such as Adidas and Google as well as healthcare companies. In addition to this he is also an associate lecturer at University of Arts London Creative Computing Institute.

During his talk, Alex delved into the ‘Design Sprint’ and specifically how our Founders can develop their product. Below are some of our highlights from this week’s session.

Understanding the Design Sprint

Alex explained the origin of the ‘Design Sprint’ that came from the book Sprint by Jake Knapp from Google Ventures. He details how a design sprint is a 2–5 (or more) day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping and testing ideas with customers.

A design sprint is a combination of business strategy, innovation, behaviour science, design thinking, and more packaged into a battle-tested process that any team can use.

The Golden Rule of User Research

A fantastic highlight from Alex’s talk was the number one rule of user research: never ask anyone what they want.

By asking users what they want, you will not discover the root cause of a problem but rather what they envision as their own ideal solution. If you’re trying to create a new product, or an experience that doesn’t yet exist, you’ll want to know what’s causing people to not be able to achieve what they want with the current tools they have.

The Future is Codeless

Another great highlight from Alex’s talk was that the future is codeless! You do not need to be able to code to design or build out your prototype.

In the lean startup process, now more than ever it’s so valuable that Founders are able to ideate and test on their designs and products without having to instruct a developer. Alex stressed that you don’t need to be a coder to build and design and also gave a fantastic list of no code tools available.

Congratulations to all the OneTech and Foundervine team for another amazing week at the OneTech Pre-Accelerator Program. Keep your eyes peeled 👀 for our next weekly update.
How do you design the best vehicle for creating impact?
By: Laura Llanos
Tags: Creativity, Impact, Design Process, Design

In my profession, I act as a vehicle. This analogy helps me explain how I apply theoretical concepts to my work as a designer in marketing. I’m passionate about making an impact through design, and marketing is what makes me competent. As a marketing professional with a design background, I’ve found that it’s all about connections, relationships, and community building.

The motor runs the system. It’s capable of transforming some type of energy to accomplish a function. It’s a force that produces movement.

As a design student, I was constantly producing ideas, and I developed the ability to execute and materialize them. I learned that design isn’t only creativity and making things look pretty — it’s a way of thinking. A way solutions-based way of viewing our flawed society. The problems we face today can only be understood if we approach them with a holistic, collaborative vision, and use systemic thinking to find connections and new insights. This is how I started my relationship with what I’ve dubbed my ‘motor’.

The rudder works as a guide to push the vehicle in the right direction.

In university, I began to see the world through the eyes of a designer, learning the language of human-centered design. Was it normal to want to solve every problem with design methodologies? How could I generate a positive impact with my newfound skills? As a budding designer, I searched for a clear direction to guide my work. And thus social impact became the helm of every project I’ve undertaken.

The gearbox sets the vehicle in motion when it is stationary. It overcomes resistance to forward motion.

At Designit, I’ve learned that the impact of any solution can and should be measured. This is in large part why I’m in marketing. While searching for leads and other business development activities can be challenging, it’s all about helping others do good through design. It’s about showing what we are, what we do, and the positive impact we dream of making. That’s why I consider marketing my gearbox.

Through marketing and communicating the value of design, I empower my team and my colleagues. Now, in my journey as a project leader, I want to make it known that the key is relationship building. The key is seeing everyone else as an ally. We generate impact not from romanticism or philosophizing, but from action. In any design project or creative endeavor, what matters most is creating valuable personal relationships. This helps us develop empathy, which is a key muscle for any strategic design or marketing.

Ultimately, these three metaphors are how I integrate my passion for social impact with my experience in design and marketing. Through design, I aim to inspire and create a valuable relationship network for the design community.
Cornerstone 2.0 — The Scale-Up Program — Powered by Foundervine 🚀
Tags: Business, Entrepreneurship, Impact

Foundervine & Cornerstone | October 2019

Cornerstone 2.0 — The Scale-Up Program — Powered by Foundervine 🚀

In October 2019, Cornerstone Partners delivered the Scale-Up program, powered by Foundervine, it was an advanced 9-week program designed to challenge, connect and drive the growth of black-owned ventures.

The Cornerstone team 🤩

Cornerstone Partners are the first Angel Investor Network exclusively focused on UK based black-owned businesses and we were proud to work with them to deliver this program. The aim of the program was to help 25 Black-only businesses to significantly grow their network of investors, expand their business operations and also absorb cutting-edge knowledge over a 9 week period. We were able to call upon members of our community to help deliver masterclasses and over their 9 weeks, we saw the cohort go through an immersive program in preparation for an amazing demo day.

As it was the ambition of both Cornerstone Partners and Foundervine to address the social and economic inequality faced by founders from ethnic minority backgrounds when growing a business and seeking investment, we wanted to combine the investment expertise of Cornerstone Partners with Foundervines learning delivery expertise to help aid the transformation and growth of the cohort.

We came to challenge!

Vine Fellow Daniel Tuitt during one of the mentoring sessions.

During the 9 weeks, the cohort went through masterclasses including group and one-to-one expert coaching sessions whilst also covering the following topics:

How to hire good people — a masterclass focused on identifying those key members for your business who will help accelerate its growth!

How to identify and influence your value drivers 👍🏾

How to model and manage your cashflow 📈

How to build a sales team 🧾

How to get a return on your marketing spend 💹

How to scale your operations ⚖️

The role of legal, accounting and corporate finance👨🏿‍⚖️👩🏾‍⚖️
Fany — Mother & Hard Working in Cuzco She wants a better life for her daughter
By: Romain Sion
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Travel, Ngo, Impact, Social Impact

Fany — Mother & Hard Working in Cuzco She wants a better life for her daughter Romain Sion Mar 21, 2019·2 min read

👋Hi Everyone,

I had the chance🤩 to stay a week in Cuzco 🌎. Every morning, I used to go to El Mercado San Pedro 🛒for my breakfast 🍊. Imagine, hundreds of small shops selling similar products in a not only friendly 🤗 but also ultra-competitive 🏁 atmosphere. This is how I met with Fany at her small shop selling fruit juices 🍌🍍🍎. She was not pushy to make my buy, just a great & authentic smile 😄. In the morning, I was coming to get my fruit juice & exchange about our respective cultures 📚. Selling fruits on the market is clearly not very well paid 💰 but that was Fany’s job. Without complaining, she explained that she was doing all of that for her daughter 👩. She was fighting hard ⚔️ for her by getting up very early in the morning & trying to offer the best juice 🍹possible to her customers 👥. She wanted to make sure her daughter could access education 🎓 & get a better life👍. As a single mother, she was managing everything from paying the bills🖊️ to taking care of her daughter. I have been amazed by her true commitment 🤩& true proof of love! ♥️Around the world, there are so many unknown heros who are fighting everyday to improve other’s life!

👉🌠I am convinced that massive impact will be driven by collective actions coming from all of us.🌠🌠🌠 At our own pace and scale, everyone can aspire to change the world!🌠🌠🌠

👋
The impact of being yourself
By: Darren Mccormac
Tags: Authenticity, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Impact

When I joined Barnardo’s last summer, I had a culture shock. I’d been a civil servant for over 16 years, and had definitely been institutionalised; I didn’t talk about work outside the office, I didn’t talk much about myself at work. In the departments I worked in, the culture was command and control, and it was difficult for me to build deep relationships with colleagues.

Where I work now is very different. Our director, the fab Jason Caplin, and our Head of Capability & Engagement, the amazing Sarah Carter, encourage bringing your whole self to work. We talk about what we’re doing at home with our families, we talk about what’s going on in ourselves. Bad mental health day? That’s fine, work from home. Tired? Clock off, you’re not good when your brain is tired. Buzzed from a great meeting? Amazing, tell us about it at Show The Thing!

This was… different. Empowering.

It’s not for everyone, and certainly there are degrees of openness among my colleagues, and that’s fine. It’s an inclusive policy. But I liked it; I could be myself. Not compartmentalise bits of my personality or life. I mean, below is my photo for the Who’s Who on the Induction Trello board…!

Photo: Me on the Tube. Yes, I’m wearing leather. No, it’s not like the Blue Oyster bar in Police Academy, but mostly because I can’t dance.

The photo was actually put on the board before I joined, taken from my Twitter profile. I was initially surprised, but I have never felt the desire to change it. Why would I? This is who I am. Interestingly, my colleagues have barely even mentioned it, so either they don’t read the Who’s Who or they just don’t care. I prefer to think it’s the latter.

But… it’s one less thing to think about. Not having to hide part of who I am has made me more effective at work. I’m currently working with a team new to agile and being me, warts and all, has — in my view — made it easier for the team to adjust because I’m just another human and not some agile buzzword machine.
Scared about your impact?
By: Cris Jones
Tags: Fear, Overthinking, Existential Crises, Impact, Teenagers

Once again a title with a tiny little ‘you’ in it to catch ~your~ attention, but I’m gonna cut straight to the chase and confess: this is about me. So let’s skip the ‘you’ and ‘yours’, because I have no idea if anyone else feels the same way. There we go: I am scared about my impact. I worry about it. If you ever read “the fault in our stars”, you will know what I’m talking about. It seems such a childish and narcissistic thing, but I do want to have an impact. So why am I scared about it? You might ask. Well, I fear that I won’t have any. I am 19 years old and therefore already over my prime in terms of geniality, and I won’t prove Goldbach’s Conjecture, I won’t write the next Harry Potter series, I won’t end world hunger. Of course, these are all terribly great aspirations, and if I wasn’t too lazy to look up the statistics I would now type out the exact (un)likeliness of any given person to have such a huge impact on the world. So should I give up? Well, I have to be honest with myself: the people around me are far more likely to have a ~huge~ impact on the world than me. There was a time when that made me really sad. I was never jealous, I just felt overshadowed. Lesser than. But that’s fine now, honestly. I know that I am not as intelligent as some of my friends. That is actually great though. They will always keep me learning. Maybe one day one of them will prove Goldbach’s Conjecture, write the next Harry Potter Series or end world hunger. I trust them with all the great deeds and Nobel Prizes. So, then, what’s my impact on this world? We’re at the beginning again. There’s this beautiful scene in “Bohemian Rhapsody” (this seems like I’m going off on another tangent, and in a way, I am, but bear with me) where Mary goes to visit Freddie in Munich and finds him sick and with Paul coming back with all these strangers to party. Freddie is afraid. I think he is worried about impact as well. He confesses his fear to Mary and she says: «You don’t need to be [afraid] because you are loved. By me, your family, Brian, Roger […] that is enough.» And it is. It is enough. Luckily, my family and friends care about me. They don’t care whether I will accomplish any great things in my life and they don’t care about mi IQ. I’m no star-ballerina, no talented violinist, no maths genie. I am me, and I have no idea what my place in this world is. Least of all do I know what impact I have or will have. But it is enough.
Salam Rancage — Unseen Women from Unseen Corner presents Crafting Hope
By: Medhat Kemal
Tags: Social Entrepreneurship, Sdgs, Impact, Environment, Indonesia

Inspiration

The idea arose from the fidgetiness of the founder (Ms. Aling Nurnaluri) and the team who witnessed two social and environmental problems in Sindangsari villages in North Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. The first problem is related to the poverty and unfair treatment of working women in this village. Another one is that the rivers, filled with waste, were getting inflamed day by day but with no attention from the villagers.

“We were seeing the unfairness in income paid to women in this village. The situation was that a woman, working as a cassava peeler, gets paid for only Rp 2,500 / 25 Kg / Day (or EUR 0.2 / 25 Kg / Day). Very low! Her work took much time and energy, yet it is unappreciated by the business owner. Besides, the village is crossed by a U-shaped river which causes garbage to pile up easily and the road infrastructure is difficult to access which also directly impacts prosperity in this village”. Aling said.

Salam Rancage was first established in 2012 in Bogor by Tri Permana Dewi and Aling Nurnaluri to offers an effective and profitable waste management solution by empowering women, especially housewives in the village. “Salam” is the abbreviation from the Bogor Nature School (Sekolah Alam in Indonesian) and “Rancage” means “skills” in Sundanese.

At an early stage, Dewi and Aling corporated with the Bogor Nature School to intensively run the Trash Bank program since 2009, encouraging students to deposit waste that could be recycled to the School of Trash Bank. Later on, when the activities became popular, the two founders decided to lift the business up to contribute more to the community than just managing waste.

“We think of business or product that can be done by women without the help of machines, be profitable and be accepted by the market. Also, one of our missions is to run a business without having negative side effects for the environment and sustainability. Therefore, we chose the recycled products”. Said Aling.

And the paper or used paper was chosen as raw materials for making handicrafts. According to data and statistics, paper is the third biggest waste category in the city of Bogor, after plastic waste and food waste. Additionally, the newspaper or used paper can be turned into many beautiful things with minimal involvement of chemical treatment.

Recently, Salam Rancage has been replicating this business model in another village named Palmerah, West Jakarta where the number of low-income households is considered relatively high compared to other regions.
Intent vs impact
By: Minda Corso
Tags: Joseph, Forgiveness, Impact, Genesis, Intent

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

‭‭(Genesis‬ ‭50:20)

Intent vs Impact. This is a phrase used more frequently the older I get. I’d like to think it means someone is a bit more emotionally mature when they understand the difference. If someone says something that can cause me to take up an offense, I have to make a conscious decision to use phrases like this when communicating with said person: “Your intent did not have the desired impact.” If these things are not spoken, people will continue to upset/offend and over time, it will chip away at our resolve and ability to look past the hurt.

I want to always trust someone’s intent is good. Usually the phrase is a bit more flowery (#Enneagram2) and I say, “I hear you and know you didn’t mean it this way… but can I please share with you how that landed for me? Again! I know this wasn’t your intent!!” For small things, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

But Joseph. Man. His brothers DID intend to hurt him. That was their intent AND impact. This was no small thing or offense. Yet Joseph was able to see past the intent and forgive. He didn’t need someone to brenebrown (yes, using her name as a verb 😜) the language and help him relay to his brothers that he had been hurt. He said “this was your intent, But God.”

Why is it still so hard for us to forgive people whose intentions are NOT to harm us? Just as love isn’t a feeling, forgiveness isn’t either. It’s a choice. We can either choose now to forgive or we can hold on to it for years to come. We choose.
Three musings for three years
By: Francesca Spoerry
Tags: Impact Investing, Leadership Development, Impact, International Development, Reflections

Three years at the GSG

Today is my anniversary at the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment. Three years ago I received a laptop in the post and off I went. In this weird and wonderful world that is the GSG, I went from being programme manager to head of knowledge development, learning the intricacies of impact investment across 33 countries along the way.

In a burst of excitement in remembering this anniversary, I wrote some of my reflections last night:

Change can happen overnight

What was unthinkable a year ago is now reality. Progress on impact measurement, on individual demands of their savings, and on company and investor disclosures through regulation has happened so quickly that many of us in the sector have found it hard to keep up. Maybe it would have happened without Covid, or maybe not, but in any case it’s here to stay and it’s happened faster than we could have predicted. I am genuinely excited to see what happens next.

People really care about ‘Impact’.

And it isn’t just about millennials, or the rich. Nor is it about social and environmental as as separate themes. I have friends and colleagues from all over the world, from across generations and backgrounds who care about this — and they are making it happen, from supporting women micro entrepreneurs in rural India to providing services to informal settlements in Argentina. And that’s really important. For impact investment to work it needs to speak to all people — across regions, across ages and, possibly most importantly, across classes. The most privileged of us, though started the movement, are no longer leading it. And that’s fantastic.

Having the right colleagues matters more than I realised

I know it’s a cliché, but it’s landing for me today. My dad was recently taken ill, and for a couple of weeks, I put him first. No questions, no explanations, no apologies needed. The hours I put in didn’t matter. We’re all human — and having our work laptop in front of us doesn’t change our personalities. Our first ‘pulse’ survey at the GSG showed that every single one of us (that’s 18!) believe in the mission of the company — I’m grateful for getting to work with such impact oriented colleagues. Oh, and by the way… did I mention that we’re hiring?
Things I love to talk about ..
By: Manar Mansour
Tags: Eternity, Philosophy, Impact, Science, Inventions

I don’t like small talk. I don’t enjoy hearing about celebrities, brands or fashion and I don’t care what they say in talk shows … I want to hear about things that matter.. things that awaken my soul and vibrate on higher frequency of consciousness … I want to hear about the creation of time and space .. about the stars and the faraway galaxies .. about philosophy, religion, the universe, constellations and the unseen .. about the great questions that dwell in the hearts and minds of great men as well as those we deem ordinary …

I want to hear stories of young people rebelling against the sickness of their societies and choosing not to conform when eveyone else does .. and those who gave up their life for justice and yet were never known .. and those who were crazy enough to think they can change the world and they did ..

And tell me how it’s sad that we were born too early and so we will never explore the galaxy in a giant starship .. and we won’t be alive when humanity makes first contact with alien races but we will however experience the death of all our idols and loved ones .. isn’t it sad that we will die before many interesting discoveries and inventions? .. we will never see the time machine, teleportation or the cure for cancer .. or forget about all of these future fantasies and just remember that there were people who already orbited the earth and walked on the moon and yet we will probably die and never have the same experience ..

Maybe we’re just unlucky to be born at that time in history .. but I am trying to console myself that those distant stars are hundreds of light years away from us and that our own star is already dying .. that the whole universe is running to disorder and it’s all gonna die in the end .. so in the end nothing really matters except that we lived and that whatever we do in this life echoes in eternity ..
Covid-19, a real dilemma
By: Apoorva Maheshwari
Tags: Thoughts, Covid 19 Crisis, Impact, Choices, Life

A middle and lower class family having only one member earning for his whole family, burdened with too many responsibilities and now facing a financial crunch. A small grocery owner hesitant to open his shop due to health risk, opens his shop to get some money to feed his family. A man saving money for his whole life to get his daughter married is now using that saved money to run his family without earning for months. The savings, that was kept for further studies of his son in a good college, is now used to fulfill the basic needs of his family. A daily wage laborer working in another city having no food and shelter travelling to his hometown walking on the verge of his health. A doctor working hard day and night, away from his family, without caring about his own life which is at stake. This all I think was somehow similar. Whatever your status is, whatever your religion is, you are making choices right now, sacrificing some to get some, but still unsatisfied and afraid of upcoming uncertainties.

Like Chinese products, we are now suffering from the Chinese virus. What a perfect analogy Chinese virus and Chinese products have, it gives a similar kind of dilemma, to choose between our lives or livelihood, dreams or necessities, like it gives by its product quality or budget, sacrificing one to get another. It reminds me of the time when I was buying a mobile phone, staying away from home and without it was difficult, for me buying a mobile at that point was my necessity. I was too confused at that time, I wanted a durable and a good mobile with decent specifications within budget, to go for Chinese brand or to go for other brands, was a tough choice for me as they have their pros and cons, likewise millions of people these days are making choices between their life and livelihood.

The trade-offs required by the pandemic will get even harder. Even the Government is in the dilemma, whether they should prioritize life or livelihood. Lockdown was indeed necessary but Tablighi Jamaat and labour migration turned out to be the worst coronavirus vector. The change in Government philosophy was seen from lockdown 1.0 to unlock, how “JAN HAI TO JAHAN HAI” turned into “JAN BHI AUR JAHAN BHI” and now “ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ABHIYAN” indicates that they even realized that they can’t ignore one to get one. If the lockdown continues, India may see more death due to hunger than from the pandemic.

It is said that “Every experience teaches us a lesson. Whether good or bad, it leaves its mark always”. We sure won’t get good results out of this pandemic but can reduce its impact by ensuring our actions. We should not give up at the crisis and eventually we’ll find hope in desperate situations. It is now up to us to make the best decision for our society, and not letting this dilemma affect us devastatingly.