So you are looking for a little investment capital. Maybe you need some cash to add a solar powered juice press to your shop or more moolah for inventory to expand your handmade accessory store. But maybe your local bank has turned you down for a loan. If you have $100,000 in revenues and a [...]
What if there was a bank that went beyond compliance to do “the right thing” even when no one was watching? What if that bank cared about the environment so much that it made loans to environmentally sustainable initiatives a priority? What is that bank was focused on building the local economy through supporting community jobs and socially responsible non-profits?
How do you bank on sustainable values for the long-term? In other words, is it truly possible to maintain a profitable bottom line and support environmental and community needs at the same time? That is the grand ambition of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values.
Imagine an American bank who put mission before profit. A bank that began its story to save the environment not ignore the environment. A bank that cares as much about the planet as it does about profit. Phew! A dream, a mirage, a hoax? Nope, The First Green Bank of Central Florida. The CEO and Founder Ken LaRoe made some big bucks selling his former regional bank to a bigger financial institution. Set to retire, he followed Albert Brooks model in “Lost in America” and traveled the U.S. in search of higher purpose.
At the UN Social Innovation Summit held at the end of May in New York City, a plenary panelist stated that social enterprises and social innovation are “really the same thing.” This conclusion was not questioned and appeared to be a point of view the conference leaders and speakers were eager to adopt.
Richard Branson proved to be a genuine highlight at the 2012 World Business Forum. Surprisingly conversational and reserved, Branson seemed a much more accessible version of his more public and impossibly prolific self. An unnatural amalgam of figures like Errol Flynn, Henry Ford, William Parry and Bobby Kennedy, Branson is an uncanny entrepreneur whose ability to innovate customer experiences and product delivery has positioned him among the historic elite of global business figures.
The Good-B team attended Columbia University’s “Aligning Strategy to Maximize Impact Conference,” a gathering of entrepreneurs interested in making a social impact through their investment. These weren’t just investors: what was most striking during the panel was the level of involvement these innovative men and women had with their business projects. Almost every one had an anecdote about their boots-on-the-ground time in rural Africa, encouraging economic development in areas without cell phone coverage – or sometimes, even running water.
“Conversations with Wall Street: The Inside Story of the Financial Armageddon & How To Prevent the Next One,” by Monika Mitchell & Peter Ressler wins Prestigious 2012 Axiom Business Book Award for Business Ethics!
Video: TEDx Talk on Social Entrepreneurship: “Mr. Hemanth Kumar heads the micro-finance arm of the organization ‘Hand in Hand’. Their objective is to eliminate poverty by creating jobs. They do this through a unique holistic approach that tackles the areas that matter the most to poor communities — microfinance, education, health, information, and environment.”
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