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The Good Capitalist: For-Profit Success for Social Entrepreneurs

January 25, 2012 by

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Two, energetic social entrepreneurs, Jennfier Houston and Sky Gilbar, join us to discuss how a local effort can support global, socially responsible businesses.  Each of these young professionals is involved in multiple social impact projects.

Together, Sky and Jennifer have established a community project involving numerous business owners and community leaders called The Good Capitalist.  The Good Capitalist develops events where people who are interested in furthering for-profit social responsibility can come together to support businesses that are socially conscious and to enjoy meeting each other and sharing.

For example, on Thursday, January 26, the Good Capitalist is hosting a Valentine’s Day event that addresses the $13 billion industry selling Valentine’s gifts.  Often chocolate and flowers are sourced and use products from other countries where farms not only have unfair labor practices but also use unsustainable, polluting practices.  To support Fair Trade and to support local businesses that are socially responsible, the Good Capitalist is featuring fair trade chocolate, wine and flowers vendors at an event where the public can mingle, taste, shop, and learn.

In addition to The Good Capitalist, Jennifer works in business development for Mosaic Network, a social innovation company.  She also heads up Pacific Youth Ventures, a social impact organization that empowers youth to be agents of change through social entrepreneurship.  Listen to this episode to hear the inspirational work being done to support youth at risk as well as college interns in developing social enterprise.

As an intern, Jennifer worked in micro-finance in Guatemala to combat health issues caused by cooking with open fires indoors.  Recently, she traveled to Liberia to help measure the social impact of Liberty and Justice, a company establishing the textile industry in Liberia to grow employment opportunities.

Liberty and Justice has been a social enterprise supported by The Eleos Foundation in its initial growth phases and is now entering rapid, planned growth over the coming 4 years.  It is now ready for social impact investing by Venture Capitalists and private investors.  Listen to this episode to learn more about Liberty and Justice, and to hear more about The Eleos Foundation and its work in social impact investing, listen to these prior episodes:

Sky Gilbar is the founder of Social Capital Ventures.  He is currently working on an online, curated marketplace for social good called Generous.ly.  Generous.ly has interviewed and worked with social entrepreneurs to identify the sources of success.  It then applies this knowledge to create product marketing that fully utilizes the inspiring company and product stories of the numerous participating social entrepreneurs.  This is done within an e-commerce / social space where customers and companies can interact.  This open forum platform expands social impact,  recognition and trust.  Listen in to hear more detail about this innovative online social enterprise.

“Like” The Good Capitalist Faceook page to learn more and participate.  To join or to start a similar program in your community, investigate MeetUp.com  for your specific town or city.  Good Magazine is another excellent resource.

Join in the discussions about this episode and others at our own Facebook page for Social Impact Marketing.

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About Robin Eschler

Robin L. Eschler, the founder of Social Impact Marketing, started her career in developing foundational marketing strategies for companies of all sizes, from Fortune 500 to individual entrepreneurs and local businesses. She has developed and implemented international campaigns to launch high tech products and services and guided new business owners to successfully navigate the difficulties of growing a business.

Her life-long passion for helping others led her into nonprofit work for over a decade. Early on, she recognized the need for nonprofits to adapt to a rapidly changing world in which technology dominates and for-profit business practices are central to success. Her determination to help social causes in a sustainable way led to her creation of the Women's Radio show Socially Conscious Investing.

Impact investing in for-profits with a mission of social change such as the fight against extreme poverty is a blossoming business sector around the world. With the economic decline, it's clear that Wall Street requires change. Social impact investing addresses that need in a way that provides financial and social ROI.

As the Host of Socially Conscious Investing on WomensRadio, Robin's goal is to educate people about the growth of social impact investing and social venture. Interviews are conducted with socially conscious business experts including foundations and nonprofits, social venture investment firms, micro-loan organizations, investors, educators, authors and social entrepreneurs.

This show's mission is to help change the world through sustainable business practices that contribute to the economy, combat poverty, end hunger and provide better lives to all.

Twice, Robin has been recognized and received the highest honorary award that Rotary International gives, the Paul Harris Award, for service above self. Her community work has included developing local programs for disadvantaged populations such as foster children, troubled teens, and people with disabilities.

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Comments

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    January 30, 2012 at 10:25 pm

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