The opinions expressed by the entrepreneurial contributors are their own.
Even hardcore capitalists acknowledged tension between profit and social good. In a consumer-driven society, money often follows morality.
Many founders claim that their companies exist to create a difference, but in a system that prefer profits, good intentions are easily squeezed. Green Brothers stand out as rare exceptions.
Award winning writer and YouTube trailblazer Hack and John Green have a history of supporting global health reasons. First of all, he did this by raising awareness with his platform. Now, Abhinav Bhai is always trying a more active form of philanthropy.
His latest enterprise, good store, taking social justice at a new level, selling sustainable, quality products and 100% – yes, 100% – donating benefits for donations.
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Image Credit: Good Store
Mistake in our system
While Green Brothers are known for their bestseling novels and educational youtube videos, who have directed countless high school students, philanthropy is quite literally in their DNA. He grew deep into a family contained deeply in non -profit work: his father worked in Nature Conservancy, while his mother was a community worker.
“Our parents are never proud of us when we complete anything other than giving money,” John joked.
At the beginning of his career, John worked as a student Chaplin at the Children’s Hospital – an experience – an experience that proved to be extremely formal.
“Every child coming to that place received excellent care,” he remembers. “It was not right, and the results were not always what people wanted, but everyone had a chance.”
In 2011, Brothers John and Hack Green launched the Educational YouTube channel crash course. During that period, they were rapidly interested in global health equity, often the methods of brainstorming to describe John as “long -term intervention”.
“I think I was probably a little more passive in my initial activity,” John recalls. “But around the time of success of mistake in our stars, I realized that I have time now – not only money, but other resources – which I can use.”
One of the resources was a small online merchant store that the brothers started in 2008. He decided to direct its revenue towards improving healthcare in Sierra Leon, one of the world’s worst countries.
John says, “It is easy to feel paralyzed while trying to solve the problems of the world – they are endless, and horrific in every direction.” “For us, the goal was to make long -term investment in a community, so we could see the kind of positive changes that come out over time.”
His first step was to consult reliable colleagues, asking who is doing the most effective work in these communities. Repeatedly, a name came: Partners in Health, an organization that he had already supported through terrible for his annual charity event, project.
The brothers called him, asked if they are interested in more formal partnership, and the rest is history.
“When we began to provide assistance to the maternal healthcare system in Sierra Leone, one in about 17 women was dying during pregnancy or delivery,” John says. “Today, it is close to one in 53. Our contribution is only a small part of that progress – most of the Credit Sierra Leonian government and Sierra Leonians go to the people – but being able to play a small role, a reminder is a reminder that life is not just sucking.”
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From paper cities to real impact
In addition to the material health in Sierra Leone, the Good Store also supports the causes such as TB treatment at Lesotho, and coral reef restoration – operated from the sale of all socks, underwear and soaps.
“We are trying to create more moral ways to consume things you have to consume,” John says. “People need these essential things, so we want to present them at a reasonable price, but with a separate business model.”
The shocking thing is that investors do not have tripping on their own to join this model. After all, the economic ROI of a company that donates all its profits after breaking, is not even attracted to traditional capitalists.
This means that brother rely on his own money and investment from some close friends to fund the business.
“The deal is that we even break down, and the rest of the money goes into donations,” John explains. “In the narrow sense, it’s a good investment? No, but like, I have invested which is not broken.”
While he confesses to listening to “socially aware” enterprise capitalists over the years, John believes that the company does not need outside money to succeed.
“We have been growing continuously for the last 15 years, and I am comfortable with that speed,” they say. “It will be exciting to have capital to speed up development, but it will also come with string, with which I am not comfortable.”
conclusion
Success for good stores means only more than a positive benefit margin. This means funding treatment for 1.5 million people that die from tuberculosis every year, and help in low maternal mortality in Sierra Leone.
The world may not be a desire-oriented factory, but for countless people around the world, a good store comes closely.
