094: Baba Bags: Handmade Reusable Bags & Social Entrepreneurship with Fedia Kourbatov

Fedia Kourbatov is 23 years old and the founder of Baba Bags, a reusable bag social enterprise. Fedia founded Baba Bags in his college dorm room 2 years ago at the University of Oklahoma. Baba Bags' mission is to eliminate single-use plastic bag usage and give back to impactful nonprofits. In 2 years they have saved an estimated 50,000 single-use plastic bags from being used! Baba Bags currently are handmade, come with a lifetime warranty and come in 2 colors. Their green & white bag is partnered with Action Against Hunger and their orange & white bag is partnered with the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Each time the respective color is purchased Baba Bags donates to the partnered charity!   Today’s Sponsor: Wondrium offers documentaries, series, lessons, how-to's, and more, on any topic you can imagine. Watch on any device and on the go! To get your free trial go to Wondrium.com/ASM   In this episode Marjorie and Fedi discuss: Starting a business with a social goal as part of its primary mission. The personal history behind the design of the Baba Bag and the people behind the handmade bags. The future of gamification as an earth-friendly habit-building tool. Valuable advice for any entrepreneur. Resources mentioned in today's episode: How I Built This Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297 Sooner Innovation Fund - ********https://www.ou.edu/entrepreneurship/sooner-innovation-fund National Pediatric Cancer Foundation - ****https://nationalpcf.org/ Action Against Hunger - ****https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/ SCORE Mentorship program - https://www.score.org/find-mentor Evernote - https://evernote.com/ OpenIDEO - https://www.openideo.com/ Start Something That Matters by the founder of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/201230/start-something-that-matters-by-blake-mycoskie/ Connect with Fedi and the Baba Bag Team: Website: https://www.baba-bags.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsbababags/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsbababags/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsbababags Connect with Marjorie Alexander: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asustainablemind/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SustainableMind Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asustainablemind/ Website: http://www.asustainablemind.com   Interested in sponsoring or supporting A Sustainable Mind? Visit our sponsorship page at ASustainableMind.com/sponsor!