Why It Matters

📍Singapore. Back in 2011, Marc Andreessen said that software was eating the world. And it did. Now we are on the dawn of a new area in venture capital and Blue Ashva Capital, a firm based out of Singapore, is leading the way. Arpit Bansal, entrepreneur turned venture captialist, describes the transition as a shift in investing from bits to atoms. His firm invests in companies trying to improve aspects of our core human needs like our health, food, energy sources, and financial stability. Throughout history these sectors of the economy have been viewed as low-return, impact investments, but Blue Ashva is proving that they are investments that come with a enormous impact. 

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3 · Good Health & Well-Being, 7 · Affordable & Clean Energy

📍 Taipei, Taiwan. Todd works for two non-profits, both of which are tackling a complex problem in a new way. He spends most of his time leading the operations at OneTrack International where he coordinates efforts to support orphaned children across 10 countries. Instead of placing children directly into an institutional support system, they place them with biological family members or trusted members of the community. He is also a disaster relief responder at ShelterBox, which delivers the essential aid people need to begin rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of a disaster. He has been a first responder after earthquake and other disasters, which have shaped his understanding of the purpose of work.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 1 · No Poverty, 2 · Zero Hunger

📍Berkeley, California, USA. From a young age Shola was captured by the power of our minds. Her high school friends allege that her answer to the what do you want to be when you grow up question was to explore how we could use our minds to fly. That dream did end up translating into what she does today as a behavioral scientist. She spends time promoting healthy behavior change among youth through her work at Y Labs. There she works like a detective, collecting evidence to decipher the mystery of how young people make decisions about their health.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3 · Good Health & Well-Being

📍Bangladesh. Aria and I went to college together and lived in the same dorm our freshman year. I knew her before she started Mai Soli and got to watch her build it from the sidelines. While we went to school in suburban Massachusetts, her organization worked across the world in Bangladesh. Their goal is to end child-marriages by providing young girls an alternative path to being financially stable in life. At a young age, she has learned what it takes to be a social entrepreneur and tackle complex problems.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 1 · No Poverty, 5 · Gender Equality, 10 · Reduced Inequalities

📍Los Angeles, USA. With his wife, Merlin helps run Dogeared, a jewelry store that embodies the best version of a small business. They are a certified B-Corporation, which is a special designation given to businesses that balance purpose and profit. Merlin is the driver of the Do Good Bus, an initiative that engages the local community in community service. His story starts several decades prior to founding Dogeared. At 20 years old he was digging ditches for sewer pipes and he knew that there was more to life for him. Merlin decided to take a leap of faith and he’s never looked back.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 12 · Responsible Consumption & Production

📍Cornwall, England. Mr. Scott, better known as Dr. Compost in his academic circles, studies composting in England. He teaches kids about the benefits of soil and mud, through hands-on learning. They learn a valuable lesson as playing in the mud can increase your serotonin levels, which affect your happiness levels. Before this conversation with Nicky I thought of composting as the place to throw away biodegradable items like apple cores and banana peels. Turns out, the importance of composting is much deeper than that. According to Nicky, every great civilization has failed because they destroyed their soils. Who knew dirt could be so important.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3 · Good Health & Well-Being, 12 · Sustainable Consumption & Production, 13 · Climate Action

📍Boston, MA, USA. “Some folks use the word discipline, but we love them hard.” Robert Lewis Jr. works with youth. Through his work at The BASE he is revolutionizing urban America through his work. The facade of the American Dream is slowly starting to crack. For decades, the country was a beacon of hope for every individual who believed they could work hard and create a better life for themselves. Thousands of communities across the United States, however, are trapped by systemic barriers that prevent socioeconomic mobility. Robert and his organization are changing the narrative. They use athletics and educational opportunities to cultivate excellence, belief, and love in their communities. That belief is revolutionizing how American communities see themselves and the opportunities in their future.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 4 · Quality Education, 10 · Reduced Inequalities

📍Auckland, New Zealand. After blowing through a stop sign during a driving lesson, Minnie realized she had a problem with her eyesight; she had no vision in the center of her eyes. After being diagnosed with a disability, people viewed her in two ways: they were fearful of what she couldn’t do or they pushed her to adapt. From then on, she refused to be defined by other people and now is the Chief Possibility Officer at the Global Centre of Possibility, based out of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The organization reflects her fundamental belief: beyond disability there is a place called possibility. A place where imagination rules.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 10 · Reduced Inequalities, 17 · Partnerships

📍 São Paulo, Brazil. Christel Scholten solves the problems that are affecting society the most, yet receive the least amount of attention. She works at Reos Partners, an organization with a global team on five continents that takes a new approach to problem solving. They understand problems from a systemic point of view and then form collaborative alliances with the people who are suffering from them. Christel is the leader of the São Paolo branch in Brazil, where she specializes in sustainable development, education, leadership, and nature.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 9 · Industry, Innovation, Infrastructure, 17 · Partnerships

📍Canberra, Australia. Abram El-Sabagh has dedicated his life to creating change. He grew up in a family with two parents who worked in the impact field, which sparked his curiosity to pursue a similar path. To get a deeper understanding of how change occurs, he traveled to 18 countries and studied how to design change in complex system. Along his journey, he formed an organization called Design for Impact that is building the next generation of change-makers. He works full-time at Fjord, the design and innovation arm from Accenture that focuses on solving some of the world’s biggest and most pressing challenges. He has a lot of wisdom to share.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 4 · Quality Education, 9 · Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure