pictureEntrepreneurs have always been agents of change, impacting our lives in ways big and small. But their impact goes beyond the products and services they develop. Today, many are turning their success into a positive impact on society. Here are three ways entrepreneurs are making people’s lives better.
1. Employee Empowerment
Shelley Deutschmann is a serial entrepreneur, author, and passionate advocate for entrepreneurship. She is the founder and former CEO of LetterLogic, Inc., which she grew to $40 million and sold in 2016.
“When I became an entrepreneur, I didn’t even know the word entrepreneur,” says Deutschmann. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, as a single mother to pursue a singing career. Her resume includes a high school diploma and experience cleaning public restrooms and homes. She then took a job in health care sales and got a glimpse of two things: financial success and the rising costs of doing business with poor service.
“We would sell new customers and then lose them,” Deutschmann says. “Our service was so bad that we tried to figure out why. It was just simple mistakes. And we realized that human error is caused by carelessness, and carelessness is caused by coworkers noticing that no one cares about them.”
Deutschmann approached her boss with a solution to motivate employees, but he rejected her idea, so she started a competitive business in her basement.
“I built a business that was employee-centric,” she says. “I paid my employees a really fair living wage, paid for all of their health insurance, helped them buy their first home, and the best business idea I ever came up with was to give them 10% of my profits every month.” Deutschmann distributed profit sharing evenly across the organization regardless of title, and when her CFO disagreed, she searched for a new CFO.
The bold commitment to profit sharing has resulted in superior service, and has earned the company a place on the Inc. 5000 list for 10 consecutive years. After selling LetterLogic in 2019, Deutschmann founded BrainTrust, a company dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses and achieve financial independence and success.
“Every month, women meet in groups to discuss all the problems and opportunities they have,” she says. “They help each other not by giving advice, but by sharing their experiences to help others decide what to do.”
Ms. Deutschmann is a member of the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ class of 2009 and is an accomplished publisher focused on giving voice to underrepresented people.
2. Use technology for social good
“Frankly, many communities have such low expectations of law enforcement service that they have given up,” said Ralph Clark, president and CEO of Sound Thinking. “The concept of gun violence is the civil rights issue of our generation.”
SoundThinking is a public safety solutions company focused on supporting law enforcement and public safety officials. Using acoustic technology called ShotSpotter, sensors can detect, identify and alert on outdoor gunfire within 30-45 seconds. The technology is used in over 150 cities across the country to help police respond quickly to gunfire.
“The reason this technology is so attractive to police is that in some of the most vulnerable communities where gun violence persists, fewer than 10 percent of calls to 911 are made,” said Clark, who was also an Entrepreneur of the Year award winner in 2019. “Our founding principle is that we can use technology to create public good.”
Clark believes data can be a powerful catalyst for social change in communities plagued by gun violence. When law enforcement officers are armed with information, they’re better equipped to build trust and credibility in their communities and effect change in real-world situations. “With good data, they can emerge as guardians instead of warriors,” Clark says.
SoundThinking has also started a nonprofit organization lending its technology to detect and disrupt illegal fish bombing, the practice of using explosive devices to kill thousands of fish before capturing them in nets. This shocking practice causes devastating damage to the coral reefs on which marine ecosystems depend, with ripple effects for millions of people around the world who depend on healthy marine ecosystems for food, jobs, income and other basic needs.
“We’re a purpose-driven, purpose-driven company,” Clark says, “so we have an obligation to do something bigger than ourselves to make a difference.”
3. Nurturing the Future: Combating Child Hunger
Michelle Tano Buelow is the founder and CEO of Bella Tano, a buy-one, feed-one baby brand. A member of the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women class of 2009, Tano Buelow was initially inspired by her brother’s struggle with drug addiction, but her baby products company took a different direction. Bella Tano makes silicone feeding and teething devices for children, and for every product sold, it donates at least one meal to a needy family. To date, the company has provided more than 12 million meals to hungry children.
“In 2014, I came across a study that said one in six children in this country goes to bed hungry every night,” says Tunno Bülow. “When you hear something like that, you think that’s wrong, but if it’s true, I have to be part of the solution. That was the statistic for me. Then I dug deeper and found that there’s a link between food insecurity in childhood and adolescence and addictive behaviors in adulthood. Suddenly, we were a brand with a shared mission to serve new parents and feed their children.”
Now, her teenage daughters are making a difference. “We wanted them to become informed, compassionate community members from an early age,” says Tunno Bülow. Together, they’ve started an entrepreneurial organization to help those in need around the world, proving that social impact can inspire and inspire people of all ages.
