Social Ventures Compete At Haas

“We are adjusting prices to enable families to adjust their finances,” Lo explains. “What they do with the extra finances is up to them, but we help by giving them that option.”

RAISING CAPITAL WITH THE ‘SOCIAL IMPACT BADGE’

Finding the balance between social impact and sustainable business is something Xendit and virtually every social enterprise is confronted with. “It’s a controversial question,” Lo says.

“If your first and foremost mission that drives you is social impact and you have this social impact badge, raising VC money in the traditional sense is scary because it questions your ability to produce returns,” Lo adds. “The terms should be clear early on from both sides.”

And such was the theme of the conference portion of the day. Keynote speaker, Tracy Palandjian, left the consulting world after obtaining an MBA from Harvard Business School to spend more than a decade re-imagining the role of capital markets enabling social progress. Specifically, she co-founded and now is the CEO of Social Finance, Inc., a nonprofit that develops Pay for Success financing, or Social Impact Bonds, to drive government resources to proven social programs.

“Ultimately what we’re after is changing mindsets,” Palandjian said. “It’s really really hard to change the ways people look at the world. I think that’s why this work is incredibly challenging and has fantastic potential.”

COMBINING PROFIT AND SOCIAL GOOD

Keeping one eye on bottom line and another on social impact guided many conversations during the conference portion of the day.

“I deal with this broad view of one side of the brain thinking about for profit entities and the other side thinking about charities,” said Palandjian. “And at the heart of this is bringing together these uncommon entities of government and private investors together and redefining the social contract. How to ensure when you introduce even a modest financial return that you don’t you don’t corrupt and contaminate the instrument which is ultimately about improving people’s lives.”

Breakout panel topics revolved around social venture financing, scaling social enterprises, and re-thinking social solutions. They involved discussions from founders of nonprofits, social enterprises, and NGOs. Whether it was a lecture, panel or business pitch, the theme that remained throughout was business should be used for social good.

“I believe that all business should be positive,” Lo says. “I would prefer to be a $100 million company that is helping families get finances in order rather than a $1 billion dollar company that helps you send photos of yourself to others for 10 seconds. I’m not saving dying babies but that doesn’t mean my business and other businesses shouldn’t improve the lives of others.”

DON’T MISS: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE BEST SCHOOLS & PROGRAMS or SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PROGRAMS: ‘LIKE LITTLE WARTS ON A BUSINESS SCHOOL’