Many entrepreneurs in NYC are building thriving and valuable businesses on the foundation of a social mission. Some build simply with the intention of the mission, some make it official as a B-Corp and others build social impact into their model.

The social impact mandate adds complexity to growing any business – especially a startup, already rife with challenges. On this panel, we’ll discuss many of these challenges, including

• formalizing a mission within a company
• marketing your mission
• finding helpful resources along the way
• building a model that incorporates social impact
• … and raising capital with social impact model

About the panelists

• Christina Sass is Andela’s Co-founder and President. Prior to founding Andela, Sass built education and employment programs in China, Gaza and the West Bank, Kenya, and in her home state of Georgia. During her three years directing the Program Department at the Clinton Global Initiative, she worked to advance CGI’s Commitments to Action with a particular focus on the empowerment of girls and women. She also served as senior advisor to the president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, a private foundation working to advance education, employment, and financial inclusion in Africa. She has a B.A. from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) and an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
• Sarah Cone is the founder and Managing Partner of Social Impact Capital. Prior to founding Social Impact Capital, Sarah was a consultant to i(x) investments, an impact investing firm founded by Howard Buffett. Earlier in her career, Sarah was an Associate at Illuminate Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund with top decile performance investing in B2B SaaS. She got her start in venture capital working for the “emerging technologies” venture capital group at Omidyar Network. Sarah has also worked in the legal department of Google, at the technology law firm Fenwick & West, Amazon.com, and at the technology policy non-profit Public Knowledge.
• Nahema Mehta, Co-founder & CEO of Absolut Art. An award-winning entrepreneur and budding philanthropist, Nahema’s work spans 4 continents and is inspired by her multicultural upbringing and cross-disciplinary career path. Professionally, Nahema has been featured in Forbes, The Financial Times, Bloomberg TV and CNBC, named a Game Changer by Google for Entrepreneurs, and honored at Fast Company’s 2016 Innovation by Design Awards and 2017 Most Creative Minds Conference. Philanthropically, Nahema fights for women’s education doing work recognized by the United Nations. In 2015 Nahema’s first company, Art Remba piqued the interest of Absolut’s CEO who approached her to expand her vision as Absolut Art, making her the CEO of Absolut’s inaugural venture and revenue stream beyond vodka and the youngest executive officer in the company’s history.
• Felicity is the Founder and CEO of Paladin, a global pro bono platform building the tech infrastructure to close the justice gap. In addition to pioneering access to justice tech, Paladin was the first Public Benefit Corporation in the legal tech space. Before founding Paladin, Felicity was a litigator in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. An alumnus of McGill University, Sciences Po Paris and NYU Law, she has performed human rights work in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti and China and joined the United Nations to work on International Criminal Court issues. Felicity was named a 2017 Legal Rebel and FastCase 50 legal innovation honoree for her work through Paladin.
• (Guest Moderator) Matt Brimer is the Co-founder of General Assembly, and Daybreaker. Matthew Brimer is an entrepreneur, community builder, and general instigator of mischief. He is Co-Founder of General Assembly, where he supports GA’s global efforts around social impact, alumni community engagement, and partnership development. He has worn many hats at GA, cultivating the organization’s early community of startups and entrepreneurs, establishing critical global partnerships to expand the brand, and starting GA’s enterprise corporate training business. Most recently, Brimer launched GA’s philanthropic arm, Opportunity Fund, so that anyone willing to work hard and follow their passions can have a meaningful career pursuing work they love. Brimer is also Co-Founder of Daybreaker, a global community and lifestyle brand producing conscious morning experiences around the world.

Schedule:

6:30 – 6:50: Drinks & Networking
6:50 – 7:50: Panel
7:50 – 8:15: Audience Q&A
8:15 – 9:00: More Drinks & Networking