Little Exciting Things about Atlanta

I visited Atlanta a week ago with two other friends, and during our short visit, I discovered some memorable things about Atlanta, and they are not about the old boring Coca-cola museum, or Aquarium. These were the places that not so much touristy but we decided to visit it anyway, and they easily became my highlight of my trip.

1. Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Shop
Hidden gem, so hidden that we had to figure out how to get into this coffee shop. It is located inside an apartment complex, and you have to buzz the coffee shop and let them open the gate. A twenty minutes drive from downtown, and you'll enter a coffee shop with one of the most beautiful view. You can either enjoy the nice interior decor or go out and sit by the river, sip your cup o Joe and lost in the beauty.

2. North Point Community Church (30 min from Atlanta)
I have been listening to Andy Stanley on and off, and I would not miss the opportunity to visit his church personally. I know this is not everybody's cup of tea, but if you like a good and sound biblical teaching, visit this church and your soul will get nourished. One piece of advice: try to come to the morning service since you will be seeing Andy in his flesh, not his video (as in the evening service that we came to)

3. Park 75 Lounge and Terrace
Part of me always and will forever always enjoy the ambiance of a serene lounge - with live music, good drinks, and great friends. Unfortunately, Columbus has little to offer in this area so I have to hunt for a great lounge every time I travel. This one was a wild card; pulled up my Yelp app, looked for a hotel around downtown and found this spot. 95% satisfaction, with the 5% being an absence of live music. But nevertheless, great drinks, sumptuous desserts, and great conversation. What a nice way to end a long day

4. Global Soap
Global Soap is an Atlanta-based non profit organization whose work is to provide millions of people with soap. They recycle partially used soap from hotels into new bars and distribute it to people who need it around the world. Why soap? More and more research have revealed that a simple hand-washing practice could reduce disease-related diseases and school absenteeism significantly. I think we in the developed world tend to underestimate this simple and ordinary practice. Currently, they have distributed their recycled soap to 31 countries - a pretty remarkable achievement for a four years old organization.

It is truly an honor to have this experience. Derreck Kayongo, the founder and also one of 2011's CNN Heroes, was kind enough to refer me to his Executive Director, Sam Stephens, who then agreed to meet and talk with us about Global Soap. I am always thrilled to absorb lessons from experienced people who have gotten their hands dirty in the business of changing the world. Sam is truly an inspirational and visionary person and we really enjoyed our one-hour meeting and tour around the facility.

with Sam Stephens, Executive Director of Global Soap

Lessons Learned - The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz

The idea of helping the poor has never escaped me, I am always internally drawn to the possibility of making the world a better place. I believe this is the passion that I share with Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder of Acumen fund, who unlike me started to realize her dream early in her career. It is with elation that I ravage the pages of her book, The Blue Sweater, mostly for sharing stories that had I possessed the courage, I would also be able to experience and share.

When the idealist and novice imagine a life of a social entrepreneurs in Africa, one would sway, due to their inept knowledge of the reality, to either one extreme: the painful rough path of suffering or the rewarding transcendental joy of changing the world. I myself have unconsciously been apologizing to myself for wanting the former and for enforcing such 'curse' upon my own life, why not vie for that wall street or consulting job? This book, however, shatter my misconstrued reality

Yes, the business of changing the world usually entail certain level of loneliness and hardships, but do not all roads contain their own rubble and hard path? Being negatively judged, unlawfully accused and even being poisoned are part of the package. Jacqueline described it perfectly here,

"Doing this in a different language, in a place far from home, where navigating even simple things could thwart the best intentions challenged me to my bones. There were plenty of nights when the sheer injustice of the world in which I lived would come crashing down. With no means of communication other than letters, a sense of isolation would envelop me, and there were nights that ended in tears of tiredness and sadness for a world that didn't seem to want to see the possibilities right there in front of it. In those times, I would turn to music. Peter Gabriel, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Cat Stevens began to feel like good friends on lonely nights" 

But unbeknownst to me is the magical adventure this life has to offer at the same time. Weekend is still weekend wherever you are, and the world is not lacking of any perks and fun to throw at you. For Jacqueline, it is that climbing one mountain in Africa or an adventurous travel from the far reaches of Ethiopia to the Kenyan savannas or to the volcanoes of Rwanda. Or even as simple as eating shish kebabs and grilled bananas, dancing to the tunes of African music with Rwandan beer at hand. Those are pictures that my misconstrued mind often denigrated as not being philanthropic, but certainly with every trough, a peak is about to follow.

Another issue that I am having hard time to grip with is the issue of lifestyle: how much are they going to change me and vice versa, how localize should we conform to their lifestyle and how much freedom are we throwing out of the window? I think big part of that answer depend on the level of involvement you want to be in. But this story helps me to understand and find a better conciliatory point between the joy and suffering of social entrepreneurs.

"I'm not sure I even want the champagne, Dan," I said. "I feel a little ashamed by it. I just don't know if it is right to be doing this while we're living here." 


Dan looked at me. "I know it doesn't make a lot of sense on one level. We're working with the really poor, and you and I couldn't be more privileged in relative terms. But don't pretend to be someone you aren't. If you were at home, you'd celebrate with champagne. If you want to remain happy and alive in this work, you need to reconcile this part of who you are and understand the inconsistencies with the work you do and how it all fits into your whole way of being." 


I looked at my lovely friend. As a young man, he'd lost his brother and had already endured great sadness in his life. His commitment to social change had never wavered. Maybe he knew something I didn't. 

Certainly, there are something I do not know unless I jump into it and get my hands dirty. Reading this book awaken the sleeping giant in me, I know I am several years behind, I am 24 now and little that I did except reading and learning about the issue. Other passionate young men and women have flown high and even let their wings being clipped and plucked during the quest, while mine remain ironically unscathed.

Going to Cambodia this year is my first action plan; an adventure to learn the world beyond me and to be familiar with what I think would be my world. Cowardice and comfort are two vices that I have been submitting into, but this time I refuse to bow down and present my tithe. I know I will take what Jacqueline said to heart,

Entrepreneurs see possibility, an idea, and won't stop, regardless of the obstacles, until they make it happen. They aren't necessarily the smartest people in the world, but they are the ones who have the guts and the heart to do whatever it takes to make dreams come real.

Salary of Non Profits' Top Officials

First, look at the picture below. 

Source: www.csmonitor.com

Alright, in the spirit of not being judgmental, I did a quick Googe on the salary of top officials in non profit organizations. And I partly understand the argument that non profit has to compete with corporation to get the best and the brightest. But, still, six digit figures touching the veneer of $500,000 (or double that in some cases) seems a little bit unsettling to me. I am not a big corporation guy so I have little idea about the benefits and compensation in that kind of surroundings, but combining the idea of non profit dealing with malaria in Africa with the six digit figures spent on a holiday in Montreal is ..... a painful mental exercise. 

I am almost tempted to urge the non profits to simply settle with the brighter mind and look for the brightest heart instead. In my imagination, someone who is not motivated by dime (or in this case, hundred thousands) and who will voluntarily choose to be under underpaid (notice the double 'under'). There must be someone like that out there right? 

But after scrutinizing the report, it comes as a shock to me that World Vision, the organization that I wholeheartedly support, is on the list. Having read the book that Rich Stearns wrote, he definitely does not come out as a selfish greedy old guy, I can feel the passion and genuineness surfacing from his writings. So, no reconciliation yet to be made about this, I guess I'm just trying to be open minded and patiently waiting for a better explanation. 

I'm not arguing that the top executives should suffer and sacrifice his / her life, I guess what I'm calling for is a further re-evaluation of what salary range is acceptable or appropriate. How does compensation or benefit or salary is justifiably allocated? Should it be commensurate with his / her dedication, or how much money he / she raise that year, or seniority or a soft re-calling to that deep dark place often untouched nowadays called conscience?  

Models of Social Entrepreneurship in Ohio

All good things deserve some good publicity, right? Whenever you listen to spectacular concert or watch an Oscar winning movie, you can't help not to open your mouth and spread the word. And they deserve it, good things need good publicity to be heard and known. And this is what I'm doing with some social business or entrepreneurship here in Columbus, OH.

Try to google "social business in Columbus" and you will get a sparse result. Not enough publicity is given to all these great and noble businesses which put social benefits on top of profit, which value employee's welfare more than the company's reputation. So, this post is a short summary of some social businesses or social entrepreneurship that operate in Ohio, and some of the impacts that they have made in their community.

1. Passion works (Athens, OH)
This is a collaboration effort between artist with and without developmental abilities. They truly believe that every humans have the ability to create somethings valuable and people with disabilities are no exception. With this collaboration, they are able to create a beautiful piece of art, and even one of their artwork, Passion Flower, has become the official flower of Athens. I have the privilege to visit Passion Works last year and here is the link.

2. Freshbox Catering (Columbus, OH)
The tagline explains it all, "Feed your appetite, nourish your community". They are committed to provide a healthy great lunch, and to empower the community by its employment system. The workers that Freshbox hires are mainly homeless people who they hold to an extraordinary standard. The tiered level employment system is developed to filter the uncommitted and unwilling thus only allowing those who are motivated enough to go through the three training stages.

3. Pearl Interactive Network (Columbus, OH)
Often disabled veterans, military spouses and people with disabilities are workforce that are being overlooked for their potentials or even worse, being discriminated against. Luckily, Pearl Interactive Network see their potentials and based its business system on tapping into this unique workforce. Some of them are hired as home-based sales person, or customer service representative, or even as market researcher.

4. Eartha Limited (Columbus, OH)
One of the hallmarks of Eartha limited is its emphasis on eco friendly product or service. They help businesses to achieve sustainability by implementing waste control methods. For example, installing energy efficient lighting, recycling all aluminum or plastic bottles or cardboard from a restaurant, even to introducing a beer on tap system to eliminate bottle waste. Some creatives initiatives are also introduced, like converting football food waste into compost for garden, or gallons of used vegetable oil for bio-diesel. In addition to that, they also produce green products like cutlery, plates, to-go box from plant materials (corn, palm leaves, etc).

Eliminating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship Summit 2011

On April 15th,  I attended the third annual Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship (APTE) summit at OSU. The main objective of this summit is to empower people to take action and eradicate poverty, not through fundraising or donation, but through entrepreneurship.

The summit was pretty enlightening, convicting and inspiring. The speakers came from a variety of background and area of expertise.  The keynote speaker, Jessica Jackley from Kiva, gave a poignant and inspiring talk, urging people to see the possibility of eliminating poverty and to embrace changes and propose innovation. All, just like Kiva, began small and simple.

Erin Krampetz from Ashoka reminded us to do what we love to do. Sonya Perez from Opportunity International taught us to give a hand-up rather than a hand-out. Mark Rembert & Taylor Stuckert from Energized Clinton County emphasized the importance of finding local or community-oriented solutions to address global problems.

One underlying similarity that I identified from all these speakers was most of them, if not all, started to develop the passion for poverty eradication from traveling. By traveling, I don't mean a five star cruise to Caribbean or a trip to Las Vegas but an eye-opener kind of traveling where you visit a place that is not on the top 100 travel destination list. The experience is powerful, it humbles you and slaps you at the same time. It forces you to behold the reality outside your shell of comfort and to acknowledge the devastating effect of poverty. It exposes you to a different kind of world - a world where freedom is non-existent.

I was glad that I participated in this summit. I should admit that this topic has been a seasonal on-off kind of thing for me, going through a harsh season of hibernating and a season of reawakening. But, the passion has always been there, lying dormant until something trigger it. And this summit definitely gave me the jolt.

So, what resulted from that summit?

Pebo and me, following what Jessica said to "make things official", gathered several friends who have the same passion to start taking actions - as simple as brainstorming ideas or identifying problems or sharing resources. This, we hope, is the community that would see the possibility in eliminating poverty, this is the community that would challenge today's problem and propose solution for a better tomorrow. This, we hope, is the start of something big.

Visit to Passion Works Studio

Around two months ago, we had an opportunity to visit Passion Works, a social business entrepreneurship located in Athens, OH. Basically, Passion Works is about doing a collaboration between artists with and without disability problems. It is originated from the belief that every humans are innately precious and are capable of doing something valuable to society. Patty Mitchell, its owner and founder, sees beyond their disability, and started to use this opportunity to help them restoring their sense of self-esteem while at the same time building her own company . Thus, you have the term Social Business, a for-profit company with a social vision.

At Passion Works Studio with founder, Patty Mitchell

So, how does the collaboration actually work? Sketch is drawn by disabled people; they are the one who come up with ideas which then being actualized by full time artists. Tons of wonderful ideas and drawings sprung up from their creative mind, one of them is the Passion Flowers which is now being recognized as the official flowers of Athens, OH. The products that they carry range from decorative item to functional items like guitar or even luggage.

It was unfortunate we didn't take more pics

As my eyes observed all the amazing artworks before me, my mind can't help to wonder. It doesn't take a special set of eyes to look at these people and realized that they are uniquely created. It doesn't take a master or Phd degree to acknowledge that they possess certain kind of abilities which often times are being overlooked. Patty sees through that, and I believe we can also see that. However, it takes a tender and courage heart to go beyond what we see or believe or acknowledge and actually turn that into an action. Often times, doing is much harder than believing, because doing is another level of commitment, and that is why people who are actually a doer, are those who are able to bring huge impact to the community. Patty Mitchell did this several years ago; starting with only a strong determination and bold courage, she brought her vision to reality, and thus has become an inspiration for lots of people, including me.

Learn more about Passion Works:
Follow them at Twitter http://twitter.com/PWStudio
Be their fan at Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pwstudio
Click here for video, and here