The Evolution Is Not Being Televised
Ξ September 18th, 2008 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Op-Ed |
Change is the buzzword of the election, there’s no doubt about that. Obama has branded himself as the candidate of change and John McCain has even altered his campaign message to try and get a piece of that pie himself. In the past, elections have been split into concerns over war, economics, abortion, etc. But, for the first time it seems that whether we agree on policy concerns or social issues, Americans are in agreement that the old ways are not working. Everyone knows in their gut that extreme times call for extreme measures and the most dangerous thing for us right now would be to play it safe, put our heads down and meander forward along the same path. You don’t need to go very far to find evidence of this. The major media is adequately covering the outcry for a new way, a new kind of leader - and both Obama and McCain are posturing themselves as best they can to be that leader.
As Nicholas Kristof wrote back in January of this year, however, a whole different kind of change is taking place that will probably amount to more than either candidate could possibly muster. In his article, “The Age of Ambition”, Mr. Kristof outlines the incredible work being done by the young social entrepreneurs who are tired of waiting for politics to provide the solutions they are sick of watching on the news every day, “With the American presidential campaign in full swing, the obvious way to change the world might seem to be through politics. But growing numbers of young people are leaping into the fray and doing the job themselves. These are the social entrepreneurs, the 21st-century answer to the student protesters of the 1960s, and they are some of the most interesting people here at the World Economic Forum (not only because they’re half the age of everyone else).”
My company, Worthy Fashion, is in a small way a part of this movement towards creating the social change we want to see in the world. We’ve created a section of our website entitled “A Worthy Cause” that describes our efforts to help create financial opportunities for entrepreneurs in the developing world yearning to uplift themselves and their communities. To make sure everyone knows we’re walking the walk, we’ve recently decided to create a sliding scale of donation so that one product yields a 1% donation to Kiva, 2 products yields 3% and 3 or more products will produce a 5% donation. Once any of the loans are repaid the money is immediately recycled into a kiva-only account so that each sale (and each repaid loan) increases the total amount of money we are able to loan to these deserving entrepreneurs.
We’re truly proud to be a small part of the movement of our generation of using business to solve the problems we see all around us. Because, as Kristof so eloquently notes, “Only one person can become president of the United States, but there’s no limit to the number of social entrepreneurs who can make this planet a better place.”
Please check it out and tell your friends about it, it’s definitely a “Worthy Cause”.
