The Global Good Fund

The Global Good Fund (GGF) recognizes that talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. We even the playing field for the world’s brightest leaders to help their ideas become the reality we strive for: a more equitable, just society. We do this by identifying high-potential leaders and providing them with capital, distinguished mentors and coaches, and a cohort of exceptional leaders through a one-year Fellowship. The success of our program relies on a diverse, interconnected community that shares business and leadership expertise to accelerate the entrepreneurs’ impact. Therefore, our solution is to institute an online engagement platform that becomes a single destination for business support, community, and connection for the broader GGF network. If scaled globally, our entrepreneurs will leverage this system to become changemakers of our generation, working to solve society’s pressing problems and advance common goals within a thriving ecosystem of fellows, mentors, and supporters. 

Defined as individuals leading enterprises or organizations with a social objective, social entrepreneurs around the world are using business strategies to develop innovative ways to solve today’s great social challenges, including the creation of good jobs and recruitment of marginalized populations in the workforce. However, thousands of social entrepreneurs around the world do not have access to services such as mentorship, peer learning, and business planning support that are critical to the growth of their enterprises and therefore, the scale of positive impact they can have in their communities. GGF addresses this need - providing virtual high-quality, personalized leadership and mentoring support for selected Fellows. To date, we’ve supported 130 social entrepreneurs from 30 countries who have created 1,860 jobs and positively impacted more than 8,500,000 lives. 2019 Fellow, Eyitayo Ogunmola, Founder and CEO of Utiva in Nigeria, is one of these social entrepreneurs looking to spur job creation in his community. As a direct result of GGF’s leadership development program, Eyitayo created 800 indirect jobs and recruited 55 new employees. Yet, Eyitayo, among other GGF Fellows, have potential for greater impact. This is where our online engagement platform comes in. 

While GGF’s programming provides Fellows with leadership training from experts in the field, we seek to pair our offerings with an interactive online engagement platform that will serve as a single destination for business support, community, and connection. The entire GGF network, inclusive of GGF Fellowship applicants numbering in the thousands, current Fellows, alumni, investors, executive coaches, and business mentors, will have access to this digital community and the ability to engage in transformative human-to-human interactions that will accelerate the positive impact social entrepreneurs are making in their communities. With this technology, users will be able to readily view member profiles, initiate conversations, and access tailored resources, events and training. Meanwhile, GGF will have access to a database needed to grow, manage, and track the success of its ever-expanding community.

As COVID-19 drives profound societal and organizational shifts, solutions for the future remain uncertain. Now, more than ever, the social entrepreneur ecosystem seeks to band together to leverage collective capabilities to effect meaningful change. GGF’s digital network solution will support social entrepreneurs in real-time, creating a virtual community that advances bold change and fulfills distinct human needs, such as the desire for meaning and connection, during this unprecedented time. 

GGF serves a robust, fast-growing field of social entrepreneurs. These changemakers, who are typically between 18-34 years old, are reinventing how we solve social problems. Since 2012, GGF has supported 130 social entrepreneurs across 30 countries through our highly selective flagship Fellowship and sector-specific Fellowships for US Veterans, aging Americans, and nonprofit leaders. Many of our fellows are from underrepresented communities. Of the 27 current fellows and 103 alumni, 55% are women entrepreneurs and 40% are international entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, of the 77 US based participants, 52% are minority entrepreneurs. Beyond our immediate Fellow cohorts, we have a growing database of 11,750+ social entrepreneurs, business mentors, executive coaches, and investors that our solution would serve to address the “good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship” challenge.

Recently, GGF hosted sessions with alumni to better understand their evolving needs. We overwhelmingly heard that alumni desire a more engaged, connected community. They yearn to meet other social entrepreneurs and business executives that align with their industry, geography, and sector to boost their productivity and success. Our digital community platform will make these goals tangible by providing our GGF network with a variety of curated connections, learning opportunities, and mentoring avenues. 

Through our Fellowship program, GGF invests in the human capital of high-potential leaders committed to tackling today’s greatest challenges. The leadership growth of these social entrepreneurs, which depends on a robust, virtual community, will result in empowered leaders who scale their social enterprises across the world to deliver positive, sustainable social impact. While we’ve already enabled our Fellows to create 1,860 jobs through access to networks and capital, moving forward, our digital solution will provide our growing GGF network of 11,750+ social entrepreneurs with a support system to further the “good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship” mission. 

GGF is unique in offering a virtual 12-month leadership development fellowship to young social entrepreneurs. There are few enterprise support organizations that focus solely on developing the leadership skills of social entrepreneurs and cultivating long-term mentoring relationships with seasoned business executives. For example, our main competitors, Halcyon, Echoing Green, and Village Capital offer general frameworks for building leadership skills, but their curricula are majority in-person, longer in nature, and entail a heavy focus on technical skills. Additionally, a recent study by Emory University and the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI) showed that our GGF Fellows outperformed the benchmark GALI peer group in the categories of revenue, equity, and philanthropy. More specifically, GGF Fellows reported an average uptick of $97,800 in funds after one year compared to the GALI average of $47,900. With this accrued capital, our Fellows can scale their social enterprises faster, create new jobs, and drive the innovation we need in today’s society. 

A study conducted by ASPEN Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Agora Partnerships and I-DEV International revealed that early and growth stage enterprises enrolled in accelerators and incubators ranked access to mentoring as one of the top-rated services. Our digital community platform fulfills this service - providing a space for mentors to share business and leadership expertise to accelerate the entrepreneurs' impact. Finally, as leaders navigate an unprecedented global economy distraught from the impact of COVID-19, our solution will serve as a hub for complex problem solving, thereby driving an innovative agenda for a brighter future. 

Our digital community platform will leverage the power of PeopleGrove technology, a system that may be implemented as a standalone solution. PeopleGrove, established in 2012, was originally created to serve as an integrated platform for the journey from prospective student to successful alum, enabling enrollment, academic, career, and alumni success. However, the system has evolved to provide personalized support, allowing every constituent to customize a technology package that fits their needs. The software is cloud-based, built on a modern technology stack, and supported through secure API.

Since 2012, PeopleGrove has helped hundreds of institutions, such as Stanford University, INSEAD, Yale University, and the University of Michigan, build a single destination for networked communities. According to Steve Blum, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Yale Alumni Association, “[PeopleGrove] enables Yale’s Cross Campus platform to focus on building meaningful relationships between Yallies to support each other through career, professional, and personal transitions. This serves as the framework for an active and engaged community.” With millions of alumni on the platform, a 96% renewal rate, and less than a two-hour average response time, PeopleGrove is an experienced, key player in unleashing the power of a virtual community.

The Global Good Fund’s theory of change posits that investing in the leadership development of an entrepreneur focused on social impact will result in enterprise growth and, ultimately, exponential social impact. GGF identifies high-potential leaders and accelerates their success through a year-long, virtual Fellowship focused on leadership development. We support global social entrepreneurs with proven methods, such as executive mentorship, leadership coaching, and access to capital, to accelerate their growth and impact. We believe investing in leadership development is the best tool for enterprise growth and achieving global good.

Current Number of People GGF Serves: 130 Fellows + 151 business executives

Number of People GGF Will Serve in One Year: 13,850 current and aspiring Fellows + 166 business executives

Number of People GGF Will Serve in Five Years: 22,250 current and aspiring Fellows + 182 business executives

Vaibhav Lodha, 2019 GGF Fellow, is the co-founder of ftcash, one of India’s fastest growing financial inclusion technology enterprises serving the underserved micro-merchants in India through digital payments and loans. Alongside his already impressive resume, Vaibhav was recently selected as a Global Shaper to represent the voice of the millennial for the World Economic Forum Annual meeting at Davos. We are proud to see the positive impact Vaibhav has created over the course of his GGF Fellowship. Since 2019 alone, Vaibhav has created 55,000 indirect jobs and hired over 315 new employees. 

Our goal is to provide leadership development to more aspiring social entrepreneurs, like Vaibhav, that are responding to the MIT Solve Challenge related to good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship. In one year, with the successful implementation of PeopleGrove, we’ll be able to directly engage our growing GGF network of 11,750+ social entrepreneurs, 130 Fellows, business mentors, investors, and partners through virtual resource sharing, mentorship, training, and connections. On average, our Fellows create 18 indirect jobs after engaging with GGF’s programming. Assuming our pipeline of social entrepreneurs continues to grow at a standard rate of 2,100 new GGF Fellow applicants per year, in one year, we’ll be able to help facilitate the creation of 249,300 indirect jobs. In five years, this number will grow significantly to 400,500 indirect jobs created. Ultimately, if we could tap into the potential of Fellows like Vaibhav, we’d create a true tsunami of change, with over 1,223,750,000 indirect jobs created in five years. 

We’ve identified both financial and technical barriers that prohibit us from accomplishing our goals in the next year to five years. Firstly, from a finance perspective, we don’t have the necessary monetary funds to set up and maintain the PeopleGrove system for one year, let alone multiple years. As a direct result, social entrepreneurs within the GGF network are inhibited from scaling their collective, social impact - including the creation of good jobs - based on the missing technical infrastructure required to support a growing, virtual community of 11,000+ members. 

As a selected Solver, we will be able to overcome the aforementioned barriers as follows:

(1) We’ll be able to build a strong network of investors, mentors, and business executives that will support us in propelling our mission forward through their connections, funding opportunities, and knowledge of the sector. (2) We’ll be able to source immediate funding for the PeopleGrove platform with the $10,000 cash prize, which represents a third of the required funds necessary to institute PeopleGrove for a one-year subscription. 

Full-Time Staff: 8

Part-Time Staff: 2

Contractors: 2

While the entire GGF team is composed of highly qualified and impressive individuals, the below employees are at the helm of this implementation effort. Their qualifications are demonstrated by short bios:

Carrie Rich, CEO and Co-Founder: Carrie is responsible for the direction and vision of The Global Good Fund, ensuring that young people change the world by working with experienced leaders. Carrie sits on the for-profit board of Rezon8Capital, as well as the nonprofit boards Halcyon Incubator and One Planet International School. Carrie is the recipient of the POLITICO Women Who Rule Award, Washington Business Journal 40 under 40, Entrepreneur.com Top 30 Start-ups to Watch, Stevie Award for Women in Business, Asian Social Innovation CEO of the Year, Social Enterprise Alliance 50 under 40, and Empact100. Carrie has been published in media outlets such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, HuffingtonPost, Inc., The Founder Institute, Under30CEO, and Philanthropy News Digest.

Nazlin Bhimji, Director of Strategic Development: Nazlin oversees GGF’s strategic development initiatives. Nazlin holds 15+ years of global experience working with non-profit and international organizations on business development, organizational strategy, and CSR/sustainability. Nazlin co-founded a women-focused business in Kenya, where she managed operations and finance. She also worked at Women Thrive Worldwide, a leading advocate for global women’s issues, and served in various positions including Acting Executive Director. Nazlin has an Executive MBA from The George Washington University, an MA in International Development from American University, a BA in International Studies and French from Ohio Wesleyan University.

The Global Good Fund has a five-year track record of meeting the corporate social responsibility and governance goals of corporate and family foundations. Our team has partnered with social sector foundations to design customized fellowships, delivering critical impact and marketing outputs. Examples of customized fellowships that GGF has successfully delivered include the following:

DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP: 2016-2019. The Global Good Fund recruited and supported 20 entrepreneurs who were either over 50 or who were creating jobs for people over 50, in alignment with DDSF’s mission. Program outcomes: 492 jobs created for Americans over 50 through direct hires and job placements. 

THE GLOBAL GOOD FUND FELLOWSHIP FOR VETERAN ENTREPRENEURS SPONSORED BY THE SMITHFIELD FOUNDATION: 2018-2019. The Global Good Fund recruited and supported 15 veteran entrepreneurs making a positive contribution in the veteran community. Program outcomes: 93 veteran jobs created to date through direct hire and job placement.

GGF also recently partnered with Emory University in line with our commitment to learning and sharing best practices with others in the social entrepreneurship field. We believe it is important to collaborate and partner with research institutions and other organizations to strengthen the social enterprise ecosystem for the benefit of everyone working in this space.

GGF supports social entrepreneurs in the US and more than 30 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia by providing a 12-month virtual leadership fellowship to eligible candidates throughout the world. Our model relies on five foundational elements for effective implementation and scalable impact:

1. Give entrepreneurs a real-life business mentor - a seasoned executive leader who has experience founding, leading and/or growing a $40 million - $60 billion company;
2. Help entrepreneurs transcend cultural barriers to access top-tier resources;
3. Fund experiential learning and intensive developmental coaching focused on leadership;
4. Personalize leadership development based on a quantitative formative assessment and qualitative feedback provided from a variety of stakeholder perspectives;
5. Give entrepreneurs global visibility and access to networking, engagement with funders, and intercontinental support systems

GGF depends on many stakeholders who volunteer their time, expertise and financial resources to support our work. From our Board of Directors, to our leadership development coaches, to our executive mentors, and funders and donors, GGF has skillfully assembled a group of engaged individuals and organizations around our mission to boost the leadership skills of high-potential social entrepreneurs. It is rare to see accomplished business executives commit eight months of their time to personally mentor a social entrepreneur year after year. GGF provides executives with a tangible platform to give back to the next generation of leaders. Their commitment and accessibility to our Fellows is one of the key factors of our model’s success. 

At this time, GGF brings in money to fund our current work through corporate philanthropy, individual donations, foundation grants, and privately-owned institutions. Additionally, we recently launched our Leadership Services solution. Through this offering, GGF provides a platform for leaders across the different management levels in an external company to achieve their full potential, while improving the enterprise’s impact, culture, and business. This newly established service represents an earned revenue stream for our organization.

GGF has built a strong foundation since our founding in 2012 and has been able to expand its leadership development offerings to meet the growing demand of social entrepreneurs around the world year after year. However, today, our business model relies on the funding of generous corporations, foundations, and individuals. While we have managed to survive in this environment, we seek to thrive in our next decade of operation.

As we look to scale our model, and thereby, scale the impact of participating Fellows and alumni, we are seeking new partnership opportunities and sustainable avenues for funding. Recognizing that partnerships represent Solve marketplace success stories, should GGF be nominated as a Solver, we’d leverage the MIT-backed network and cross-sector community to form new, formidable relationships that are critical to our growth. 

For other, we are seeking mentors to support our Fellows throughout the leadership development program.

The Global Good Fund is highly qualified for this prize based on our proven track record of positively enabling our Fellows to produce both direct and indirect jobs as a result of our leadership development programming. As previously raised in the application, our goal is to provide leadership development to more aspiring social entrepreneurs, like our 2019 GGF Fellow, Vaibhav Lodha, that are responding to the MIT Solve Challenge related to good jobs and inclusive entrepreneurship. In one year, with the successful implementation of our proposed solution, PeopleGrove, we’ll be able to directly engage our growing GGF network of 11,750+ social entrepreneurs, 130 Fellows, business mentors, investors, and partners through virtual resource sharing, mentorship, training, and connections. On average, our Fellows create 18 indirect jobs after engaging with GGF’s programming. Assuming our pipeline of social entrepreneurs continues to grow at a standard rate of 2,100 new GGF Fellow applicants per year, in one year, we’ll be able to help facilitate the creation of 249,300 indirect jobs. In five years, this number will grow significantly to 400,500 indirect jobs created. Ultimately, if we could tap into the potential of Fellows like Vaibhav, we’d create a true tsunami of change, with over 1,223,750,000 indirect jobs created in five years.