The Righteous Capitalists

oneKIN & the soon-to-be launched Twiine have BIPOC founders, which everyone says they want to fund. These ventures accelerate BIPOC businesses and help close the wealth gap, which everyone says is needed. In this episode, Marvin Francois, co-founder of oneKIN & Twiine, shares stories from his adventures trying to get this venture off the ground. He pulls back the curtain on what it is like for BIPOC founders to raise capital in an atmosphere that saw only 3% of all VC funds ($147B) go to Black founders in 2020.

Have you ever wondered how a big bunch of bananas that are gown in & transported from another hemisphere can cost under $2? Jennie Coleman, from the Fairtrade Certified banana co. Equifruit, details how this tropical fruit became a staple in northern households & why the exploitation of workers has persisted since the founding of banana republics. She also explains how the low price of bananas & the actual cost of improving conditions make this an industry that should be on the precipice of positive change.

Perhaps the answer to many intractable problems is to use technology to bring back the things from our past that worked. Beth Esponnette, co-founder of Unspun, is using tech to take us back to the day when clothing was custom made and built to last. This approach solves most problems inherent in today's fashion industry, and gives customers of all shapes and sizes clothing that fits. Yes, a better planet AND clothing that fits. Beth joins Doug to discuss all of it.

What's the difference between a $5 t-shirt made by a large reputable company that talks about good wages and protecting the environment, and a $30 t-shirt made by a small brand that actually uses sustainable practices & pays well throughout their supply chain? Adila Cokar, founder of The Good Tee and practitioner of radical transparency, explains the costs and benefits of a fair trade t-shirt, & how she focuses on relationships with all her suppliers to assure harmony with her values. Certifications help too.

We all know the apparel & fashion industry exploits people & the environment, but who can say no to cheap & abundant clothes. For decades, the industry has said they are improving but then comes another tragedy or revelation. We have yet to talk about the good, bad & ugly of the industry on here because we have felt the task too daunting. Until now. In this episode we dip our tows in with Andrea Reyes who explains where the water's warm, where it's cold, & where it's just an abyss.

Would you use a search engine called BackRub? That was Google's original name. Had they gone to Brad Flowers, a naming expert & author of The Naming Book, or just followed the 5 steps from Brad's book, which he details in this episode, they would have come up with something much better & with more longevity than BackRub. But would they have been as successful? Find out on this great how-to episode during which Brad also shares very practical tips for becoming a BCorp, which his agency, Bullhorn, has done.

Your tax dollars help pay for home-delivered meals for the elderly that can either be cooked & delivered within a recipient's community, or cooked, frozen, and delivered from across the country? Adrienne Fudge, of 40 Dreams Catering, provides the former & is determined to maintain her community-based model, no matter how big she gets. In this episode, we are joined by Charles Rosen of Ironbound Farms to discuss Adrienne's methods & benefits relative to her giant, PE-backed, national competitor, Mom's Meals.

Our earliest thoughts and aspirations are shaped by what we see and read in books, but the publishing industry has been a constricting force by hiring homogenous authors telling homogenized stories. Marietta Zacker, of the Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, talks about the effects of the historical exclusion of authors, illustrators and stories from marginalized communities, why this has happened, and how her and her colleagues are getting diverse and compelling stories into the hands of children & young adults.

Amazon & Etsy require advertising capital just to be seen on their platforms. So, where are people of color, whose communities have lower levels of investment capital available, supposed to go to sell their retail products? Enter Marvin Francois, co-founder of oneKIN and the soon-to-be launched live stream social commerce platform Twiine. Marvin and his partners are on a mission to provide POC-owned businesses with a robust platform through which they tell their stories, interact with customers and sell their products.

Wall St is detrimentally too white and male. Women & minorities, who achieve 60% better returns than their white male counterparts, manage a mere 1.3% of the $69 trillion in financial portfolios (Bloomberg). While Wall St says the lack of diversity is a pipeline problem, Troy Prince, founder of Wall Street Bound and Prometheus Capital Management, knows that it most definitely is not. Plain and simple, the problem is social capital...some have it, some don't, and he is doing everything he can to change that.

We kick off our second year with one of our favorite guides on our journey, Charles Rosen. Through his diverse experiences, but especially through Ironbound, Charles now realizes that his success is tied to the success of everyone around him. This has been the driving force as Iron Bound has sought to be a sustainable creator of wealth, empowerment and progress for every stakeholder involved. And, thanks in part to the pandemic, Charles thinks they have found their road to viability.

Jill Johnson spends her days figuring out how to bridge the gap between the social equality white Americans easily get behind for Black Americans, and the economic opportunity and access to capital that Black Americans need for any kind of lasting progress. Jill returns to The Righteous Capitalists to give some advice to all the people who are looking for what to do after the marches and after reading the anti-racist articles, to share the economic opportunity that has been elusive for Black entrepreneurs, business owners, and everyday Black Americans.

Fair wages and benefits, like paid time off (PTO), are not the first things most people think of when they think of McDonald's. Kari Swenson, who owns & operates 8 McDonald's with her husband, Kenny, can't think of running her restaurants without providing good pay, PTO, predictable schedules & other benefits, while also earning a top award from the Green Restaurant Association. Kari & Jeff are prime examples of how businesses can be run for the betterment of all stakeholders, and operate contrary to much of an industry's 'business as usual.'

The coronavirus caused millions of growing businesses to screech to a stop as if a deer just stepped onto their road to success. Sharon Rowe of ECOBAGS has been on that road for 30 years which has provided her with wisdom that prompted her to act decisively to ensure her employees maintained some income. Now, she watches as her Christmas, a/k/a Earth Day, passes her by as she's hopeful that this crisis will lead to changes in business & consumer behavior.

What you think of as leadership is really authority, and authority is crucial in a time of crisis. Authority figures, like those in gov't, business & in your home, will get us to the other side of the corona crisis. Leaders will find ways to use this moment to create real change that makes us better off in the long run. Eric Martin of Adaptive Change Advisors talks with Doug about how any of us can become one of those leaders as long as we seize the opportunity correctly.

As one of the few remaining manufacturers in the US, Mitch Cahn & Unionwear are trying to fill the void left by all of the cost cutting, outsourcing companies that have contributed to our crippled supply chain for lifesaving healthcare products, including personal protection equipment. They have turned a factory that was gearing up to make baseball hats for the Olympics, the US Census, and presidential campaigns into a facility making face shields & isolation gowns for frontline healthcare workers.

Farmers markets are unexpectedly coming to our rescue. Dan Lipow, of The Foraged Feast, is learning that as the restaurant portion of his business is disappearing, another part is surprisingly thriving...farmers markets. They don't rely on long international supply chains & they are outdoors which is perfect for the time we are living in. Add online sales to Dan's world, which he just started, and he may end 2020 with the same revenue as last year.

Ironbound Hard Cider, founded by Charles Rosen, is a company that straddles every strata of American society: farmers, urbanites, suburbanites, the economically well-off, and everyone else. And, Charles thinks deeply about everyone and how we are all connected in good times and now bad. According to Charles, the degree with which we acknowledge, celebrate, and truly rely on that interconnectedness will determine how we get beyond our current crisis.

Among the first things to go when the coronavirus arrived were big annual events like SXSW, Jazz Fest, and countless St. Patrick's Day parades (not to mention smaller and more meaningful events like weddings). Doug Zacker checked in with Matt Glass from Eventage to learn about how one event company is trying to keep employees whole and counsel clients. We also discuss the larger context of big events in a time when we are forbidden from getting together.

Most entrepreneurs don't start their businesses intending to exploit workers, the environment, customers or their community. At some point though, good intentions can crumble under the financial stresses of running a business and dealing with investors. Allen Bromberger of Bromberger Law helps entrepreneurs build a legal structure that supports and even requires multi-stakeholder decision making, and helps founders stay true to those original intentions from inception through exit.