Katherine Olives
On September 30th, we launched the Social Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Christopher M. Reim, the Managing Director of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA). The event was the first of three, and set the tone for why its important for todays businesses to have a strong social impact.
Christopher Reim specializes in job creation and growth, working to ensure the economic development of technology-based organizations and ideas. His roles in establishing new businesses have included a wide range of investing, creating, managing, advising, and more. So, he is an expert in ensuring that the worlds of social impact and capitalist ventures collide.
Mr. Reim spoke to how important entrepreneurship is; how crucial it is for society to invest in new businesses and for new business to invest in society. And since something as essential as job creation is a major source of social impact, every new business that can thrive will create opportunity for new jobs, further encouraging economic growth. Two speakers from successful social impact startups joined him in expressing how their diverse ventures both contributed to the growth and flourishing of society. The first was David McCreery, of NYC Hired, who spoke about how his company has streamlined and simplified the job-hunting experience. And then Cuthbert A. Onikute, founder of Dechets a lOr, explained how his organization was improving waste management in Kankan, Guinea.
Please join us for the next installment of the Social Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, Human Centered Design, with Deb Johnson, on Wednesday, October 28th at 5:00pm.