Daniel Epstein Video Conference:
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In Teamlabs, everyday we work for an education connected to reality building a “ureasonable “enterpreneur community to provoke a change to improve our society. On 11th of June, in our space in Madrid, we had the chance to meet one of the most “unreasonable” figure of social enterpreneurship at the international level, Daniel Epstein, Unreasonable Group founder, is also Director and cofounder of The Girl Effect Accelerator, among othr things.
In 2012, he was recognized as one of the most 30 impacting enterpreneurs of the world by Forbes magazine and awarded as World Enterpreneur in the Global Enterpreneurship Forum celebrated in 2013.
The origin of Unreasonable Institute: Solving the highest social and environmetal challenges of the world.
During the conference, organized in colaboration with USA embassy, in Spain, Daniel Epstein explained us how Unreasonable Institute was born:A group of friends who wish to solve the highest social and environmetal challenges at global level as poverty, lack of education or social injustice. But, they wanted to do it in a innovative way, rebuilding how we think and how we approach us to the problems. Because, until this moment, the organization built to achieve this kind kind of challenges continued with the same development and without results (189 coountries that, in 10 years, they just reduced 0.6% the global poverty level. Why does it try in a different way instead of to continue waiting for somebody to make the miracle (as Gandhi did for example).Maybe, this way , it would be easy to achieve results in a more effective way.
In What Unreasonable Program consits? Which are their goals?
If there is something that Unreasonable Institute team believes, its the enterpreneur potential to change the world. Because of that, they recruit and select a 20-25 enterpreneur team around the world that they live together in the same house during 6 weeks with the challenge for helping them to develope the skills needed to reach a true social impact through innovative ventures and projects, offering them a mentor team , funders and investors. The program provides them knowledge , resources and tools to scale their proyect in a significant way. So that, they achieve an impact of 1 million people each one. Every year, The Unreasonable Institute program, prepares 25 new enterpreneurs in each location that they have distributed internationally, expandng the change and social impact in a global scale.
But for Daniel, as well as for the founder team, the really exiting point has been to see how what in 2010 started as experiment, a challenge, now it´s a reality and furthermore than works,it continues growing every year, thanks to the support and work of the mentors and inversors, who really makes possible that proyects scales.
The Girl Effect Accelerator: Erradicate the poverty in teenagers.
One of the highlighted proyects which Daniel came to present in Spain and that it´s boosted by Unreasonable Institute is The Girsl Effect foundation. A global movement created 2 years ago focus on erradicate the state of poverty where young teenagers are. From the union between Unreasonable Group, The Girl Effect and the Nike Foundation (cofunder of The Girl Effect), last November 2014 emerged The Girl Effect accelerator, a program which connects 10 companies recruited with world class mentors, funding strategy and access to a global support network , to accelerate the positive impact that this companies are already implementing in ths group of teenagers in extreme poverty situation. “Everybody have the responsability to fight against the poverty”.
But, Why a program focus on teenage girls?
Because they are the most powerfull strength to change the world. As statistics show:For families which lives with less than a 2 dollars per day, the boys which study in the secundary level obtain a 35% of reinvestment from their family earn.While the daughter, in the same family, receiving the same education, gives back between 90 – 95% of their future profits to their family.
Some examples of projects launched by this accelerator are the “ Hug Heater”: similar to a sleeping bag, it´s filled with boiling water to keep corporal temperatute of the premature babies. An alternative solution to hatcheries which are economically inaccessible for the mayority of the families ( a high percent of babies died by hypothermia) and it allows a use in in a rural enviroment (where there´s no electricity). It´s 250 times cheaper that hatchery and the same effective.
Another venture is the education in clean energies. In África, in front of the extended use of kerosene torches, with a high toxicity, they ´re implementing solar torches , cheaper ans with a more equitative access to a clean light inside of home. This way, young teenage , usually the last in use this resource , they also can use it to study.
After finishing Daniel conference, the attending audience could know the proyects launched this year for the enterpreneur community of Teamlabs. First of all, the teams who form Univerity Degree LEINN (Leadesrship, Enterpreneurship and innovation): the team company Psyde presented Apelestrudel, the “Rubio “ notebook for adtults , Seion, Ad-flow: The marketing which connects with your clients and Walkinn the Nostoch byotech proyect: a byo- fertilizer and byo pesticide.
Consecutively, the 2 generations os Masteryourself , the teams Concoco&co, with the project Furgolab: A van which makes itinerant laboratories spreading creative technologies, and the team beta projects, with the program HENKO- Life and Balance, a educational experience which combines surf, yoga and meditation to develope enterpreneur skills.
Many knowledges could be extract from the enterpreneur path of Daniel Epstein. The same way, ,from the projects of the LEINN teams and MasterYourself. But, above all, in Teamlabs we highlight and follow the same phylosophy,Don´t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you feel alive and go ahead. Because what the world needs it´s people alive. So that, if you have a dream , fight to make it real.
