How Londons Social Entrepreneurs Are Leading The World, With Impact Tech And Innovative Purpose-Driven Companies (Part 2) – Forbes

Over the last five years, London has emerged as one of the worlds leading hubs for impact tech, and ... [+] VC investment into Londons purpose-driven companies has been growing rapidly.

Londons Social Entrepreneurs are blazing a path with innovative new impact tech. For Part One of this interview click here.

Another social entrepreneur, Alex Stephany from Beam agrees with the thesis of community self-empowerment. Beamis the world's first crowdfunding platform for homeless people a truly innovative solution.

I started Beam because I feltpowerless: how could I make areal difference to people affected by homelessness? With Beam, I and over ten thousand other peopleare able to virtually 'meet' people affected by homelessness on our websitebeam.organd can fund the specific financial barriers they face.We're trying to create an amazing donor experience interms of transparency and efficiency: you can see exactly where your donation goes via transparent budgets, share the journey of each person you support through email updates, and have the peace of mind thatevery single penny goes towards lifting someone out of homelessness for good.

Alex Stephany, Founder of Beam

Another terrific new technology platform that is helping Londoners feel safe and supported is Safe and the City, a personal safety navigation app.

Jillian Kowalchuk, the Founder shared more. Safe & the City is a free mobile application available in all UK cities and Berlin, Germany. The app looks and feels similar to other navigation apps, but there are a few distinct features. Straight away, youll see your position on the map, a red SOS button to reach Emergency services and a Report button. You can enter your destination and youll receive walking or public transit directions.

As you take the journey, Safe & the City scans millions of data sources to inform you on whether youre heading into a dangerous situation or a crime hotspot. We provide in-app notifications along your journey with safety tips to keep you aware and how to protect yourself. When you finish your journey, you can score it to help improve the safety of these spaces, such as street lighting. When you Reportan incident, like catcalling/commenting, it stays anonymous unless you choose to share it with friends. We keep the app free for people by working with organisations, such as the police, mobility operators, technology companies, local businesses and cities, to improve the safety of the people in their spaces.

Jillian Kowalchuk, the Founder of Safe & the City

Its a brilliant idea and one that should be available in all cities worldwide. I asked her about the response to the app so far. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People generally are surprised an app like this hasnt existed until now, especially focusing on addressing normalized forms of abuse in public spaces, such as street harassment. Were constantly getting requests for our app to expand to more cities worldwide.

Safe & The City Map

Finally, I caught up with May Al-Karooni, Founder and CEO of Globechain which is leading anew market in reuse for enterprises in retail, construction, and hospitality, to reduce global waste and generate social, economic and environmental data on the impact. She shared how her journey started.

I was working for an investment bank and we moved offices across the road. I found out we were disposing of perfectly usable furniture and office equipment, costing 50 000 per person for the move! I was shocked and began wondering why no one had digitised waste and connected enterprises to non profits and businesses to reuse and redistribute unneeded items measuring the ESG data impact. From there I set up Globechain with 800.

May Al-Karooni, Founder and CEO of Globechain

Since then, the business has expanded at a staggering rate. Over the past six years, Globechain has grown a network of over 10 000 members, redistributed 472 000+ items and diverted more than 7 750 000 kgs of waste from landfills with savings of over 4.1m to non profits. We provide internal reuse and loaning globally, with our external reuse solution in the UK, New York and Spain.

She reflected on the journey, We have so many incredible success stories, from medical equipment being used in hospitals and emergency relief camps in Africa, to furniture and kitchen equipment helping local charities set up community cafes and food banks to mannequin parts used in art projects to bring awareness to social causes. I am always amazed at how quickly the items are requested on our site (average 20 minutes in the UK) and what they are used for. Globechain is now expanding internationally and is looking for purpose-driven partners to collaborate with.

Globechain is a data-centric reuse solution making waste a resource for everyone

For the final word, I turned back to Natalie Campbell from Belu. There are so many systems shifts going on that I believe we'll see even more purpose-driven businesses that look at growth with fresh eyes because we're all entering a world we've never lived in before. Businesses are also providing a moral compass, more so than any time I remember before, not just in what they say but what and how they sell. We'll be rethinking business solutions for many years to come, and the climate emergency and powering an equitable world will be at the forefront, I hope and believe.

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How Londons Social Entrepreneurs Are Leading The World, With Impact Tech And Innovative Purpose-Driven Companies (Part 2) - Forbes