003, Luni Libes, Fledge, The Conscious Company Accelerator

At 37 years-old, Michael “Luni” Libes had just completed his fifth successful tech startup. Looking for a way to support his fellow entrepreneurs, Luni became a mentor-in-residence for Pinchot University’s MBA of Sustainable Business program. After watching graduates struggle to launch their mission-driven businesses, Luni founded Fledge, the Conscious Company accelerator. Each year Fledge runs a program with seven mission-driven, for-profit companies. With six cohorts completed, Fledge has 39 graduates from ten countries, one-third of whom are in Africa. Each company is making an impact on some of the most pressing challenges of our times.

In this episode, Luni shares:

The story of how he started Fledge

The difference between an “impact company” and others who claim that they are going to change the world

The Fledge model for accelerating impact companies

Examples of Fledge Alumni and their impact

Luni’s latest innovation FledgeX

And three business models for mission-driven, for profit companies, including which model he focuses on

 

Resources referenced in the Interview:

Fledge: Fledge.co

Luni’s presentation at the 1st Fledge Demo Day: https://youtu.be/gVDiLlVoCoE?t=2m47s

Pinchot University (formerly the Bainbridge Graduate Institute): http://pinchot.edu/

Luni’s 2015 Fledge Demo Day presentation where he compares the numbers of charity vs. for-profit businesses: https://youtu.be/r03V6sR87aw

StockBox Neighborhood Grocery: http://stockboxgrocers.com/

Techstars: http://www.techstars.com/

Evernu: http://www.evrnu.com/#intro

Community Sourced Capital: https://www.communitysourcedcapital.com/

Kiva: http://www.kiva.org/

Arqlite: http://www.arqlite.rocks/

Ensibuuko: http://ensibuuko.com/

GreenChar: http://greenchar.co.ke/

FledgeX: http://fledge.co/x/

The Next Step: Guiding you from idea to startup, book by Luni Libes: http://bit.ly/NextStepLuni

Kick Incubator: http://www.kickincubator.com/

Impact Hubs: http://www.impacthub.net/

Fledge Applications: http://fledge.co/about/

“What is a Social Entrepreneur” Infographic: http://tonyloyd.com/socentinfographic