Connect with us

Lifestyle

Making a Real Difference: How Your Business Can Create a Greater Impact on Society

mm

Published

on

– Choosing compostable paper bags over plastic packaging in your store.
– Offering fresh leftovers to the less-privileged living close to your eatery.
– Free haircuts every weekend for neighborhood kids whose parents can’t afford salon fees.
– Scaling your brand by cutting down on some less critical divisions in favor of affordability.
– Hiring well-vetted ex-convicts in your establishment.

The list goes on and on.

Beyond a pure profit-driven era and in an ideal world, the social impact of a business is just as critical to its overall success as the economic impact. Your business should be held to the moral responsibility of contributing to positive efforts, on any scale, against social injustice and other challenges faced by its host community. Contrary to the general misconception, social impact isn’t just about philanthropy.

“Social impact is tangibly improving the health and wellbeing of other people in society,” says Durell Coleman, an American entrepreneur, social impact consultant, multi-niched engineer, and Stanford lecturer. “The challenge in the definition is that a lot of things can appear to mimic this impact. However, the parameters for measurements are questions such as – who are the people who have some of the biggest health and wellbeing challenges? Are we making things easier for them? Are we creating things that are improving outcomes for them? As a social impact strategist, I think of who’s not being designed for and who’s not being served. Who’s left out of the systems that we currently have? This is how improvements are effected.”

Coleman is the founder and CEO of DC Design, a leading Black-owned social impact consulting firm and strategy development brand headquartered in San Francisco. With many years of experience working with nonprofits, foundations, and governments, Coleman has developed countless long-lasting community-centered strategies for directly impacting lives where it actually matters. He shares some thoughts on how social impact can be incorporated into everyday businesses on any feasible scale.

Social impact as part of your core business plan

One year. Five years. Twenty years.

It doesn’t exactly matter how long your business has existed. At any point in your growth trajectory, quality change can be envisioned. Cost-effective or non-cost strategies can be developed to scale your business up to an establishment making positive and genuinely helpful impacts on society. You’d have to identify what area of community or society you’d like to touch directly. For example, do you want to include more affordable options in your product list to tend to lower-income families, or would you like to include a free delivery option to nearby neighborhoods?

“Start with the people you want to serve,” Coleman says. “Not simply thinking about what’s needed to create change, but talking to them directly about what their experiences have been like in confronting the problem you hope to solve. If you want to affect homelessness, talk to the homeless. If you want to affect Black wealth inequality, talk to low-income Black people. If your work is about reducing mass incarceration, talk to those who are or have been incarcerated. They understand where the system failed them, where they could have chosen differently, and what your priorities should be.”

A combination of these insights is then applied to come up with solid approaches and viable strategies for creating directly visible impact. The result is the elevation of these social challenges as these ideas are solidified into long-term sustainable solutions.

Inclusivity against all forms of inequality

Escapism and denial about the social injustices thriving in the world, especially in the United States, would only hurt society in the long run.

“Inequality affects people across every demographic, spanning through parameters such as race where Black and brown people are undeniably affected by ongoing social injustice,” says Coleman, who runs Design the Future, a flagship program teaching high school kids to design products and apps for people with disabilities. “Other factors are gender, where women still battle career biases and representation; income levels, where lower income earners are often confined to lower quality schools, healthcare, and services; rap sheets as ex-convicts re-enter society with little hope for survival; and post-employment care, where war veterans are left to fend for themselves with inadequate assistance from the government.”

A business or brand seeking to make a real social impact must embrace the obligations of equality of inclusion in its range of services.

Tech firms can hire just as many males as females, cosmetics brands can include more dark skin tones in their product array to serve people of every color, fashion brands can supply plus-sized clothing at the same prices as other sizes, clinics can offer free therapy to war veterans, real estate agents can offer lower service percentages to the less-privileged, and more businesses can give formerly incarcerated people a chance.

Be kind to your labor force

A business can make all the social impact in the world but it would all be for nothing if the employees or hired labor, the actual driving force of the enterprise, are unhappy and uncared for. Social impact starts from the immediate environment and broadens out toward larger society.

In conclusion, Coleman describes his personal approach to employee wellness.

“Henry Ford had it right. He paid his people enough so that they could hopefully buy the cars that they were producing, and it all worked out,” he says. “I run a for-profit social impact business. I have to be efficient and I have to make enough money to support my people, my employees. I try to bring in the best employees possible. I try to give them health care. I want to make sure that they have everything that they need to thrive in their own lives.”

Michelle has been a part of the journey ever since Bigtime Daily started. As a strong learner and passionate writer, she contributes her editing skills for the news agency. She also jots down intellectual pieces from categories such as science and health.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Lifestyle

Why Derik Fay Is Becoming a Case Study in Long-Haul Entrepreneurship

mm

Published

on

Entrepreneurship today is often framed in extremes — overnight exits or public flameouts. But a small cohort of operators is being studied for something far less viral: consistency. Among them, Derik Fay has quietly surfaced as a long-term figure whose name appears frequently across sectors, interviews, and editorial mentions — yet whose personal visibility remains relatively limited.

Fay’s career spans more than 20 years and includes work in private investment, business operations, and emerging entertainment ventures. Though many of his companies are not household names, the volume and duration of his activity have made him a subject of interest among business media outlets and founders who study entrepreneurial longevity over fame.

He was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1978, and while much of his early career remains undocumented publicly, recent profiles including recurring features in Forbes — have chronicled his current portfolio and leadership methods. These accounts often emphasize his pattern of working behind the scenes, embedding within businesses rather than leading from a distance. His style is often described by peers as “operational first, media last.”

Fay has also become recognizable for his consistency in leadership approach: focus on internal systems, low public profile, and long-term strategy over short-term visibility. At 46 years old, his posture in business remains one of longevity rather than disruption  a contrast to many of the more heavily publicized entrepreneurs of the post-2010 era.

While Fay has never publicly confirmed his net worth, independent analysis based on documented real estate holdings, corporate exits, and investment activity suggests a conservative floor of $100 million, with several credible indicators placing the figure at well over $250 million. The exact number may remain private  but the scale is increasingly difficult to overlook.

He is also involved in creative sectors, including film and media, and maintains a presence on social platforms, though not at the scale or tone of many personal-brand-driven CEOs. He lives with his long-term partner, Shandra Phillips, and is the father of two daughters — both occasionally referenced in interviews, though rarely centered.

While not an outspoken figure, Fay’s work continues to gain media attention. The reason may lie in the contrast he presents: in a climate of rapid rises and equally rapid burnout, his profile reflects something less dramatic but increasingly valuable — steadiness.

There are no viral speeches. No Twitter threads drawing blueprints. Just a track record that’s building its own momentum over time.

Whether that style becomes the norm for the next wave of founders is unknown. But it does offer something more enduring than buzz: a model of entrepreneurship where attention isn’t the currency — results are.

Continue Reading

Trending