Under the motto “Triple Impact – connecting bottom lines,” five business students launched a new company aimed toward connecting corporations with disadvantaged communities.
What started out as a class project to draft a business plan for enacting social change turned into the founding of Triple Impact, a company that matches a corporation’s specialized skills with a certain community’s needs and plans personalized service trips for employees to educate and improve that community.
Triple Impact’s creators – senior finance and supply chain management major Dipti Badrinath, senior finance major Stephanie Cantor, senior international business and finance major Scott Shuffield, senior finance major Nikita Shenoy and junior international business major Abby Murray – garnered praise at the business school’s Pitch Dingman Competition in March, where they won a $250 Viewer’s Choice Award. The company also received $1,000 from one investor and founders are now looking for additional grants.
In March, the founders also met with Stanley Litow, the vice president of corporate citizenship at IBM, who advised them on their business strategy and encouraged them to continue their efforts.
“The most motivating part is that these highly successful business people have told us ‘You’ve got to keep going. You’ve got a good idea you’ve got to pursue it,'” Murray said.
The founders are working to pitch a service trip for business school faculty as a pilot for their company. They noted Triple Impact would not only benefit the communities they serve – engaging in meaningful service would also build employee morale.
“This program will increase productivity and retention rates for employees in the company,” Murray said “[It] gives the employees a sense of purpose.”
Now, the founders said their main prerogative is to find clients. Melissa Carrier, an executive director at the business school, had assisted in connecting them with corporations and prominent business executives. She said Triple Impact would help corporations gain a competitive advantage and also allow young employees to do work that has a positive social impact.
“The Triple Impact concept is special because it unites several industry trends in a business opportunity to do well and do good,” Carrier said.
The goal of Triple Impact, founders said, is to ensure both sides – the corporation and the community – would benefit from their services.
“We are hoping this will make the company feel invested in the people and community they are working in, as well as make a true difference,” Badrinath said.
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