Submitted

Last Updated July 12, 2020

2020 Elevate Prize

Impact Shakers

Team Leader

Yonca Braeckman

About You and Your Work

Your bio:

Yonca is a connector and community builder with extensive experience in strategy and startup acceleration. She is the founder of Impact Shakers, a global impact ecosystem tackling complex societal challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship. She has built a body of work that demonstrates the power of collaboration across the private, social, and public sectors. Yonca helped build the Belgian and European tech startup ecosystems and guided many startups on their first steps abroad. She built a new smart city hub in Ghent, Belgium, with an in-house acceleration program called Watt Factory. She serves on the board of different non-profits and is the curator of TEDxGhent and the Techstars Startup Digest Reading List on Impact Entrepreneurship. Most recently, she initiated the Horasis Young Visionaries for the Global Vision Community Horasis to add another piece to her mission of lifting diverse social entrepreneurs.

Project name:

Impact Shakers

One-line project summary:

Tackling complex societal challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship.

Present your project.

Impact Shakers is a global impact ecosystem designed to beat the odds.

Our mission is to tackle complex societal challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship.

We work on bridging the gap between impact and profit and believe that entrepreneurship is the best medium to ignite systemic change for complex societal challenges. We see a huge lack of diversity in entrepreneurship which holds enormous problem-solving potential to be unlocked. We solve what we know, the monoculture in entrepreneurship and investment is why so many problems are not being solved through entrepreneurship right now. On top of that, legislation and legislators can hardly keep up with the fast pace of change, which is why we see policy input as a crucial piece in tackling complex problems.

We work with entrepreneurs as well as investors on innovation of financing & tools and on policy changes to create systemic change.

What specific problem are you solving?

We are working to help complex societal problems get solved. We are the multiplicator helping entrepreneurs tackle all different kinds of systemic problems in a durable way. We believe problems are absolutely big enough to build successful businesses on their solutions, but right now, the problems that get solved are very much focused on growing inequality.

We do this by solving the problem of the homogenous profile of successful entrepreneur. We work on diverse entrepreneurship in every way of the word. Anything from gender over migration or low income background, refugees, LGBTQ, formerly incarcerated, all the way to the gap between humanists and technologists, which we believe to be an essential problem in how the world is being built right now. By having mostly white male software engineers design the tools that impact our reality without any input from others and government is taking out of the mix as well we get a clear dystopia. If we imagine the same will happen with biotech, humanity has an even more homogenous future ahead.

What is your project?

Impact Shakers is a global impact ecosystem designed to beat the odds.

Our mission is to tackle complex societal challenges through inclusive entrepreneurship.

We do this through different activities:

- Connect: We have an online community for impact entrepreneurs in which we help them connect & grow with likeminded value driven entrepreneurs.

- Grow: We help entrepreneurs learn & grow through online courses & accelerator programs

- Invest: We are raising our Pre-Fund to invest in impact ventures founded by underrepresented entrepreneurs. We are raising money from diverse investors.

- Policy: We are preparing our first research project to work on integrating lobbying as part of building an impact venture.

Who does your project serve, and in what ways is the project impacting their lives?

Our users are underrepresented impact entrepreneurs & investors.

We are they. Me and my co-founder check so many of the underrepresented boxes that we are statistical anomalies. We both grew up in low income background families, are the first in our family to get a university degree and I am second generation immigrant on my fathers side, but raised by a single mom.

We have been engaging with them from the very start, by organizing events all over the world, first offline and now online. We interact on a daily basis in our online community. And we address their needs through the various activities we organize, evaulate and iterate.

We work on awareness as well as capacity building and we are creating new role models in order to shift the entrepreneurship narrative including investors.

Which dimension of The Elevate Prize does your project most closely address?

Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind

Explain how your project relates to The Elevate Prize and your selected dimension.

Our entire mission is to elevate issues and people. We are working on building an ecosystem, because we believe it's so important to work on different pieces of the puzzle. Complex problems need complex solutions. We are not afraid of complexity, we embrace it.

We work on both other dimensions as well, through the entrepreneurs we support and help to grow. Our work is to enable them to scale their impact.

We tell their stories to shift the entrepreneurship narrative towards an inclusive and diverse one.

How did you come up with your project?

My co-founder and I have been working in policy as well as startup ecosystems in our careers. The idea of Impact Shakers stems from all we admire and dislike in the different worlds we worked in.

We believe there is so much middle ground and success to be found in nuance and complexity. There is a way to make profit and solve complex societal challenges. There is a way to use startup methods to do this and not ignore the impact your business has on all of its stakeholders. There is opportunity in engaging diverse entrepreneurs and lowering barriers in order to get more diverse people to become entrepreneurs.

Since both of us also have a long history of building communities from student associations over volunteering organizations, to startup ecosystems, our experience leads us to build this way. We are ecosystem builders and believe in the approach we have since the start. It takes longer, but again, complex solutions for complex problems.

Why are you passionate about your project?

We are both underrepresented in so many ways.

I see how little people with my background succeed in taking all the hurdles that so called current equal opportunities offer.

I also believe firmly in the power of entrepreneurship as a problem solving tool which currently is only being used by a fragment of the people it could be used by. We believe we can unlock the problem solving potential of many more and thus tackle more diverse problems. Entrepreneurship has become so much more accessible the last decade, though it hasn't become much more diverse yet. Clearly there is a lot of work to be done to lower, mostly mental, barriers and focus efforts on those left behind.

Next to an excellent tool for problem solving, entrepreneurship can also pose great social mobility opportunities. This crisis will again pull and keep more people in a future without perspective. We need to focus even more on offering those with a less fortunate social economic background perspectives. We can do this by focusing more policy that gears towards social mobility and by handing them the tools to make use of entrepreneurship to do it themselves.

Why are you well-positioned to deliver this project?

Cross sector collaboration

I have built a body of work that demonstrates the power of collaboration across the private, social, and public sectors. I understand the different perspectives and needs of these organizations. I have a talent for strategic ecosystem building and understanding which pieces will influence others and lift up an entire system. To create systemic change, insights into different perspectives is crucial.

Empathy

As an underrepresented founder I can empathize with many problems as well as with many people. Building companies, in the end is a human business, success is dependent on the people in it. Our approach starts from the people you build your business with and how to maintain a good relationship throughout.

Knowledge

I helped build the Belgian & European startup ecosystem and have learned so much from the companies I mentored over the years as well as setting up development programmes for entrepreneurs all over the world.

Network

My global network and ability to connect with the right people is essential for our mission as well.

Provide an example of your ability to overcome adversity.

One of the first alternative deals we made, did not work out as intended. Completely unexpectedly, the founder ended the contract one month before the vesting date with the message, thank you for all the great work you have done and the fundraising, but we'll stop the relationship here.

Because of the long negotiations and two step contract, there was a small gap period in which we were unprotected, and the risk we calculated in was the risk of the company failing, not the calculated actions of the founder.

I immediately explored all legal options, but came to the conclusion I made a mistake in signing this contract. This impacted me a lot emotionally, I felt a lot of injustice and anger, so I decided I had to get over this very fast and take my losses and move on. Consequence is I will never sign a contract again in good faith, where there is an unprotected risk on my side. I'm still sad about it though.

Describe a past experience that demonstrates your leadership ability.

I played an essential role in setting up the innovation ecosystem in my hometown of Ghent. I helped organize many events for many dofferent organizations and took on leadership roles in different organizations helping forward entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration in the city.

One of the organizations I have been leading for 6 years is the local TEDx branch. With a team of 20 to 30 volunteers I learned a very specific type of leadership, one that is based on shared goals. I enable people to learn and grow while working towards the same goal. I am a value driven leader and I'm good at making people find purpose in their work.

Leadership to me, is also speaking up when needed. I am passionate about fighting injustice and I am not scared to use my voice to talk about it. In building Impact Shakers, this is one of our core beliefs.

How long have you been working on your project?

In October 2 years

Where are you headquartered?

Ghent, Belgium

What type of organization is your project?

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

More About Your Work

If you have a website describing your project, provide a link here:

https://www.impactshakers.com/

Describe what makes your project innovative.

Our ecosystem approach to inclusive impact entrepreneurship.

We will work with entrepreneurs as well as investors.

We will work on financing as well as policy change.

We will work on early stage as well as scaling.

Select the key characteristics of the community you are impacting.

Women & Girls
LGBTQ+
Elderly
Rural
Urban
Poor
Low-Income
Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons
Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations
Persons with Disabilities

Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your project address?

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-Being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals

How many people does your project currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?

In the community and courses we will impact people directly, through our portfolio companies the impact will be multiplied.

Current

Community 100

Courses -

Portfolio companies 2

1 year

Community 1000

Courses 250

Portfolio companies 8

5 year

Community 100 000

Courses 10000

Portfolio companies 100

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

Goals now

Create a small highly engaged yet already global community

Create the first successful course

Raise our first pre-fund with underrepresented investors (to invest in underrepresented founders)

Create great deal flow

Goals in 5 years

Create a large highly engaged global community

Create an adapted course offer to our community

Raise an alternative investment fund

Scale our portfolio companies

Impact policy

What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?

Our main barrier is financing.

We have bootstrapped until now, but we have reached a point where we need to hire staff to scale our company and our revenue streams are not sufficient to grow at the pace we are so ready for now.

How do you plan to overcome these barriers?

We will focus on the revenue generating parts of our business and we want to find a great partner, preferably a foundation (or this prize) who believes in our mission and wants to grow with us.

What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?

We have different types of partnerships:

- Maze X: Impact Accelerator, we partner on content

- (Ellen MacArthur Foundation: not official yet)

- Nesta: Research

- Startup Europe Networks: Impact entrepreneurship partner

Your Business Model & Funding

The Prize

Solution Team:

Yonca Braeckman
Founder & CEO