3 Internet Entrepreneurs Finding Ways to Give Back Let their examples inspire you.
By Mark Daoust Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Being an entrepreneur can be a very rewarding occupation. But it's not necessarily all about the money. It can also be rewarding if you also devote some of your time to charitable causes. If you're in a position to do some good in the world, then you should.
Of course we know some of the really big high-profile business names who do charitable work - Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett are just three that instantly spring to mind. With more money than they will ever be able to spend, they see philanthropy as an obligation, not an option.
But you don't have to be a multi-billionaire to want to give back to the world, or even just to your local community. The following 3 entrepreneurs are also making a difference in their own way. Let their initiatives, big and small, inspire you to find a way to give back that fits your mission and market.
Anik Singal (For All Our Good)
Anik Singal is the CEO of Lurn, a community and resource to help entrepreneurs turn their passions into profits through digital publishing. But he has also created a non-profit called For All Our Good.
Said Singal, "I avidly believe that education is a right and I also believe that education can solve the problems of the world."
A few years ago, Anik found a pastoral couple who moved to India to build schools in some of the poorest slums. In these neighborhoods, children as young as 3 or 4 were not going to schools but were employed instead.
Today, in partnership with this pastoral couple, Anik has built six, first-class schools in Mumbai, servicing around 700 children in total.
Krish Himmatranka (Do Amore)
When you think wedding rings, you don't automatically also think of water wells in developing countries. But Krish Himmatranka is effectively leveraging the two, ensuring that people in need have access to clean drinking water.
Himmatranka is the founder & CEO of Do Amore. When they sell an engagement or wedding ring, a donation is made to Charity: Water so two people in a developing country get access to clean water. This partnership has been going on now for nearly 2 years, during which they have sponsored 13 water wells, in 4 countries, bringing safe water to over 2,000 people.
"At first, I thought about starting my own water organization" said Himmatranka, "but I quickly learned that many already existed. I realized it would be more fruitful to help one of these organizations by bringing them a new source of capital for water access, rather than creating my own organizations and battling for donations".
Customers who buy these rings often tell their friends how their new rings have benefited other people, helping with sales as well as water access.
Says Himmatranka, his rings, "don't hurt the world, they actually help the world."
Jon Loew (TroopTree)
Jon Loew was concerned over what might happen to active troops' kids if they were killed in the line of duty. He and his friend master sergeant Terry Schappert, host of "Dude, You're Screwed" on the Discovery Channel, decided to do something about it.
They created a private video messaging platform called TroopTree.com which enables military families to keep in touch with their deployed loved ones for free. Videos can be sent immediately, or to be delivered any time in the next 99 years.
Additionally, families can save the videos of their loved ones forever. So if anything was to happen to them, they would always have the memories.
The public can also send thank you videos to the troops, and this has earned TroopTree some high-profile celebrity endorsements from the likes of actress Halle Berry, WWE wrestler John Cena and television personality Nick Cannon.
"I have always felt that none of us can make it through this life without the help of others at one time or another," said Loew. "If someone falls down, you offer a hand to help them get up".
"There is something special and pure about working for something other than money" he added. "It really helps us learn who we are and what's truly important to us".
