Volans helps develop and scale market-based solutions to social and environmental challenges Volans in a word
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Volans “Looking back at Earth from space can be uncomfortable — you see a closed ecosystem with limited resources. Thoughtful and concerted efforts, like those advanced by Volans, are the critical first steps to sustainable solutions.” Jerry M. Linenger Volans Advisory Board member and Former Astronaut and Cosmonaut, USA Volans in a word
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1 David Puttnam Volans Advisory Board member and film producer; member of the House of Lords, UK
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2 Jane Nelson Volans Advisory Board member and Director, Harvard Kennedy School CSR Initiative, USA
Partnership 3 3 Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli Volans Advisory Board member and Founder/CEO of LEAP Africa, Nigeria
What is Volans? Volans is a mission-driven for-profit organization aimed at scaling marketbased solutions to social and environmental challenges. We develop partnerships with corporations and social enterprises to: — create opportunities for sharing talent — spark innovation of new business models — facilitate investment in scalable solutions. We are working towards a new generation of social enterprises with the potential to bridge — and ultimately close — the great economic, social and environmental divides that pose such a profound challenge to our collective future. Our approach is threefold: —
Volans Connects building relationships between individuals, corporations and social enterprises.
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Volans Insight researching, consulting and portfolio building.
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Volans Outreach disseminating ideas to the wider public. Volans in a word
Frontier In the beginning…
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Geoff Lye is Vice-Chairman of SustainAbility, a Research Fellow at Green College, Oxford, and Visiting Teaching Fellow at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. He speaks regularly on climate change and economic accountability.
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Kevin Teo previously Head of East and Southeast Asia at the Schwab Foundation of Social Entrepreneurship and a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum, Kevin has held numerous senior positions at Bay Area software startups and founded Volans Asia.
Why now? The research and work done for the book The Power of Unreasonable People (Harvard Business School Press, 2008), authored by two of our founders, made us acutely aware of the need to rethink and explore new horizons and new economic and business models. The biggest challenge we face today is growing and sustaining innovative solutions to the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges, from poverty and disease through to the loss of biodiversity and accelerating climate change. This goes beyond talk shops and conferences and involves deploying the capital, the talent and the policies that trigger and support the widespread adoption of these innovations.
Founded in March 2008, Volans is based in Geneva, London, and Singapore with partnerships developing across the world. Our directors and founding partners include:
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John Elkington a co-founder of SustainAbility in 1987, he is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development, author of 17 books and a Visiting Professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Cranfield University. Pamela Hartigan formerly Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, with a 15-year career leading departments in multilateral organizations, she is a recognized international authority on social entrepreneurship and teaches in the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia School of Business in New York.
Connector Volans is uniquely positioned to support and drive the necessary change, but we can’t do it alone. We are privileged to have a number of influential strategic partners on our Advisory Board including Tim Brown, J. Gregory Dees, Frans Johansson, Jerry M. Linenger, Jane Nelson, Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, David Puttnam, Bunker Roy, Tim Smit and Antonio Soler.
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Volans Connects “The more you encourage serendipity — say, by bringing together different people — the more you’ll get rich answers.” Tim Brown Volans Advisory Board member and CEO of IDEO, UK Quoted by Fortune online
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Transformative 5 4 Tim Smit Volans Advisory Board member and Founder, The Eden Project, UK
5 Jerry M. Linenger Volans Advisory Board member and Former Astronaut and Cosmonaut, USA
6 J. Gregory Dees Volans Advisory Board member and Professor of the Practice of Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Management, Fuqua School of Management, Duke University, USA
What is Volans Connects? Volans Connects links individuals and corporations with vetted social enterprises to create mutually beneficial partnerships in over 85 countries around the world. How we do it Volans Connects fosters partnerships with national and multinational corporations seeking to kick-start co-ventures with innovative, high impact social enterprises that have gained the trust of the communities in which they operate. Volans Connects facilitates the joint planning, development, and execution of social businesses which correspond with a corporation’s core business and strategic goals. Volans Connects identifies talent share assignments in social enterprises. These opportunities are designed to draw upon the diversity of skills and experience found in business that can be deployed to strengthen and grow social ventures at different stages of their development. Volans Connects structures these opportunities so that they benefit individuals, corporations, and social enterprises in equal measure.
To ensure the impact and effectiveness of these partnerships, Volans Connects works with social enterprises that have been screened and selected after an extensive due diligence process by renowned organizations including Acumen, Ashoka, Avina, Echoing Green, and the Lemelson, Schwab and Skoll Foundations. Together, these communities comprise some 2,500 entities addressing seemingly intractable social, environmental, and economic problems. Volans in a word
Agile Volans Connects helps: Corporations Volans Connects delivers in six areas: — Leadership development — Market intelligence & expertise — Recruitment and retention tool — Employee ‘re-deployment’ — Alumni engagement — CSR strategy enhancement Individuals Volans Connects offers opportunities to individuals interested in: — Personal development — New skill acquisition — Entrepreneurial experience — Global exposure — Civic engagement — Network building Social Enterprises Volans Connects offers innovative social organizations ways to: — Scale their reach and scope — Access skilled professionals — Extend brand awareness — Influence the broader business community
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Volans Insight “Volans is an important and timely initiative with high impact potential on the African continent, where there is an urgent need for innovative cross-sector solutions to some of our most pressing challenges.� Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli Volans Advisory Board member and Founder/CEO of LEAP Africa, Nigeria
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Harbinger
7 Bunker Roy Volans Advisory Board member and Founder, Barefoot College, India
8 Antonio Soler Volans Advisory Board member and serial entrepreneur, France
9 Tim Brown Volans Advisory Board member and CEO of IDEO, UK
What is Volans Insight?
Fostering tomorrow’s markets
Volans Insight offers customized consulting, market research, and portfolio building services. Underpinning our service offerings, our team of experts develops extensive, in-depth market reports and case studies of successful partnerships, business models, and social innovations. Volans offers consulting services to organizations interested in developing solutions to social and environmental challenges.
With funding from The Skoll Foundation, Volans Insight is developing leading edge intelligence on the 10 global market gaps identified in the book The Power of Unreasonable People (Harvard Business School Press, 2008).
Our approach Our team tracks successful social and corporate partnerships to develop replicable solutions to scaling social ventures. In parallel, we map emerging hotspots where the business of social innovation currently thrives. Led by John Elkington, co-founder of Environmental Data Services (ENDS) in 1978, SustainAbility in 1987 and Volans in 2008, the Insight team draws on decades of experience of working with government, corporations, financial institutions, NGOs and entrepreneurs. Volans in a word
Based on this innovative research, Volans offers a new program called Pathways to Scale. This program aims to accelerate the transformation of mainstream markets by identifying and experimenting with the next generation of business models based on social innovation. Volans in a word
Blueprints 10 Investing in the future Volans works with investors and fund managers to develop new investment portfolios, ranging from pure social return funds through blended value funds to mainstream funds.
Catalytic Who are our customers? We work with an expanding spectrum of clients from the public, private and citizen sectors. These relationships include: venture capital firms, social and environmental enterprises, multinational corporations, large consulting firms, philanthropic foundations, and NGOs. Volans in a word
Agenda-setting 9 10 Rupert Bassett Designer and educator, UK
All other words by Volans Team members John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan, Sam Lakha, Alejandro Litovsky, Charmian Love, Geoff Lye, Adam Rein, Astrid Sandoval, Smita Sircar and Kevin Teo
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What is Volans Outreach?
Recent publication
Through inspirational and provocative story-telling, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan frequently deliver engaging and informed keynote speeches and participate in panel discussions. To arrange a speaking engagement please contact Sam Lakha in our London office. sam@volans.com
The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan Harvard Business School Press 2008
Our name Volans comes from the flying fish (Pisces volans). In Latin, volans means ‘flying’ or ‘flying thing’— which seems appropriate as we see Volans as a giant leap forward in our field and working lives. Learn more about us and check out our blog on our website. www.volans.com
‘This book demonstrates how market-based solutions can combine with compassionate entrepreneurs and democratizing technology to tackle society’s most intractable problems.’ Marc Benioff Chairman and CEO, Salesforce.com and Salesforce.com Foundation ‘…profiles a new generation of entrepreneurs whose path-breaking innovations and courageous leadership have driven remarkable change in the world. They deserve our recognition and support.’ Henry Kravis Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.; Founder, Kravis Leadership Institute ‘Full of reasonable — if surprising — facts about apparently unreasonable people, this powerful book brims over with insights and inspiration.’ Jeroen van der Veer CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
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www.volans.com Volans London 2 Bloomsbury Place London WC1A 2QA United Kingdom london@volans.com T +44 (0)20 7268 0390 F +44 (0)20 7268 0391
Volans Singapore 5 Tanjong Rhu Road #17–02 The Waterside Singapore 436882 singapore@volans.com
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