Dossier

The Future of Business | Ahmad Ashkar | TEDxGeorgetown

The speaker argues that the future of business is defined by a "social innovation premium," asserting that success requires merging profit motive with measurable impact. This transition is validated by data showing Millennials prioritize associated impact, leading the speaker to frame his company, Falafel Inc., as a model for generating revenue while fulfilling a commitment to refugee support. Ultimately, the message is that all future businesses must be impact-centered, profit-minded, and market-driven.

## Speakers & Context
- **Founder of Falafel Inc.** — Delivering talk on the future of business.
- **Audience** — Attending the event, context suggests interest in business future and social impact.
- **Setting/Occasion** — At an event, discussing the future of business; the speaker frames the discussion around "movement building."
- **Framing** — The speaker establishes that "impact is changing everything we know or used to know about business."

## Theses & Positions
- The future of business is driven by movements.
- Impact is the central force changing traditional business understanding.
- The "social innovation premium" is a real phenomenon in modern business.
- Maximizing shareholder wealth can be achieved concurrently with achieving positive social impact.
- Millennials approach consumer decision-making fundamentally differently from previous generations.
- The historical distinction between social entrepreneurship and regular entrepreneurship is dissolving, merging into one practice.
- The "business of impact" is quantified as an eight trillion dollar industry today.
- The core directive for future businesses must be threefold: impact centered, profit minded, and market driven.
- The only viable currency for transaction is money ("The only currency that can remit is money").
- The speaker's company, Falafel Inc., is validated by a World Food Program contract that could lead to legal action if obligations are not met.

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Movement building** — The concept central to understanding the current state and future direction of business.
- **Impact** — A core concept representing the positive change driving the modern economy; every decision must yield net impact.
- **Hult Prize** — A platform founded by the speaker about a decade ago that provides students with a risk-free opportunity to undertake challenges.
- **Social innovation premium** — The concept that achieving demonstrable positive impact adds inherent value, validating future business models.
- **Shared value economy** — The framework the speaker identifies with, contrasting solely wealth generation with value that benefits society.
- **Impact centered** — A characteristic of future businesses, requiring that every decision (hiring, spending, R&D, product, service) yields a net positive impact.
- **Profit minded** — A requirement for future businesses, meaning they cannot rely on charity but must possess operational business models that generate revenue simply by existing.
- **Market driven** — A requirement for future businesses, meaning they must solve a challenge that exists within a genuine market need.
- **Pedigree** — The third concept discussed, referencing social status markers (like prestigious schools) that are now surpassed by demonstrable impact.

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **The Hult Prize Challenge:** Young people form teams without guaranteed initial ideas to solve a challenge set annually.
- **Falafel Inc. Model:** Designed specifically to transform the lives and restore the rights and dignity of ten million refugees within five years.
- **Future Business Design:** Requires integrating the three attributes: must be impact centered, profit minded, and market driven.
- **Falafel Inc. Product Design Framework:** Determining the three key consumer desires for food: affordability, impact, and taste.

## Timeline & Sequence
- **About a decade ago** — Year the speaker founded the Hult Prize.
- **2012** — Year the speaker was recognized as one of the top five ideas changing the world.
- **About a year ago** — Time when the speaker realized the profound importance of impact following the 2012 recognition.
- **Six months ago** — Time when Falafel Inc. was officially established.
- **2000** — Year the speaker graduated high school.
- **March 6, 2009** — Date of the financial market crash the speaker references.
- **2013** — Year associated with the Hult Prize winner, Spire Food Group.

## Named Entities
- **Falafel Inc.** — Business founded by the speaker; uses falafel balls and hummus; put the speaker "on the map" and led to attendance at Georgetown; is the validating business model for the future.
- **United Nations Development Program (UNDP)** — Organization on whose board the speaker serves.
- **Rutgers University for Muslim Americans from Rutgers** — A team that won the Hult Prize by creating a point-to-point ride-sharing system.
- **Spire Food Group** — Company, a 2013 Hult Prize winner, that is the largest manufacturer of insects for human consumption.
- **World Food Program** — Organization with which Falafel Inc. has a contract that mandates fulfillment of certain obligations.
- **Kenya** — Location where Whyclefts company is increasing economic opportunities.
- **Georgetown** — Location where the speaker was potentially invited due to founding Falafel Inc.
- **Middle East** — Region where the speaker has received recognition from publications.
- **Whyclefts company** — A company formed as a response to the Whole Prize challenge; now one of Africa's largest transportation companies.

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Whyclefts company** — Uses technology to connect people living in rural areas to people in urban centers.
- **Point-to-point ride-sharing system** — System created by the Rutgers team, used for the Hult Prize win.
- **Soluble powder** — Product created by Spire Food Group; colorless, derived from crickets, and added to other foods.
- **Pita** — Street food item mentioned in relation to the speaker's family history.

## References Cited
- *TEDx talk* — Implied general reference point for the data and concepts presented.
- *The Pursuit of Impact* — The book authored by the speaker.
- **The Hult Prize** — The platform itself, which structures the global challenge.
- **Nielsen Global Research** — Source used alongside Hult Prize data to support consumption trends.

## Numbers & Data
- **Ten years** — Period of the speaker's work and investment experience since founding the Hult Prize.
- **50 million dollars** — Amount invested in Falafel Inc.
- **100,000** — Approximate number of participants in the Whole Prize annually.
- **2016** — Year the speaker references winning the Hult Prize.
- **2012** — Year the speaker was recognized among the top five global ideas.
- **One year ago** — The relative timeframe when the speaker grasped the significance of impact following the 2012 recognition.
- **Six months ago** — The timeframe when Falafel Inc. was established.
- **35,000** — Number of refugees Falafel Inc. has fed.
- **100** — Minimum number of stores Falafel Inc. has secured backing to open globally.
- **Five million** — Estimated number of refugees Falafel Inc. will feed annually after opening 100 stores.
- **Ten** — Approximate number of employees per Falafel Inc. store.
- **2060** — Year by which sixty trillion dollars are projected to be transferred from older generations to Millennials.
- **Sixty trillion dollars** — Estimated total wealth transfer from parents/grandparents to Millennials by 2060.
- **Five trillion** — Amount of wealth transferred by the year 2022.
- **Eight out of ten** — Percentage of Millennials who favor brands associated with impact.
- **Sixty percent** — Percentage of Millennials who are willing to pay a premium for impact-associated goods.
- **82** — Year the speaker was born, placing him near the tail end of the Millennial generation.
- **23** — Age of Pedro mentioned.
- **2000** — Year the speaker graduated high school.
- **Five** — Age of the speaker when he was without formal education in medicine.
- **March 6, 2009** — Date of the financial market crash referenced.
- **6200** — Points level on the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the crash.
- **Three times** — Factor by which the speaker's potential pipeline exceeded his portfolio value before the crash.
- **50** — Number of people the speaker laid off overnight following the crash.
- **2009 in 2010** — Period when social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook began gaining traction.
- **2013** — Year associated with the Hult Prize winner Spire Food Group.
- **Twenty-one over twenty five hundred** — Ratio of water usage (gallons/pound) when producing cricket protein.
- **One pound** — Unit of protein used for comparison.
- **Two, five hundred** — Gallons of water required to produce one pound of cricket protein.
- **Five years** — Timeframe set for the challenge to restore the rights and dignity of ten million refugees.

## Examples & Cases
- **Falafel Balls:** The "little brown three cents" used to make falafel balls is cited as the catalyst that propelled the speaker to Georgetown.
- **Whyclefts company:** Originating from a Whole Prize challenge in 2016, the company is now a major African transportation provider with a contract to connect rural and urban populations in Kenya.
- **Rutgers Team Win:** A team from Rutgers University for Muslim Americans from Rutgers won the Hult Prize in 2016 for designing a point-to-point ride-sharing system focused on refugees.
- **Falafel Inc. Growth:** Has fed over 35,000 refugees and is projected to feed over five million annually once 100 stores are established, with each store employing ten people.
- **Spire Food Group:** A company that entered the Whole Prize, becoming the largest manufacturer of human-consumable insects; utilizes crickets to provide protein via a soluble powder.
- **Financial Experience Contrast:** Contrasts early career ambition (maximizing wealth to prove success to family) with the current focus on impact.

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Whyclefts company** — Technology used for transportation connectivity between rural and urban Kenya.
- **Soluble powder** — Cricket protein powder from Spire Food Group, which is colorless and usable in various foods.
- **Falafel Inc. (Product)** — The core product derived from the speaker's family history and used to build the social enterprise.

## References Cited
- **The Hult Prize** — The platform that drives participation and problem-solving for the global community.
- **Book: "The Pursuit of Impact"** — The speaker’s published work detailing his career focus.

## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Financial Success vs. Social Success:** The tension between maximizing personal wealth (e.g., Wall Street career) and fulfilling familial/social duty (e.g., making mother proud).
- **Charity vs. Business Model:** Choosing to create a business that relies on donations versus one that generates revenue *while* generating impact ("it's not literally selling a product taking a percentage of profits and donating it").
- **Focus Areas:** The choice between pursuing prestigious pedigree (Harvard, Georgetown) versus pursuing measurable social impact.

## Counterarguments & Caveats
- **Initial Lack of Focus:** The speaker admits that until recently, he was unsure if "impact" was the defining business metric.
- **Subpar Execution Risk:** A direct warning not to undermine the business by creating suboptimal products or services, as the Millennial generation will not forgive poor quality.
- **Vegan Expansion:** A caveat noting that the speaker is currently developing a potential vegan Shoreham product, which will be detailed in a subsequent talk.

## Methodology
- **Data Analysis:** Employing analysis of data sets, specifically combining Hult Prize outcomes with Nielsen Global Research, to prove behavioral trends.
- **Falafel Inc. Product Design:** Systematically addressing the three primary consumer needs in food: affordability, impact, and quality.

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- **The Future Formula:** The speaker concludes that the model for future success *must* be "impact centered, profit minded and market driven."
- **Call to Action (Food):** Join the "food for movement" by establishing businesses with a model like Falafel Inc.
- **Warning to Entrepreneurs:** Do not undermine the business by offering subpar products or services.
- **Branding:** The company hashtag, *eat with dignity*, is the designated motto for the movement.

## Implications & Consequences
- **Economic Power Shift:** The control of capital is shifting; since Millennials will control the money, they will dictate what business success looks like.
- **Refugee Crisis Solution:** The existence of enough high-impact brands, like Falafel Inc., could potentially resolve the global refugee crisis.

## Open Questions
- What is the absolute best strategy for developing a product that simultaneously maximizes social impact and generates profit?

## Verbatim Moments
- *"little brown three cents to make falafel balls is what puts you on the map and get you to Georgetown."*
- *"The pursuit of impact."*
- *"the lines are no longer black and white they're coming together as one."*
- *"the idea of social innovation premium is true."*
- *"it's not literally selling a product taking a percentage of profits and donating it that's 1.0 it needs to be designed for impact."*
- *"Our hashtag which is picked up around the world is eat with dignity."*
- *"The future of business is real its impact centered profit minded and market driven"*