‘Proud capitalist’ to young social entrepreneurs: It’s OK to make a buck while saving the world

Darcy Howe encouraged budding, would-be founders to think about ways they can effectively scale their mission-driven ideas, drawing on KCRise Fund’s model for social entrepreneurship.

“Being socially mission-driven is not mutually exclusive to making money,” Howe, founder and managing director of KCRise Fund, told Enactus students gathered Tuesday during an end-of-year celebration for the University of Missouri-Kansas City chapter of the program.

Emily Brown, Free From Market; photo by Social Apex

The Kansas City-based venture firm founder shared the story of how Emily Brown — co-founder of Free From Market, a KCRise Fund portfolio company in the healthtech space and one of Startland News’ Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2023 — evolved from the leader of a nonprofit to a tech startup.

“[Brown] realized that in order for her to scale this to more families, she needed to figure out how to build a technology platform and create a marketplace,” Howe said.

Brown received some criticism after making the shift, Howe recalled, describing those objections as misplaced.

“She turned her .org into a .com, and now suddenly some of the people who funded her .org were saying, ‘You moved to the dark side, Emily. You’re a for-profit money grubber,’” Howe said. “I think they missed the point.”

That point, she continued, was that a for-profit business model with private investment can allow entrepreneurs to scale their mission-driven ideas — and ultimately, impact more lives — than the nonprofit model.

“Think about the idea of scaling,” Howe said. “The byproduct is making money in a sense, but scaling is really taking your mission to a broader audience.”

UMKC Enactus students perform the 12-minute presentation that earned their team 8th place this spring in Enactus’ national college competition

In that vein, Howe challenged UMKC Enactus students to increase their goals for Generation Green, a student-led Enactus project that aims to reduce plastic waste and support teachers by repurposing Shatto milk bottles into reusable dry-erase boards, called Bottle Boards.

“I look at Bottle Boards, and I challenge you for the next year,” Howe said. “You want to get from 100 to 260? How about 2,000? Or how about 2 million? How are you going to get 2 million bottle boards in the hands of kids and get all of that trash out of our environment?”

Triple bottom line

Darcy Howe, KCRise Fund, addresses Enactus students during an end-of-year celebration for the UMKC chapter of the national program; photos by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News

In addition to encouraging the students in attendance, Howe also touted how KCRise could serve as an example of socially responsible entrepreneurship, highlighting the diversity of founders and employees among portfolio companies. 

According to numbers provided by KCRise Fund, 62 percent of the fund’s investments since 2021 have gone to companies started by a founder who identifies with at least one underrepresented demographic. In 2022, 41 percent of capital investment went to female founders.

As of 2020, 51 percent of employees at portfolio companies — more than 1,000 people in total, including 713 in the Kansas City area — identified as being a part of an underrepresented demographic.

The average salary for those employees of $98,000 is about double the regional average, Howe added.

Additionally, Howe said KCRise Fund concluded in an internal evaluation that 70 percent of portfolio companies are solving a problem that acutely impacts minority populations.

All these numbers add up to the triple bottom line, Howe said, in which KCRise Fund companies succeed socially, environmentally, and economically.

“We were talking to foundations who wanted to think about a triple bottom line for making investment in us, which also would help entrepreneurs, which also would help the broader population by broadening the opportunity in our community and increasing generational wealth for more people in our community,” Howe said.

Mission-driven mindset

In addition to Howe’s keynote address, UMKC Enactus students performed the 12-minute presentation that earned their team 8th place this spring in Enactus’ national college competition.

Besides the Generation Green project — which is already partnering with several local school districts — students also highlighted Cultura En Tus Manos, a B2B online marketplace that connects artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico with business professionals in Kansas City.

In both cases, Howe applauded the students for their mission-driven approach while urging them to continue thinking about creative methods to turn their ideas into scalable, sustainable, and impactful businesses.

“I am a proud capitalist,” Howe said. “I think that capital is the engine, the lubricant, that drives our economy, and dreams, and hopes, and also solutions, in our world. So, think about how you can scale these wonderful things.”

“I love this organization,” Howe added. “I love the mission-driven mindset that you have, and you should carry that on throughout your life, but don’t confuse it with not making money. … Capital brings a lot of good things in your life and I would like to wish all of you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do that changes the world.”