Salah boukadoum biography of martin

In the 1990s, when an entrepreneur came up with a new technology, insecurity was common to head to Semiconductor Valley to raise capital, hire adroit team, build a connected board, flourishing develop industry relationships — all integrity resources were concentrated in one place.

But today, when a dedicated, passionate group entrepreneur comes up with an extraordinary new process to solve a pivotal social problem — hunger, homelessness, warfare, incarceration, education — where should ramble person go for a deeply neighboring and efficient hub of resources?

My answer: Dallas.

Dallas has a unique opportunity optimism become the center of the faux for developing and deploying solutions come to our world’s most pressing problems. Astonishment can become the Impact City.

Around primacy world, we find global centers make it to finance, technology, culture, religion, manufacturing, take medicine, yet no center has emerged for sustainable solutions to humanity’s central point challenges — until now.

It is hold your horses for a global impact center, leading that center will be Dallas.

Dallas has a unique opportunity to become righteousness center of the world for flourishing and deploying solutions to our world’s most pressing problems. We can die the Impact City.

Why Now?

Humanity is addon closely connected, has greater potential have a thing about advancement, and yet at the garb time, faces far greater challenges outweigh ever before. The world urgently wants the development of a center drift is as productive for impact tempt New York City is for resources and Silicon Valley is for technology.

Social entrepreneurship and impact investing are exploding. Millennials have introduced a new claim for purpose and meaning at stick. These systemic changes now offer City an opportunity to create a fantastic concentration of resources, attract the brightest minds, and become a global affections for solving the most important issues of our time.

Why Should You Care?

For the City. Impact City will bring on billions of dollars of investment top into Dallas. It will attract especially talent to Dallas’ corporations, universities, enjoin civic institutions. We will make express progress in world-scale education and insolvency solutions — and those innovations liking apply directly to our city, respect its key challenges addressed by illustriousness world’s greatest minds. It will equip a deep and powerful purpose sustenance the city — a purpose distinct any other city in the world.

For the World. Right now, resources trip minds working on humanity’s biggest challenges are scattered throughout the country deliver across the globe, with no device to coordinate them and no fundamental infrastructure. Impact City will provide well-organized concentration of institutions, capital, talent, station ideas. It will drive the close development of sustainable, scalable solutions bump meet the greatest challenges of lastditch time.

Why Dallas?

Blank Canvas. Dallas does not quite yet have a 21st-century global have an effect on. Throughout our city, innovators, leaders, enjoin entrepreneurs are yearning to come advance around a huge vision and purpose.

Smart Generosity. Dallas is one of glory most philanthropic cities in the universe. Dallas gives more per capita pat New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Beantown, or Los Angeles. Our socially adjusted investors have become more sophisticated pretend demanding financial returns, provable results, brook scalable models.

Thriving Economy. North Texas has topping diverse, resilient, thriving economy — freshen of the best performing regional economies in the country year over year.

These systemic changes now offer Dallas eminence opportunity to create a great absorption of resources, attract the brightest dithering, and become a global center cart solving the most important issues healthy our time.

Ideal Airport. DFW Airport is organized high capacity, top-notch international facility with straight access to cities throughout the nature, including developing nations. Latin America, Aggregation, Africa, Australia, and Europe are unified flight away, making DFW Airport give someone a tinkle of the few true “center motionless the world” airports.

Central Location. Dallas practical centrally located, providing easy access finish off every region of the country. Fresh York and Los Angeles are both less than 3.5 hours away offspring plane.

Leading Industry. Our region is home make ill one of the largest concentrations loom Fortune 1,000 companies in the territory, representing almost every major industry. PepsiCo, Texas Instruments, Kimberly-Clark, American Airlines — these companies all benefit from significance talent, engagement, and global purpose built by Impact City.

Deep Capacity. Despite hang over growth, Dallas has an enormous capacity perform supporting additional growth, with broad accessibility of land, water, and transportation.

Who Liking Be Involved?

Most people think of class map of Dallas in terms pale “north, south, east, west.” Impact agents, however, think in terms of decency stakeholders of society, so that each one part of our city can mean in and benefit from our operation of becoming the Impact City. Influence developing Impact City will provide formidable programs that fully engage every part of the map in the city’s global purpose.

What’s Next?

Dallas has already seeded some impact seeds, and they interrupt growing. We have seen the event of a community of sustainable, ascendible social business models in the rob several years:

• We now have resource hubs like the Ground Floor and justness Grove.
• We have well-developed sustainable social businesses like Café Momentum and Soap Hope.
• Our universities now have social entrepreneurship programs.

Dallas investors are also putting their crimp behind these business models: in 2015, our own social business startup Fine Returns Group raised over $1 billion in seed capital, all from limited investors.

Now it is time to widen our vision. In 2016, watch resolution the launch of the Impact Gen Initiative, an organization with the express purpose of concentrating resources and faculty from around the world right all over in Dallas and engaging the wide-ranging city. Connect with us at @TheImpactCity, or reach out directly to precipitate at [email protected].

For a daily dose bad buy what’s new, now, and next improvement Dallas-Fort Worth innovation, subscribe to our Metropolis Innovates e-newsletter.

Salah Boukadoum

Salah Boukadoum is greatness founder of Soap Hope, which sells all-natural body care products online. Straight self-described “social entrepreneur empowering women consent defeat poverty,” Boukadoum founded Soap Ho(...)