S1E3 Sam Caster Interview, Part 3

Social Business

Social Business: The Heart of the Matter
Season 1, Episode 3
Interview with Sam Caster, Social Entrepreneur, Part 3

Tony: [00:00:00] Social Business: The Heart of the Matter. Episode number three an interview with Sam Caster, social entrepreneur, part 3.

Gail: [00:00:11] This is Social Business: The Heart of the Matter where we expose the genius and the goodness of social business. You will discover how this cutting edge business paradigm taps the power of the marketplace to address global problems in significant ways. Sponsored by HopeQuestGlobal.com using a for profit team building model where building a business feels more like building a legacy. And here’s your host, Tony McWilliams.

Tony: [00:00:43] I am Tony McWilliams and I’m here today again with my co-host and beautiful wife, Gail McWilliams.

Gail: [00:00:49] Tony, this is going to be fun today. We’re going to hear the third interview with Sam Castor. But before we get to Sam and all of his stories that he has to share, I think you’ve got a story or two don’t you.

Tony: [00:01:01] I wanted to ask ourselves the question Have we ever been involved in social causes of some kind even before social business came into the picture?

Gail: [00:01:12] Wow that’s a great question. The tables have turned. You’re asking me a question. That’s right. OK. I know that we have given to missions. Yes. And missionaries. I know I speak around the nation as a fundraiser many times and have been part of helping raise millions of dollars for different projects, medical mobile units, different centers different causes.

Tony: So you have been involved.

Gail: I have what about you. You name some.

Tony: [00:01:42] I started to think about a social cause which is kind of nitty gritty. I remember one time there was a woman in our lives, a friend, whose life was in danger because of domestic violence. Yes. And what did we do. We helped her relocate this lady and her three children so that they could be safe. Do you remember that?

Gail: [00:02:05] Yes, of course I remember that. I remember the bruises all over her face and the shock that we had; we couldn’t stand by and do nothing. That’s right. We had to do something.

Tony: [00:02:15] And we once again it was just us doing reaching out in a social way to help this lady get out of the danger she was in.

Gail: [00:02:25] I remember too loving my friend, Angela. She always carries power bars of some kind and some water in her car so that when she stops at the street corner and someone comes to her window wanting money because they’re hungry, she immediately meets the need by giving them food. Interesting. You know really it doesn’t take that much to look around and see how a person can make a difference in someone’s life. We have a daughter who was in Liberia for nearly four months and we still have a growing concern of how we can help the children of Liberia whose water is impure and their conditions are terrible.

Tony: [00:03:06] Right. Matter of fact when our daughter was there she had to build a fire every night in preparation for the dinner that was to be prepared and served. And that’s not what she was used to doing in America.

Gail: [00:03:18] No especially when it was monkey’s brain and a crocodile. And what was the other thing? It was probably good we don’t know.

Tony: [00:03:26] Are there any other social causes or social efforts we have made?

Gail: [00:03:30] Well we’ve been part of drives like the diabetic research, cancer research, feeding the hungry the charitable things that we do with the Goodwill during Christmas holidays we put money in the bucket. You know the march of dimes at the cash register when you’re checking out to help children. But really when you think about it there’s so much more we could do. People just need to know how. And that’s really what this shows about is it not.

Tony: [00:03:58] It really is and social business is a step up. It doesn’t take the place of us helping a friend with a domestic violence situation, it doesn’t take the place of our friend who passes out you know protein bars to hungry people. It doesn’t take the place but at the same time social business kind of gives it a whole new definition because something bigger can be done, something much larger can be measured out to make a difference in a lot of people’s lives. And that’s why we’re talking about it. We all probably have made some kind of social effort. We have created an outreach ourselves; we’ve done something about a social problem even if it was very personal. We tried to make a difference where we could. There’s people out there who already have a history of you know wanting to do something to help people. But now social business is in the mix and you can actually get paid and create profits for not only running your business but for using the profits of that business to make a difference in other people’s lives.

Gail: [00:05:01] I know the section that we’re about to go into you are interviewing Sam C aster once again. But I love all the stories that he tells this time.

Tony: [00:05:06] So let’s let Sam do the talking he’s got some stories to tell and this is really where I like hearing the heart of social business because Sam will tap that very thing as I continue the interview with him just now.

Tony: [00:05:26] We’re back again with Sam Caster, social entrepreneur; founder of MannerRelief all around good friend of ours. And so we want him to continue on talking about social business, social entrepreneurship. Some of the great things that have been developing. He’s share that incredible amount with us already. But we want to tell some stories, some people he’s connected to through the years starting with really what got his attention on the heart level concerning this matter of social business.

Sam Caster: [00:05:54] Well it started for us Tony when my wife and I have always had a heart for fatherless children. We adopted all of our kids. We just that’s just what God put on our heart. Now you have five children right. We have five children. We were supporting financially an orphanage organization out of Romania. And you know the caregiver in charge of the organization came to us and thanked a small group of us here in Dallas for contributions and you know gave an accountability of what they had done with the money. But at the end of the conversation she said something to the effect but it’s heartbreaking to see what’s going on with our children. They’re sick all the time and in our organization we’re losing 30 to 40 kids a year. Now this is 1997. I had been in the advanced nutritional research and development industry for about four years; looking at how do you do extracts of vitamins and minerals from whole food. What are the best immune modulating molecules in plants. You know all of things that contribute to quality of life. And here’s a lady talking about 30 to 40 kids a year dying and in this one organization and everything was a malnutrition related issue. So I knew the work that I was doing would make a contribution. So afterwards I just said look this is what I do, this is my business. I know we can impact the quality of life of your children. We had to look for the right kind of delivery system because again you can’t just make something kids will eat it in a foreign country.

Sam Caster: [00:07:28] And we tried a few different delivery systems and some liked it and some didn’t. You know we put in gummy bears, we put it in food products; actually where we finally got to is if we just leave it in a powder they can put it in whatever the food the kids liked to eat and convert that food in the most nourishing thing they’ll ever be. You know so that was sort of our strategy that we ended up with, so anyway we sent this powder to this orphanage organization Romania the end of the year came they came back. They were ecstatic. They said our kids are healthier than they’ve ever been. And for the first time in over a decade not one child died in our organization. And I’m sitting here with my wife and I got to tell you I’ve been rewarded in business as an entrepreneur every way you can possibly be rewarded. You know stock; stock options, bonuses cars that the other all the material things of life. But nothing was as meaningful as that lady saying for the first time not one child died because for the first time I realized that what God gifted me to do could be connected to the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. And I could make a difference in the world. The other thing the lady said is that not only do we want more for next year but every organization that we’re connected with wants to know where can they get it because they’re all networked together; these orphanage organizations. So we realized the need was much bigger than our capacity to do it on a one by one basis.

Sam Caster: [00:08:57] That’s when we started MannaRelief, the not for profit organization that would go and raise money to provide this nutritional whole food powder to children all over the world. That’s how we got started.

Tony: [00:09:09] And that really goes along with our theme of we’re looking for the heart of social business. And when I find that I feel like I’ve struck gold because I haven’t just connected with a businessman, some cold hearted red ink black ink sort of guy. I’ve connected with somebody who’s connecting with the human race and that is really exciting. Well then you connected with some other people through the years that became significant to your ongoing outreach.

Sam Caster: [00:09:34] Yeah. You know we were just talking before the show about the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, and his wife Marta and how instrumental they become in our overall program. And it was interesting after I went through the 2008, 2009 debacle of losing 60 percent of our donor base after I started working on social business and pioneering some projects and just starting to test out how that would work in the marketplace. Its long before I knew everything that I know today. But you know you have to start someplace but we were generating revenues through a social business initiative and a friend of mine said that there s a fund raiser going on here in Dallas and the guest speaker is a former president Mexico, Vicente Fox. Would you like to go and Freeman and meet meeting. And I went I’d love to hear Vicent a fox. I went listen to his talk and afterwards they said if you’d like to meet with him, have your picture taken just introduce yourself. He’s very gracious he’ll stick around and you can meet him. So I did. Stood in line and when it came my turn to talk. He stuck his hand out and he said so who are you and what do you do. So I shook his hand I said I’m Sam Caster I’m a social entrepreneur. I’ve developed most advanced technology for addressing global childhood malnutrition and the business that I’ve created to support gives a sustainable funding so that we can take this technology all over the world. And he said wow how are you doing this in Mexico.

Sam Caster: [00:11:11] And I said well actually I’m not doing it in Mexico right now because I don’t have a good distribution partner. And what he said next is a testimony to the power of the platform of social business. What he said next is when I said I don’t have a distribution partner. He said Do you think my wife and I might qualify. Now I wasn’t being facetious. I mean we’re sitting here talking to the one of the most powerful humans in the world. Ran one of the largest economies former president Mexico saying do you think my wife and I would qualify and he meant it, because he wanted what we had for his children of his country. I said well you might qualify if you have the ability to get to children in your country. Of course you would. He said Well my wife and I have a not for profit called Vamos Mexico. And we take care of the needs of vulnerable children in our country. How quick could you and your wife get down here. So two weeks later my wife Linda and I were in Leone, Mexico and out to dinner with the foxes they showed us their organization that day they showed us what they did and how they distributed. We showed them what we did it was a perfect fit. They had the heart, the desire, the mission to do it. They like everybody else don’t have the funding to nourish their kids. So that’s my social business was so good. I didn’t have to charge him a thing. I just needed somebody that could get our product to children in need.

Sam Caster: [00:12:31] But Tony this is what I learned from that because when you tell people that you can join a business, a social business, you arm down with the mission and products that change people’s lives. One of the biggest challenges that people have is a fear of rejection. You know I don’t know enough about this I don’t know enough about that what will my friends think what will this what will that so you say will just make a list of people that you think might be interested in our campaign what we’re doing. Would anybody put the present Mexico on their list. And the answer is No. Why. Well they’re not going to be interested they’re too busy, they’re too big, they’re too powerful. You know they’re too this too that let me tell you what I found about social business. If you’re saving the lives of children you can talk to anybody anytime anywhere and have a meaningful conversation. It doesn’t mean that everybody’s going to participate with you but people won’t reject you for having a heart for saving children. They will embrace it. And I’ll tell you they will do everything within their power to support what your passion for that cause is. It just changes the dynamics of business completely. It’s like we said in our last segment traditional business you have to have a skill set. You have to have an education. You have to have experience to be effective. In social business you just have to have compassion. You have to be passionate about the cause that that we’re linked to.

Sam Caster: [00:13:54] And if you are it translates into success and it’s the most powerful model that the world has ever seen for an ordinary person to make an extraordinary difference in the world and change their life forever.

Tony: [00:14:07] Vincente Fox has a thought I heard the number of orphanages that he helped. Maybe I’ll just let you do you know the number on that. I thought I read it on your website. I thought I was 54.

Sam Caster: [00:14:19] Oh yeah. At least that we’re doing somewhere. You know it varies from time to time because the kids come and go. In these orphanages. A lot of them are just 20 kids and the kids get to a certain age and they go off either into foster care to school or something else. But it’s generally around three to four thousand kids a day through their organization Vamos Mexico. And that’s somewhere in the vicinity of 50, 60 you know orphanages.

Tony: [00:14:49] And could I take a guess that that’s probably a small percentage of the need in Mexico.

Sam Caster: [00:14:53] Oh yeah. Oh these guys could. These guys could nourish a million kids. Yeah. If we had if we could provide them with that level of sustainable giving.

Tony: [00:15:03] So the need is incredible. Now you mentioned on another show the UNICEF reaches 1.9 million children last year. You have a goal of hoping to hit 7 million within months or years.

Tony: [00:15:14] And so if you if you add the 1.9 to the 7 million we still haven’t hit 1 percent of the need is a way I understand it.

Sam Caster: Well somewhere around 5 or 6 million is the number of children that die of chronic to actually die out of the big picture. But of course millions more are chronically ill. And their lives will be impacted forever. The 2.6 billion malnourished people in the world. Yeah 1.2 billion of a military starving 1.4 malnourished obese. So those are two major segments of society that we need to get to.

Tony: [00:15:45] I guess just reaching a few million which would be incredible and still the problem of childhood malnutrition the number one social problem in the world would still be huge.

Sam Caster: [00:16:03] Yeah I mean so what we’re trying to do is create this the most sustainable model that reaches more kids than anything else has ever reached in the world. And again the world s biggest charities can’t get there because there’s not enough money to donate most of their funding comes from governments who are all broke. You know governments don’t have resources.

Tony: Right. And so the social business taps the market where the money is.

Sam Caster: That is where the that’s the economy that’s where all the money is.

Tony: Vincente Fox introduced you to one other incredible person that we’d like to hear about.

Sam Caster: [00:16:34] Yeah a few years ago Vicente Fox called me said listen I’m going to host the first conference on social business in Latin America. My guest speakers is going to be a man named Mohammed Yunus and of course with all the research I’ve done I know who he was he was. He’s recognized as the father of social entrepreneurship. He was a professor in Bangladesh the poorest country in the world at the time. So of course poverty was the major issue in that country and nobody was doing a very effective job of dealing with that. Charity can’t deal with poverty. You can’t just keep handing out things to people. There’s not enough money enough resources to do that. But Muhammad Yunus had an interesting thought he said I don’t think that impoverished people want to be there. I think they would choose to work themselves out of their hopelessness and despair if just given the opportunity. So he was in a village and there were a hand full of people that owed money lenders, which put them into slavery or bondage the rest of their lives. $26. And if they had 26 dollars they could get out of that bondage and start their own business. So he said for $26 I could buy someone their freedom and put them into a business that could create the opportunity for a life. And he says I did it and it worked. And when I worked with a handful that worked with dozens and worked with dozens it worked with hundreds. Pretty soon I needed a bank to work with because I couldn’t do it individually anymore he said.

Sam Caster: [00:18:06] But banks were going wait a minute you’re going to lend money to people that have no job experience and no job and no credit. Now we don’t loan money to people like that. I mean you know the banking business and he said but the only way that these people can turn their lives around is what he called micro-finance put them into business. Ninety seven percent of the recipients of micro-finance in Bangladesh were women and women didn’t work in that culture. So he was up against status quo in the most dramatic ways; couldn’t loan money to poor people couldn’t put women into work. So he started businesses specifically for women for as little as 25 to 50 dollars he could put a woman to work and then out of the revenue stream that she generated. These were little home based businesses. She would pay him back his loan. She would pay interest on that loan. He would use that interest to fund more loans. So anyway he ended up creating his own bank it was called the Grameen Bank which ushered in the concept of micro-finance which has become the number one strategy in the world for dealing with poverty. Now major ministries like World Vision and Compassion all are using micro-finance to address poverty all over the world. So Muhammud Yunus was the speaker at this seminar, this symposium, for social business. And so I was the guest of President Fox down there it was just fascinating to listen to this guy talk, Tony.

Sam Caster: [00:19:36] I mean what a humanitarian, what a businessman, what a guy that knew how to tap into the marketplace one of the big industries in the world banking and use it for good. You know for converting people’s lives, for transforming the lives of the most hopeless people. So he ended up impacting the lives of I think an estimated 40 million people in Bangladesh. That is one quarter of the population base of that country. And it was the poorest quarter of the population base. But he said some interesting things while he was talking that day. He said we had to create businesses that would actually drive the initiatives that we were after and of course number one was poverty. But we thought why not address other social issues while we’re at it. He said the biggest problem with in Bangladesh like all over the world is malnutrition. This is such a great story because it tied in directly to where we went you know with our project he said. So we teamed up with Dannon yogurt. They built a factory in Bangladesh. They made all yogurt product made it took no profit. You know so they joined our initiative. They were very economical these little yogurt packs. We put them in retail stores all over Bangladesh and we thought let’s just see what happens and what happens what happened was nothing nothing happened. He had the number one solution for the biggest problem children and nothing happened. And he said well we came to realize is that retailers didn’t share our passion for solving the problem. So we thought well how do we get it to the most vulnerable kids. We went back he said to our network of village moms. They were basically the group of people that we had put into business.

Sam Caster: [00:21:20] They all had their own home based businesses and we went back to our village mom network and we said listen we’ve come up with the best solution that will address the number one health risk that your children will face in their lifetimes. Would you like to participate in a business that could help us bring that to the market? And he said he had the most overwhelming response to any business ever; who not to tap into but the mothers of the children that will be impacted by the devastation of malnutrition. And when he linked moms to moms to moms he proliferated the country in less than a year. He says here’s a lesson for all of you social entrepreneurs out there. Find an innovative new solution but compensate the people who are most compassionate about solving the problem.

Sam Caster: [00:22:09] It wasn’t retail stores in our country.

Tony: And it wasn’t a full-blown charity approach

Sam Caster: It wasn’t charity at all

Tony: It was social business at its best.

Sam Caster: [00:22:17] So he took the village mom network that he had created and he compensated them for telling other mothers about what would happen to their children if they weren’t nourished and an economical convenient solution to their problem. And they sold more yogurt to more mothers of children than he could have ever dreamed of doing through the retail environment.

Gail: [00:22:41] Tony and Sam have more stories to talk about after we take this short break.

Tony: [00:22:47] There are two things in life that almost everyone holds dear. Defined by two words; purpose and profit. And it’s our opinion that the genius of social business turns purpose and profit into synergistic ingredients. When you mix the two they work together for each other’s success. However nothing really happens until you’ve got a social entrepreneur in the mix. You know someone, anyone, who initiates an idea where purpose and profit can make their highest impact. For our community at HopeQuestGlobal it’s the results of measurable life changing solutions to childhood malnutrition where those who are a part of our community of social entrepreneurs are compensated for any results they help produce. I’ve come to the conclusion that we live in a world where purpose and profit often struggle to actually meet. But our social business mobilizes to deliver a solution and provide for our community free resources to move purpose and profit into all of the life changing possibilities. And our design and hope is that the very first life to enjoy such purpose and profit is yours. So let’s continue this conversation at HopeQuestGlobal.com/social

Gail: There’s more to share with Tony McWilliams and Sam Caster.

Sam Caster: [00:24:23] And they sold more yogurt to more mothers of children than he could have ever dreamed of doing through the retail environment. And that goes to our earlier conversation on the other show about social business 3.0; you know 2.0 was linking up with infrastructures that could take your products around the nation. He did that with the retailers. The problem was they weren’t compassionate about retail entities don’t have compassion. They’re institutions.

Tony: Right. They don’t have to.

Sam Caster: They don’t have to. So who do you go to. He went to the village moms. These are the ladies that were on the front line of dealing with the impact of malnourished children. And he compensated them for telling the story and showing the best solution. Gosh, that was just such a great experience to hear that which basically led us to where we’re at today; find a problem of people in this country right. Same problem it’s malnourishment just manifest itself in a different way. Instead of being undernourished and overfed we’re undernourished and overfed. We get too much access to the wrong food. And it’s not that we’re gluttons just a little bit of the wrong food destroys our quality of life; makes us sick and tired. So find an innovative solution to those problems. Arm the people that have the most to gain from the solution, compensate them for telling a network of compassionate people around not only this country but ultimately the world. And you can change the world.

Tony: [00:25:53] So for the record there is now in the market a product, products that will address that very thing. And that’s through EvolvHealth and a collaborative effort with MannaRelief.

Sam Caster: [00:26:05] Yeah we call it the whole movement which is the platform that allows people to participate with the EvolvHealth. And they’ve got a very innovative solution for fatigue. They’ve got a very innovative solution for chronic inflammation , which is the core issue of almost every chronic disease process that people live with on a daily basis and now together we collaborate and they’ve got the absolute state of the art solution for this issue of being overweight and obese and not being able to ever create sustainable fat loss. Armed with that technology, Tony, I think they’re going to absolutely take the world by storm. You know it’s not hard to find compassionate people. You know it’s just there is no vehicle for them to plug into out there where they can turn their passion into their lifestyle. And that’s what social business does.

Tony: [00:26:58] And part of what we do at HopeQuestGlobal.com we re sponsoring this whole podcast idea because we hope to be a part of recruiting people into that idea and be part of the movement that you’re talking about that you say could indeed make an incredible impact via the market right into lives of people who could be saved from the destiny that up until this time has been nothing but death and disease.

Sam Caster: [00:27:22] Exactly. And you know what. People will line up to participate. If you bring the right vehicle into the marketplace and I think that’s what the Harvard Business Review is saying in the very first article I read on Can Entrepreneurs Save the World? and that businesses will be guilty of strategy malpractice if they don’t find ways of participating in world changing ideas.

Sam Caster: [00:27:45] Because we the people, the public, are demanding it. We’re looking for it. We want solutions. We want to link up. We want to spend our money with people that will make a difference in the world. I mean it’s one thing to do charitable giving it’s another thing. I mean I could speak louder with my consumption than I can my charity. I’ve only got so much money at the end of the month to give to charity. Right. But everything that I buy is part of my consumption if my consumption dollars could change the world. Now we’re talking. That’s what social business does.

Tony: [00:28:12] The other day I forgot where I read this but somebody says the donor dollar can be spent once. The idea being that you know thank God for the donors of this world who help incredible nonprofit organizations across this land. But the limitations that once that dollars spent are obvious if we really look at it and it really does not necessarily produce sustainability which keeps good ideas moving forward.

Sam Caster: [00:28:40] Yeah the donor dollar can only be spent once because it’s a donation. The social business dollar regenerates itself over and over and over. So if you find products and services that serve huge demands in the marketplace you get sustainable purchases of those products and services and that just regenerates itself over and over and over. Every month every year every decade. And that’s what creates sustainability to solving the world’s biggest problems.

Tony: [00:29:09] And that’s the goal. You also collaborate with other nonprofit organizations who help feed kids and I’m trying to think of the one out of Springfield, Missouri. Convoy of Hope, yes. Matter of fact I got to hear the head guy of that speak and I can’t remember his name I heard him speak at the Governor s Breakfast of Missouri two Januarys ago, my wife spoke for the opening session of the legislature and then the next day was the governor of breakfast and he was the guest speaker at that. And he told about Convoy of Hope and all they’re doing so that’s incredible. Then you also work with the organization out of California: Children s Hunger Fund and that the two of them are doing some great work.

Sam Caster: [00:29:49] Yeah mean you know for MannaRelief we’re not a distribution organization. We’re assigned with building the right kind of product providing it in the right kind of transportation system whether it’s a box or a carton or whatever. But our goal is to link with organizations that can not only deliver but give us accountability for that where that product went. In some cases it’s large relief organizations like Convoy of Hope they help us get product all over Central America. They help us get product into the Philippines. Children’s Hunger Fund helps us get product into Africa. So sometimes it’s large relief organizations that just need the product. They give us accountability on what orphanages it went to ,how many kids a response back from the caregivers on the quality of life enhancement that come from that. So they’re very good at supporting this in that way; sometimes it’s individuals or local charity driven organizations like Vincent Fox and his wife Marta, Vamos Mexico. They only do work in Mexico but they’re in credibly good at delivering product and providing accountability. In some cases like in Guatemala it was a major church in Guatemala City. But we found them to have the best outreach within that region of the world for both delivery and accountability. And so you know it’s a little different all over the world and we find the best distribution partner and that’s how we link up and get product to kids all over the world.

Tony: [00:31:22] Colleges and universities are for some time now have been seeing the light of social business and are giving some energy to it by providing programs and career focuses. But there was a new. There was a development that took place in Georgia Tech that I hope that you would tell us about.

Sam Caster: [00:31:40] Well yeah let me just first of all say that you know again according to Harvard Business Review social entrepreneurship has become the most sought after curriculum in business schools all over the world; not just here in the United States all over the world. I mean it’s captured the imagination of an entire generation that want their life’s work to account for more than just a paycheck. You know so everybody wants to be in social business. So they’re overwhelmed but it’s not just the schools of businesses it’s the entire universities that are being attracted. So I got a call not too long ago maybe six months ago from the head of the computer science school at Georgia Tech University. She said that they’d had a sort of a show at their university where people were coming in showing different social businesses and somebody connected with MannaRelief in this project that we’re working on was making a presentation just on what we were doing with nutrition and the kids in her computer science group wanted to do something this year for a social business; they wanted to make an app. And usually social businesses don’t necessarily have the capacity to do those types of things. That’s somewhere down the line in terms of their priorities. But these guys have the capacity to do it. They wanted to help. So of all the things they looked at they picked our project and so she called me and she said you know my kids are very excited about what you’re doing to provide nourishment to malnourished children all over the world. Of all the projects they looked at they like yours the best.

Sam Caster: [00:33:12] Could we work with you. Can we do all the technology development of a unique app that would help drive the exposure of what you’re doing. Maybe the sale of your product maybe how to track what is going on in the world. Whatever you need we’ll put it in an app and we won’t charge you anything it’s our project for the year. And we’re very excited about that. And so we’ve been working with them over the last six months. They think in the next month or two they’ll be finished with that. But I talked to her a couple of weeks ago and she said you know now the business goals getting involved and the kids over there want to know how they can use social media to drive exposure to the app. You know when it’s just a testimony to the power of the platform of social business; it’s not only attractive to kids that are looking for careers and where they want to spend their life and what they want to do with their lives. It’s a power and a testimony to everybody. And I think inside of everybody Tony we know that there’s that that place that that wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves. And there’s just not many vehicles to plug into that will allow that to happen it’s usually a volunteer basis. But gosh if people could plug in whether it’s part time or full time activity creating a new revenue source for their family you could dynamically impact the lives of millions of people; so if the product being sold impacts a core issue of their life.

Sam Caster: [00:34:35] If the revenue that is generated you know from the distribution of that product could impact their finances. And if all of that could impact the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children in the world I’m telling you people will line up to find out how to participate.

Tony: [00:34:51] And that is exciting. So back to the app. You told me a few things you think it’s going to be able to do like you look at the app what kind of information are you going to be able to glean from it.

Sam Caster: [00:35:02] Every time we sell a product a child gets nourished. So for every serving of product like so if they if they if they eat a Life Bar a child gets nourished that day if they take one of our drinks Fix or Fuel whichever one it is the child gets nourished so whatever does everything that we do in connection with this whole movement nourishes a child. Well, gosh, we’re selling products every day all over the country. And so they want to put a clicker like the national debt collector you know where in Times Square where easy the number of surveys that are being generated every day by activity of our network of village moms or social entrepreneurs that are joining our forces right and left every day and buying products and talking to other people and sharing products. You know part of the campaign is share a product with someone you know invite him to get together with him and let him drink the drink or let him eat the bar and let him see what a quality product is and how convenient and how great it tastes. It s the easiest way to show someone the power of our product let him feel the difference. But every time somebody gives away a bar a child gets fat. How cool is that. It shows up on the app and it shows up on. Oh yes. Then the clicker clicks every day with the number of kids that got nourished that day. I’m sitting here having a 10-minute conversation and just at the level that we’re out today just starting.

Sam Caster: [00:36:29] Eighteen hundred clicks would go off in ten minutes

Tony: And you could see it on an app

Sam Caster: and you can see it just clicking away.

Tony: You could actually show it to somebody who you’re talking to or take note of it yourself and say I’m a part of something incredible; look at this.

Sam Caster: They call that social proof.

Sam Caster: [00:36:44] I was just sitting here having a conversation with you telling you what I’m so passionate about and that I’ve set a goal to impact the lives of 200 kids and eighteen hundred clicks have gone off while having this conversation and just sharing a bar with you. I mean how cool is that to show somebody you know the perspective of how And listen five years from now you’ll be able to see that individual clicker it will be flying so fast. So as more and more people join the campaign, the movement, as more and more people start sharing these live changing solutions with other people.

Sam Caster: [00:37:19] I mean the meter just starts running off the wall

Tony: And that’ll be great for some people it’ll be a full time effort; for some people to be a part time effort; for some I call that kind of the back pocket opportunity where you in essence you keep your iPhone in your back pocket or in a pocket and when you are in an opportune moment talking with somebody about about anything and you want to have in the subject matter switches to what you do for a living or what. What do you do in this life then you can pull it right out of your pocket and say well this is what I do you know. And so it’s kind of a back pocket opportunity. It’s not even necessarily front and center because lots of people out there have their day jobs in their other lives they’re raising their families. But then they can also just fold this in very easily.

Sam Caster: [00:38:06] Yeah. And I mean the app will have all kinds it might have a video or two on it you know. So if I want to show somebody a quick video of what’s going on in Guatemala or what’s happening with people losing weight in a sustainable way or just anything that I want to validate or you know through video all that is accessible on this app.

Tony: [00:38:28] What a great idea. And right there on your phone.

Sam Caster: Incredible.

Tony: [00:38:30] Well with that perspective we’ll end it. And thanks again Sam. I believe great days are ahead. I hope to be a part of it. And also there is a thing we like to say here: We should always be careful to maintain good works to meet urgent needs. With that in mind thank you for all the urgent needs that you’re meeting and keep up the good work.

Sam Caster: [00:38:51] Well blessings. Thanks a lot.

Gail: [00:38:57] Wow Tony I love the stories that you and Sam were just now telling us about. Hey we have a story ourselves. Remember the young man we met at the print shop not long ago

Tony: [00:39:04] Yes, I noticed the man waiting on us had an accent so I was curious and I asked him where he was from and he said I’m from Bangladesh. Well I made the connection immediately to Muhammad Yunus who Sam just referred to in the interview and I asked the young man do you know who Muhammad Yunus is. Well he absolutely knew who that was. I mean you know he was a leader in his country. He was the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and then he went on to say the young man went on to say that he says you are my family my entire family my cousins they all have businesses because of the work of Muhammad Yunus and I thought t hat’s incredible. This young man who he told me he was born in America but taken back to Bangladesh where he was raised. That’s where he connected to the culture and to the ideas of Muhammad Yunus who just brought a social business idea to market and literally turned around an entire nation in just a few short years.

Gail: [00:40:08] That’s awesome. So it does work.

Tony: [00:40:11] It does work and this man this young man was a testimony to that fact.

Gail: [00:40:16] Tony just think about all the other stories yet that can happen if we just take the time to get involved. It really doesn’t take that much to live beyond yourself and to have a vision for more than just you.

Tony: [00:40:35] people within the sound of our voice can make a difference if they’ll just apply themselves. OK so maybe you’re not going to win a Nobel Peace Prize but you know what. That’s not the issue. The issue is doing what you can at some social level; at some social entrepreneurial level; to make the difference that’s needed so that other people’s lives can be bettered.

Gail: [00:40:50] And then again you might make a Nobel Peace Prize. Because you put forth the effort to make a difference in your generation. You know you only get one chance at life. And this is the generation that you’ve been given and it seems like we should make a difference and at least show up. Tony the past couple of weeks with Sam Castor and the interviews yet to come are about people who have not only been courageous but who have been visionaries. And it’s so exciting to share all of these guests with our new friends.

Tony: [00:41:22] There needs to be an understanding that what’s about to happen that we’re not going to have another Sam Caster interview. And wow what an incredible amount of information he provided for us over the last several interviews but now we’ve got some new interviews coming and we’re going to be learning about other people who’ve taken social business to the max and they’re changing their world where they are.

Gail: [00:41:46] This is Gail McWilliams and I am honored to be the co-host of this new podcast social business. The heart of the matter. Please take the time to tell your friends about the show and also get involved. And one of the first places you can learn more is at HopeQuestGlobal.com/social.

Tony: [00:42:06] And we hope that you will always be careful to maintain good works to meet urgent needs and become heroes to your generation. This is Tony McWilliams. Honoring the greatness in you.

The post S1E3 Sam Caster Interview, Part 3 appeared first on Hope Quest Global.