Have you ever dreamed of making a difference in business, but felt that you had to move to a more prosperous city to do it?

Our guest today is Romy Kochan.  Based just outside Detroit Michigan, Romy is the Managing Partner of Gingras Global Inc.and Gingras Global Groups, L3C.  Both companies have thrived in one of the most economically depressed areas of the United States, by focusing on sustainability and standards for social enterprise and impact investing.

In fact, under Romy Kochan’s leadership, Gingras Global has become the industry expert on impact fund administration and social enterprise assessment and reporting.

In this heartfelt and practical interview, Romy describes the resurgence that is happening in Detroit right now, where for-profit social enterprises are making a huge impact in the community and finding ways to collaborate vs compete with each other.  The results have been amazing.  Detroit is setting the example for the rest of the country to follow.

Romy also shares how to be sustainable as a for-profit social enterprise and attract investors to your venture, as well as the key steps for starting your own social enterprise, wherever you are.  An inspiring interview with a great deal of valuable insights for entrepreneurs and business leaders small and large.

Key Takeaways

1. Sustainability and investor interest requires proper reporting and tracking of costs, including:

• costs to share resources
• social staffing costs
• product/service social impact

2. Steps to starting your own initiative

• find something that excites you
• be authentic and unique
• understand that failure is good, providing you learn from it
• remember that people won’t all come along

3. There are 4 kinds of people, including those that will:

• want to change what you’re doing
• attempt to steal or claim it as their own
• attempt to destroy what you’re doing
• support you in making your dream a reality

4. Discern who are in the 4th group, but realize that the 3 other groups will come

Resources 

www.BonfiresofSocialEnterprise.com

Romy Kochan Biography

Romy is the Managing Partner of  Gingras Global Inc.and Gingras Global Groups, L3C.  Both companies focus on sustainability and standards for social enterprise and impact investing.

A passionate advocate for positive change, Romy is also the Founder and Chairman of G1 Impact. G1 Impact is a new 501(c)3 set up for the purposes of providing fiscal sponsorship to for-profit social enterprises and impact capital groups.

Romy is also the host of the popular new podcast show Bonfires of Social Enterprise which is followed in more than 90 countries. She is a published author on social enterprise and frequent guest speaker.  Her blog TheBonfiresLady continues to gather followers due to her unique perspective from the field.

Prior to the 2011 Gingras Global launch Romy spent 23 years in the financial industry consulting both corporate clients and small start-up business owners on financial sustainability, best practices, and operational efficiency. She has a strong expertise in investment and financial planning methodologies.

Romy obtained a Finance degree from Northern Michigan University in 1990. She then went on to obtain a CLU designation from the American College, and a Certified Financial Planning designation from the College of Financial Planning.

Romy lives in southeast Michigan with her husband, Chris Kochan. She is greatly inspired by her two adult sons, Connor and Jentzen.

Connect With Romy Kochan

• www.GingrasGlobal.com
• @GingrasGlobal
• @BonfiresPodcast

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