WEBVTT - First, You Bring Them Cake (Christian Vanizette) 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:02.640 The thing it creates. 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.560 My hopeful democracy is just It makes people realize that 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:07.840 they can do more than just vote, and that they 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:10.959 can solve the problems. The more you make friends and 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:12.640 the more you have fun doing this thing, the more 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.880 you want to continue, explore, learn, and then you learn 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:16.599 more about the problem and you say. 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.560 What can I do more? And then it becomes kind 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:19.440 of a natural path. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.440 Welcome to How the Citizen with Baratunde, a podcast that 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.319 reimagined citizen as a verb, not a legal status. This 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.839 season is all about how we practice democracy, what can 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.319 we get rid of, what can we invent, and how 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.360 do we change the culture of democracy itself. We're lieving 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:45.320 the theoretical clouds and hitting the ground with inspiring examples 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.440 of people and institutions that are showing us new ways 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:57.400 to govern ourselves. At the start of COVID, I remember 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.720 being terrified. The streets requiet, The coyotes and the deer 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.880 had started taking over our driveways and our sidewalks. For 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:06.920 those of us who could stay at home, Depending on 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.400 who you were, it was shocking but kind of easy. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.520 For others, it was life denying, especially if you were 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:18.240 someone who lived in an elder care facility. I remember 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:21.200 phoning up my friend a lot during this time, and 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.560 I'd always make sure to ask him about his grandparents. 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:25.560 I'd never actually met them. 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.640 But I felt like I did because he talked about 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.240 them so much, so they'd always come up in conversation. 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.959 He shared this story that they were both living in 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.240 the same care facility, but they were each being isolated 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.520 in different rooms in different wings. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:39.720 Of the building. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.319 In fact, they were together but completely alone, and that 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.040 was so sad to me. At the same time that 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.240 this deep loneliness was being experienced by so many people 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.840 around the world, there were also people with nothing to 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.880 do at home, feeling helpless but wanting to feel helpful, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.480 and finding out that Christian vani Zett, the person you're 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.840 going to hear from, helped spark a phone calling program 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:11.160 that matched young people with elders to keep them company. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:12.880 That was just really moving to me. 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.200 On the surface, this idea of young people calling old 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.120 folks homes sounds real basic, But then the majority of 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.760 our human needs are real basic. It doesn't mean that 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:29.040 they're easily or regularly met. Though this program it became 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.480 so popular that the French government added it to its 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:37.320 official volunteering website, so not that basic, and that's just 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:40.240 one of thousands of projects that Christian has helped bring 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:45.600 to life. Christian was born in French Polynesia, in Tahiti actually, 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.160 and now he lives in Paris. My wife and I 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.000 met him through our friend Diana and American who's basically 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.120 living a better version of that Netflix series Emily in Paris. Anyway, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.400 we were recently in Paris between work gigs and decided 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.600 to interview Christian in person. We walked over to his 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.440 offices in the Bastille neighborhood where the French behead their 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.680 leaders okay, one of the places the French behead their leaders. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.960 I was so excited to be there that I didn't 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.160 make sure we had the best audio setup, so you 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.200 may be able to hear that we're in an office 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.160 and not in fact a sound padded studio. And I 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:22.000 may have clipped Christians mic to his hoodie drawstring because 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:23.720 I'm not a professional sound engineer. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:24.080 Okay. 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.560 What I am instead is someone who's very excited to 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.440 add Christian's voice to the how the citizen world. He's 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.000 built something that is moving and so perfectly aligns with 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.160 the way we see citizen as a verb. I also 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.880 want to make sure that how the citizen isn't just 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:41.240 an American thing. 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.760 Even though I am a very American thing. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.840 I love America and I love not America as well, 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.520 and we got a lot to learn from people outside 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:54.600 of this country. Christian has inspired this global movement of 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:59.840 citizens who are passionate about crowdsourcing solutions where they lives 0:03:59.880 --> 0:04:03.080 to our most pressing social and environmental problems. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.480 And he's done it by essentially. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.960 Becoming a recruiter and I'd even say a matchmaker. The 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:13.400 organization he co founded, makes Sense, draws in citizens who 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:15.880 want to take action but don't know where to start. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.960 Does that sound like somebody you know? The group places 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.200 them in small teams of strangers who want to make 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.120 a difference on the same issue, and then it empowers 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.320 them by giving them opportunities to shape the projects they'll 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.520 be working on, opportunities to learn from each other, to 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.719 become team leaders, and then to recruit their own friends 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:46.040 and start the cycle all over again. Since starting a 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.080 decade ago, makes Sense has seen nearly three hundred thousand 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:54.479 people attend workshops, has opened offices in seven countries, and 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.320 has started volunteer chapters in over one hundred cities around 0:04:58.320 --> 0:04:58.719 the world. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:04:59.960 It's been so success. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.000 Christian's gotten the attention of many government leaders and was 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:08.480 recently selected as an Obama Scholar Fellow. Remember Obama. Yeah, 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.760 we still like that, dude, And yeah, yeah, I know. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.599 Volunteerism has been around for a very long time, and 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.039 we've definitely seen a lot of organizations that help place 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:22.360 volunteers inside of other organizations. But the method that makes 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.960 sense uses it's bottom up, it's citizen led, locally based, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.719 and the work and the projects that they foster and 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.440 support they're culturally appropriate to each place. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:33.800 Because makes sense. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.839 HQ is taking all its directions from the people on 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:43.520 the ground, not imposing some top down template from on high. 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.800 And now a decade in Christian and the organization's many 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.039 volunteers have increasingly turned their retention to the fight to 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:56.560 stop and even reverse climate change. 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:57.760 We know the basics here. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.720 Humanity's got limited time to a climate disaster, and we 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.440 need to reduce our carbon emissions dramatically to achieve that. 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.800 That means more electric cars, renewable energy, regenerative agriculture. It 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:13.160 also means we need to stop fossil fuel extraction, and 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.560 that's going to be hard. Researchers have identified hundreds of 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.640 carbon bombs, like coal mines and oil and gas projects 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.599 that would release at least one metric gigaton of carbon 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.640 dioxide emissions if they move forward. You don't have to 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.839 know what a metric gigaton of carbon means. Basically, the 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.000 people who do know what this means, the experts. They're 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.880 terrified of these carbon bombs because they understand that if 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.679 they get built, it likely means the planet will warm 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.000 past one point five degree celsius, the threshold set by 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.839 the Paris Agreement, and warming past that number could intensify hunger, conflict, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.680 and drought worldwide. Now, one of these projects is the 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.040 East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline aka e COOP, and it's 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.680 run by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation and the 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.440 French oil giant Total Energies or TOTAL for short. There's 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.000 a campaign to stop it and it's called wait for it, 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:08.560 stop ECOP. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.760 I Love the creativity Now. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.840 Christian helped launch this campaign in France based on what 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.400 he's learned from a decade and makes sense and the 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.960 ways stop ECOP is trying to diffuse this particular carbon bomb. 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:24.120 It's creative, strategic, it's even fun, which isn't something I 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.160 generally associate with the climate movement. 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:28.600 Like in se Ufa, who we. 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.760 Heard from earlier this season, Christian is finding ways to 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.040 bring joy and communal connection to the ways we participate. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.880 But instead of focusing on elections, he's bringing that energy 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.440 to the ways we volunteer and even the ways we protest. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.520 You'll hear how Christian helped create a global movement and 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.119 just how organized it is right after the break. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:59.480 Hello Christian. Hell, So what is makes sense? 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.040 That makes sense is a nonprofit that started in Paris 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.800 and basically we trained community organizers all across the world 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:11.400 so they mobilize volunteers and the community for social environmental issues. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:13.760 And it's a yeah, ten years ago. 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.120 Now it's about three hundred employees across the world and 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.320 more than three hundred thousand volunteers. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.880 Three hundred thousands, So you've basically built an army that's undeclared. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.760 Does the UN know about your army? It's a yeah. 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:29.880 We just built a way for people. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.760 When they see a problem, we train them and they 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.760 know how to mobilize other volunteers and we lin them 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.920 up with experts social entrepreneurs and then the cities the 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:43.040 self organized fifteen to do the thing they want to do, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.520 like collect things, help the elderly, but beeping themselves and 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.840 not needing like a big angeo like the Red Cross 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:50.760 to tell them what to do. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.559 So take me back to the beginning of makes sense. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.840 Who were you before then? What were you doing with 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.840 your time? How old were you and how did this idem? 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:05.040 So I come from Tahiri, French Polynesia, and I arrived 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:09.520 in France for my business school and during the time 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.960 in the business school, I studied social entrepreneurship, so it 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.320 was really interested in how business can do good. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:17.800 My dad from in the book of Again Them. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.440 Muhammad Junus at the Nobel Lar Rate of Peace in 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:22.320 two thousand and six. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.800 I'm interrupting my own interview with Christian to add a 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.080 little context. I like to call these explainer ton days. 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.160 Professor Mohammad Yunis you just heard mentioned, is a giant 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:39.520 in the world of social entrepreneurship. He started this project 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.360 called the Gramin Bank in Bangladesh in the late nineteen 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:46.920 seventies and it became internationally renowned for its revolutionary system 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.320 of micro credit, which gives loans to entrepreneurs too poor 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.800 to qualify for traditional bank loans, and it's helped millions 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:54.840 escape poverty. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:55.520 As a result. 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.800 The unique feature of Gramen is that no collateral is 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.760 required to get the credit. Doctor Eunis was one of 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.600 the first leaders to talk about the possibility for business 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.160 to do good and set limits on infinite profits. His 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.320 concept of a social business defines financially self sufficient businesses 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.000 as those whose primary aim is to address a social 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.240 problem and not pay dividends to its owners. This idea 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.199 often referred to as social entrepreneurship. It's inspired many people 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.719 in the world of business and economics. It actually sparked Elizabeth, 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.640 my wife and executive producer of this show, on her 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.080 journey around all this too. In fact, you could say, 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.480 Professor Unis is one of the reasons we even know 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:33.920 each other. 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.320 And now back to my conversation with Christian. 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.120 And Muhammad Junus at the Nobelar Rate of Peace in 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.719 two thousand and six, and so I was reinspired by 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.840 how you use business to do good, and so in 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:54.280 the business school with my friend Omar, he said, okay, 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:58.520 what about we create a platform where people can support 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.120 social businesses, so people who start business to do good. 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.440 And this is how the idea of make Sense was bormnbed. 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.400 And to start, we decided to go at the root 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.760 of where social entrepreneurship for us was invented, which was 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.920 in India and Bangladesh. And so we negotiated with the 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.080 school that instead of going to university abroad was supposed 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.640 to go to Germany, that we do a backpack trip 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:24.839 for six bombs. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.520 So you convinced the schools starting about in Germany, you've 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:28.880 got to backpack around. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.319 Around India Bangladesh. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.679 And so we went with backpacks to meet social entrepreneurs 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.320 and do videos about them and start to build this 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.520 platform where volunteers could come and help them with years. 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.960 This was twenty ten and so makes Sense were just 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.800 a Facebook page at that time, and every time we 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:49.680 were arriving in a city like in Mumbai, we would 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.280 start a Facebook group to say, hey, we organized the 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:56.080 workshop to help this project that's helping people with disabilities 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.240 have access to the information in a. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.880 Subway back, do you guys want to come help? 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:03.640 And so every part of the trip we started a 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.160 Facebook group and then we organize the first workshop, which 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.400 is a tree a wall workshop. People would come together 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:11.600 give ideas and skills to the entrepreneur. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.520 We called it the hold up of ideas, a hold up. 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.320 So then we gave the pdf in the Facebook group 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.880 how people could continue to do it, and every time 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:22.760 we go and now there's like two hundred and fifty 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.440 Facebook groups and people using the method. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:26.440 And this is what makes sense. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.000 Was bombed was really organic and kind of just people 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.320 using simple tool kits of workshops by themselves. 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.480 And how do you because so much of what many 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:41.400 of us understand social improvement change like you need expertise, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.480 you need deep training, and you're a kid with a 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.880 backpack and a dream. You're not from India or Bangladesh 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.959 in this particular case, I presume you don't have a 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:55.920 deeps you of understanding accessibility in public transit in India. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.400 So what role are you playing in bringing strains in 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.640 the form of these entrepreneurs and strangers in the form 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.040 of these volunteers together to try to solve their local problem. 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.160 So the main point was to say, we want volunteers 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.120 from the city itself. And so what we acted like 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.679 was just facilitate all with a toolkit and methods and 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:20.160 also connection between these local communities, because when you're in 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.599 Mumbai or when you're in Marseilles, France and you're a 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:25.640 student in a business school you want to do good. 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.200 You feel kind of alone in your school, but then 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.800 thanks to the internet, if you there's someone else who 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.160 also feels alone on the other side of the world 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.800 and who has the same ideas as me. And so 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.920 by the role was really to facilitate with methods, but 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.240 also connect all these communities that want to make change 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.240 on a global scale. We use all the tools of 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.080 community organizing, so all the local staff, local office are 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.280 run by locals and they decide by themselves what they 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.240 want to do, so it's not like the headquarters giving orders. 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.840 And this is what's a bit different from other engels. 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:06.960 You've described playbooks, workshops or process and community organizing as 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.120 the kind of DNA. Where did you learn these things 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.160 yourself or where did the organization in each journey decide 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.160 this is what belongs in the playbook, This is how 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:18.440 we're going to organize ourselves. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.480 Yes, the playbook was really about how to run a brainstorming, 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.600 so it wasn't even as like how to community organize. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.040 At first, it's just how to get people together and 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:34.280 one can participate and give ideas. Basically creativity workshops and 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.400 ways to create edits together with post its and in 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.200 a country like friends might seem obvious in the US, 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.200 but in France, since you're a kid at school, we 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.960 never ask you what is your idea or we always 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.840 think there's a right answer or a wrong answer, and 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:49.640 we can only talk, I shot the right and sell. 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.920 And so for students in France to just say I 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.720 don't need to be an expert, I just come to 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.440 this workshop and I can express myself, give my point 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.680 of view, my ideas, and so this is would make 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.400 it go like super fast. And then from the trial 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.120 and error process we've filled into the longer thing of 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.600 organizing your local chapter and other methods to keep bringing 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:10.400 people together. 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.680 And how have you been able to make sure that 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.720 the solutions and the ideas and the creativity people are 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:21.040 putting forth are actually relevant and have a positive outcome 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.720 for the core problem that they're trying to address. 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.560 So for us, the expertise and the local knowledge is 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.040 the entrepreneur or the angel who work on the field 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.040 for many years and they define what is the challenge, 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.800 what is the ideas they need? And then the volunteers 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.600 come and help. So the two legs of makes sense 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:44.680 or supporting the entrepreneurs and getting the seasons to join 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:45.520 and support them. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:47.080 And over the years it. 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:51.880 Grew into funds and more programs to help the entrepreneurs grow. 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:53.040 I need some examples. 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.960 Yeah, in this vast history of three hundred thousand people, 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.400 three hundred steff, I don't know how many entrepreneurs can 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.000 you what's a few examples? 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.400 A projects that you've. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:02.960 One example we in front. 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.320 You have a project that is really big now, it 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.840 was really small at that time called back market back 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.160 market to make you buy your old phones instead of 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:11.720 the new ones. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.360 So instead of black market, it's back market helps me. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.200 Use, we use it and so it's really interesting and 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.320 circular communions. So the challenge they give when they launches, 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.920 which kind of event could be organized to make back 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:25.680 market known? 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:26.480 Okay, So the. 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.000 Volunteers came together and the idea was to organize the 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.160 other keynote. So the same day Apple said the keynote 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.080 about the new iPhone, back market was organizing the other. 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.400 Automatic old iPhones. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.080 Yeah, volenteers came up with the ideas and helped set 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.080 this up and now it's one of the biggest startups 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:44.560 in France. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.000 So it's one example. 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.560 Yeah, and I can just testify taking the metro around 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.680 all week as the pairs have seen. I heard a 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.280 back market just a few months ago due to a 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.160 company we have a relationship with that's based in the US. 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.280 But seeing the billboards, oh my god, back market is 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:04.520 huge now, it's huge, and you will literally helped launch. 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.560 It at the beginning. So there's many stories like that. 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.960 A story I love is during the COVID time, there 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.840 was like this startup that we helped support, which is 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.639 to connect the elderly together so they don't fill alone 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.840 with their family. So what we set up was through 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.800 this program of self volunteering. We had like four thousand 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.280 people in three weeks who went on a platform to 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.280 call a Rondom elder and then have weekly conversations with 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.199 them during the top of the COVID time. And the 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.120 way the volunteers built the trust with the retirement house 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.879 to get the numbers was by the first thing we 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:45.160 told them it is first to bring. 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.479 Them a cake to the director. And so you had 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.200 volunteers showing up bringing cake. 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.679 And then once the directors said okay, I'm okay to 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:53.600 give the numbers so you can call. Then it went 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.840 into a listing and people were picking up the phone 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.840 and calling. This example of program taken by the French 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.679 government on its public volunteering platform and so then it 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.600 becomes officially something you could do. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.600 During COVID, did the government acknowledge the origin of this idea? 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.000 Yeah, like I mean, they bring us into groups and 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.479 right now this program that's called Reactions two weeks program 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.520 so you can take action to have the elderly and 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.359 is working with the state to become a public policy. Wow, 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:28.240 to make it that the way the youth engagement program 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.359 of the state around three hundred thousand young French people 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.240 per year, works the same way that our program. And 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.239 so it's very interesting after two years of just an 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.680 id during COVID and then it helps become a public policy. 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.359 And how much did you spend on lobbying dollars with 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:44.560 your government to get them? 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.920 We didn't. Basically that's how we were doing in the US. 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:50.159 Had to give a lot of campaign. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.480 The thing they need is that they had too much 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:57.800 demand on their platform and not enough offers and in. 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.520 This case, because it's such a clear case with COVID 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.600 isolated older people, young people who want to help. Can 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.760 you lay out a bit of the pieces of how 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.439 that came together. Was there an initial volunteer organization that 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:15.119 had relationships with elderly holmes? Was there a young person 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.800 who missed their grandparents? Like, what's the seed of that solution? 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.080 At the beginning of COVID, no one knew what was 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.680 going to happen. I remember that, and at that time 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.520 I was studying in a program in New York at 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.919 Columbia University with Yobama Foundation. And so we had a 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:34.080 briefing from the team that was working with President Obama 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.280 on preparing pandemics. Oh wow, so the organized the day 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.320 the whole thing started, Yeah, we do this briefing. Destroyed 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.480 the briefing and I told them makes sense. Team, Hey guys, 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.760 this thing is like real and it's going to be 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:50.600 a lot of mess for the most vulnerable people. And 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.720 so then we saw that it was the elders, the 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.840 young people because they couldn't go to studies, the people 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.240 that already don't have house or how do they access 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.600 to hygiene product? And so we had six programs at 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:05.919 the front lines, and we just said, okay, let's do 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.360 a digital program where people self organized and groups are fifteen. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.200 And for each program, we ask our experts, the social 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:15.520 entrepreneurs who've been working ten years with the organized, ten 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:17.480 years with the elderly, what is the. 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.960 Actions people should do. We build those two kits. 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:22.720 And we launched it with like I think the first 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.480 week was one hundred and fifty people and each group 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:29.119 of fifteen you had one organizer whose goal is to 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.040 get people excited. And the magic of the thing is 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.520 that each group then created three people to become the 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.080 team leader. So you have one group and the next 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.280 week would lead to three groups. And this is how 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.639 we grew the system and it was really exciting. But 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.280 it's also amazing to see the power of digital tools 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.560 because it was all running on WhatsApp and emails. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:53.920 When you plug it with community organizing. 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:57.280 But this method you can use the same for activism, 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:01.560 for elections, even something to get a virus. 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.680 To spread, a different type of virus as opposed to 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:10.399 the COVID virus that's spreading. Because what you have co 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.159 created with the community isn't a top down playbook. You 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.600 kind of set the stage, and it's emerged groups of 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:21.120