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TFSV Webinar Series, Portfolio Showcase on Social Justice & Employment

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TAMER FUND FOR SOCIAL VENTURES WEBINAR SERIES

Portfolio Showcase on Social Justice & Employment

with Manal Kahi ’15SIPA, co-founder and CEO of Eat Offbeat, Su Sanni, founder of Dollaride, and Elizabeth Suda, co-founder of Article22

Tuesday, July 14, 2020
1–2 PM EDT
Webinar details included in RSVP confirmation email.

The Tamer Fund for Social Ventures has awarded grants to over 35 social ventures after completing ten cycles of funding across a variety of sectors. The portfolio showcase features these entrepreneurs by sector to highlight the impactful work they do and discuss the challenges and opportunities they have encountered along the way.


Speaker Bios:
Manal Kahi ’15SIPA
Co-founder and CEO of Eat Offbeat

Manal is the co-founder and CEO of Eat Offbeat, a meal service that delivers authentic ethnic cuisine made by refugees in New York City. In 2013, Manal arrived in New York and she was impressed with the quality and diversity of peanut butter, but disappointed with the hummus. She started making her own based on a family recipe, which her friends started raving about. Her brother, Wissam Kahi ’04BUS, saw the opportunity there and said: “we should sell it!” And so, they went on a mission to find a hummus as good as their grandmother’s – that’s how they came to think of refugees being resettled in New York as an excellent community to find someone just like her. The idea evolved further. Although Manal and Wissam both love hummus and could eat it all day every day, they knew there were endless other recipes around the world they would like to discover and share. That’s where Chef Juan jumped on board, changing from his usual Michelin-star level kitchens to a more modest but much more exciting one, and helped them bring the idea to a boil. Eat Offbeat launched in January 2015 and received a grant from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures in Fall 2015.

Manal received an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Su Sanni
Founder of Dollaride

Sulaiman “Su” Sanni is the founder of Dollaride, which provides innovative transportation technology to marginalized communities across New York. In Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, where public transportation is most scarce, dollar vans have served a loyal customer base relying solely on word of mouth and delivering superior transportation service for $2. For over 30 years and to this day, thousands of New Yorkers use this commuter van network in their daily commutes. However, the road to free enterprise and prosperity has been very bumpy for these van drivers and business owners. Dollaride delivers a cashless solution and opportunity to grow this already vibrant commuter van network throughout NYC and beyond. Dollaride received a grant from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures in Spring 2019.

Prior to launching Dollaride, Su was the co-founder and CEO of WeDidIt, which helped nonprofit organizations achieve their fundraising goals by providing an online fundraising management platform. This enabled fiscal sponsors to support more projects, magnifying their impact across the United States. Su has also served as a national judge for the Miller Lite Tap the Future Startup Pitch Competition and briefly worked as an account manager for Meltwater Group.

From 2009 to 2011, he co-founded ALLSMiLES Media Group, a one-stop-shop media production company for aspiring music artists, models, and entertainers seeking increased internet exposure.

Su received an MS in business management from Boston College.

Elizabeth Suda
Co-founder of Article22

Elizabeth Suda co-founded Article22, which designs meaningful jewelry collections that tell untold stories and give back. PEACEBOMB, the first collection, is jewelry made from Vietnam War era bombs by Laotian artisans. With each bracelet purchased, ARTICLE22 donates to demine 3m2 of bomb littered land. The brand seeks to embody a new luxury that intimately relates our objects and ideas. Driven dually by design and development, ARTICLE22 cultivates the untapped talents of artisans in forgotten or off-the-beaten-track places, promoting entrepreneurship and community development by turning fashion into impact. Article22 received a grant from the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures in Fall 2019.

Prior to starting Article22, Elizabeth spent time in retail and as a research consultant in both New York and Laos.

Elizabeth received a BA in history from Williams College.

 

 


Tamer Fund for Social Ventures Webinar Series
This discussion series aims to inform and enable social innovation for the entrepreneurial and social impact community across Columbia University by providing information about social entrepreneurship at large and about fund's portfolio ventures specifically. For our portfolio venture members, this series also aims to foster a collaborative community by providing portfolio networking events and access to the Social Venture Advisory Network, experts, and alumni offering relevant insights to early-stage social and environmental enterprises.

When
July 14th, 2020 from  1:00 PM to  2:00 PM