ImpactWayv’s founders discuss the company’s impact-driven approach to social media
Business Insider Africa recently sat down with members of the management team at ImpactWayv — Dan Rubino (Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO), George Dolatly (Co-Founder and President) and Karen Talamelli Cusick (Executive Vice President) — to discuss the company’s pioneering role as an impact-driven social media company.
ImpactWayv’s founders discuss the company’s impact-driven approach to social media
They discussed how the ImpactWayv platform brings together businesses, NGOs and individuals with the sole purpose of engendering social good. This is something no other social media company currently does.
Enjoy the conversation.
BI Africa: It’s nice to talk to you all. Kindly tell us what ImpactWayv is all about.
Dan Rubino: We started ImpactWayv a few years ago because we saw a major deficiency as well as an opportunity within the social media space. We wanted to utilise social media to do what other social media platforms are not doing. And that’s basically uniting people, not-for-profit organisations (NGOs) as well as businesses. We wanted to create that ecosystem in pursuit of social good because up until now it hasn’t been done properly. And we think that based upon what we have, with that underlying theme, uniting those segments of the world, we think that we have something very powerful. We had hoped that a lot of the social media platforms could have gotten better over the years. But from our perspective, we actually think they have gotten worse by creating a little bit more distrust and disinformation. And we just wanted to create something new, vibrant and based on social impact.
And the key thing here is that we were specifically targeting NGOs and even governments as well as businesses, throughout the world, so that they can have a platform to demonstrate what their social good efforts are, what their businesses are and how their businesses sort of interrelate with their social good efforts and how they communicate those social good efforts to consumers and stakeholders. For me, it’s invigorating. And it’s invigorating for most of our team members too. But in a nutshell, that’s what we are all about. We are similar to other social media platforms, except that the underlying thesis is social good.
BI Africa: How would you classify yourself - an NGO or for-profit?
George Dolatly: We are a for-profit corporation, but we are focused on social good. We are the first social media platform to be focused on social good. As Dan said, we were created in response to numerous trends in society, the main one being the lack of a centralised platform for individuals, not-for-profits and businesses to interact on the basis of what’s most meaningful to them and topics that are most important to the world today. Our individual users interact in much the same way they would interact on other social media platforms. But the interactions are healthier and more meaningful. People can talk about what matters most to them, and explore and express their values. For not-for-profits, we are a platform for them to be easily found, express their mission and interact with individuals and businesses that are interested in that mission. And then finally for businesses, we provide a centralised venue for them to demonstrate what they are doing for social good -- a platform for them to express where they stand on issues and what they are doing to make the world a better place.
BI Africa: Tell us more about some of the specific services you offer and how much they cost, if there are price tags to them.
Dan Rubino: In terms of services, the overall service is connectivity. It’s sort of a plugin platform for businesses, NGOs and individuals. They log on just as you would log on to other social media sites. You would post, search and interact with all of the constituents on the platform. That’s the bottom line of the services that we have; making sure that there is connectivity. We’re based in the U.S., but it’s worldwide connectivity, including the continent of Africa and Nigeria. That’s very important. We also have a significant presence in South America and Asia. But because of the nature of the platform and because it is global in nature and we have access to all languages, everybody who participates has the ability to communicate with everyone else on the platform. So, there is that cross-sectionality from individuals to businesses to NGOs to governments where they will all be in a position to interact with each other -- an all-encompassing and all-inclusive experience. It’s basically a new way of communication among all those constituents.
In terms of what it costs, for individuals and most NGOs, there is no fee. So, they will just come on and post and influence without any limitation. As it relates to businesses, it’s a little bit different in that it’s a function of advertising in relation to content creation and content posting. For now, we haven't charged anyone yet because we are still building out the platform. But as time goes on, there may be some aspects of a subscription fee for businesses.
But that service in particular, in terms of allowing these entities to demonstrate who they are from a social good perspective to all of their stakeholders, is very important. And the cost to them is insignificant in terms of the services that we provide. And that’s basically where we are at this point in time. It’s a real value-added service to any organisation that comes on the platform. And of course, individuals can access the platform for free on a 24/7 basis.
Karen Talamelli Cusick: And if I may add to that, I think that makes us particularly unique because as Dan and George have said, on our platform you could do anything that you can on other platforms. But that focus on business has been lacking. And that’s what the founders identified years ago. Right now, meeting ESG and other sustainability goals has been recognised as the way to mitigate risk and ensure your survival as a company. The focus has turned away from ESG and CSR being viewed as mere compliance, but rather as risk mitigation as a new way of making money. And what ImpactWayv does is take away the clutter to provide an easier way to assess a business right in the palm of your hand. Consumers want to know that companies are sharing their values. To this effect, every company needs to know that all their stakeholders are being as compliant as they are as that could affect their ESG score. Again, our platform takes away the clutter and makes it easier for you to look up a business and see its ESG score compared to its competitors. That’s what I’m particularly proud of. I think that’s a need that we are meeting because it’s currently lacking.
BI Africa: This is really a very novel idea. Could you tell us more about how you came about the idea for the company?
Dan Rubino: That’s such a core question and I don’t think we’ve ever been asked that during any of the very many interviews we’ve had. And the three of us are going to speak to that because it’s part of our life now. It has been part of our life for the past three years. For me in particular, I’ve been in business (finance) and at the same time, I’ve been part of the philanthropic NGO world for the past thirty years. And I realised a number of years ago that that segment of society (i.e., NGOs) really comprises a significant portion of the world’s population. At the same time, we said ‘okay, as such a dominant aspect of our economy, where are they and have they actually benefited from technology? Have they actually moved all of their efforts and all of their work on social good into the 21st century?’ And the answer was emphatically no. Which is unfortunate. Failing to fully employ technology leaves so much untapped potential for exposure, engagement and connectivity. We wanted to put that all together to solve that problem for the entire philanthropic NGO sector. So, that was nearly three years ago. Since then, we’ve gone through the thinking stage, the planning stage, the business planning stage and then we went into the tech stage where we’ve developed the platform. We launched a little while ago on Apple. About 60 days ago, we also launched on the Google Play store for Android users.
George Dolatly: With this international access to our platform, we have empowered individuals like never before to participate in social good activities. We’ve really democratised social good. Individuals can interact with each other on a direct basis on a platform that doesn’t have the distractions of other social media platforms. They can also interact with non-profits and businesses.
Two of the trends that we perceived that led us to start ImpactWayv were one, the unprecedented interest by individuals around the world in social good; and two, the growing realisation by businesses and their constituents that businesses are responsible for using their influence and their resources to help make the world a better place. They are not just in service of their financial stakeholders, but of the entire international community. And businesses do realise that -- because of their visibility around the world and also because it ultimately hits the bottom line. Every day, people are making purchasing decisions, decisions about where to work and what businesses to be associated with, on the basis of where businesses stand with respect to the important issues of the day. Businesses have a need to make themselves understood in that regard. And now with ImpactWayv, individuals have an easier way to find out where businesses stand on these important issues in order to decide whether to buy from them, work for them or otherwise interact with them.
Karen Talamelli Cusick: Everyone needs a little bit more discoverability. NGOs need more discoverability and we offer that. You could interact with them while staying on our platform. And the businesses need that as well. They need to be connected with these nonprofits. I have been to some global conferences on ESG, and these heads of countries and companies are saying, we’ve got the “environment,” we've got the “governance,” but how do we do the “social”? And society is really where your constituents are. And on our site, you could actually sort through and get to those organisations. It’s great connectivity between the businesses and the NGOs. And it’s what the users want.
When we started two and half years ago, we had the luxury of hindsight. For other social media companies, they are so big that they can’t dial back some of the things they know have gotten out of control. But with our ability of hindsight, we are able to address issues like mental health which other social media platforms are really struggling with. We created a new metric. Instead of ‘likes’, we have ‘impacts’. And I think that that has helped us out immensely in meeting the needs and combatting some of the unintended consequences of social media companies getting so big.
Dan Rubino: Just to follow up on one point that Karen just mentioned in terms of discoverability, the ability to discover what others are doing (governments, NGOs, businesses and individuals) in the social good sphere, is of paramount importance to the success of the entire sector. And I can’t underscore that enough because that’s been lacking. And we are pulling all of that into the future by overlaying this social impact technology platform. I will give you one example. One of our partners is Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation. I have been working with this foundation for over thirty years. And the team there has done a lot of work in and around the continent of Africa. When you look at the foundation and all the work that they are doing in Africa and you ask a group ‘Does Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation do anything in Africa?’ People wouldn’t necessarily know. Now, all of a sudden you have this kind of social platform with key discoverability and engagement features on it, specifically with respect to things the business of Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation as well as great things the business of Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation is doing on the continent of Africa. But that’s just one company. When you look at other companies worldwide, and specifically the companies that operate in Africa, you will realise that there are millions of them that do things, both good and bad, that will be able to engage and interact with to be more informed on every level.
BI Africa: Let’s talk a bit about competition. As you know, the social media aspect of your company might be facing some stiff competition from all the other established social media companies. How are you able to stand out and differentiate yourself from them?
Karen Talamelli Cusick: I think the fact that we have created a niche for the brand is helping a lot in this regard. We stand out because there is no other social media company that is currently as focused on social impact and purpose as we are. There is space for everyone. And we eliminate a lot of the clutter. We may have the features of everyone else, but we are solely focused on the purpose and social impact that people are looking for.
Dan Rubino: I agree completely with Karen. Certainly, there are some “competitors” and more well-established social media platforms. But what they don’t have is the thematic concept of a social good concept. And when you go through that, you get access to tens of millions of businesses and millions of NGOs and the ability to bring them all together on a platform so they can demonstrate who they are. And the other platforms don’t have that. They are not in a position where they can transform themselves into what we have because it’s totally inconsistent with their business models.
So going back to the question of whether we have the ability to compete? The answer is absolute yes, as long as you have the right thesis and you are opening up to social good, businesses, NGOs and individuals. We think that combination is what the world needs. It’s not something we are just doing out of excitement. This is what the world needs. When people wonder whether it’s possible to improve social media, we say we are offering a higher level of social media with more meaning.
George Dolatly: Absolutely. What we are trying to do is bring social media to its highest and best use, without all the negativity that is found on other platforms. We focus on what people are most concerned about while trying to find real solutions to some of the challenges facing the world today. At the same time, it’s a 24/7 platform. People can interact in lighter ways. They can post interesting pictures and videos of themselves and their friends, or of whatever captures their interest, and have a lot of fun interacting with each other. Similar to other social media platforms, they can show off or be competitive as to what they’re doing for their favourite causes, or speak their piece as to where they stand on certain issues. But still, it’s a different tone. The overall principle of social good brings out the best in people and it focuses people on positivity and finding real solutions to real problems.
Karen Talamelli Cusick: I think it’s rather hope-filled. And we’ve heard that from so many users. One influencer told us the platform is somewhat like Instagram and LinkedIn, but it has purpose and meaning. It made her feel like she had a brain. People are able to share messages about what they could do about the things that matter to them; be it climate action, gun control, food insecurity, mental health, etc. You could actually look at our platform and go to bed hopeful for a better tomorrow.
BI Africa: Undertaking a project of this scale must have required a lot of finances to push it through. Have you been able to raise any money and do you have plans to raise some money in the future?
Dan Rubino: Over the past two and a half years, we’ve had and we’ve continued to have dedicated and loyal individuals who really believe in our mission. Our team is a small team. But it’s also the best team you can ask for because they are so committed and devoted to the course. So, we’ve been able to leverage all of that talent, including the tech talent that comes with it. We are in a position where we’ve raised some money. And in the next year and a half, we are going to be closing additional financing rounds. The bottom line is that we needed to build what we set out to build and that is this fantastic social media platform through an app which you can access through Apple and Google Play. And now we are ready to take it to the next level to become the disruptive force in social media generally. And we expect to raise more money in the future, there is no doubt about that.
BI Africa: Lastly, do you have a physical office in any African country at the moment?
Dan Rubino: We do not have physical offices outside of New York and Connecticut. And that’s because up until now, we didn’t necessarily need any physical offices. But like I mentioned earlier, the company is worldwide and we do have a significant presence in the United States, South America, India and hopefully more presence in Africa; in Nigeria particularly. But we certainly do plan on building out the business in Africa. And I do think that Nigeria in particular will be one of the hubs.
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