SOCAP11 Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Remi Kanji, Social Asset Measurements (North America)

What’s SAM’s biggest challenge?
We’re a new start-up in a relatively new field. So we have two major challenges, not one.
The first challenge is faced by every start-up. How much time should be spent on product development vs. Sales and growth? Like any start-up, we’re small, with limited resources…so we need to expand. And like a lot of start-ups, our products are new, and honestly, its pretty interesting to find new ways to use them. Finding a balance between the two needs is delicate, difficult, and necessary.
Our other major challenge is specific to organizations in impact metric analysis. We have to explain our utility to our market (socially oriented organizations). Non-profits, charities and social businesses have to explain their value to donors–impact metric analysis provides thorough data they can use to explain the amount of change they create. Moreover, it always socially oriented organizations to evaluate themselves. What change do they produce? How is it produced? Answering these questions allows them to understand and enhance their strengths. Like start-ups, they have to deal with a lack of resources. And we help them use their human and financial resources to their maximum impact.