⚡Access
Happy Friday! We love what we do, but we’re very happy for the upcoming weekend. Been coughing all week and we know many out there are getting sick. Hope we can all take a few days to recover.
Here’s some highlights of this week’s newsletters:
Monday (Dystopia): covered World Bank’s new education SDG targets; how algorithms are punishing the power; and how we need to end short termism.
Tuesday (Policymaking): covered the worsening refugee crisis; and principles for impact investing.
Wednesday (Warren): covered Warren’s education policy; the misunderstood effectiveness of Public Development Banks; and how impact measurement has too many frameworks.
Thursday (Zuckerberg): covered EY’s workplace debacle; and how Facebook is a threat to democracy.
Let’s get into it!
Your data belongs to you
Continuation of yesterday’s post of Facebook vs. Democracy.
Three senators coming in FTW with their new proposal called The Access Act. Democrats Mark Warner (VA) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley (MO) are fighting to open up the data and information markets in web platforms.
This means change. This is systemic change that could splinter the monopoly powers of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc. When you spend a lifetime disappointed at the ineffectiveness of the government, someone surprises you.
It’s different than Warren’s approach. Warren hopes to break the monopolies by fragmenting the players. ‘You’ve gotten too big so we need cut you back down to size.’ It’d be cool to stick it to Zuck, but ultimately, that’s not the source of their power. While these web platforms are massive, their power is from the fact that they have data monopolies about us. What the Access Act does is increase competition. Regardless of a company’s size they should be able to compete on a level playing field.
Here’s the english translation of the act straight from one of its proposers:
Who should your data belong to? We believe you. The Access Act would shape the future of the internet and put you back in control.
Our take. Yas. Well, mostly yes. The bill currently seeks to only regulate platforms with 100mm monthly active users, which is too high. Even smaller companies should have frameworks in place to open their networks and give their users control.
Business Bites
Today, we came across a number of cool business shifts focused on sustainability and social impact. Here are some quick highlights:
Throw on your jeans. It’s another gold rush.
The growing trend. There’s a land-grab underway. Stories, gas-stations, even your neighborhood McD’s might be getting in on it. As electric vehicles (EVs) are on the rise, there will be greater need for EV charging infrastructure.
But it’s different than gas. Gas was pretty quick. Outside of some of those ridiculous lines at a Sam’s Club gas station, it was fast. Currently, it takes a little longer to recharge a EV so gas-stations are not the ideal experience for many customers. Actually, many current EV drivers just charge at home. They definitely will not want to just wait around. So where would they go?
Shop, while you charge. Or eat! Maybe even sleep. Or do anything else you want to do, like watch a movie. Much of the revenue towards gas stations will shift to businesses that can set up the infrastructure and allow their customers to do other things at the same time. Gas stations might just be a thing of the past.
Conversations to improve lives
“Every day, there are over a billion opportunities to have conversations that can improve lives.”
Simon de Haan, founder of Turn.io, is on a mission to help folks have impactful conversations with each other. The messaging platform was first launched as a tool to manage conversations between mothers about maternal health. Simon wants to expand this to support “hundreds of social impact organizations working in health, education, finance, and agriculture” by 2021, using Natural Language Processing to triage the most urgent conversations.
Plant-based pizza
Pizza Hut has created a Garden Specialty Pizza topped with MorningStar Farm’s Incogmeato Italian sausage (these plant-based companies are super punny). The pizza will also be served in a round pizza box that is compostable and interlocks with other boxes for stability. The box was developed in partnership with Zume, a pizza delivery startup, because the round box uses less overall packaging — and Pizza Hut’s CCO calls it their most innovative packaging to date
Side Note: We couldn’t help but laugh after reading this — of course, we love it from a sustainability perspective, but it’s fun to see the word innovative used when changing the shape.
Monday, October 28
Conversations on Plant-based Entrepreneurship: Vegpreneur is a global entrepreneurs community that is made up of innovators who are building a plant-based future and they’re hosting an evening panel on the state of plant-based entrepreneurship at General Assembly. Light snacks and refreshments will be served.
Saturday, November 9
92Y Food Summit: From spotlights on innovation and burgers once thought impossible, to balancing the thrill of the delicious with social responsibility, to how immigrant chefs are transforming American cuisine, to what you’ll be eating in 2020, check out this event for this tantalizing think tank for food lovers.
Wednesday, November 13
Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals through Microfinance: This panel will look at the track record of the modern microfinance movement and how it has and can still contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals.
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