Sunrise near the summit of Golden Ears Mountain, British Columbia
“With MacroAdventure, Jo and Dom are working hard to validate what the rest of really want to know: where is social enterprise working? Can you make an impact and make a profit, thus making it sustainable and worthy of on-going investment capital?”
wHat is macroadventure?
Starting in June 2016, MacroAdventure is a self-funded, nine-month expedition from Alaska to Argentina. The purpose of our journey is to document and share the stories of entrepreneurs using business as a force for good across the Americas.
MacroAdventure was borne out of our shared belief in the power of business to create positive change. With the world facing serious challenges which current systems seem unable to successfully tackle, we believe combining the efficiency of business with the pursuit of social and environmental purpose holds enormous potential as one possible solution.
We call this phenomenon "the pursuit of purpose".
We wanted to create a project which would enable us to make our own small contribution to positive change by meeting remarkable entrepreneurs who are pursuing purpose, and using their stories to inspire others to do the same. We also wanted to embark on an adventure on an epic scale.
And so MacroAdventure was born.
how do we collect and share entrepreneurs' stories?
Our route will take us along the West Coast of the Americas, although we will deviate from this path at points to ensure we can meet as many remarkable entrepreneurs as possible. Through our own networks, and through individuals and organisations who reach out to us, we connect to entrepreneurs who are using their businesses as a force for good. We're always on the look out for remarkable people to interview - if you'd like to recommend someone let us know here! We are focused mainly on entrepreneurs whose work fits into one of the following categories: Education, Empowerment, Energy or the Environment. We try to film an interview with every entrepreneur we meet, and are editing this content into a series of short films (see the first ones here) and a feature-length documentary to be released upon the completion of our trip. We also share the stories of the entrepreneurs we meet through our social media platforms (come and join us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) and in monthly blogs for Virgin Unite.
Interviewing entrepreneurs in Portland, Oregon
How is macroadventure funded?
In order to give ourselves the freedom to embark on this project in the way we envisioned, we chose to self-fund it. We are however, actively seeking support (either financial or in-kind) from individuals and organisations with whom we share a vision. If you or your company would like to discuss how you could support MacroAdventure we'd love to hear from you - you can find details here. External support will be essential to ensuring we can maximise the value of this project, and share as many stories, and hopefully inspire as many people, as possible.
Exploring the Valdez Glacier, Alaska
What happens next?
We are due to complete our journey in February 2017. Upon its completion, we plan to spend time editing the feature-length version of the documentary, and writing a book on the lessons we've learnt from the hundreds of entrepreneurs we hope to have met by that point. We are also currently investigating a number of ways in which we could continue MacroAdventure's work further - such as conducting a similar venture across another continent. If you'd like to discuss future opportunities for collaboration with us, we'd love to hear from you.