Business education for women in Malawi (through B1G1)
Andrea : 00:53 Today on Social Mission Revolution. I am speaking with Anna, Osherov. So I’d like that asking her a little bit about herself and give her the opportunity to tell us who she is and what she does and what she’s all about. So Anna, who are you? If you would define who you are, who are you?
Anna: 01:16 Hi Andrea. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast and on your video show. This is the first one ever, so I’m very, very honoured to be your first interviewee.
Andrea : 01:33 I’m glad I’m back. Good to have someone who’s, he’s a friend to start with. That’s really nice.
Anna: 01:41 Thank you. So thank you. I am Anna Osherov. And a little bit about who I am. I was born in the USSR when it was still be USSR. It’s now known as Ukraine. And I came to Australia at the tender age of nine with no English language skills whatsoever. Interestingly enough, my area of expertise, especially more than anything is communications and how that plays out in the world from a business perspective. I am the founder, the CEO and founder of the Holistic Business Hub, it’s a boutique event venue that supports and empowers people to bring their vision to life by running successful events. Funnily enough, I am the authority and expert on event marketing for Business Growth and coaching and until the services that support that expertise for my clients.
Andrea : 02:38 And you’re doing a great job at it too from what I can see. I have my little trick question for people that I’d like to ask you is if you could fight for one cause, what would it be?
Anna: 02:58 Ah, you know, I thought about this a little bit and what I believe every human needs is the opportunity to have an open mind to possibilities in a positive way. So really if I could fight for a change in mindset for every human being so that they’re able to see what’s possible in the world, and that would be what I would fight for. There is so many people that experience pain and anger and anxiety and stress, and it’s really imposed through not having the possibility of a change of viewpoint, point of view. Does that make sense?
Andrea : 03:42 Yeah. So , it’s about you want everyone to have that opportunity to be the best that they can possibly be and to see that there is more than where they are.
Anna: 03:52 Yeah. Yeah. So what’s really interesting is the reason that I love doing what I’m doing is I have the opportunity to work with business people who are looking to work with other human beings to make a difference in their life. I think that any event that you go into, whether it’s a networking event, whether it’s a business event, whether it’s a wellness event, whether it’s a cooking event, but it’s an art event no matter what. And then you go to really simply the person who’s teaching the event, their is sole purpose is to teach something of value to the people in the room and so these people are making an impact to these people and then these people go to the people around there because it seems like something new. You’ve experienced something new. If you’ve been taught a new exciting opportunity, whether it is I can draw stick figure or I’m now able to solve a complex Pythagoras theory, you walk away with a new piece of knowledge, your mind is open to any possibility and that makes you a happier and stronger person to then go out in the world and share that opportunity potentially with. I get to work with the people who make a difference to the people and go out there. They make as you can see the People. It’s kind of like a ripple effect.
Andrea : 05:14 Yeah. That’s, it’s like a vision that I once had of being the one who, who likes the candle and then as you look out you see that there’s like little hills where other people have lit candles around them. Everyone else is lighting their candles and you end up with a sea of people, like carols by candlelight, where people are lighting and becoming whole and more empowered people.
Anna: 05:47 What’s really interesting is that I had the pleasure to meet Michael Grinder. And Michael Grinder can give you a personality assessment of who you are, whether you’re an introvert, extrovert, and what you life from dislikes that just from really watching you walk down the street, he is that good at nonverbal communications. And Michael Grinder does it to me that “you are, vicarious achiever and do things by yourself, but you get a lot more joy and, or pleasure through empowering others to achieve,” which was such a interesting thought. And this was almost a year ago, and I was sort of just as I was on the edge of coming into what it is that I do right now and so it was amazing to have that as an acting like. Yeah. You know, so seeing my clients achieve nothing makes me happier. So yeah.
Andrea : 06:41 Yeah. And Michael Grinder does, I’ve had a few words. Well, Michael Grinder had a few words with me one day. So I know how powerful these messages and that communication of being able to pick up and share with people who something that little diamond that changes their world. That’s awesome stuff.
Anna: 07:04 Yes.
Andrea : 07:05 So the purpose of this talk is to talk about social mission. So I see that you have taken on a bit of a social mission within your business. Can you tell me about that please?
Anna: 07:18 Yes, so I’ve signed up to B1G1. For those that don’t know B1G1 is, it stands for buy one give one and it is as a social enterprise that was started, by Paul Dunn and now his wife, she is Japanese and I cannot remember her exact name. However, yeah, I will be doing a disservice if I hadn’t tried to say it . The beautiful thing about B1G1 is it gives an opportunity to every business to provide an impact externally of themselves back into the world. The way that B1G1 works, is as a business person, you sign up to the program, which is a statement that the enterprise side of it. And then you have an opportunity to choose what type of impact do you want to have. And it’s not based on a monetary transaction, but based on the impact transaction.
Anna: 08:28 So let’s just say what you’d like to do is every cup of coffee sold, I would like to give a child drinking water. That might cost you anywhere between, I don’t know, 2 cents and you know, $3 each time you do that depending on the organization. But it’s not measured in the money., it’s measured in the impact.So, if you know, that it’s like every cup of coffee gives a child drinking water, what are you able to say in your business, every cup of coffee we sell one, it’s a days with drinking water. And you can say that 100%,uin integrity because that’s exactly what B1G1 do. So they have a breadth of options and you can choose what’s in alignment with your business.
Andrea : 09:14 So what’s the one that you’ve chosen?
Anna: 09:16 So for me, what’s alignment with my business is giving business training to women in Africa, because I believe that business gives us a unique opportunity to really be self sufficient. The restrictions on how much you can earn the restrictions on who you can reach, the restrictions on who you work with. They’re completely lifted and the value that you’ve completely lifted. So I believe that providing education on business to women in developing countries can just have the most incredible effect and impact on their community. But then also globally.
Andrea : 10:01 I believe that what happens in developing countries when women are empowered to start businesses, that it really makes this massive difference to the community. In ways that they have never seen before because women have never had that level of empowerment. And because women then put back into their community cause they concerned about their community, not just their community but, but how do they make the best for their children. So then that feeds into their community a lot more than it would if it was a general thing. So really that empowerment for the women in those groups is just vital for them, for their survival. So it’s a pretty powerful thing that you’re able to contribute to there.
Anna: 10:55 So far I’ve given away 340 days, of business training. To woman in Africa, Malawi.
Andrea : 11:07 So it’d be wonderful to see as time goes by what difference that makes in that community. Won’t it?
Anna: 11:13 Yeah, . The thing is, is as I was thinking about what it is that, you know, the social side of my business, I believe that if this comes through the holistic business hub and every business person, that I empowered to be able to run a successful event. Essentially it provides an element of social good because if they are able to deliver the value to the best of their ability and it’s going to work both for them and their business. And then for the clients and their clients lives, then my job is done, you know? And nothing could be more pleasure seeing that eventuate.
Andrea : 11:53 Yeah. So that was, that was the question I wanted to ask is how that changes the way you see your business. So you, it’s really lifting you up that little bit more and giving you a little bit more inspiration to go out there and make your business success. Because every time you make your business success, you’re helping a woman in Malawi make her business a success.
Anna: 12:17 Yeah. But also more on a local area from a local area safety. But I have a client who is a clinical psychologist and he does life coaching and leadership coaching. And he came to me as a client because his looking to run a small group workshop and then do a training program. And the training program is primarily aimed at empowering great leaders in our communities. And so in my having this conversation with him and mapping out his first event and mapping out his ongoing, deliverable program, what I realized was that if I’m able to support and empower him to succeed in what he does, then imagine how many people he’s going to be able to impact to succeed in what they do. And I had this great epiphany that made me love what I do even more just because I thought “WOW I have this unique opportunity to help him do his, you know, clinical psychology thing and he’s got the opportunity to then have this massive impact on changing people’s lives. That if I was able to help him do his thing, then he wouldn’t be able to help others live their life, to the best of their ability.
Andrea : 13:42 Yeah. So you’re doing that both within your local business, but then also within the social mission that you’ve got your able to extend that to a massive audience. Let’s just think this, Anna, how many people in the world are you really touching? It’s massive, isn’t it?
Anna: 14:09 It is massive . It’s a humbling thought. Thank you. I’m working. I’m working towards it now. I think what you’ve really touched on is really important is when you say social mission, I know that I probably have more work to do in really distilling a social mission as in, you know, write, what that looks like, what that means, what the impact that ,my social mission will have on the world and what that you’ve have about our business. Social mission because I think sometimes we don’t think beyond the idea of doing it. So yes, I’m doing it, but then do I have a strategy and a plan for how that’s going to impact the world? Because you should, from what you’re saying, just from having this conversation, we should have a social mission that’s about business mission and that’s something that has to be thought of as an added extra. It’s really important part that we sometimes miss.
Andrea : 15:12 And I see that is something that is just so missed. Obviously there’s, that’s what I do that I say it’s just so much of a missing piece of the puzzle that’s vital. So do you see that, you just having a social mission in your business is going to impact the way other people see your business?
Anna: 15:41 Yeah. It was really interesting at an event, I think we both attended. We watched Paul Dunn do a presentation. And what was really interesting, if we want to put figures on why this is important for the business, you know, social mission can be a really great concept, we might think it’s kind of fluffy. You might think your business is all about the bottom dollar. I remember a statistic going up on the screen the other day and it was about, right now, and the world is more money being passed through generation than ever before. I think it was something like $24 trillion. . The baby boomers to the millennials, right now. And so what’s happening is the millennials are very, focused on social good. And so 84% of millennials will invest their money into a social good or social for good enterprise. So not having that social mission can be detrimental to your bottom line, to your bottom dollar, because the way the world is shifting right now is that doing something socially good is good for your business.
Andrea : 17:02 It really, it’s a vital piece for many reasons, which I’ll do lots of post on soon. It’s just so vital for every aspect of us because we all have that inbuilt need to be making a difference somehow to someone in the world. And if we don’t do it, we don’t feel fulfilled in that we’re on purpose. So it’s really, something awesome. And that was one thing that I love listening to Paul Dunn about B1G1 is because I had, I was thinking about my work and how I can help businesses develop their own social mission, but I could see that there are other businesses, the smaller businesses, they don’t have the resources in time and energy to put into developing a social mission, but B1G1 gives them that ability to be involved in a social mission and incorporate that as part of their business as well. So I think it’s a really vital service and opportunity for people to no matter who they are, where they are, somehow we can all be involved in a social mission.
Anna: 18:26 It was enlightening.
Andrea : 18:30 It was enlightening, really good. I’ve got to get him on one day.
Anna: 18:35 Yeah, just reach out. I’m sure he’ll say yes. Do you hear that Paul Dunn, we expect you to say yes to Andrea Putting’s podcast. Thanks.
Andrea : 18:45 This has been really great conversation and I enjoy having this thing and seeing the light bulbs go off as, as you’re talking, there’s extra things happening in your world there that is just going to keep growing.
Anna: 19:03 I have three new ideas of what I can do just from our conversation. I’m going to get off this is this call, this podcast and that’s Ah, contact these people and say something over here, how can I scream these things more loudly?
Andrea : 19:18 That’s wonderful. That’s really good. So what I want to just give you the opportunity to just, is there something you would like to add about what you do about your business that if people wanted to get involved with what you, you are offering, which is going to also support your social mission, that also help to bring greater impact into the world.
Anna: 19:41 Thank you so yes, if you are in, in Melbourne and you are looking to run a small group workshops, the holistic business hub is a great boutique venue that will support it and to bring that vision to life. If you are looking for coaching and help and support on how to build your business with events, I’ve created something called the Eventologists. Eventologists the business people who run successful event. And really I work with you to make sure that your event is good for your business and with the clients and it’s something that’s going to be an epic value as a marketing business strategy for your business. So if you look up Eventologist #Eventologists, you will find some workshops and seminars that I run on that.
Andrea : 20:39 Wonderful I know from people who have done it, that they’re just raving about what you offer them. So it’s something worth people looking up if they want to run events. ,
Anna: 20:54 100% Even if they haven’t thought about running events. Have a think about running events and then look it up.
Andrea : 20:59 It’s something to consider as I think they said that 80% of businesses that are succeeding run events isn’t something like that.
Anna: 21:08 Yeah. if 52% of the top 700 fastest growing companies in the world attribute event marketing as having the biggest business value than any other marketing channel?
Andrea : 21:21 Yeah, so it’s really powerful if you’re running a business to think about how you can run an event.
Anna: 21:30 Or sponsor an event. Run an event or sponsor and an event, just introducing event marketing strategy to your business.
Andrea : 21:35 So if that’s something you want to talk about, Anna’s the lady to talk to. Okay. Thank you so much for sharing with us today, Anna. It’s been a joy to hear about what you’re doing and how you’re incorporating a social mission into the world of Eventology.
Anna: 21:57 Awesome. I love it. Thank you so much, Andrea.
Andrea : 22:00 Okay, thank you.
Andrea : 22:14 This has been the Social Mission Revolution with Andrea Putting. Join me again next week when we’ll speak to another Social Mission Revolutionist who will inspire you on your journey to making your ultimate impact on the world.