Bian Li guffaws when I ask her why the title of her visiting card states she is a puzzle master and a cajoler-in-chief. It’s a long story she says, a story that began when she started working with students in the US and realised that they weren’t a resilient lot. And so, she spent a year working across the United States, embedding herself with students and their families, and came out with a programme that allowed the children “to thrive as they are versus being stuck in a cookie cutter school system,” says Bian, who is from Iowa.
She soon moved to helping start-ups find their feet and realised that the same algorithm of raising a resilient child is needed for raising a resilient start-up. “Traditional education is mostly designed for students to obtain degrees and certifications, only to realise that very little is actually applicable in the real-world. This is the case for start-ups, where founders grind through the process to finally pitch to investors for funding, and yet only 10 per cent of start-ups make it to achieving significant returns to their investors.”
An entrepreneur, futurist and former investment banker, Bian Li, who prefers being called B, is the founder of The Hungry Lab, a global platform designed to reshape the future of work and education. Her involvement in the start-up community eventually led to the realisation that many start-up founders lacked proper guidance and support.
Excerpts from an interview with B, who held a talk on how to develop a good business pitch at B-Hub in the city.
The Hungry Lab
The goal of The Hungry Lab is to cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurs and change makers to affect the social good. Never before has there been such a sense of urgency to prepare society to adapt to a volatile tomorrow. It is a holistic and decentralised platform future-proofing today’s youth and workforce and empowering ventures, initiatives and corporates.
But what inspired you to start The Hungry Lab?
One of the inspirations came when I was working in Kenya on micro-financing initiatives. Another was when I was working as an investment banker. The first deal I did as an investment banker was sell a company, which started out as a mom and pop operation, for $75 million. I thought how can we reverse engineer that process so we can help more people build their business. Most start-ups fail because of the founder’s lack of expertise and mismatch with the investors. We also found that the founders often felt that they were tackling challenges all by themselves. From working with thousands of entrepreneurs throughout my career, the idea for The Hungry Lab grew out of the need to create a supportive environment and adaptive platform where entrepreneurs could get the help they need to be successful.
Puzzle master and cajoler-in -chief
So the reason why I am called a puzzle master is because I spend the time going around the globe and trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle and connect the dots that other people don’t see in terms on how we are all interconnected and how all of these dynamic moving pieces of the ecosystem for start-ups, for change makers, social entrepreneurs... its constantly moving and we constantly have to adapt. My job is to connect everybody. The reason why I am cajoler-in-chief is because to connect the dots, you have to pull people out of their silos. You have to get people to think very differently, and think in terms of collaboration, instead of competition. A lot of times that requires cajoling.
Bian Li
Fourth industrial revolution
Today’s young people face significant challenges in the face of the fourth industrial revolution. Traditional schooling is not preparing our youth to adapt and thrive in a world full of volatility. We need to provide the resources, mentorship and skills training to maximise previously untapped talent. We also need to empower them to fulfil their economic potential and create their own opportunities. We have to cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses to create jobs, spur innovation and solve critical problems.
Expanding technology for the greater good
These days, it’s about taking technology that is of one purpose and expanding it to resolve social challenges. It is going from just product-focused to people-focused. It’s all about technology with humanity now.
Projects in India
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and my organisation are working on launching the 100 Initiative for India, that is, 100 challenges with 100 solutions from 100 youth entrepreneurs for advancing India into the next 100 years. We are also working with a Mumbai-based solar power start-up to create an accessible solar power system across India.
Millennials, the voice of change
Millenials are more purpose-driven. They are much more woke about consumer ethics, about corporate social responsibilities and are less afraid to voice their opinion and make a stand. They feel that they have to be the change. Take for instance Greta Thunberg, the school girl climate change warrior from Sweden. I got a message from a 16-year-old the other day asking advice on how to effect change in her community. She is from Liberia and is working on education for girls.
