When I asked Kevin Jones what was the one thing he could change in the whole world he quoted one of his mentors, Elinor Ostrom, the first women to receive the Nobel price for economics in 2009: “Don’t get stuck in trying to change the world but rather think about what around you can you change, that is part of the world you want to create.”
Jones deals with “the intersection of money and meaning” and challenges what he calls “the myth” where capital is about money and giving is about good. In our interview he explains that non-profits live to deal with the problems created by the for-profit world; they exist to leave the market alone and help distribute the excess.
He believes in a new form of capitalism that recognizes our ability to direct the power and efficiency of market systems toward social impact. Jones therefore decided to create his own marketplace and co-founded Social Capital Markets (SOCAP) which is dedicated to supporting the growth of this market. SOCAP is an annual event series, of which he is a convener, that connects leading global innovators and investors, foundations, institutions and social entrepreneurs to build this market at the intersection of money and meaning.
He also founded Good Capital, an investment firm that invests in the most promising social enterprises, which increase the flow of capital to innovative ventures, creating market-based solutions to inequality and poverty. These enterprises share a deep commitment to the creation of a new, informed, and passionate world of investing that strategically moves more capital to social causes and enables a new class of investors to put their money to work to change the world. Take a look at Good Capital’s investments here.
Jones also founded the US Hub one of the most inspiring co-working spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area, where you can find entrepreneurs who are trying to use the market to change the world, or as they would say it: “We are humans, taking collaborative action for a better world.”
Kevin Jones has treasured and followed his mentor’s advice and is really changing the parts of the world he wants to create…part by part this will lead to an increasingly larger change which will eventually have lasting positive social effects. It is the right way through.