July 4, 2025 • 53 mins
In this inspiring episode, Masami Sato, founder of B1G1, shares how her journey from a small family shop in Tokyo to global travel sparked a powerful mission: helping businesses create measurable impact. 💡 Unlike traditional charities, B1G1 is a social enterprise that helps companies embed giving into everyday business, funding projects like clean water, education, and the environment—without taking a cut from donations.
From living in a kitchen while pregnant to mentoring at Wimbledon, Masami's story is a testament to resilience, purpose, and the power of connection. Discover how micro-giving is changing lives, and how your business can be part of a global movement of meaningful change. 🌱💖
From living in a kitchen while pregnant to mentoring at Wimbledon, Masami's story is a testament to resilience, purpose, and the power of connection. Discover how micro-giving is changing lives, and how your business can be part of a global movement of meaningful change. 🌱💖
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Being Human Hidden Depths, the podcast
by Collaboration Global and your host today is Medial Tiny
and I'm so excited one of my favorite people in
the world is with us today, Missami Sato. Welcome, Masami,
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you Deale for having me here today too. You
are one of my favorite the people as well so well.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We've known each other a relatively short space of time.
I was trying to work it out earlier today. I
got involved with the charity that you look after you
founded probably in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think two thousand was before.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It feels like that, Yeah, what's that for me to
get involved with you guys?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah? Nineteen Yeah, Wow, you've been going doesn't before the pandemic?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We met in London a wonderful conference where we tried
out laughing yoga, which was hilarious, and I was introduced
to you by a wonderful man called Stuart.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Kurz Lake, who said, I think this is up your street.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Jill and I went along for funds is not sure
what to expect, and I got hook Line and Sinker
totally in love with the whole concept of B one
g one, mainly because it hit a button for me
that you've created a different model for a charity. And
(01:30):
I've always been very miffed by the fact that some
of these massive charities out there pay their CEOs an
absolute fortune, have massive London offices.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
And I'm like, well, where's the money coming from that's
going to support that? Surely that money should be going
to the cause. And you have a different model.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Do you want to explain one what your model is,
and then we'll go back into the story of what
I started it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
The evnder Wine is probably like a little bit different
from the concept of charity because we have a two organizations.
First of all, we have a social enterprise, which is
business minded. That's why when we work with businesses around
the world, we actually help them incorporate that impact, the
measurable impact in what they do. And then as a
(02:22):
part of it, we always focus on adding value to
those businesses so that their impact to creation and giving
as a whole becomes much more meaningful, powerful, transformative and
connecting and resonant. So that's like social enterprise actually engaging
more and more businesses to join us so that they
realize they are small act of everyday business actions can
(02:45):
actually contribute to clean access to clean water, education, involvemental
work and you know everything, and then find the meaning
and as a result, like they become a member and
that membership fund help us fund the entire work be
one one, including the system development, you know. But then
on the other hand, we have the charity organizations B
(03:07):
one ju one giving the facilitated the actual impact by
engaging and inviting high impact to charitable organizations around the
world to join us so that when they pass the criteria,
meet to the criteria and pass the assessment, they get
invited to come into the platform and work together with
us to break down their impact projects into micro unit
(03:33):
of positive change such as planting one tree cost to
this much, or providing access to education to underpriviate to
children cost to so much per day, and then that
gets curated into our platform. So that's why when businesses give,
we don't take anything off the contributions that they make
to the project and we hand over the amount collected
(03:57):
and amalgamated to the selected the charity is And so
that's kind of the model. That's why like B one
one is not so equivalent to two normal charities at all.
But we are very, very fortunate to have businesses like you, Jill,
that see the value of the work that we do.
But they also understand that, you know the fact that
(04:17):
they don't they don't need to try to kind of
change the world alone. You know, they can take the
path that they could and make the contributions through B
one j wan, but on a regular basis so that
the uh, the support coming from all different kinds of
businesses get amongtamated and then start influencing all of the
(04:43):
problems and challenges in the world. So that's the B
one to one model.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You've said that more than once or twice, haven't you.
That just totally encapsulates what it's all about. There's so
many questions I want to ask you this.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
My brain is going crazy. That's one of the things.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I like about it is you have a wonderful community.
And obviously collaboration global is a community, and your values
and our values just marry up so beautifully. And the
thing that being part of your community is these are
all other businesses who want to give as they go.
It's not like I'm going to wait till I'm successful
until I'm a multimillionaire, til I've done that deal, and
(05:23):
then I'm going to give. It's like they are giving
consistently and regularly on a regular basis. So for us,
as an example, every guest meeting, we have every person
that shows up, you very much for showing up. So
we're going to now do this on your behalf. Remember
that joins us as long as they are Remember a
part of their membership automatically goes to B one g
(05:43):
one and the little ongoing things we can do. And
I was always struck by a speaker on TED called
Ricardo Semler, and he'd been a businessman for like thirty
odd years and he developed ideas for schools, ideas for
so many different things. He was just this amazing entrepreneur
in business. And he had thirty years ago he let
(06:05):
his staff decide when they were going to work, how
much they were being paid, when they took their holidays.
He became he was ahead of his time compared to
us now after pandemic, working from home, and he was
talking to a friend of his who said, Ricardo, I've
done well with my life.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It's time to start giving back.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And Ricardo looked at him and said, well, if you're
giving back, you took too much in the first place.
And that's what when being on g one is about
giving as you go. You know, every time you get
a little something, you give a little something. That was
I've been waiting for this for ages. It just was perfect.
I didn't have to create it. I didn't have to
(06:46):
make it. It was somebody else who's had that vision
since two.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Thousand and seven, a long time ago, to.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
See it going forward. So let's go back to those days,
those early days. Now, we know from the talks that
you've givenm that you've always been an adventure. You've always
been out there trying stuff out, experiencing new cultures and things.
But tell us your founding story. What was the seed
that got planted that got you going.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I think the very original seed that was planted was
perhaps like being curious about how the world worked, what
was happening. And you know, when I was young, like
I always questioned about the mechanism of how the nature worked,
or even how the businesses worked, because my grandparents used
(07:39):
to have a family business, and I spent most of
my school holidays helping my grandparents brun their business, and
I love to spending time in their space, especially because
my parents were working for companies and they were very busy,
so they were never you know, home, or when they
were home, they were very strong about work and so
(08:01):
for me, like being with grandparents was an escape that
was really nice. But at the same time because they
had a business, a little shop in Tokyo, So as
a little young girl who was very shy but curious,
spend every day helping grander parents run their little business,
stocking shelops, cleaning the shops, serving customers, and so that
(08:25):
was like probably the initial seed of being a curious
about how everything worked, and I just wanted to understand
the things and I questioned everything. So when I graduated
from school in Japan and I was about to go
into the world of adult food, instead of getting a job,
(08:45):
I wanted to do something. So all the school years
I had a part time or multiple part time jobs
to save up money so that I could travel. So
I left the Japan at the age of twenty and
then I spent the next few years travel traveling around
the world as a backpacker. And even though I saved
up all the money, right like that, that was limited,
(09:07):
and traveling is not cheap, right if you were spending money,
so I had to be very, very creative to keep going.
So initially the plan was to be away for about
eight months and study English because I couldn't speak any English.
But it ended up a few years journey of backpacking,
continuously moving, connecting with people, sometimes heat shiking sometimes uh,
(09:34):
you know, staying with people's families. And so that period
of time really like transformed my perspective about this world, because,
you know, as a young person in Japan, I used
to feel that outside the world was very unknown. And
in Japan there's this saying called the gaijing and to
(09:58):
call foreigners and guiging in Japanese means of outside of people.
So we used to call any like, you know, people
from foreign countries as outsiders, and they were very different
from us. But when I started to travel as a backpacker,
I felt increasingly close to everyone, and I realized that
(10:23):
there was so many things we had in common, even
though we looked the different, spoke different languages, or had
the different cultural or religious beliefs or regardless of all
these differences, I felt that we were all connected.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, So that's like led to the time where I
started to question once again about why things were happening.
And so in many of the countries, like some of
the countries I visited, people were definitely much better off,
having more, bigger house, more like cars and nice things.
(11:01):
And but then in those places where people had more,
it didn't mean that the people felt fulfilled or happy.
And at the same time, on the other parts of
the world, I saw some people who had nothing, very
little families if who didn't know how to continue to
feed their children and send them to school, like people
(11:23):
sleeping on the on the street. Like I met so
many people, and some of those people, even though they
had so little, seems to be quite happy to share.
And you know, they were giving me their food or so. Yeah.
So I realized that there was something that I couldn't understand.
(11:47):
But the problems of the world seems to be so big,
and I didn't think I had any ability to change that.
So I kept going. But one day, actually when I
accidentally became a mother and my daughter, that's when I
realized that I had to do something. I couldn't keep
saying that I couldn't help everybody, so I do nothing
(12:10):
because I realized if my daughter was born in another
circumstance by chance, and if the world said, oh sorry,
we are all too small, you know, like we can't
change the world, so we do nothing, then what happened
and that was actually happening to so many children and
so many mothers around the world. Yeah, So then I
(12:32):
became an entrepreneur, believing that if I had a business,
and if I could use my business to make a difference,
you know, to my own customers lives, but also to
the world and give to like, you know, the causes
that I cared about, then at least I could be
(12:54):
doing something. So that was the start of my first
business towards the food food business, because I was passionate
about food and I believed that the food really brought
people together. So eventually when the food business evolved too
like initially starting as a small like take of a
(13:16):
food ball because that was all we could afford to do,
but eventually the business have grown and we moved from
New Zealand to Australia and at one point my company
was selling all sale frozen healthy frozen meals to more
than one hundred to fifty stores across different states. I
(13:37):
realized something profound.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So I thought.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
About all of the hours and all of the hard
work we were doing to grow my business, but at
the end of the day, we weren't able to do
anything toward the dream of making a difference because we
were always too busy and we didn't have a lot
of money. We were putting all the money back into
(14:03):
business every time we gain new new clients, new new
new customer, because we always had more money to spend
on the development the new packaging, new freezer room, and
so on. So we thought, what if, uh if we
we do we do things differently? Instead of saying one
(14:26):
day in the future, when we are really successful, we're
going to make big things happen. Instead of that, what
if we said we do something small, but do it
from today and every day. So that turned into the
origin story or origin I did like an initial idea
of be one to one that for my company, every
(14:50):
meal we sold, we wanted to give a meal and
and then that's simple, simply done. When you know that
there were organizations that are actually doing this, like providing
free meal to children at school so that the more
children get encouraged to come to school in communities, like
you know places like India where even primary school education
(15:14):
completion rate is very like not high enough, so kids
drop out because families don't see the value of education
and they decided to keep children working on the field
instead of encouraging them to go to school. But having
that one free meal can encourage the family to send
(15:34):
their kids to school because kids get free meal, but
also help the children to focus on the study and
that helped them over a period of time for them
to complete the primary school education and that gives them
the chance to actually consider going to the secondary and
higher education and that totally transform lives. So doing that
(15:58):
was to do for our business too, because it was
just so small on a regular basis to make that difference.
So several months later after the idea came to us,
eventually we realized that this profound idea, that what if
(16:20):
every business could do this, and because there was no
such mechanism for businesses to do that, so we decided
to sell our food business in Australia and moved to
Singapore in two thousand and seven to start to be
one D one as the global initiative.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That's just incredible because you make it sound so simple
it's like, oh, well, we decided we were just Yeah,
for every meal we created and sold, we would give
one away. Did you have any kickback from people in
your company that went, are you crazy? That's like half
our profit's gone out the window. Why would you do that?
Or was there everyone was like, brilliant, let's do it.
How was it when you first make that suggestion?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, I think you know the businesses have If let's
say businesses have a product, then they are all sort
of cost or even ingredients, right, Like in my case,
there were ingredients that go into the product, such as
all of the vegetables or you know, like the even
(17:25):
the packaging and the stickers and the labels, like everything
had a little bit of cost, but we choose to
invest in that cost so to make the product more
worthwhile and the valuable. So if compassion and kindness and
the positive and tangible and measurable impact became one of
(17:46):
the ingredients of your product and that only cost ten cents,
five cents, twenty cents, whatever the impact you choose to make,
then actually every business can totally not only justify but
also see the meaning and the benefit of actually incorporating
this positive change into what they do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And that's what I love about your co founder Paul,
who maximizes that from the business perspective, It's like, not
only is it a good thing to do and a
kind thing to do and a lovely thing to do,
it makes business sense because it becomes part of your branding,
It becomes part of your makeup of your business. Is
(18:31):
this is what we are over here. And I love
the comparison he makes the coffee shops. You know, would
you buy your coffee from the coffee shop that's just
selling you a regular cup of coffee or the same
price coffee, but actually they're going to be donating something
to a good cause. When you go to the good cause. Well,
even if it took men, you had to cross the
road to do it. You know, it's common sense. And
(18:53):
yet people are only just catching on to the fact
that we have businesses that have power and businesses that
can make such a difference providing we look at that
business as a tool for good and it's like, how
could we do it and what can we do to it?
And therefore, you guys make it easy. It's just plug
into B one, G one and the rest is going
to be you know, the software is done for you,
(19:14):
the organization is done for you. The choices are out there.
You just make the choices. It's all done.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You don't have to go and find any of this
stuff to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And then your branding can kick in and all of
the marketing can kick in and all.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Of those other things that go with it. Yeah, from
that very simple.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Idea that you experienced and you did first, it's not
like you're going, this is a good idea, let's see.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
What we can do.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You've gone, I've got this company, I want to use
it for good. Let's give stuff away. And back then
two thousand and seven, two thousand and seven, that was
kind of revolutionary. I just I'm surprised you didn't have
people saying you're crazy what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Looking back, I feel like we've done many of the
things a little bit too. Ali.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
You think about the you know, healthy food business that
we had, and then initially we started out as the
concept of online order order fresh food home delivery, and
that was twenty you know, twenty three years ago. So
at that time, nobody was ordering food online. And yeah,
(20:22):
and also like trying to find a way to deliver
this fresh food everywhere around the city, like it was
enormously difficult, and we you know, as a result of it,
we eventually realized that was a bit not the right time,
so we pevoted to frozen meal and that worked well,
like as a wholesale business. But then in the same way,
(20:43):
when B one J One started, I think it was
ahead of too much ahead of time because no business
was looking for opportunities to really give effectively or even
social impact esg or CSR, like all of those things
were not yet in business people's mind at that time.
(21:03):
So I feel like we had a lot of struggle
out of that. But they're at the same time, even
when and there was not demand. When we tell a story,
when we talk to the business owners and really tap
into the reason why those people started their business and
(21:25):
what they cared about, you know, because every business start
with actually a sense of wanting to make something better,
you know, solving a problem or adding value to a
specific type of people they had the emphathy for. So
when we spoke with business owners saying that this is
the way you can build a great legacy in and
around your business because you, as a business person, you
(21:49):
care about something and so that messaging already they resonated
with people regardless of whether or not there was a trend,
or we could make a strong case of consumer demands,
you know, like for a cause focused concentric business is
like when there was nothing, we still had the people
(22:10):
who chose to join us, and many of those people
are still connected with us today, like eighteen years you know,
like many people still say online that I remember that
day one idea was born. So yeah, so I think
that makes it really really special. And then today we
can basically make a stronger case that it makes total sense,
(22:31):
right like logically, but also even if there was no benefit,
no material benefit to the business, if you just thought
about during a business running almost exactly the same business,
but you as a business owner knowing that by you succeeding,
by you doing what you do, you are improving lives
(22:52):
around the world of the people you may never meet too.
I think that value of understanding the legacy you are
creating or your business is praiseless.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think you're right Now is the
time because businesses the SME world are realizing that we
have all of this power very little control, and we're
told in the politicians of the day. Every time there's
an election coming up, they'll say, you know, the SMEs
or the backbone of the country, and yet they could
(23:23):
do so much more. And it's doing things like this
that give us that kind of control where we don't
have to lay out huge.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Sums of money.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
But the more you give, the more people that you're
going to help in a massive way. So it is
as you say, as time has come, and anybody that's
not part of it and who has any.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Desire to have their.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Business as a legacy for themselves, it's like, well, what
legacy are you leaving?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
What are you creating to? You know what they say?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
What do people say about you after you leave the room,
And if they are not coming together to do some good,
then almost like, well, your business is earning money, great,
and you know, well I employ five people, good and
what else could be done? With so much more that
could be done and you've just given everybody the perfect
(24:19):
vehicle for it. But this trip, trip, trip here, here
here sounds very simple. So now you're in Singapore and
now you're getting it going. And this was back in
what year are we now two thousand and seven? Yes,
in Singapore's still a long way away, isn't it. You
(24:40):
just celebrated eighteen years, haven't you. So what a landmark
space to be part of. Considering you were ahead of
your time. So what were some of the challenges that
you came across in two thousand and seven?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, two thousand and seven, is it not the biggest startent?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Perhaps?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, we had a lot of excitement around how to
design this whole thing, and you know, basically we had
no examples to follow. Yeah, Like, if we are running
a food business, there are lots of food businesses out there,
and you just have to create a business that does
better or that makes the customers demand the better or
(25:22):
price is better, or quality is better, or distribution is
better or service is better. Like, so you could do
all of these things based on existing models, but when
we set out to create a B one one, there
was no existing models. So we had to figure out
how to make this simple idea a reality because it's
so simple, you know, like, what if every business can
(25:47):
become part of creating a better future by doing what
they normally do. Every time a coffee shop sells a
cup of coffee and somebody enjoys the beautiful cup of coffee.
What if a child or somewhere around the world to
receive access to life saving education and without that clean water,
(26:09):
that child might have a diarrhea, might to miss the class,
or young infant might to die. And so how can
we make this happen? Every time accountants create a new
client that gives the education to a child, or you know,
every time also sells a book, a tree gets planted,
how do we make that happen? So over the initial
(26:31):
like a few years after moving to Singapore, we had
to really like figure out everything from square, like how
to bring on different organizeance to be one, and how
to ask them, how to burn down the project into
micro utimated, so so many ways. We really had to
(26:57):
figure out everything from scratch. So that kind of the
one jo one dilemma in challenge. But heading to that,
I experienced so many personal challenges as well as an entrepreneur. Yeah,
so I look back and then thinking about the early
(27:18):
entrepreneurship when I was running a food or company in
the struggling time, like studying a business with three months old,
the baby on my back, and yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Incredible because I look at my children with their children
now and I'm exhausted just watching what they go through.
But to imagine having an employed so it's like, oh,
maternity leave, I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
I'm gonna enjoy it myself.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
To imagine what you went through with a tiny baby
with accommodation problems as well, you had didn't you? Did
you ever kind of think this is all too much,
I can't do it. You must have done at some point.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, so you know that some of the hardest time
was like when we decided to expand this initial food
business and signed the contract least contract for commercial kitchen,
big commercial kitchen. And after doing that and getting ready
to build the kitchen, and I was like physically painting
(28:22):
walls and carrying cement and stuff like that. Then I
realized one day that I was a pregnant again. So
I had a two year old daughter at that time,
but there was a pregnant again, and we just signed
the least for this new concept of business, which we
didn't know whether it's going to succeed. So throughly the pregnancy.
(28:45):
Second of pregnancy, I was working during longer hours of
backbreaking work, and we opened the online business waiting for
orders to cut flow in and of course, at that time,
not many people ordered the food online, so we wouldn't
have enough for business coming in. But we had a
huge cost for the commercial kitchen which we signed up for.
(29:08):
So during that time, like eventually like we started to
do you know, sell the product at weekend the market
to getting up at two am in the morning, taking
our two year older daughter in the van at two
am to go to to to the market so we
could sell something. Right, I got the market to where
customer as well, the.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Ankst and the pressure that you must have been under,
did you ever doubt yourself at that point? Did you
just go, oh, for goodness, like, I'll go and get
a job.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I No, I doubt. I doubt it myself all the time. Oh,
like whether I could do this or I could could
do that. That was that. But then there was one
thing I didn't doubt. And so what I didn't doubt
was that there were so many people in the world
(30:00):
who had more challenges.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Than I had. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, And also because those people who had very little
still were generous to take me in to share their meals,
you know, like and helped me along the way when
I was when I also have little, you know, like
as a backpacker. So I always felt I was better
off than so many people, and that gave me a
(30:28):
reason to keep going even when I doubted myself anyway. Anyway,
so one day during that time, you know, I was
still trying right, like making ends, me to selling everything,
working sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, no rest,
young child, growing tummy. One day we no longer could
(30:51):
pay the rent, and we were stuck. But our landlord
was this great businessman kind of you know, co invested
in doing the kitchen, but he was also very firm
on collecting rent, and he had a high interest loan
car loan company next door. So I knew I wouldn't
(31:14):
we wouldn't get away from not paying rent. So I
thought about, so what can I do now? And I
had an idea. So my idea was, I thought, well,
we have two rents. One is for our house, one
is for the kitchen. Which one do I keep?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Oh wow?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
So the clear obvious choice was to keep the kitchen.
So I moved out. We moved out from the house,
let go of that rent, moved into the kitchen. But
the kitchen was just the industrial warehouse with a kitchen
show inside. So there was a gap to be doing this,
(31:58):
like shell of the kitching structure. Above that was space
where we could store a cardboard of boxes like a
packaging material, with a ladder next to it, like to
go up. So we actually lived among the CRDO boxes
for some time and became a homeless And then I
(32:19):
would wake up in the morning and go like, oh, actually,
it's nice because we don't need to travel to work anymore.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Always look at the bright side.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, And then then we kept going. But then also
I got stuck another time again because I was pregnant
and I was still working full time, non stop, and
I had no time to go to see doctor or anybody.
So I thought, I looked down my tummy belly and
then thought, well, I could have maybe any moment now
(32:50):
because I was rich nearing nine months pregnancy. Yes, then
I thought, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And that that time, but uh, it's in Australia but
not the same so I didn't have the same kind
of support for my childbirth. So I said, well, I
have an idea, and then the next idea was that
(33:22):
we would have a baby there oh my goodness, wow.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Born in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Oh bless yeah, went out the window.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I guess, yeah, so so so what happened was, interestingly,
sometime later, when we finally managed to pivot to frozen
meal and moved out of the kitchen, I actually went
(34:00):
to the landlord and apologized for secretly staying in the
kitchen and the giving of us in the kitchen. And
the amazing thing was this landlord, who I used to
think was as kind of quite fun and the scary person, right,
he yeah, laughed and cried and then he said, Masami,
(34:25):
I believe that you're going to do great things. And
during that time of difficulty, he also offered as three
month rent waiver.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Wow, that's yeah, brilliant, that's well, that's this is where
you have good ideas and then it comes back to you,
doesn't It's the karma. You were out there doing something
for a really good cause, and then when people find
out about that.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
They want to help you to to continue that and
carry it on.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I cannot believe the hardship that you went through though
to keep it going and keep your dream going. Who
did you have around you at that time that was
supporting you in your dream?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Well, actually, at that time was during my first marriage,
and so my family was there of course, and my
daughter who was two three and a half when my
son was born, was there. And also we had this
very beautiful Japanese lady who used to home stay with us,
(35:32):
so when we still had that house and she stayed
with that, and also she helped me with my business.
She was one of those people who inspired me a
lot too, because when the time came and I suggested
that we move out of the house, I said to her.
Her name was Psayaka, and then I said to Sayaka, Sayaka,
(35:54):
we need to move out from this place because of
the business situation, and so we're going to be living
in kitchen and I don't think, you know, that's kind
of suitable for you, So why don't you start finding
another place to go to. Then what she said to
me was really amazing because she said to me, Masami,
(36:16):
it sounds really exciting. I've never lived in a kitchen.
I want to come with you.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Oh how lovely. Yeah. And then a pair of hands
to help with the children. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But then also another like a time when our business
started to grow, you know, grow again because of the
frozen meal production that we were doing. We also had
some amazing people from around the wall. The film are
on this thing called the working a holiday and also
working the program to stay and you know, stay with
(36:48):
people and learn about things and then to be able
to work for period of time. We had so many
people coming to stay and all of these people or
working together with us to grow this business together. And
that sense of early days of this small group of
(37:09):
people being really excited about the good that we get
to create it together. I think that feeling stays with
me even though we are in a different industriation with
our business today. But I always feel like, for example,
our members and partners or our causes, you know, like
(37:29):
the people who are delivering the making things happen on
the ground around the world, those people are actually part
of our work and the partners of this important change
that we are creating together. So the feeling is still
the thing.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Yeah, there's something special, isn't it When people get what
you're about and they believe in it and they want
to help. It's like they become family, don't They're the
family that you get to choose rather than the family
that you get born into. They become special. And it's
like for me with collaboration global. The ones that get what.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
We're about and go I'm in. I want to be
part of this movement.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
They're the ones that I'm like, oh, it feels like
they're coming home, and I'm like, yes, thank you, because
we can do this together.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
On my own. I've just got a great idea. And
it's the same as you two thousand and seven got
this great idea. Hello, does anybody.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Want to But you've got those people around you that
came in and when you're doing the great thing, you're
doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
I want to help. What can I do?
Speaker 1 (38:31):
And sometimes you don't know what they can do, but
you know that just having them there and having that
hug is really special. And that's probably, I'm guessing why
you do these amazing conferences and retreats where people go
and experience where they might have helped some of the
causes and you go on a look projects, but also
having two or three days of everyone collective.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Are you're in Bali this year, aren't you? Yes?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah, in November we are gathering together. Always think that
you know, things like the study tours where we actually
go and see what happens on the ground, is probably
the epitome of the experience, and not just because oh,
here is the project I've been supporting, and this is
(39:17):
exactly how it works. But what we take away is
really the profound gratitude of the privilege that we have
in doing what we do, and that like creating the
space of empathy that the people feel for each other
and feel together in a lotther than here is like
(39:38):
a rich people for help and then the poor people
who need help. Like that, it's totally demolished that separation,
that we are partners in making some extraordinary change happen,
and we can only do it together. You know, that
feeling is really profound when we experience when we get
(40:00):
to experience it, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
And this is my whole concept of human beings together.
Forget all the labels why you're different, why he's over
there and she's over there, and he's black and she's white,
and he's gay and she's straight, and all the labels
that we put on each other. Ultimately, as you discovered
when you went backpacking, we're all human beings and we're
all connected by that invisible, untouchable thing that's the most
(40:26):
powerful thing on earth. And there's love love for humanity
and if we don't come together and support those that
can't currently support themselves, then we're not worthy of that
being part of that race.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
When everyone does come together in this way, that's why
we get filled with the love, and that's why we
our cup is brimming over. Even if we don't have
a huge amount ourselves. There's always something that you can
do and something you can contribute to help another person,
even if it's a smile, I mean one of our members.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
And we've got them here.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
He goes around giving these out pink Socks and his
Pink Sox's life if anybody wants to go and check
it out pink Socks dot Life and it says the
world is full of good when you believe it, you
see it.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Keep doing that.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
A simple, very simple message. But it is about connecting
with each other and finding ways that you can help
each other together. So tell us the story about how
Paul Done came into the picture, because a lot of
people will be aware of Paul Done. In the UK,
he is renowned for helping businesses. I saw a fabulous
(41:39):
video on LinkedIn the other day with you guys getting
to see backstage, what goes on at Wimbledon that looks
like fun. A little bit jealous must have been. Tell
us how Paul came into your life.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So Paul was the initially a mentor to me, as
you know, in his early career he saw a lot
of successes and he had amazing connection where the industries
like accounting industries, and so many people saw Paul as
the kind of mentor and speaker and the person who inspired,
(42:18):
you know, push the boundary and status quo in the
industries like accounting, you know, which where every accountant seems
to be quite the same, they're all doing the same
work and the building on the hourly basis or something.
And he totally disrupted the industry. So he retired once,
you know, because he was able to retire at that time,
(42:39):
but because he's such a creative person and totally enthusiastic
and curious about everything, so he couldn't stay away for
too long. And as he came back into the business space,
we met and initially when the idea of B one
j one came to me, I tried to give it
away to Paul, you know, I said, I don't know
(43:00):
how to run this thing. How do make it happen,
So why don't you do it? Like because you have
such exterior in s and uh then he at that
time dance, I was actually no, and I realized that
I had to do something otherwise the idea would die.
(43:21):
So that's how like initially we started to be in Singapore,
and so that's why Paul was from the beginning as
supporter and almost like a messenger or ambassador's idea and
they inspired a lot of businesses. But then over the years,
because you know, with the with my ex partner, we
(43:46):
realized that we had a different future, different directions, so
he moved on starting his business and we became friendly
like a co parent, but separate right like, so over
the yeah, as a Paul actually eventually gradually became very
close to me and then we became official like business
(44:09):
partners as well as life partners. So yeah, so we've
been married before the last eleven years. So we just
celebrated the eighteen anniversary of the one to one last month,
but we also celebrated the eleven years of the marriage together.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
Congratulations beautiful.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Many people will know Daniel Priestley as well, who's a
big supporter of yours. Paul was Daniel's mentor, yeah, back
in the day. So this is kind of an indirect
route of how I came to you as well, because
I got to know Dan with the KPI program. And
obviously when you spot people online that oh they know
and they know and they know. So when I kind
(44:50):
of put that connection together, it's like, oh, he's he
must be a good guy.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Then if he knows Dan and he's help Dan, he
must be a good guy.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
And you sort of follow the crumbs, don't you find
it how you can get involved?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
So talk to us about wimbled and what was that
all about? Oh so.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I think now nowadays, like when we are doing our
work of many years, it's some interesting opportunities come to us.
And so this is also partly the benefit of doing
something you totally believe in, you know, something that is
bigger than just making money and just developing business. But
(45:30):
there is a mission behind what you do. Then of
course the opportunities that gets attracted to what we do
is also very interesting. Like so so one day a
friend of mine, who is uh Richard, the Brandson's private
tennis coach, messaged me and then said, Masami, we are
(45:53):
running this program for the second year round, which is
to get a group of ATP tennis players who are
retiring or retired just retired, and then we are also
matching them with a group of business mentors if we
have different experiences, and then we have the annual mentoring program.
(46:14):
And then he said, so we are doing this for
the second time around because last year was a great success,
and we are also bringing in WTA group as well,
so both the male and the female pro tennis players
will be part of the program. And he said, would
you be one of the mentors? And so I actually
(46:39):
said that. I said, well, like, I'm a person for
his running of business, but I don't tend to mentor people,
So why don't you talk to Paul because Paul is
much more experienced as a mentor, Like he is super
super amazing. So then my friends said, oh, that's a
great idea. So Paul, can you know, should be like
(46:59):
if he is happy to be part of it, that
would be great, but I still want you to be
part of it. So yeah, So then it turned out
that the both of us engaged in the initiatives. So
we just had a launch event and then uh, they
took us to the winvolved on tour just before the
(47:20):
season opened, so we on the day it was totally like, uh,
not accessible by the public. We went into the winvolved
on uh, you know area from the back gate, and
they took us through all of the players area, like
the canteen and then the treatment rooms and the ice
baths and the practice code and so as we are
(47:44):
walking through, we are seeing like Djokovic to just walk
past or now milsa Russian you know, through and and
we we we saw Alcaraz and the cinema chatting and
walking by or practicing or so. So we just saw
this amazing space where the champions of you know, amazing
(48:09):
sports come together. And that involvement of where the champions
to hang around, you know, with each other, what's just inspiring.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
Yeah, I mean that is the best arena in the world,
isn't it for tennis? And to be part of that
and to be supporting those people that are coming out
of their career and considering what they're going to do.
I mean, yeah, hopefully you didn't get starstruck, but it'd
be pretty hard not to when these guys are walking
past or the girls, you know, having come off a
practice or something and just standing they're having a chance.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Oh I'm here.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah. But anyway, the probably the most interesting thing is
the fact that the people coming out from sports career
will consider entrepreneurship. And what's happening now is that the
more and the more people are increasingly attracted to the
idea of entrepreneurship because now running a business from anywhere
around the world and working anywhere around the world and
(49:06):
developing and making things happen with a relatively small group
of people a team is really possible. And there is
a profound opportunity ahead of us for us to really
transform the industry or how work and life work around
the world by enhancing the way that we actually develop
(49:29):
and run our businesses. So it's an amazing time, yes, it.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Is, indeed, So what's next five years?
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Be you one g one? What are you planning through?
What's ahead?
Speaker 2 (49:41):
So of course, like it's very easy to say it's
about the scaling and growing right, like, because we've worked
with thousands of businesses so far, and then those businesses
have created more than three hundred seventy five million giving impact,
you know, like, and these impacts can be number of
trees being planted, or a number of days of access
(50:01):
to education or so that's already quite profound. And then
now looking at how many businesses are in the world
and thinking about, okay, how is it possible now that
we can reach many or more of these businesses and
(50:22):
encourage and inspire them to start taking positive action. So
we don't need to feel overwhelmed by just looking at
the news and the challenges in the world and feel
pessimistic or depressed. Instead of that there for every moment,
every day, every opportunity we have, we choose to take
a positive action and we do it together. What can
(50:45):
we achieve? So we have a lot.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
What I love is the fact that rather than look
at oh, there are so many people that need help,
you're looking at so many businesses that could help. You know,
It's like the huge potential that is out there. And
the other thing I love about b on G one
is that it focuses on smiles rather than misery. That
you know, people can be sad and be an awful situation,
but you guys, focus on the potential smiles that can
(51:12):
be created as a result of what these businesses can do.
So I wish you every success.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
In what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
You've already had amazing success, but other people's success is
your success.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
So the more businesses that get.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
On board and grow their businesses as a result of
being part of B one g One, it's a no brainer.
It's a win win win on so many different levels.
So I wish you every success for the future. Masami,
have fun in Barley. I wish I could join you
over there, Sadly I can't. Maybe next year or whenever
(51:46):
the next one is. But in the meantime, thank you
so much for being on the podcast. Thank you so
much for doing what you do for inspiring us because
you haven't had an easy journey.
Speaker 3 (51:55):
So there are entrepreneurs out there at.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
The moment that go, oh, I've got this brilliant idea
and it can help so many people, And I just
can't get connecting.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
To B one g One.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
You get taught, you get educated, you get mentored, you
get support, and you get to make a difference as well.
So I cannot recommend enough. All the details will be
on the show notes as well. If somebody wanted to
get hold of you or be one g one, what's
the best way for them to go about it?
Speaker 2 (52:20):
So to first, of all, you can visit one one
dot com that's our main website and you can find
out more. Jill, if you are happy to include in
the show note, then I will be sharing with the
audience something that they can do to kind of imagine
the potential impact they get to create, you know, like
(52:42):
that that we can do the simulation of the impact together.
And then sadly, if you enjoyed this recording or episode
and happy to follow more of the ideas that I share,
then you can find me on LinkedIn and follow me
as well.
Speaker 3 (53:02):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
All right, my darling, thank you so much for spending
the time with us and finding the time because I
know you're a very busy woman. Enjoy the rest of
your stay in the UK and have a safe journey
back to Japan.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Now you're in Japan and you move.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Around well, yeah, Singapore and Japan.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
You are truly a global citizen.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
I'm wishing you every success with b one d you
want to give my love to Paul as well.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
Thank you so much for me. Thank you, Daryl, thank
you
Hello, and welcome to Being Human Hidden Depths, the podcast
by Collaboration Global and your host today is Medial Tiny
and I'm so excited one of my favorite people in
the world is with us today, Missami Sato. Welcome, Masami,
Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thank you Deale for having me here today too. You
are one of my favorite the people as well so well.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We've known each other a relatively short space of time.
I was trying to work it out earlier today. I
got involved with the charity that you look after you
founded probably in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think two thousand was before.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
It feels like that, Yeah, what's that for me to
get involved with you guys?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah? Nineteen Yeah, Wow, you've been going doesn't before the pandemic?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yes, I know.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
We met in London a wonderful conference where we tried
out laughing yoga, which was hilarious, and I was introduced
to you by a wonderful man called Stuart.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Kurz Lake, who said, I think this is up your street.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Jill and I went along for funds is not sure
what to expect, and I got hook Line and Sinker
totally in love with the whole concept of B one
g one, mainly because it hit a button for me
that you've created a different model for a charity. And
(01:30):
I've always been very miffed by the fact that some
of these massive charities out there pay their CEOs an
absolute fortune, have massive London offices.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
And I'm like, well, where's the money coming from that's
going to support that? Surely that money should be going
to the cause. And you have a different model.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Do you want to explain one what your model is,
and then we'll go back into the story of what
I started it.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
The evnder Wine is probably like a little bit different
from the concept of charity because we have a two organizations.
First of all, we have a social enterprise, which is
business minded. That's why when we work with businesses around
the world, we actually help them incorporate that impact, the
measurable impact in what they do. And then as a
(02:22):
part of it, we always focus on adding value to
those businesses so that their impact to creation and giving
as a whole becomes much more meaningful, powerful, transformative and
connecting and resonant. So that's like social enterprise actually engaging
more and more businesses to join us so that they
realize they are small act of everyday business actions can
(02:45):
actually contribute to clean access to clean water, education, involvemental
work and you know everything, and then find the meaning
and as a result, like they become a member and
that membership fund help us fund the entire work be
one one, including the system development, you know. But then
on the other hand, we have the charity organizations B
(03:07):
one ju one giving the facilitated the actual impact by
engaging and inviting high impact to charitable organizations around the
world to join us so that when they pass the criteria,
meet to the criteria and pass the assessment, they get
invited to come into the platform and work together with
us to break down their impact projects into micro unit
(03:33):
of positive change such as planting one tree cost to
this much, or providing access to education to underpriviate to
children cost to so much per day, and then that
gets curated into our platform. So that's why when businesses give,
we don't take anything off the contributions that they make
to the project and we hand over the amount collected
(03:57):
and amalgamated to the selected the charity is And so
that's kind of the model. That's why like B one
one is not so equivalent to two normal charities at all.
But we are very, very fortunate to have businesses like you, Jill,
that see the value of the work that we do.
But they also understand that, you know the fact that
(04:17):
they don't they don't need to try to kind of
change the world alone. You know, they can take the
path that they could and make the contributions through B
one j wan, but on a regular basis so that
the uh, the support coming from all different kinds of
businesses get amongtamated and then start influencing all of the
(04:43):
problems and challenges in the world. So that's the B
one to one model.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
You've said that more than once or twice, haven't you.
That just totally encapsulates what it's all about. There's so
many questions I want to ask you this.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
My brain is going crazy. That's one of the things.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I like about it is you have a wonderful community.
And obviously collaboration global is a community, and your values
and our values just marry up so beautifully. And the
thing that being part of your community is these are
all other businesses who want to give as they go.
It's not like I'm going to wait till I'm successful
until I'm a multimillionaire, til I've done that deal, and
(05:23):
then I'm going to give. It's like they are giving
consistently and regularly on a regular basis. So for us,
as an example, every guest meeting, we have every person
that shows up, you very much for showing up. So
we're going to now do this on your behalf. Remember
that joins us as long as they are Remember a
part of their membership automatically goes to B one g
(05:43):
one and the little ongoing things we can do. And
I was always struck by a speaker on TED called
Ricardo Semler, and he'd been a businessman for like thirty
odd years and he developed ideas for schools, ideas for
so many different things. He was just this amazing entrepreneur
in business. And he had thirty years ago he let
(06:05):
his staff decide when they were going to work, how
much they were being paid, when they took their holidays.
He became he was ahead of his time compared to
us now after pandemic, working from home, and he was
talking to a friend of his who said, Ricardo, I've
done well with my life.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
It's time to start giving back.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And Ricardo looked at him and said, well, if you're
giving back, you took too much in the first place.
And that's what when being on g one is about
giving as you go. You know, every time you get
a little something, you give a little something. That was
I've been waiting for this for ages. It just was perfect.
I didn't have to create it. I didn't have to
(06:46):
make it. It was somebody else who's had that vision
since two.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Thousand and seven, a long time ago, to.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
See it going forward. So let's go back to those days,
those early days. Now, we know from the talks that
you've givenm that you've always been an adventure. You've always
been out there trying stuff out, experiencing new cultures and things.
But tell us your founding story. What was the seed
that got planted that got you going.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I think the very original seed that was planted was
perhaps like being curious about how the world worked, what
was happening. And you know, when I was young, like
I always questioned about the mechanism of how the nature worked,
or even how the businesses worked, because my grandparents used
(07:39):
to have a family business, and I spent most of
my school holidays helping my grandparents brun their business, and
I love to spending time in their space, especially because
my parents were working for companies and they were very busy,
so they were never you know, home, or when they
were home, they were very strong about work and so
(08:01):
for me, like being with grandparents was an escape that
was really nice. But at the same time because they
had a business, a little shop in Tokyo, So as
a little young girl who was very shy but curious,
spend every day helping grander parents run their little business,
stocking shelops, cleaning the shops, serving customers, and so that
(08:25):
was like probably the initial seed of being a curious
about how everything worked, and I just wanted to understand
the things and I questioned everything. So when I graduated
from school in Japan and I was about to go
into the world of adult food, instead of getting a job,
(08:45):
I wanted to do something. So all the school years
I had a part time or multiple part time jobs
to save up money so that I could travel. So
I left the Japan at the age of twenty and
then I spent the next few years travel traveling around
the world as a backpacker. And even though I saved
up all the money, right like that, that was limited,
(09:07):
and traveling is not cheap, right if you were spending money,
so I had to be very, very creative to keep going.
So initially the plan was to be away for about
eight months and study English because I couldn't speak any English.
But it ended up a few years journey of backpacking,
continuously moving, connecting with people, sometimes heat shiking sometimes uh,
(09:34):
you know, staying with people's families. And so that period
of time really like transformed my perspective about this world, because,
you know, as a young person in Japan, I used
to feel that outside the world was very unknown. And
in Japan there's this saying called the gaijing and to
(09:58):
call foreigners and guiging in Japanese means of outside of people.
So we used to call any like, you know, people
from foreign countries as outsiders, and they were very different
from us. But when I started to travel as a backpacker,
I felt increasingly close to everyone, and I realized that
(10:23):
there was so many things we had in common, even
though we looked the different, spoke different languages, or had
the different cultural or religious beliefs or regardless of all
these differences, I felt that we were all connected.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, So that's like led to the time where I
started to question once again about why things were happening.
And so in many of the countries, like some of
the countries I visited, people were definitely much better off,
having more, bigger house, more like cars and nice things.
(11:01):
And but then in those places where people had more,
it didn't mean that the people felt fulfilled or happy.
And at the same time, on the other parts of
the world, I saw some people who had nothing, very
little families if who didn't know how to continue to
feed their children and send them to school, like people
(11:23):
sleeping on the on the street. Like I met so
many people, and some of those people, even though they
had so little, seems to be quite happy to share.
And you know, they were giving me their food or so. Yeah.
So I realized that there was something that I couldn't understand.
(11:47):
But the problems of the world seems to be so big,
and I didn't think I had any ability to change that.
So I kept going. But one day, actually when I
accidentally became a mother and my daughter, that's when I
realized that I had to do something. I couldn't keep
saying that I couldn't help everybody, so I do nothing
(12:10):
because I realized if my daughter was born in another
circumstance by chance, and if the world said, oh sorry,
we are all too small, you know, like we can't
change the world, so we do nothing, then what happened
and that was actually happening to so many children and
so many mothers around the world. Yeah, So then I
(12:32):
became an entrepreneur, believing that if I had a business,
and if I could use my business to make a difference,
you know, to my own customers lives, but also to
the world and give to like, you know, the causes
that I cared about, then at least I could be
(12:54):
doing something. So that was the start of my first
business towards the food food business, because I was passionate
about food and I believed that the food really brought
people together. So eventually when the food business evolved too
like initially starting as a small like take of a
(13:16):
food ball because that was all we could afford to do,
but eventually the business have grown and we moved from
New Zealand to Australia and at one point my company
was selling all sale frozen healthy frozen meals to more
than one hundred to fifty stores across different states. I
(13:37):
realized something profound.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So I thought.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
About all of the hours and all of the hard
work we were doing to grow my business, but at
the end of the day, we weren't able to do
anything toward the dream of making a difference because we
were always too busy and we didn't have a lot
of money. We were putting all the money back into
(14:03):
business every time we gain new new clients, new new
new customer, because we always had more money to spend
on the development the new packaging, new freezer room, and
so on. So we thought, what if, uh if we
we do we do things differently? Instead of saying one
(14:26):
day in the future, when we are really successful, we're
going to make big things happen. Instead of that, what
if we said we do something small, but do it
from today and every day. So that turned into the
origin story or origin I did like an initial idea
of be one to one that for my company, every
(14:50):
meal we sold, we wanted to give a meal and
and then that's simple, simply done. When you know that
there were organizations that are actually doing this, like providing
free meal to children at school so that the more
children get encouraged to come to school in communities, like
you know places like India where even primary school education
(15:14):
completion rate is very like not high enough, so kids
drop out because families don't see the value of education
and they decided to keep children working on the field
instead of encouraging them to go to school. But having
that one free meal can encourage the family to send
(15:34):
their kids to school because kids get free meal, but
also help the children to focus on the study and
that helped them over a period of time for them
to complete the primary school education and that gives them
the chance to actually consider going to the secondary and
higher education and that totally transform lives. So doing that
(15:58):
was to do for our business too, because it was
just so small on a regular basis to make that difference.
So several months later after the idea came to us,
eventually we realized that this profound idea, that what if
(16:20):
every business could do this, and because there was no
such mechanism for businesses to do that, so we decided
to sell our food business in Australia and moved to
Singapore in two thousand and seven to start to be
one D one as the global initiative.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That's just incredible because you make it sound so simple
it's like, oh, well, we decided we were just Yeah,
for every meal we created and sold, we would give
one away. Did you have any kickback from people in
your company that went, are you crazy? That's like half
our profit's gone out the window. Why would you do that?
Or was there everyone was like, brilliant, let's do it.
How was it when you first make that suggestion?
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, I think you know the businesses have If let's
say businesses have a product, then they are all sort
of cost or even ingredients, right, Like in my case,
there were ingredients that go into the product, such as
all of the vegetables or you know, like the even
(17:25):
the packaging and the stickers and the labels, like everything
had a little bit of cost, but we choose to
invest in that cost so to make the product more
worthwhile and the valuable. So if compassion and kindness and
the positive and tangible and measurable impact became one of
(17:46):
the ingredients of your product and that only cost ten cents,
five cents, twenty cents, whatever the impact you choose to make,
then actually every business can totally not only justify but
also see the meaning and the benefit of actually incorporating
this positive change into what they do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And that's what I love about your co founder Paul,
who maximizes that from the business perspective, It's like, not
only is it a good thing to do and a
kind thing to do and a lovely thing to do,
it makes business sense because it becomes part of your branding,
It becomes part of your makeup of your business. Is
(18:31):
this is what we are over here. And I love
the comparison he makes the coffee shops. You know, would
you buy your coffee from the coffee shop that's just
selling you a regular cup of coffee or the same
price coffee, but actually they're going to be donating something
to a good cause. When you go to the good cause. Well,
even if it took men, you had to cross the
road to do it. You know, it's common sense. And
(18:53):
yet people are only just catching on to the fact
that we have businesses that have power and businesses that
can make such a difference providing we look at that
business as a tool for good and it's like, how
could we do it and what can we do to it?
And therefore, you guys make it easy. It's just plug
into B one, G one and the rest is going
to be you know, the software is done for you,
(19:14):
the organization is done for you. The choices are out there.
You just make the choices. It's all done.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
You don't have to go and find any of this
stuff to do it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And then your branding can kick in and all of
the marketing can kick in and all.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Of those other things that go with it. Yeah, from
that very simple.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Idea that you experienced and you did first, it's not
like you're going, this is a good idea, let's see.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
What we can do.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
You've gone, I've got this company, I want to use
it for good. Let's give stuff away. And back then
two thousand and seven, two thousand and seven, that was
kind of revolutionary. I just I'm surprised you didn't have
people saying you're crazy what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Looking back, I feel like we've done many of the
things a little bit too. Ali.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
You think about the you know, healthy food business that
we had, and then initially we started out as the
concept of online order order fresh food home delivery, and
that was twenty you know, twenty three years ago. So
at that time, nobody was ordering food online. And yeah,
(20:22):
and also like trying to find a way to deliver
this fresh food everywhere around the city, like it was
enormously difficult, and we you know, as a result of it,
we eventually realized that was a bit not the right time,
so we pevoted to frozen meal and that worked well,
like as a wholesale business. But then in the same way,
(20:43):
when B one J One started, I think it was
ahead of too much ahead of time because no business
was looking for opportunities to really give effectively or even
social impact esg or CSR, like all of those things
were not yet in business people's mind at that time.
(21:03):
So I feel like we had a lot of struggle
out of that. But they're at the same time, even
when and there was not demand. When we tell a story,
when we talk to the business owners and really tap
into the reason why those people started their business and
(21:25):
what they cared about, you know, because every business start
with actually a sense of wanting to make something better,
you know, solving a problem or adding value to a
specific type of people they had the emphathy for. So
when we spoke with business owners saying that this is
the way you can build a great legacy in and
around your business because you, as a business person, you
(21:49):
care about something and so that messaging already they resonated
with people regardless of whether or not there was a trend,
or we could make a strong case of consumer demands,
you know, like for a cause focused concentric business is
like when there was nothing, we still had the people
(22:10):
who chose to join us, and many of those people
are still connected with us today, like eighteen years you know,
like many people still say online that I remember that
day one idea was born. So yeah, so I think
that makes it really really special. And then today we
can basically make a stronger case that it makes total sense,
(22:31):
right like logically, but also even if there was no benefit,
no material benefit to the business, if you just thought
about during a business running almost exactly the same business,
but you as a business owner knowing that by you succeeding,
by you doing what you do, you are improving lives
(22:52):
around the world of the people you may never meet too.
I think that value of understanding the legacy you are
creating or your business is praiseless.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think you're right Now is the
time because businesses the SME world are realizing that we
have all of this power very little control, and we're
told in the politicians of the day. Every time there's
an election coming up, they'll say, you know, the SMEs
or the backbone of the country, and yet they could
(23:23):
do so much more. And it's doing things like this
that give us that kind of control where we don't
have to lay out huge.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Sums of money.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
But the more you give, the more people that you're
going to help in a massive way. So it is
as you say, as time has come, and anybody that's
not part of it and who has any.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Desire to have their.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Business as a legacy for themselves, it's like, well, what
legacy are you leaving?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
What are you creating to? You know what they say?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
What do people say about you after you leave the room,
And if they are not coming together to do some good,
then almost like, well, your business is earning money, great,
and you know, well I employ five people, good and
what else could be done? With so much more that
could be done and you've just given everybody the perfect
(24:19):
vehicle for it. But this trip, trip, trip here, here
here sounds very simple. So now you're in Singapore and
now you're getting it going. And this was back in
what year are we now two thousand and seven? Yes,
in Singapore's still a long way away, isn't it. You
(24:40):
just celebrated eighteen years, haven't you. So what a landmark
space to be part of. Considering you were ahead of
your time. So what were some of the challenges that
you came across in two thousand and seven?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, two thousand and seven, is it not the biggest startent?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Perhaps?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, we had a lot of excitement around how to
design this whole thing, and you know, basically we had
no examples to follow. Yeah, Like, if we are running
a food business, there are lots of food businesses out there,
and you just have to create a business that does
better or that makes the customers demand the better or
(25:22):
price is better, or quality is better, or distribution is
better or service is better. Like, so you could do
all of these things based on existing models, but when
we set out to create a B one one, there
was no existing models. So we had to figure out
how to make this simple idea a reality because it's
so simple, you know, like, what if every business can
(25:47):
become part of creating a better future by doing what
they normally do. Every time a coffee shop sells a
cup of coffee and somebody enjoys the beautiful cup of coffee.
What if a child or somewhere around the world to
receive access to life saving education and without that clean water,
(26:09):
that child might have a diarrhea, might to miss the class,
or young infant might to die. And so how can
we make this happen? Every time accountants create a new
client that gives the education to a child, or you know,
every time also sells a book, a tree gets planted,
how do we make that happen? So over the initial
(26:31):
like a few years after moving to Singapore, we had
to really like figure out everything from square, like how
to bring on different organizeance to be one, and how
to ask them, how to burn down the project into
micro utimated, so so many ways. We really had to
(26:57):
figure out everything from scratch. So that kind of the
one jo one dilemma in challenge. But heading to that,
I experienced so many personal challenges as well as an entrepreneur. Yeah,
so I look back and then thinking about the early
(27:18):
entrepreneurship when I was running a food or company in
the struggling time, like studying a business with three months old,
the baby on my back, and yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Incredible because I look at my children with their children
now and I'm exhausted just watching what they go through.
But to imagine having an employed so it's like, oh,
maternity leave, I'm gonna have a baby.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
I'm gonna enjoy it myself.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
To imagine what you went through with a tiny baby
with accommodation problems as well, you had didn't you? Did
you ever kind of think this is all too much,
I can't do it. You must have done at some point.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, so you know that some of the hardest time
was like when we decided to expand this initial food
business and signed the contract least contract for commercial kitchen,
big commercial kitchen. And after doing that and getting ready
to build the kitchen, and I was like physically painting
(28:22):
walls and carrying cement and stuff like that. Then I
realized one day that I was a pregnant again. So
I had a two year old daughter at that time,
but there was a pregnant again, and we just signed
the least for this new concept of business, which we
didn't know whether it's going to succeed. So throughly the pregnancy.
(28:45):
Second of pregnancy, I was working during longer hours of
backbreaking work, and we opened the online business waiting for
orders to cut flow in and of course, at that time,
not many people ordered the food online, so we wouldn't
have enough for business coming in. But we had a
huge cost for the commercial kitchen which we signed up for.
(29:08):
So during that time, like eventually like we started to
do you know, sell the product at weekend the market
to getting up at two am in the morning, taking
our two year older daughter in the van at two
am to go to to to the market so we
could sell something. Right, I got the market to where
customer as well, the.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Ankst and the pressure that you must have been under,
did you ever doubt yourself at that point? Did you
just go, oh, for goodness, like, I'll go and get
a job.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I No, I doubt. I doubt it myself all the time. Oh,
like whether I could do this or I could could
do that. That was that. But then there was one
thing I didn't doubt. And so what I didn't doubt
was that there were so many people in the world
(30:00):
who had more challenges.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Than I had. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, And also because those people who had very little
still were generous to take me in to share their meals,
you know, like and helped me along the way when
I was when I also have little, you know, like
as a backpacker. So I always felt I was better
off than so many people, and that gave me a
(30:28):
reason to keep going even when I doubted myself anyway. Anyway,
so one day during that time, you know, I was
still trying right, like making ends, me to selling everything,
working sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, no rest,
young child, growing tummy. One day we no longer could
(30:51):
pay the rent, and we were stuck. But our landlord
was this great businessman kind of you know, co invested
in doing the kitchen, but he was also very firm
on collecting rent, and he had a high interest loan
car loan company next door. So I knew I wouldn't
(31:14):
we wouldn't get away from not paying rent. So I
thought about, so what can I do now? And I
had an idea. So my idea was, I thought, well,
we have two rents. One is for our house, one
is for the kitchen. Which one do I keep?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Oh wow?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
So the clear obvious choice was to keep the kitchen.
So I moved out. We moved out from the house,
let go of that rent, moved into the kitchen. But
the kitchen was just the industrial warehouse with a kitchen
show inside. So there was a gap to be doing this,
(31:58):
like shell of the kitching structure. Above that was space
where we could store a cardboard of boxes like a
packaging material, with a ladder next to it, like to
go up. So we actually lived among the CRDO boxes
for some time and became a homeless And then I
(32:19):
would wake up in the morning and go like, oh, actually,
it's nice because we don't need to travel to work anymore.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Always look at the bright side.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, And then then we kept going. But then also
I got stuck another time again because I was pregnant
and I was still working full time, non stop, and
I had no time to go to see doctor or anybody.
So I thought, I looked down my tummy belly and
then thought, well, I could have maybe any moment now
(32:50):
because I was rich nearing nine months pregnancy. Yes, then
I thought, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
And that that time, but uh, it's in Australia but
not the same so I didn't have the same kind
of support for my childbirth. So I said, well, I
have an idea, and then the next idea was that
(33:22):
we would have a baby there oh my goodness, wow.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Born in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Oh bless yeah, went out the window.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I guess, yeah, so so so what happened was, interestingly,
sometime later, when we finally managed to pivot to frozen
meal and moved out of the kitchen, I actually went
(34:00):
to the landlord and apologized for secretly staying in the
kitchen and the giving of us in the kitchen. And
the amazing thing was this landlord, who I used to
think was as kind of quite fun and the scary person, right,
he yeah, laughed and cried and then he said, Masami,
(34:25):
I believe that you're going to do great things. And
during that time of difficulty, he also offered as three
month rent waiver.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Wow, that's yeah, brilliant, that's well, that's this is where
you have good ideas and then it comes back to you,
doesn't It's the karma. You were out there doing something
for a really good cause, and then when people find
out about that.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
They want to help you to to continue that and
carry it on.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I cannot believe the hardship that you went through though
to keep it going and keep your dream going. Who
did you have around you at that time that was
supporting you in your dream?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Well, actually, at that time was during my first marriage,
and so my family was there of course, and my
daughter who was two three and a half when my
son was born, was there. And also we had this
very beautiful Japanese lady who used to home stay with us,
(35:32):
so when we still had that house and she stayed
with that, and also she helped me with my business.
She was one of those people who inspired me a
lot too, because when the time came and I suggested
that we move out of the house, I said to her.
Her name was Psayaka, and then I said to Sayaka, Sayaka,
(35:54):
we need to move out from this place because of
the business situation, and so we're going to be living
in kitchen and I don't think, you know, that's kind
of suitable for you, So why don't you start finding
another place to go to. Then what she said to
me was really amazing because she said to me, Masami,
(36:16):
it sounds really exciting. I've never lived in a kitchen.
I want to come with you.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Oh how lovely. Yeah. And then a pair of hands
to help with the children. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
But then also another like a time when our business
started to grow, you know, grow again because of the
frozen meal production that we were doing. We also had
some amazing people from around the wall. The film are
on this thing called the working a holiday and also
working the program to stay and you know, stay with
(36:48):
people and learn about things and then to be able
to work for period of time. We had so many
people coming to stay and all of these people or
working together with us to grow this business together. And
that sense of early days of this small group of
(37:09):
people being really excited about the good that we get
to create it together. I think that feeling stays with
me even though we are in a different industriation with
our business today. But I always feel like, for example,
our members and partners or our causes, you know, like
(37:29):
the people who are delivering the making things happen on
the ground around the world, those people are actually part
of our work and the partners of this important change
that we are creating together. So the feeling is still
the thing.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Yeah, there's something special, isn't it When people get what
you're about and they believe in it and they want
to help. It's like they become family, don't They're the
family that you get to choose rather than the family
that you get born into. They become special. And it's
like for me with collaboration global. The ones that get what.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
We're about and go I'm in. I want to be
part of this movement.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
They're the ones that I'm like, oh, it feels like
they're coming home, and I'm like, yes, thank you, because
we can do this together.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
On my own. I've just got a great idea. And
it's the same as you two thousand and seven got
this great idea. Hello, does anybody.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Want to But you've got those people around you that
came in and when you're doing the great thing, you're
doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
I want to help. What can I do?
Speaker 1 (38:31):
And sometimes you don't know what they can do, but
you know that just having them there and having that
hug is really special. And that's probably, I'm guessing why
you do these amazing conferences and retreats where people go
and experience where they might have helped some of the
causes and you go on a look projects, but also
having two or three days of everyone collective.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Are you're in Bali this year, aren't you? Yes?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah, in November we are gathering together. Always think that
you know, things like the study tours where we actually
go and see what happens on the ground, is probably
the epitome of the experience, and not just because oh,
here is the project I've been supporting, and this is
(39:17):
exactly how it works. But what we take away is
really the profound gratitude of the privilege that we have
in doing what we do, and that like creating the
space of empathy that the people feel for each other
and feel together in a lotther than here is like
(39:38):
a rich people for help and then the poor people
who need help. Like that, it's totally demolished that separation,
that we are partners in making some extraordinary change happen,
and we can only do it together. You know, that
feeling is really profound when we experience when we get
(40:00):
to experience it, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
And this is my whole concept of human beings together.
Forget all the labels why you're different, why he's over
there and she's over there, and he's black and she's white,
and he's gay and she's straight, and all the labels
that we put on each other. Ultimately, as you discovered
when you went backpacking, we're all human beings and we're
all connected by that invisible, untouchable thing that's the most
(40:26):
powerful thing on earth. And there's love love for humanity
and if we don't come together and support those that
can't currently support themselves, then we're not worthy of that
being part of that race.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
When everyone does come together in this way, that's why
we get filled with the love, and that's why we
our cup is brimming over. Even if we don't have
a huge amount ourselves. There's always something that you can
do and something you can contribute to help another person,
even if it's a smile, I mean one of our members.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
And we've got them here.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
He goes around giving these out pink Socks and his
Pink Sox's life if anybody wants to go and check
it out pink Socks dot Life and it says the
world is full of good when you believe it, you
see it.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Keep doing that.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
A simple, very simple message. But it is about connecting
with each other and finding ways that you can help
each other together. So tell us the story about how
Paul Done came into the picture, because a lot of
people will be aware of Paul Done. In the UK,
he is renowned for helping businesses. I saw a fabulous
(41:39):
video on LinkedIn the other day with you guys getting
to see backstage, what goes on at Wimbledon that looks
like fun. A little bit jealous must have been. Tell
us how Paul came into your life.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So Paul was the initially a mentor to me, as
you know, in his early career he saw a lot
of successes and he had amazing connection where the industries
like accounting industries, and so many people saw Paul as
the kind of mentor and speaker and the person who inspired,
(42:18):
you know, push the boundary and status quo in the
industries like accounting, you know, which where every accountant seems
to be quite the same, they're all doing the same
work and the building on the hourly basis or something.
And he totally disrupted the industry. So he retired once,
you know, because he was able to retire at that time,
(42:39):
but because he's such a creative person and totally enthusiastic
and curious about everything, so he couldn't stay away for
too long. And as he came back into the business space,
we met and initially when the idea of B one
j one came to me, I tried to give it
away to Paul, you know, I said, I don't know
(43:00):
how to run this thing. How do make it happen,
So why don't you do it? Like because you have
such exterior in s and uh then he at that
time dance, I was actually no, and I realized that
I had to do something otherwise the idea would die.
(43:21):
So that's how like initially we started to be in Singapore,
and so that's why Paul was from the beginning as
supporter and almost like a messenger or ambassador's idea and
they inspired a lot of businesses. But then over the years,
because you know, with the with my ex partner, we
(43:46):
realized that we had a different future, different directions, so
he moved on starting his business and we became friendly
like a co parent, but separate right like, so over
the yeah, as a Paul actually eventually gradually became very
close to me and then we became official like business
(44:09):
partners as well as life partners. So yeah, so we've
been married before the last eleven years. So we just
celebrated the eighteen anniversary of the one to one last month,
but we also celebrated the eleven years of the marriage together.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
Congratulations beautiful.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Many people will know Daniel Priestley as well, who's a
big supporter of yours. Paul was Daniel's mentor, yeah, back
in the day. So this is kind of an indirect
route of how I came to you as well, because
I got to know Dan with the KPI program. And
obviously when you spot people online that oh they know
and they know and they know. So when I kind
(44:50):
of put that connection together, it's like, oh, he's he
must be a good guy.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Then if he knows Dan and he's help Dan, he
must be a good guy.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
And you sort of follow the crumbs, don't you find
it how you can get involved?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
So talk to us about wimbled and what was that
all about? Oh so.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I think now nowadays, like when we are doing our
work of many years, it's some interesting opportunities come to us.
And so this is also partly the benefit of doing
something you totally believe in, you know, something that is
bigger than just making money and just developing business. But
(45:30):
there is a mission behind what you do. Then of
course the opportunities that gets attracted to what we do
is also very interesting. Like so so one day a
friend of mine, who is uh Richard, the Brandson's private
tennis coach, messaged me and then said, Masami, we are
(45:53):
running this program for the second year round, which is
to get a group of ATP tennis players who are
retiring or retired just retired, and then we are also
matching them with a group of business mentors if we
have different experiences, and then we have the annual mentoring program.
(46:14):
And then he said, so we are doing this for
the second time around because last year was a great success,
and we are also bringing in WTA group as well,
so both the male and the female pro tennis players
will be part of the program. And he said, would
you be one of the mentors? And so I actually
(46:39):
said that. I said, well, like, I'm a person for
his running of business, but I don't tend to mentor people,
So why don't you talk to Paul because Paul is
much more experienced as a mentor, Like he is super
super amazing. So then my friends said, oh, that's a
great idea. So Paul, can you know, should be like
(46:59):
if he is happy to be part of it, that
would be great, but I still want you to be
part of it. So yeah, So then it turned out
that the both of us engaged in the initiatives. So
we just had a launch event and then uh, they
took us to the winvolved on tour just before the
(47:20):
season opened, so we on the day it was totally like, uh,
not accessible by the public. We went into the winvolved
on uh, you know area from the back gate, and
they took us through all of the players area, like
the canteen and then the treatment rooms and the ice
baths and the practice code and so as we are
(47:44):
walking through, we are seeing like Djokovic to just walk
past or now milsa Russian you know, through and and
we we we saw Alcaraz and the cinema chatting and
walking by or practicing or so. So we just saw
this amazing space where the champions of you know, amazing
(48:09):
sports come together. And that involvement of where the champions
to hang around, you know, with each other, what's just inspiring.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
Yeah, I mean that is the best arena in the world,
isn't it for tennis? And to be part of that
and to be supporting those people that are coming out
of their career and considering what they're going to do.
I mean, yeah, hopefully you didn't get starstruck, but it'd
be pretty hard not to when these guys are walking
past or the girls, you know, having come off a
practice or something and just standing they're having a chance.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Oh I'm here.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
Yeah. But anyway, the probably the most interesting thing is
the fact that the people coming out from sports career
will consider entrepreneurship. And what's happening now is that the
more and the more people are increasingly attracted to the
idea of entrepreneurship because now running a business from anywhere
around the world and working anywhere around the world and
(49:06):
developing and making things happen with a relatively small group
of people a team is really possible. And there is
a profound opportunity ahead of us for us to really
transform the industry or how work and life work around
the world by enhancing the way that we actually develop
(49:29):
and run our businesses. So it's an amazing time, yes, it.
Speaker 1 (49:34):
Is, indeed, So what's next five years?
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Be you one g one? What are you planning through?
What's ahead?
Speaker 2 (49:41):
So of course, like it's very easy to say it's
about the scaling and growing right, like, because we've worked
with thousands of businesses so far, and then those businesses
have created more than three hundred seventy five million giving impact,
you know, like, and these impacts can be number of
trees being planted, or a number of days of access
(50:01):
to education or so that's already quite profound. And then
now looking at how many businesses are in the world
and thinking about, okay, how is it possible now that
we can reach many or more of these businesses and
(50:22):
encourage and inspire them to start taking positive action. So
we don't need to feel overwhelmed by just looking at
the news and the challenges in the world and feel
pessimistic or depressed. Instead of that there for every moment,
every day, every opportunity we have, we choose to take
a positive action and we do it together. What can
(50:45):
we achieve? So we have a lot.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
What I love is the fact that rather than look
at oh, there are so many people that need help,
you're looking at so many businesses that could help. You know,
It's like the huge potential that is out there. And
the other thing I love about b on G one
is that it focuses on smiles rather than misery. That
you know, people can be sad and be an awful situation,
but you guys, focus on the potential smiles that can
(51:12):
be created as a result of what these businesses can do.
So I wish you every success.
Speaker 3 (51:18):
In what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (51:19):
You've already had amazing success, but other people's success is
your success.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
So the more businesses that get.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
On board and grow their businesses as a result of
being part of B one g One, it's a no brainer.
It's a win win win on so many different levels.
So I wish you every success for the future. Masami,
have fun in Barley. I wish I could join you
over there, Sadly I can't. Maybe next year or whenever
(51:46):
the next one is. But in the meantime, thank you
so much for being on the podcast. Thank you so
much for doing what you do for inspiring us because
you haven't had an easy journey.
Speaker 3 (51:55):
So there are entrepreneurs out there at.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
The moment that go, oh, I've got this brilliant idea
and it can help so many people, And I just
can't get connecting.
Speaker 3 (52:02):
To B one g One.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
You get taught, you get educated, you get mentored, you
get support, and you get to make a difference as well.
So I cannot recommend enough. All the details will be
on the show notes as well. If somebody wanted to
get hold of you or be one g one, what's
the best way for them to go about it?
Speaker 2 (52:20):
So to first, of all, you can visit one one
dot com that's our main website and you can find
out more. Jill, if you are happy to include in
the show note, then I will be sharing with the
audience something that they can do to kind of imagine
the potential impact they get to create, you know, like
(52:42):
that that we can do the simulation of the impact together.
And then sadly, if you enjoyed this recording or episode
and happy to follow more of the ideas that I share,
then you can find me on LinkedIn and follow me
as well.
Speaker 3 (53:02):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
All right, my darling, thank you so much for spending
the time with us and finding the time because I
know you're a very busy woman. Enjoy the rest of
your stay in the UK and have a safe journey
back to Japan.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Now you're in Japan and you move.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Around well, yeah, Singapore and Japan.
Speaker 3 (53:19):
You are truly a global citizen.
Speaker 1 (53:21):
I'm wishing you every success with b one d you
want to give my love to Paul as well.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
Thank you so much for me. Thank you, Daryl, thank
you
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