“I want to create a world where the intrinsic and the fundamental value of the company is determined by its ability to make the world a happier place.”
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Shunichi NAKAMURA
When I first established Adventure, Inc., I was then an undergraduate student at Keio University.
While attending various lectures on Economics (Development Economics, Socio-Economics, etc.), I realized that the world’s problems of poverty, refugees, health care, environment, etc. originated from the economy and by extension, from businesses.
In a lecture titled “If the World were a Village of 100 People,” the reality of a global world of 6 billion people was that only 1 out of 100 people could receive an education at a university, 50 people were malnourished and 70 people were illiterate.
Faced with this reality, I remember as if it were only yesterday that I felt a sense of mission to start a company of my own someday and to do whatever I could to help people suffering from poverty, hunger, illnesses and the underprivileged who have no choices but to live in poor and squalid conditions.
In 2006, Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, which impressed me a lot because of his societal contribution in the form of social business. In the philosophy of capitalism, the only mandate of a company is to pursue profit. Despite the fact that there are so many people in need all over the world, including in Japan, with so many problems that we need to solve as a human race, I can’t help but feel that it is lamentable that we are only competing for sales, profits and the number of employees.
As a social entrepreneur, I would like to continuously manage my business while confronting social issues on a daily basis. I also hope that social business will spread on a grassroots basis, and that society will one day change from an “economic focus” to a world where the intrinsic value of a company is determined by how much happiness it brings to the world. I am looking forward to that day.
