“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 an undergraduate student at Keio University at the time.
While attending various lectures on economics (development economics, socioeconomics, etc.), I realized that many of the world’s problems—such as poverty, refugee crises, healthcare disparities, and environmental issues—originate from the economy and, by extension, from businesses.
In a lecture titled “If the World Were a Village of 100 People,” I learned that, in a global population of six billion, only one out of 100 people would receive a university education, 50 would be malnourished, and 70 would be illiterate.
Faced with this reality, I still remember as if it were yesterday feeling a strong sense of mission to start my own company someday and to do whatever I could to help those suffering from poverty, hunger, and illness, as well as the underprivileged who have no choice 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 deeply impressed me as a powerful example of social business contributing to society. In traditional capitalist philosophy, the primary mandate of a company is to pursue profit. Despite the fact that there are so many people in need around the world, including in Japan, and so many challenges we must address as a human race, I cannot help but feel that it is unfortunate that we focus primarily on competing for sales, profits, and corporate scale.
As a social entrepreneur, I aim to continue managing my business while addressing social issues on a daily basis. I also hope that social business will spread at the grassroots level and that society will one day shift from a purely economic focus to a world where the intrinsic value of a company is determined by how much happiness it brings to the world. I look forward to the day when that vision becomes reality.
