Making an impact in the world and how business fits in that framework

Let me start with a story…
A long long long time ago, when people just started farming, there used to be a village. Lets call this village Surkhet (my hometown in Nepal). Surkhet was a farming town. Everybody farmed. The day usually began with each family member to go to the fields and get the soil ready for seeding, seed, take care of the farm, harvest and repeat the cycle. Humans were still very primitive, so they farmed with the help of hands - it was grueling , and a lot of work. Everyone spent almost all their lives in the farm.

One day a young kid in this village noticed a sharp stone, and thought - wow I should use this to plow my field. so he tied the sharp stone to a strong stick and made a plough out of it. Turns out the plough allowed him to finish his daily plowing task in half a day. Since he now had rest of the day free, he used that time to find other sharp stones, and stick and made a dozen ploughs. Once he had a bunch of them, he started selling them to his fellow villagers and asked a portion of their harvest in return.
The other villagers were happy because it meant they could now plow twice as much land in the same time, thus producing twice as much crops.
The next harvest cycle, the original inventor of the plough had surplus crops to last him another year without farming, and the villagers had twice (minus a small amount what they paid to the inventor). So at the end of two years, the entire village had twice as much food!

Photo by : Levi Morsy

This story was first told to me by one of my mentors, and forms the foundation of what a market is, and what economy is. Lets tease some ideas here:

Economy is not a zero sum game. Meaning, if you have a business that adds value to the society, both parties win. If you really think about it - thats the basis of what trade is. When you go in the market to buy a gallon of milk, clearly the $5 you pay is worth less than the milk for you, and for the shopkeeper, the $5 you paid is worth more than the gallon of milk he/she sold you. What happened here is that suddenly both parties win. This trade added value to both your life and the shopkeepers life, and as a result value was created in the world. This value ultimately shows up as increased economic activity where everybody gets more. Everybody wins.

Secondly, This makes innovation/business one of the noblest professions out there. You are making everyone richer. You are creating value in the world. You are taking people out of poverty, and helping them. Forget the crooks trying to sell you what you don’t need, or those trying to get to the fallacies of your human brain. Forget salesmen trying to sell you extra features in the car. Think more basic. Trade (with a noble motive) must create value for both the buyer and the seller.

I have been thinking a lot about how to make an impact on the world. And I think innovation and business is the key. Creating value and helping everyone live their lives easier makes us all better together. If you are a student thinking of writing an app, think how it will create value in the world. If you are a wannabe small business owner buying and selling things, think about which things will help people more.

“Business allows you to be rich while doing good in the society. ”

If you are thinking of developing an idea into a business, thinking about how this idea will help us “increase our harvest” will not only help you get wealthier but will help everybody else as well. Thinking about which idea brings the most value to the society, will help you properly vet your ideas, and also provide you with a more focused market to test your idea. In addition, if you are actually helping others with your product, they are more likely to buy it. Think about how you go for your annual teeth cleaning at your dentist, without them doing much “marketing” to you.

A senior executive at my work always says - Business allows you to be rich while doing good in the society. Thinking about how to make everybody richer (think better cars, safer roads, safer food, happier lives), and finding gaps in the market is a really good way to start a business. This gap will be your plough, and before you know it, you will have made yourself richer along with the rest of the world.