Resilient hearts: How social entrepreneurs build strength through acts of goodwill

In this piece, two founders share how they’ve stayed resilient when their paths got rocky—and why acts of goodwill are their greatest source of strength.

I invited two incredible founders for an interview to share their experiences and how they stay resilient and committed to their cause.

The first entrepreneur is Kayli Smith, co-founder and CEO of Friendlier, a company focused on transforming the world through sustainable packaging. She is on a mission to revolutionize the packaging industry by spearheading the transition from single-use to reusable solutions.

The second entrepreneur is Ritu Jhaveri, co-founder and CEO of Deschool Online Inc. Deschool’s mission is revolutionizing how students interact with the latest inventions in STEM and sustainability. She focuses on making learning exciting, collaborating with local and international scientists to deliver top-notch STEM courses for K-12 students in Canadian schools.

Where it all began

Ingrid: can you tell me about what inspired you to start your company and how did you know it was the right time to take the leap?

Kayli: My co-founder and I were in school together. We were studying at the University of Waterloo for chemical engineering. So we both were working a lot in manufacturing, both in chemicals, but all different industries. And we were noticing all of the waste and emissions and everything that was created within our regular supply chain. So we started to get really interested in sustainability at that point. We didn't think we wanted to, you know, spend our full-time careers contributing to produce stuff.

Then in our third year, we traveled to Sweden, and we lived there and studied abroad for four months. We learned about circular supply chains and more conscious consumerism and started to draw inspiration thinking about how we could make these concepts work in North America where it's much more convenience-driven, much more fast paced.

So in our last year of school, it was the fall term before we'd graduate the next spring. We were looking at full-time jobs and trying to find something where we could create the impact that we wanted to. And we just couldn't find anything. So we said we'd commit one year after graduating and give it 100% for that whole year and see where we land.

That's how it all started. And we've been obviously continuing.

Ritu: I've always been passionate about education. My prior careers have been in the same field. I'm a former school principal as well as a teacher for the past 13 years and I've worked in India, Dubai, Singapore and Canada. Coming into my 14th year, I felt it was time to step out of the system and start working from the outside. It's not a surprise or a secret that there's a huge gap between the traditional curriculum in today's schools and what the students are able to apply in the real world.

Now, and I've seen this very closely working as a teacher and as a principal, and I figured there are so many gaps, which gap do I want to close?

After doing a lot of market research, literally eight months of market research in Ontario, I decided I want to address the gap that exists in careers, especially in emerging technologies.

That inspired me to start the school.

We do our best through different kinds of programming to close the gap that exists, the knowledge gap that exists in students understanding more about emerging technologies in STEM and sustainability.

Obstacles and challenges

Both expressed that there are challenges related to changing the status quo of how things are done, and getting the first couple clients is the hardest part, to prove the concept—especially in traditional industries such as restaurants and education.

Ingrid: What would you say was one of the most difficult obstacles you faced in your journey and how did you navigate that?

Kayli: We were launching during the COVID-19 pandemic. So that was hard because we originally built our solution around restaurants and trying to eliminate takeout packaging waste.

So we were trying to sell to these restaurants that were getting closed every other week. They were barely scraping by and we were coming in saying, “Hey, you should help the environment.” They would respond, “I do not care.”

Their situations were so serious, their priorities were not aligned with our value proposition.

Probably the hardest thing was just getting our foot in the door, getting our first sale. And it is always the first one that’s the hardest to get. And then once you have one person doing it, others are more likely to join in. But it was really hard to get that first customer.

Ritu: I think the biggest challenge that we faced and to be honest we're still facing, as we're only in our 13th month of operation, is gaining the trust of schools and educators when we first launched. I was a school principal too, so when a new third party for-profit company comes and knocks doors, you're skeptical, you're hesitant. I would be thinking, “Should I be using my precious school budget on a new company like Deschool?”

It was rough, but I think we were very patient and we just kept believing in what we did. I know it sounds like the ideal statement, but that's literally what we had to do. Just have belief in our programming and conquer one school at a time. Funny enough, the moment we hit school No. 2, people started talking about us because we were very good at showcasing our work.

Building resilience

Being resilient is key for any entrepreneur, but it’s especially important when you're chasing a mission as ambitious as these two founders are.

I wanted to understand how they dealt with the ups and downs of their business, including the unglamorous moments. I came away with some great advice from them.

Ingrid: How do you stay resilient when you feel your work is either not doing as much impact as you would like, or that you're losing some of your purpose and motivation? What helps you through that?

Kayli: We are so passionate about our mission and what we're trying to do. I always think risk versus reward. It's like, you know, the risk when you're first starting, it's the risk of I'm going to look silly and it's going to be embarrassing if I try to start something and it fails. The reward is, I make a huge impact in saving the planet and eliminating waste.

There have been lots of times where we've had to come back to that core mission and think about what happens if we succeed. And that's the reward piece. If you keep that in mind the challenges or the potential failures look a lot more manageable because you can continue thinking about if we are successful then it means we made a huge impact in reducing packaging waste pollution emissions. That's been our North Star.

Ritu: It's going to sound really cliché, but I just feel I was born to do this. I started off as a finance graduate and I was supposed to join a private equity firm, but something transpired and I landed in education.

Hard times come, and they come very often when you're a new entrepreneur.

I think it's just really important to have your value system in place. In my case, our philosophy, our mission is very, very solid. We know we're out there to educate our students about emerging technologies, and we're not going to stop before we finish that.

There are some really terrible days when nothing is going your way, right? You've heard like 20 “nos” in a single day. I do take a break. It could mean an hour break or it could mean four to five hours.

I also love taking a step back. If you were here at my desk, my entire wall is covered with roadmaps about where these schools should be heading. So if one door is closing, I just make sure I prepare myself to put these schools in a way out there that I open 20 more doors. So I keep going.

Ingrid: What are some of the most valuable lessons you've learned about resilience?

Kayli: It's always tricky at the beginning. You hear a lot of “nos”. I mean, you always get a lot of “nos”. It doesn't stop.

And everyone will give you lots of advice. It was something that we really had to navigate through, especially as young entrepreneurs, everybody wants to help you and give you advice, but it's really easy to get lost in that and you know get sidetracked.

And keeping the mission front and center in your mind, surrounding yourselves with the right mentors and advisors that can help you, but then also being able to block out the noise of all those “nos” and to be able to identify the helpful advice. You can take what's helpful, but leave the rest. And that's what's really helped us get to this point.

Ritu: I think resilience is underrated. A lot of people talk about it, but when it comes to them or their companies, the take is very different. I don't think slowing down means stopping. So when I have to slow down, I will slow down.

There are many sectors. Education is a massive sector, right? You've got school boards, you've got other not-for-profits, you've got other companies. So I’ll say it again: when one door shuts, I put myself out there so I can open 10 more doors for the school.

Ingrid: If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice about perseverance and resilience, what would that be?

Kayli: I would say, keep your head above the clouds and the storm. It's something I often think to myself because when you're in it, like in the thick of things and in the weeds, it's really hard to see beyond that and kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But trying to look at things and challenges and difficult times from a bird's eye view. Thinking, am I going to care about this in six months?

Ritu: I tend to dream big, and that sometimes scares me. So I will tell myself to continue dreaming big, stay focused on your vision. Don't be afraid to take detours. It might just lead to even bigger things. So yeah, stay focused.

Connecting the mission with day-to-day business decisions

I wanted to understand how their mission impacts all the facets of their business, and how that applies to their operations. We talked about how their mission guides their day-to-day decision making, giving some valuable insight on working with your purpose throughout your organization.

Ingrid: How does your mission of social good shape your business decisions and daily operations?

Kayli: We always say sustainability is at the core of everything we do and we think about it in every decision we make. Our hypothesis was: in order to create as big of an impact as we are seeking, we need to create a profitable and sustainable business so we can scale in the way that we want to.

So what we're doing—and that's that kind of intersection of a for-profit with a social mission—but we really see the business side of it as our means of accomplishing that mission. It's something that all of our team members hold onto and they're all very passionate about it. It's part of our core values and it's the reason why everyone continues pushing through with all of our hard work and challenges that we're facing.

Ritu: I think school is one piece, but I think it's really important to be true to our mission by ensuring that our business provides the quality that we claim we provide. That starts right from choosing the emerging technologies we wish to work with, choosing the scientists we collaborate with, making sure that they're not only fantastic in their field, but they're also someone who can be a role model.

We want to put role models of diverse categories, not just a typical role model that we've been seeing in the STEM industry, but people of color, people who identify as females, and young people. So we make sure that we work really hard on providing all these things to let the students know that STEM, sustainability, and cutting-edge technologies are accessible.

Building strength through social enterprises

The journey of these two incredible entrepreneurs highlight the powerful intersection of passion, resilience, and mission-driven entrepreneurship. Both founders are tackling significant social challenges that impact everyone's lives, and through the challenges they have experienced, they embody the perseverance required to turn a bold social enterprise vision into reality.

We can learn from their stories about staying true to our purposes, especially when faced with obstacles. Whether it is the challenge of getting the first clients in a traditional industry, overcoming rejection or navigating periods of economic uncertainty—resilience is a critical factor in their success.

Their insights and incredible stories remind us that while the road to social entrepreneurship can be challenging, the rewards of making a difference can drive us forward through difficult times. By staying aligned with their mission, social entrepreneurs not only create innovative solutions but shape a future that is more sustainable and equitable for all.