Lina Buffington
I have been struggling to figure out how to approach this report and decided that I would use it as an opportunity to reflect upon my journey over the first half of this year. I have come to understand that building a business is not just about finding the right business model or choosing the right legal entity, it is also a personal journey. I have had to do more self-work than I had originally expected. I am discovering what kind of woman I need to be in order to build the kind of business I want to run. I am not only cultivating a business; I am also cultivating Lina Buffington. To do this I have had to push against boundaries I did not know I had erected. While it is still early in the journey, both the business and I have evolved a great deal.
Though I did not realize the full extent of it at the time, my journey as an entrepreneur began years ago when I was introduced to human centered design and later Lean Startup Strategy. I knew that I was not just interested in these models as a practice but in the worldview that undergirds these approaches. The thing that I found most attractive, and also terrifying, is the principle of failing fast a central element of the process. I find this principle to be particularly important in the social change sector where we are too often frozen by ideology and the desire to be perfect—unwilling to make mistakes and hesitant to act.
Before I became a BK Fellow I had experienced this brand of ideological paralysis as the co-founder of another organization. I was committed to figuring out how to approach my new business venture differently, so I was thrilled when I learned we had access to Michel Gelobter. The session he led for our cohort has proven influential in the course that my journey has taken recently as both an entrepreneur and an Executive Director. When I took on the ED role it was important to me not to treat my work as a non-profit leader differently from my work as an entrepreneur. I wanted to encourage my board and staff to embrace an innovation mindset so I hired Michel as a consultant. This has not been an easy process because it is unfamiliar and uncomfortable for some of my board members. Most organizations claim to want systems change, but few are prepared to take risks and so things stay fundamentally the same.
Though it has been challenging trying to interrupt standard practice within an established organization, I am learning a lot that I can apply to the creation and management of the business that I am building from the ground up.
Initially I struggled with trying to develop a business model that would allow me to create housing opportunities for transitional aged youth because I was stuck within a limiting paradigm. It was not until I was able to step outside of the problem and look at it from a different angle that I was able see my way out of a seemingly intractable problem. I realized that I could not allow a limited view of the problem to dictate the solution. My original framing of “the Problem:
How do we provide affordable housing to vulnerable populations in a sustainable fashion (not reliant on government funding and philanthropy)?
When I framed the question in this way I spent a lot of time with a spreadsheet trying to figure out how many people I could cram into a house so that I could make rents as cheaply as possible. In addition to creating less than desirable conditions for the people I was hoping to serve, I could not figure out how to make enough profit to cover management and program expenses and still make enough profit to purchase additional properties. Eventually I came to realize that this problem, as I had conceived it, was not going to get me to the solution that I was seeking. I decided to ask a different question:
Though I did not realize the full extent of it at the time, my journey as an entrepreneur began years ago when I was introduced to human centered design and later Lean Startup Strategy. I knew that I was not just interested in these models as a practice but in the worldview that undergirds these approaches. The thing that I found most attractive, and also terrifying, is the principle of failing fast a central element of the process. I find this principle to be particularly important in the social change sector where we are too often frozen by ideology and the desire to be perfect—unwilling to make mistakes and hesitant to act.
Before I became a BK Fellow I had experienced this brand of ideological paralysis as the co-founder of another organization. I was committed to figuring out how to approach my new business venture differently, so I was thrilled when I learned we had access to Michel Gelobter. The session he led for our cohort has proven influential in the course that my journey has taken recently as both an entrepreneur and an Executive Director. When I took on the ED role it was important to me not to treat my work as a non-profit leader differently from my work as an entrepreneur. I wanted to encourage my board and staff to embrace an innovation mindset so I hired Michel as a consultant. This has not been an easy process because it is unfamiliar and uncomfortable for some of my board members. Most organizations claim to want systems change, but few are prepared to take risks and so things stay fundamentally the same.
Though it has been challenging trying to interrupt standard practice within an established organization, I am learning a lot that I can apply to the creation and management of the business that I am building from the ground up.
Initially I struggled with trying to develop a business model that would allow me to create housing opportunities for transitional aged youth because I was stuck within a limiting paradigm. It was not until I was able to step outside of the problem and look at it from a different angle that I was able see my way out of a seemingly intractable problem. I realized that I could not allow a limited view of the problem to dictate the solution. My original framing of “the Problem:
How do we provide affordable housing to vulnerable populations in a sustainable fashion (not reliant on government funding and philanthropy)?
When I framed the question in this way I spent a lot of time with a spreadsheet trying to figure out how many people I could cram into a house so that I could make rents as cheaply as possible. In addition to creating less than desirable conditions for the people I was hoping to serve, I could not figure out how to make enough profit to cover management and program expenses and still make enough profit to purchase additional properties. Eventually I came to realize that this problem, as I had conceived it, was not going to get me to the solution that I was seeking. I decided to ask a different question:
How do we provide affordable housing to vulnerable populations in a sustainable fashion (not reliant on government funding and philanthropy)?
When I framed the question in this way I spent a lot of time with a spreadsheet trying to figure out how many people I could cram into a house so that I could make rents as cheaply as possible. In addition to creating less than desirable conditions for the people I was hoping to serve, I could not figure out how to make enough profit to cover management and program expenses and still make enough profit to purchase additional properties. Eventually I came to realize that this problem, as I had conceived it, was not going to get me to the solution that I was seeking. I decided to ask a different question:
How do we acquire and leverage real estate assets in a way that allows us to provide affordable housing to vulnerable populations while leveraging government funding and philanthropy without relying upon them?
Asking a more interesting question led to a way more interesting solution. Rather than trying to focus on generating resources from lack, I decided to focus on using an asset to generate more assets that I can then be leveraged to rectify the lack. This is how the Fihankra Collective was born.
Fihankra Collective provides a vehicle for real estate acquisition and investment that simultaneously increases access to critical transitional housing programs for extremely vulnerable populations and creates opportunities for members of traditionally marginalized communities to become real estate social entrepreneurs. Through the Fihankra Collective I will acquire and manage real estate for non-profit organizations that provide transitional housing to vulnerable populations.
Our first partner organization will be Chrysalis Learning Community (CLC), a non-profit organization that I am co-creating with my sister. CLC provides high-quality and supportive housing for young adults aging out of foster care. Each Community is a Home; where we cultivate a warm and inviting community environment and provide our residents with educational and training programs to support their transition into adulthood and independence.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Social Venture Institute in Vancouver, where I was able to share my idea with leaders in Social Innovation from throughout the US and Canada. I received a lot of very positive feedback and am feeling confident about launching the first CLC in partnership with the Fihankra Collective in Atlanta, GA.
Fihankra Collective provides a vehicle for real estate acquisition and investment that simultaneously increases access to critical transitional housing programs for extremely vulnerable populations and creates opportunities for members of traditionally marginalized communities to become real estate social entrepreneurs. Through the Fihankra Collective I will acquire and manage real estate for non-profit organizations that provide transitional housing to vulnerable populations.
Our first partner organization will be Chrysalis Learning Community (CLC), a non-profit organization that I am co-creating with my sister. CLC provides high-quality and supportive housing for young adults aging out of foster care. Each Community is a Home; where we cultivate a warm and inviting community environment and provide our residents with educational and training programs to support their transition into adulthood and independence.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Social Venture Institute in Vancouver, where I was able to share my idea with leaders in Social Innovation from throughout the US and Canada. I received a lot of very positive feedback and am feeling confident about launching the first CLC in partnership with the Fihankra Collective in Atlanta, GA.