094: Baba Bags: Handmade Reusable Bags & Social Entrepreneurship with Fedia Kourbatov

Fedia Kourbatov is 23 years old and the founder of Baba Bags, a reusable bag social enterprise. Fedia founded Baba Bags in his college dorm room 2 years ago at the University of Oklahoma. Baba Bags' mission is to eliminate single-use plastic bag usage and give back to impactful nonprofits. In 2 years they have saved an estimated 50,000 single-use plastic bags from being used! Baba Bags currently are handmade, come with a lifetime warranty and come in 2 colors. Their green & white bag is partnered with Action Against Hunger and their orange & white bag is partnered with the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Each time the respective color is purchased Baba Bags donates to the partnered charity!

 

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In this episode Marjorie and Fedi discuss:

• Starting a business with a social goal as part of its primary mission.
• The personal history behind the design of the Baba Bag and the people behind the handmade bags.
• The future of gamification as an earth-friendly habit-building tool.
• Valuable advice for any entrepreneur.

Resources mentioned in today's episode:

• How I Built This Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297
• Sooner Innovation Fund - ********https://www.ou.edu/entrepreneurship/sooner-innovation-fund
• National Pediatric Cancer Foundation - ****https://nationalpcf.org/
• Action Against Hunger - ****https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/
• SCORE Mentorship program - https://www.score.org/find-mentor
• Evernote - https://evernote.com/
• OpenIDEO - https://www.openideo.com/
• Start Something That Matters by the founder of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/201230/start-something-that-matters-by-blake-mycoskie/

Connect with Fedi and the Baba Bag Team:

• Website: https://www.baba-bags.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsbababags/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsbababags/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsbababags

Connect with Marjorie Alexander:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asustainablemind/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SustainableMind
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asustainablemind/
• Website: http://www.asustainablemind.com

 

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