Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Travis Trull. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Travis thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

A decade ago I was living in a struggling community of East Africa. My friends and neighbors had been born into unbelievable challenges, and tragedy struck with remarkable frequency. Without $20 in their pockets to pay for medicine and an I.V. at the local clinic, parents would lose children to dehydration as a result of simple, treatable water-borne illnesses. When margins are so thin, incidents like this knock you down over and over again, and cycles of poverty and frustration repeat themselves.

Helping with money was urgently needed, so I helped as often as I could, but it didn’t solve the underlying problem. It didn’t break the cycles. Out of sheer desperation, I stumbled into working with my friends and neighbors to start businesses together. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I’ve always loved solving interesting, meaningful problems. Accidentally, I discovered that a healthy, ethical, profitable business can unlock a new world of possibility. A new future. It can break cycles forever.

Over the following years of working with people to build businesses, I learned a ton, especially about my own limitations. I then found myself unexpectedly back in the United States, building businesses here as well, working to provide for my own family. I worked with talented people, and I learned as much as possible every day. Everything I learned along the way, and all the people in my path, opened the door to a vision to build a much more expansive, impactful, and healthy version of my previous work in East Africa. I had already validated that the approach worked, but now I knew how to better and bigger than ever before.

By mobilizing local business trainers, mentors, and coaches around the world who are already cultural insiders (and much better equipped than me to walk alongside their community members as they build businesses), we could equip thousands of entrepreneurs around the world to develop businesses that not only break cycles of poverty, but that replace those cycles with cycles of hope, possibility, and generational flourishing.

Millions of people around the world were — and still are — asking for partnership and help as they struggle to build lasting pathways out of poverty. Not bandaids or temporary relief, but real, practical solutions that open doors for people to transform their own lives forever. For themselves. For their children. And for their children’s children. It’s what we all want for those who we love. How could I say “no” to this idea that had been placed in my path? That my unexpected journey had prepared me for?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce your organization to our readers.

Flint Global Partners, Inc. is a mission-focused and value-driven 501(c)(3) not-for-profit impact organization, overseen by a board of directors, igniting generational change in families around the world.

Our vision is to co-create a world where all people flourish. Our global team accomplishes this by walking alongside struggling individuals and families as they build businesses, achieve and maintain gainful employment, increase their household income, and build their own lasting pathways out of poverty.

Since the beginning, we have been aggressive and ambitious in prioritizing people and the impact of our programs in the communities we serve, keeping overhead costs at 13% and less. Last year we impacted over 6,500 people, and in less than three years since Flint’s launch, we have expanded into eleven countries, doubled the size of our team and budget each year, and more than doubled the number of people impacted each year. Thanks to the success of our programs and to the amazing missional partners who have gathered around us to make this work possible, Flint’s growth has been organic and life-changing for thousands around the world.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

As a nonprofit organization, the majority of our funding comes from individuals, families, businesses, and organizations who believe in our vision, mission, and the quality of our work, and who generously partner with us to change lives around the world. They make it all possible, and we are honored to get to partner with such remarkable people and communities.

As an organization focused on sustainability, lasting solutions, and breaking cycles of poverty and dependency through business, we are also building our own business mechanisms for generating revenue apart from charitable donations. This will enable us to cover all overhead and expansion costs with business revenue, while charitable donations go directly to programs costs in the field.

As one example of other revenue sources, we have international nonprofit clients who contract us to work with their implementing partners around the world to help them develop businesses that will offset funding coming from the United States, thereby eliminating indefinite financial dependency and avoiding a future scenario where people are hurt if foreign funding comes to an end.

Additionally, Flint Global is building profitable social enterprises that create employment and opportunity for people around the world while also generating funding for our entrepreneurship programs. As an exciting new example, Jimani Collections, an ethical, hand-crafted jewelry business in Kenya that is producing some truly remarkable products, just came under Flint Global’s umbrella. Jimani Collections provides gainful employment to Kenyan women while also training them to build their own businesses and while generating profit that can be used to equip more struggling entrepreneurs across East Africa.

The exciting thing about the businesses is that they create financial sustainability for our organization while remaining in total alignment with our core mission and while accomplishing our objective of breaking cycles of poverty through business creation and employment.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I have learned a ton about marketing, communication, leadership, and creative thinking from Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and Donald Miller. I recommend all their books, articles, videos, and podcasts. Some of the most impactful resources on my entrepreneurial thinking have centered around refining my own internal thinking and mindset. Ryan Holiday’s books have been especially helpful for this, including The Obstacle is the Way and The Daily Stoic.

The book that has most drastically impacted my management approach this year is Traction, by Gino Wickman. Earlier this year we restructured most of our systems and processes around the template offered by Wickman in this book.

The other most influential book on my entrepreneurial philosophy this year was Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown. This book has been incredibly helpful for improving focus, clarity, prioritization, and delegation, skills that are truly essential for growing a business or organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: flintglobal.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flintglobal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flintglobal/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flint-global-partners
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mF5YK4v8nM

Image Credits
Flint Global Partners, Inc.