Social impact accelerator One10 has appointed its first ever CEO, with entrepreneur Veronica Munro taking on the role to drive corporate responsibility and help grow and nurture social and environmental startups globally.
Munro will take the reins of One10’s expansion plans across regional Victoria and Queensland, with the group already having offices in Melbourne and Sydney.
“This year, we set out to impact 100 businesses,” Munro tells StartupSmart.
Munro brings with her a background in B Corporations and a strong dedication to helping the private sector embrace corporate responsibility while empowering social ventures to flourish through commercialisation.
Her ultimate vision is to make One10 a global leader in this space, with plans to grow across the Asia-Pacific in the next two to four years.
“The potential is huge,” Munro says.
“Half of their population is under 30.”
The pivotal moment that started it all
A couple of years ago, Munro hit a career roadblock.
She left a long-term job and entered a new role only to quit two weeks later.
Munro was stuck.
She wanted a role where she could create real and scalable social and environment impact but struggled to find an opportunity where she could achieve this.
“It was a pretty pivotal moment in my life,” she says.
Wanting to help commercial companies and socially conscious ventures become all-round robust businesses, Munro decided to complete the Centre for Sustainability Leadership course where she met One10 founder Geoff Gourley.
“I met him once a month for about six months in a mentoring style,” she says.
During this time, Munro built software to help established companies more easily integrate corporate social responsibility into their businesses.
Soon, Gourley asked Munro to be a part of a new company he was working on.
Munro has been with One10 ever since, playing a critical role in expanding its team and building the venture.
“It’s been just a learning curve like you wouldn’t believe,” she says.
With Gourley bestowing on her the opportunity to try new things, fail and learn fast, Munro says she has grown rapidly.
“The thing that I’m most excited about is continuing to grow our team” she says.
“I can see a lot of myself in them in terms of path to growth, being more assertive in business and really finding their full potential.”
Making an impact
One10 launched its Melbourne accelerator in December last year, and recently announced its first program participant Health Delivered.
The group has also actively been helping ventures like medicinal cannabis cultivator LeafCann.
“There are some incredible minds out there [working on] social and environmental impact businesses,” Munro says.
“If they commercialise, they can create bigger impact.”
With the exit of manufacturing from cities like Geelong, Munro says job creation is both a challenge and an opportunity in regional areas..
“The challenge is to help them come up and commercial their own businesses and create their own jobs,” she says.
“[The opportunity is] to make people see themselves as their own employee [and shift from] that employee mindset.”
In addition to heading One10, Munro is also leading the establishment of a Global Shapers Hub in Melbourne as deputy curator.
She says this will help get further connected with entrepreneurial minds around the world to foster collaboration and international growth.
“I want to enable those entrepreneurs around the world,” Munro says.
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