Impact Masters Podcast

#57 Innovative Business Development & Growth | Ryan Dewey Smith

• Impact Masters Media • Season 57

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Ryan Dewey-Smith, founder and CEO of Inperium Inc., reveals how he's revolutionizing the nonprofit world by creating a collaborative network where organizations maintain their autonomy while sharing resources. With over three decades of leadership experience, Ryan shares his journey from founding a single service organization to building a network of 38 companies across 20 states that directs an impressive 90% of funding directly to service recipients.

Growing up as an only child who changed schools eight times before ninth grade, Ryan developed a keen awareness of others' needs and a philosophy centered on relationships. This foundation led him to create a nonprofit model unlike any other – one where competitors become collaborators to overcome shared challenges like rising costs and uncertain funding. 

The conversation explores how technology plays a crucial role in this collaboration, with AI and automation streamlining operations across the network. Ryan explains how Imperium adapts to different communication preferences across generations, from traditional postal mail to gamified apps that engage younger employees through rewards and achievements.

Most compelling is Ryan's leadership approach, bringing together dozens of CEOs monthly to share challenges and solutions in a "constellation rather than top-down" structure. This peer-driven model creates resilience against funding cuts that would devastate standalone organizations.

For entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders feeling isolated in their work, Ryan offers actionable advice: "Call a peer at a competitor organization and have a conversation." Not about secrets or funding sources, but about shared operational challenges where collaboration could create efficiency without compromising identity. This simple step might be the beginning of transformative partnerships that allow more resources to flow directly to those who need them most.

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Speaker 1:

and within africa. What I see personally is a collaborative space where we can create value across multiple different sectors and across multiple different countries, when what does that require? Requires each individual to play their part, and more so than that.

Speaker 2:

It's also for us to be able to collaborate to make sure that we are maximizing the value that exists among a lot of people founders here and a lot of developers here can attest that sometimes we build mvps for even four months and six months only to put it in the market and realize it's not going to work. People don't like it, it can't do anything, and then you have to build again for six months before you know it does one year the best gift you can give to a human is a chance exactly.

Speaker 5:

A child that does not cry will die in the career there are too many problems in the world for us not to be the solutions to them. There are too many of us pointing fingers, looking for other people just for for things that we know innately. We have a piece of the puzzle.

Speaker 6:

Think about the failures you've had in your life. Don't you learn more from failure than you do from success? I have Absolutely. That's where the biggest lessons are.

Speaker 1:

And within Africa. What I see personally is a collaborative space where we can take value across multiple different sectors and across multiple different countries. And what does that require? Requires each individual to play their part, and more so than that is also for us to be able to collaborate to make sure that we are maximizing the value that exists amongst us.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people founders here and a lot of developers here can attest that sometimes we build MVPs for even four months and six months only to put it in the market and realize it's not going to work. People don't like it, it can't do anything.

Speaker 4:

And then you have to build again for six months before you know it does one year the best gift you can give to a human is on charts exactly.

Speaker 5:

A child that does not cry will die in the carrier. There are too many problems in the world for us not to be the solutions to them. There are too many of us pointing fingers, looking for other people to solve for things that we know Innately. We have a piece of the puzzle.

Speaker 6:

Think about the failures you've had in your life. Don't you learn more from failure than you do from success? I have Absolutely. That's where the biggest lessons are.

Speaker 8:

Yeah, with Retail Podcasts. I'm your host, michael Kimathi, passionate about building communities, driving innovation and creating meaningful change at the intersection of technology and knowledge society. At Impact Masters, we focus on the tech ecosystem by creating and disseminating knowledge. We tell authentic stories, acknowledging and preserving history, embracing civilization and encouraging innovation. In all of this, we point out the impact and, most importantly, the actionable steps. Here we are not just storytellers. We are disruptors of status quo in body, mind and spirit. This episode is also part of Africa's Talking Retail Podcast, powered by Africa's Talking. Africa's Talking is a leading developer platform. This show amplifies voices shaping the future of business and technology across continent and beyond. Our mission is to retell the stories behind innovation and transformation while equipping builders, leaders and dreamers with knowledge they can apply. Today we have a really, really special guests. Last time there was a technical pitch, but today we are here. We will be joining us live someone who has dedicated over three decades of business development, organization leadership and strategic growth.

Speaker 8:

Ryan Dewey-Smith is the founder and CEO of Imperium Inc. A nonprofit organization that connects businesses and nonprofits into a powerful, resource-rich network. Since founding Imperium in 2016, ryan has led its affiliates to deliver life-changing services across 20 states in the United States, covering intellectual and developmental disability support, co-occurring disorder services and health-related care. Ryan's leadership has been about more than growth. It's about promoting quality service delivery, efficient use of funding and ensuring continuity of care, all while preserving the identity and mission of organization under the Imperium Network. His philosophy of building strong peer relationships, supporting affiliates and guiding organization through change management has created a blueprint for innovative, mission-driven growth. Ryan, welcome to the show. It's an honor to have you here and it's been a while coming.

Speaker 9:

How are you? I'm fine, Michael. Thank you for the opportunity. It's nice to spend some time with you today. I really appreciate it. I apologize for the technical glitch last time, but I think we have that worked out and navigated today.

Speaker 8:

Amazing, amazing. It's good to see you, man. Good to see you, man. It's always refreshing to see movers and shakers in different sectors of economy, in different sectors of the world, uh, whom their stories needs to be recorded, their lesson needs to be learned, and having to hear from you, um, you know, uh, given your busy schedule and what you do every day, is quite an honor for impact masters, uh, followers and global ecosystem that really needs this change.

Speaker 8:

You know, what I just read is just the official. You know what is there. Someone can find it if you find out Rayan or Imperium Inc. But definitely I would like to really tell on the story where you know you were born before you became, you know this innovator, there was a growing, and I've realized that over time, this growth, you know this innovator, there was a growing and I've realized that over time, this growth you know normal growth of human being contribute a lot to what they do later in life and the influence that they have and even the path they take in life. If you don't mind, you can give us maybe a background of who is Ryan before, ryan that we know today, and how was that? How was school? How was the? You know high that we know today and I was that. I was cool, I was the you know high school university, you know. Just be as detailed as possible.

Speaker 9:

Understood, michael. So I was born in the early 1970s in a little town called Muncie, pennsylvania, so Muncie is near Williamsport. Williamsport, pennsylvania might be fresh on people's minds because of the little league world series happens in williamsport, pennsylvania, every year. Uh live in in central pa? Uh for the first five years of my life with my paternal grandmother. I was a only child, son to teenage parents, so we lived uh with my nan I affectionately called her until 1976 when we moved to the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area. And then I spent the remaining part of my youth in and around Philadelphia and Redding Pennsylvania. Hunt, played baseball, was into motorcycles and cars. As a kid growing up those were my hobbies. Studied psychology and business in undergrad, graduated from Alvernia University, which is located in Redding Pennsylvania, in the early 90s and then started with my first company, supportive Concepts for Families, based there in Redding Pennsylvania, where we serve individuals who were adults with intellectual disabilities that were living at home with their parents, and we provided their parents relief services so that they could go on trips, go out to dinner, engage in social activities, basically through overnight respite and babysitting services. I did spend one year in Elkins, west Virginia, playing baseball as a freshman in college. When I realized that that career was headed nowhere, michael, I pivoted to my studies and was happy to move back to Pennsylvania and complete my undergraduate degree. That's very helpful in my business today.

Speaker 9:

Today I am married. I have two adoptive sons. One is 19. He's a sophomore in Coastal Carolina University in Conway, south Carolina. The other, seth, is 16. He's a sophomore at Johns Island School in Charleston County, south Carolina, where I live now. In my free time I like hanging out with my wife still, and my boys and also my dogs, and I do like to ride motorcycles with my friends, occasionally, pick up a golf club here or there. Would like to do that a whole lot more, but just can't seem to have the time to do that. Michael, is that a deep enough dive on me for you that you were looking for?

Speaker 8:

Yeah, I mean that really paints a picture. But of course I'll ask a few questions here and there, and we share a lot. Man, like you know, when I was also growing up, I chose not to really indulge in most sports, just because I found, like you know, in Kenya if you're not a marathon runner, I did most of my education in Kenya. There's no other sport that really has shown that you can actually make a life out of it. And of course, we'll get to know some of these details as we go on. But let's start from the beginning. Before Imperium, you led supportive concepts which later became one of Imperium's largest efforts. Could you share with us what inspired your journey into human services and ultimately led to the creation of Imperium's largest athletes? Could you share with us what inspired your journey into human services and ultimately led to the creation of Imperium?

Speaker 9:

Sure, I always had a love of helping people, michael, from the time that I was a young child, adolescent, through young adulthood and into adulthood. It was very important to me to help those that were less fortunate or in need, that struggled to meet their day-to-day aspirations and desires. So I was always attracted to helping people. I thought when I was an undergrad that I wanted to be a licensed psychologist or a clinician where I could do therapeutic counseling for individuals, families. I learned pretty early on after graduation that I couldn't see myself doing that on a long-term basis. It really wasn't suited for my career goals or aspirations. But I did then pivot to this services space where you receive funding to provide to marginalized populations or the disadvantaged, homeless, people with intellectual disabilities, foster children. That really struck a chord with me, so started doing that work in the early 90s with my first company.

Speaker 9:

Supportive Concepts Built that business for nearly two decades to a middle-sized not-for-profit business and then had an awakening that I was not going to be able to have the profound impacts and advance the mission that I was hoping, being a small standalone entity. So I went out and tried to find a larger company that might have interest in partnering with me where I could leverage their technology and office infrastructure and administrative acumen so that I could focus on the mission, have the greatest impacts to the people that needed my services and not have to worry about the costs associated with being a smaller company in amongst a bunch of big fish who could do it a whole lot more efficiently than what I could. Michael, what I found was the options that were out there didn't really appeal to me because there was a sense of loss of mission, loss of autonomy and loss of purpose. When you become part of something larger, you lose that family based, homegrown feel that was so important to me. So that's why I created Imperium as an alternative to those other options that were available.

Speaker 8:

Interesting. Basically, when I listen to you, I hear some personal values that really shaped you to really even make these decisions. So you know, what are these values and experiences that shaped your decision that you could build an organization that focuses on both mission and growth at the same time and balance it.

Speaker 9:

I really think being an only child, michael, is a big driver in who I am and how I behave and act. Only children are a unique breed because we're often alone to our own devices. We don't really have brothers and sisters to help us learn and grow and you have to look externally for those connections. And as you're looking for those connections you become real aware of people's struggles and what they really need help with. And I think that being an only child helps to really focus my energies around never giving up, not accepting, no, wanting to perform be the best possible. So I think that drives a lot of what I do.

Speaker 9:

I changed schools, so kindergarten through eighth grade I went to eight different schools. So we were always on the move as a family, either for my mother's job or my father's. So having to adapt to those sudden changes year over year, get acclimated with new friends, meet new people, new teachers, new school layouts, I think really builds a degree of character in you. That then helps to kind of shape your purpose and focus. And along the way you run into and meet a lot of people that that need help and assistance and in you know, in the seventies and eighties our support systems aren't what they are today. So it was.

Speaker 9:

It was very different. The family had to provide more of the care. There wasn't, you know, this dependence on services that were available. So I would find myself being the person that would be out offering assistance to friends, neighbor, family, and that just continued through my career. And when I went into college, I wanted to study psychology to understand what made all of us tick. Psychology to understand what made all of us tick and, for those that were making poor decisions, why that was? Because I believe everyone is inherently good and no one wakes up in the morning, michael, setting out to fail or not be successful. I just don't believe that that's mankind's desire. So I wanted to try to unpack and understand that.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely so. When you look back at the early days, what was the biggest challenge in balancing service delivery with sustainable business development?

Speaker 9:

of the engagement and the relationships that have to exist if we're going to be successful in meeting people's unmet needs. Some folks view jobs in health and human services as that just a job. That is not what our jobs are. Our jobs are to partner, friend, become confidants. Our jobs are to partner, friend, become confidants and assist people to be successful. That takes a special type of person, michael, to work in our business and our industry, and it's hard to find people that truly want to do good and rise up to do good and align to what you see and the potential in others that they could achieve. I think that's today probably one of the largest struggles in all of our businesses is finding those workers that are closest to the people that need the services and having them be excited about pulling for, honoring and respecting the people that we're trying to support now.

Speaker 8:

Wonderful and you know, back in the days there was no these interconnected networks where you could just call someone and email them and all this and still things work as fast as they are working right now, and I'm sure most of the founders of this technology one of the key things they thought they would do is improve those relationships. But we have seen actually these digital realities with more access that people have and, for sure, having experienced both worlds, I'm super, super fascinated to see and learn what actually this means to you, because you have lived both worlds. But before that, definitely, you launched Imperium in 2016. Many leaders would stop at successfully running one organization, but you created a network model, essentially a growth engine for non-profits. What is this gap that you're trying to fill and that you saw in 2016? That could really be fueled by Imperium in the long term.

Speaker 9:

So, michael, I wanted to create a opportunity for mission-based nonprofits to be able to focus their ability, capabilities and funding on having the greatest impact to the people they were serving having the greatest impact to the people they were serving and I wanted to create a network where we could leverage the scale of educated staff and subject matter experts, as well as back office service offerings that are behind the curtain in any business right your IT, your cybersecurity, your finance and accounting, who processes your payroll? Who onboards your staff? I wanted to create a network of companies that could remain independent and autonomous, have their own cultures, their own missions, their own service delivery systems in their own geographies, but benefit, in a way, profoundly, from the mass of 30 of those companies coming together to create meaningful impacts to the people who need the services. And that's what Imperium does. We are behind the curtain, providing all the back office services and support and the vehicle for the network to interconnect and interconnect to solve problems in a way that doesn't jeopardize mission or autonomy.

Speaker 8:

Interesting and you mentioned really something interesting because definitely running a nonprofit I'm building one, actually so Impact Masters is like part of it is for profit and the other part is like what can we do to keep the impact going and accommodate other like minded? So ideally most of these impact companies they either lose their identity or collapse under pressure, especially if the fund is not coming. And you know what happened with the USAID just after the new administration came in. How did you design Imperium to help affiliates grow without sacrificing their mission or values? Because also again, you mentioned earlier that the more you join a larger organization, the more you lose the touch with the ecosystem or what the mission was.

Speaker 9:

So, michael, if you are part of a larger network, you can stretch your costs much thinner, that you have to pay for the services that aren't impacting your mission or vision. So by colluding that scale together, you're able to get more value out of your funding. So when there are funding cuts, funding reductions or funding eliminations, the insulation of the network from those cuts helps you to manage the pivots necessary to replace those funds in other services areas, so that you don't lose the sustainability or mission of the entities as a standalone organization. If you're dependent on your revenues and your funding individually and those cuts occur, it can be detrimental. The organizations can end. If you're able to endure those cuts because you can lever and lean on your other peers in a network, then your sustainability ratchets up quite a bit interesting.

Speaker 8:

So, of course, in the earlier days, like any other entrepreneur or any other founder um, they're always moment of doubt is there this, uh, you know, pivotal moments or business decision in those early years that you know confirmed you in the right track? It's like 10 years later, or almost 10 years later, that now you say, in fact, by year two, there is this, what happened in in between?

Speaker 9:

and you like, I'm on the right track, man, I'm not backing down, I'm not doing it so, michael, isn't life about moments of doubt every day, and then your success or failures and going forward right? So so there were many moments of doubt. They continue, continue today, almost 10 years later, around certain decisions, certain companies that have joined the network. Were they necessarily an ideal fit with the others? So yeah, riddled with doubt, but that's life, right, all of us experience doubt in our decisions. We reflect back Some days it was good, some days it was bad. No-transcript, real, first litmus test of our network to truly see okay, now we're experiencing funding cuts, moratoriums and reductions. Does the model actually work? So, having consequences and real-life situations to test some of your doubts that then give you a yes or no to your success, I think is also healthy, as you are an entrepreneur and have ideas and beliefs on how things are going to occur and what's going to work and what's not going to work.

Speaker 8:

Yeah, definitely. Let's talk a bit about business development and growth framework. Since you have an experience of 30 years, spanning very successfully, in this realm of growth and at Impact Masters we love to pull out actionable insight that people can take and really implement or even localize. From the experience you have led organizations through change management and strategic growth, can you break down for our listeners what your framework for growth looks like, especially in the impact world?

Speaker 9:

So growth is an interesting aspect because you have to have an appetite, for it is the first change management issue that we have to struggle with. Sometimes Some organizations are comfortable being who they are, at the size they are, and then they are able to manage their cost structures in a way that keeps them sustainable and efficient. Most organizations have to use growth as a means to be sustainable when the costs of doing business are outpacing the reimbursements received for providing the business services. So it's an interesting paradigm. Those that want to not grow and those that want to grow can both be successful, but in different areas and ways.

Speaker 9:

Growing is riddled with risk. As you increase your services, go into a new services area or a new geography, state or country, there are new risks that you're exposed to as an organization. That puts in jeopardy your new revenues and your legacy revenues. So there has to be an appetite for managing risk. There also has to be an appetite for acknowledging when the road you took to growth may have been a wrong one and not staying in that decision too long that it becomes too detrimental to your base. That you have that's solid at home and that ability to be aware, identify the tipping points, the positives, the negatives and then pivot in a timely fashion are all essential for the success of a growth-oriented organization. You can grow through affiliations or business partnerships, you can go through acquiring other companies, you can grow through de novo startup programs, and all those are also met with different risks, but they all result in the end product of growth and if that's the appetite and that's the mission and vision, we can help facilitate any and all of those options through our Imperium model.

Speaker 8:

Wonderful. That's quite something that you know. Someone can take and break it down and localize it and localize it. There's always an element of sustainability and scale, and all these touches on the financial diversity that you receive as a nonprofit or impact-led organization. Could you share how nonprofits or businesses can structure funding models that are both sustainable and scalable at the same time?

Speaker 9:

In today's world. Michael, that's a tough, tough, boring question to answer. We're not really sure what's sustainable today with regard to funding and services because there's no real clear explanation that's been put forward by the new administration on what the key priorities are going to be With each administration. Obviously, in the United States there are different priorities that are identified. Those priorities are addressed through budget allocations. Those allocations then trickle down to the services organizations so as not profits that receive federal, state and local taxpayer dollars.

Speaker 9:

We're very equipped to manage those fluctuations in priorities across certain administrations and when there's turnover in Washington, when we don't know what the priorities are going to be, it's really hard to identify what's going to be sustainable or not and what we should be looking at pivoting away from or into to keep and maintain that sustainability.

Speaker 9:

Philanthropic donations, michael, are an eighth of what they were five years ago and probably a 20th 120th of what they were 15 years ago. So we don't see donors coming forward and making large gifts to our nonprofits through fundraising efforts. So we've had to find other means and other ways to replace those revenues, and that's through diversified business payers and arrangements. So entrepreneurial services like telehealth, some IT and cyber or employee health record development that you can then sell as a subject matter expert that drives in other payer revenues are really key to creating some of that sustainability. Looking for government to bail us out or new government monies to be put forward is really a way of the old and not the new guard, so we really have to pivot in some of our thinking.

Speaker 8:

Interesting and in your experience, do you think maybe an impact organization creating a revenue stream through innovative co-creation with a participant of the impact is the way to go going forward and on the same breath, you can actually, because government actually changes according to their priorities as an avid expert in the world of impact is there, if today Donald Trump called you up and said, ryan, you know, I know your work and I think you have something to contribute, would there be different strategies you would advise, or any other world leader for that matter, country leader for that matter, that really change the spectrum of how impact organizations should run in a better way?

Speaker 8:

Because, you've seen, also, despite the cuts and the change of tact is because also, some of the impact organizations have always taken advantage of. You know, here is the funding, you are free to use it, but some of the time, or most of the time, the funding doesn't actually go to the needy or the purpose that you know it was asked for. And 90% you've seen some of the organizations using 90% or 70% for administration you know matters as opposed to the other way, where over 70% goes to the people or the purpose that it was intended for and that goes to administration. So are there some experiences that you have that could really help even advise a policy? Because the truth of the matter is we need purposeful organization, we need impact realization.

Speaker 9:

So, michael, just as a side note, imperium's companies' administrative costs are near 10% of their funding, so nearly 90% of all of the dollars received by our companies actually go to the end user service recipients. So, while other entities operate in the teens or 20s, or we've seen some, to your earlier point, as high as 30 across our network, 38 companies, 20 states, nearly a billion dollars in annual revenues. The general administrative is 10% or less for those companies. So we're driving the monies to where it needs to be through those back office scale synergies.

Speaker 9:

I probably won't tell Donald Trump anything. I would do a lot of listening, michael. Wouldn't tell Donald Trump anything and would do a lot of listening, michael. But if I could make a recommendation to him and all politicians, it would be a strategy that is clear, cut and long term, that doesn't change administration to administration, is going to have the greatest impacts to the people in our country who need the services and have them be the most successful. There's nothing more detrimental to nonprofits providing service as to when fluctuations occur and you have service disruptions because of a shift in the monies that are being allocated for those services and the abruptness of having to change when those services are shuttered or reduced. That is really detrimental and we may not see it in the services returns, but where we see it is crime, drug use. All of this point, homelessness, all of it points back to some of those other drivers. When we disrupt the social services, interesting.

Speaker 8:

um, that's quite something, because some of these factors are not really, uh, visible, uh, from the people who make decision, because sometimes it's either driven by the party agenda and all that, and it's kind of murky water, because also there's politics in there. There's a lot of stuff going on there, so I won't go deep on that side. But, of course, partnership and pair relationships seem to be at the core of your success. For leaders listening, how can they build strong, trust-based partnership that can lead to growth?

Speaker 9:

I think you have to have a seat at the table, Michael. I believe in a true partnership. Everyone has a voice and it's more of a constellation than a top-down approach. So everyone has a seat at the table, Everyone's opinions are heard. Control must be checked at the door, meaning it needs to be decisions by collaboration that have the least negative impact to the people we're serving, and you have to be open to feedback. You have to listen to respect and honor when you receive feedback that you may not want to hear, that may be opposite of what good you think you're doing, and then respond to it not by retaliating, but by changing course and having open and transparent dialogue with all of those that are at the table.

Speaker 8:

Interesting. So let's change a gear a bit and talk about innovation, technology and disruption, because it's very evident in the imperial world of operating, where you have real management to keep the percentage low and I can see our listeners saying that 90% is absolutely amazing because it's quite understandable Now you have 90% to work with From David Innocent, who is following through this conversation. So one thing that stands out about Imperium is how disruptive. You know the traditional nonprofit model. You are going about it. Instead of being limited, you have created a partner network that shares services and resources. How do you see this as innovation in nonprofit and business space?

Speaker 9:

Nonprofits are probably among the worst businesses to collaborate, michael. Most nonprofits don't sit down at a table and share their secrets or their successes because they're fearful. Look, I was one of those nonprofit leaders 20 years ago. I wasn't going to sit in a room and share with my peers what was working for me to recruit staff, because we're all trying to get at the same staff, the same piece of funding, the same donation from the same donor. But if we're going to be successful, we have to figure out how to do that collaboratively as a group, and leveraging the back office is the simplest way to not have to share your trade secrets.

Speaker 9:

Create the cost savings so you can reinvest in your business through taking off of the shoulders of the nonprofit are things generally nonprofits aren't good at, nor do they want to spend their days doing. By using the scale of a group through a partnership, an affiliation, a collaboration to tick off those most expensive drivers of costs that you can kludge together. Give you that savings to be able to be more sustainable as a nonprofit. One of the biggest ones today is IT right Two-factor authentication to deal with cybercrime. How your backup is dealt with. We're all dealing with protected health information, so there are multiple cyber requirements around how it's maintained, who can access it, a log of how it's accessed, how long we store records. All that costs a good bit of money for folks and doing it standalone versus in a group where the scale can be leveraged, the savings is incredible.

Speaker 8:

Amazing, amazing and actually. This leads me to the next question around the technology At Africa Stalking. Our mission is empowering developers across Africa to build sustainable and scalable businesses and at Impact Masters, we also provide a skill-based innovation and approach to build and disrupt the status quo. So we are big believers, both of us, and I believe also that Imperium does the approach, the technology amplifies impact. How has technology enabled your network to scale, operate efficiently and deliver better outcomes as opposed to non-technical technology approach?

Speaker 9:

Michael, ai has been remarkable for our business, for our integration of our back offices, the ability to leverage vendors that can use data warehouses to crosswalk duplicative processes, the employment of bots who can take a manual operation like billing a claim right. So entering a authorization, entering a data service, entering a staff and the qualifications for the data service, a data service, entering a staff and the qualifications for the data service and then posting that for payment can now be automated through the technology we have, with much higher levels of efficiency and lower air rates, for much less costs than having a force of people doing it. So technology has been very instrumental in having us be able to see duplicative work across individual businesses and then duplicative work collaborations by entities, because we're all generally performing the same tasks and the same nonprofit application that we are. You file your 990 and your information around your tax return or your federal reporting requirements. It's all the same documents, it's all the same requirements. So that can really help us to streamline costs and create savings, and AI is really helping with that.

Speaker 8:

Interesting, and one thing that also we have noted is that sometimes, yes, you want to embrace the innovation and tech and they're different, globally different ecosystem where, if you come to Africa, one thing that we figure out is that, as much as the world is in 3G, we need to provide 2G solutions, and this means integrating things like SMS, voice, you know USSD to ensure that you know people are able to get the same service even without internet.

Speaker 8:

Now, with the emergence of AI, we have a place where we are integrating these with the 2G, still not leaving anyone out. And even on the data center and data lakes, sometimes they can become super expensive for nonprofits to operate. So what lesson can some of this global ecosystem? And even in the US, there are places where network proper internet is not accessible as expected. So what are these? You know lessons that you can share. You know leveraging innovation while staying on the mission-driven and without really spending most of the funds that you raise towards the innovation. And you know leaving the people you need to help out, leaving the people you need to help out.

Speaker 9:

Again, michael, if you have access to capital at rates that are competitive which we offer because we're a larger network able to access capital at rates that are less than what a standalone entity could do, longer term or favorable annual percentage rates and covenants, that allows you to invest in that technology. So look here the U? S. Depending upon the state, the County and the people that live within that County, how you communicate with them varies widely between knock County, indiana, and Philadelphia, pennsylvania. Those are two separate ways we have to reach our staff and we're able to, through our systems, identify how they want to be communicated with and what's going to work best for them.

Speaker 9:

Is it an SMS text message? Is it a voicemail that's done through a box? Is it an email? Is it a cold phone call? Is it old school US postal mail Put the materials in the mail and ship it off? So going near audience and having the resources to accommodate their demands through the efficiencies is what makes that communication capability very doable. But we have multiple systems. Again, it's by state state, by geography within the state and then, more importantly, the people working within that business and their makeup and how they prefer to be communicated nice, um, I think that makes a lot of sense the feedback we're hearing now, michael, with the new.

Speaker 9:

the new the hiring of the younger generations. I'm 54, I say that. So these are the 18, 19, 20 year olds. Yeah, they don't want to read anything, michael, they want to have it dictated to them. So when a form is put in front of them, they want the TLDR too long didn't read, they want the short abbreviated. Here's what this is about and why you should sign it. They don't want to take the time to look at the documents. So we're now working based on the new hires asked, to create all of those mechanisms that meet this new generation of employee who don't want they only don't want text messages, phone calls or voicemails. They want CliffsNotes on what the real issue is and as few words as possible told to them. They don't want to take the time to read. So, again, it's all about adapting to that technology.

Speaker 8:

Wow, wow, yeah. And there's emergence of TikTok one-minute, two-minute video where you have to make a point or you know someone scrolls or swipes left or right and everyone else is taken up on that race and shots and whatnot, and and it's good you mentioned this side of the world, because there's this generation that really needs the help and and support and mentorship. Uh, do you think also, you know hood cuts for me, to use it that way need to adopt and find better ways to really share this. And there's AI, where you know you can break a whole research of like 900 pages within a few minutes and these maybe took years for people to reformalize it. So what is the strategy around that? Because, anyway, now you're experiencing these through employees or organizations they're dealing with.

Speaker 9:

Yeah, so one of the things we're trying to pilot is a Gamify app, michael, because we've also found that the younger generations like to be on their phones and they like awards and rewards, so there are gamify apps that are very popular in treatment approaches. We're trying to pivot that over to employment. So onboarding, recruiting hours, work success, you build trophies, you get awards, so you're actually working and employed, but you're playing a game as well on your phone. So that's one of the ways we're trying to innovate around keeping employees engaged. You know we used to call it an elevator pitch. Right For us old people, whatever you could say about your company as you went from the first floor to the second floor in an elevator without using a tape. In the old days, 60 seconds. We now have what 20 before people decide to move on. So fast kicks right to the point, cut out the fluff.

Speaker 8:

Very interesting approach to our world and what people want, need and desire an amazing approach right there and I've seen also even a corporate world even take up the challenge. If it's a dance challenge or whatever it is, just to send the message that you know we can relate. But for me I find that a bit weird because he's trying to fit in or offering any solution that really people can use. But of course, you know, mine was yeah.

Speaker 9:

It's a full-time, this TikTok, facebook, instagram craze we have to hire full-time people who just manage it. It creates jobs. You have to be on top and relevant and current isn't posted one time this week. Current is posted within the last 15 minutes current Yep. It's definitely a different way of thinking.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely, Absolutely. So let's talk a bit about leadership and philosophy, Since you have had a span of 30 years of different leadership roles very successful. What are the biggest lessons you have learned about leading through uncertainty and change in the world of impact?

Speaker 9:

So I like to use one of not the one is kind of my phrase. I use Michael as a leader, any leader. It takes more than the leader to have impactful change and you need a team and you need believers and supporters of your mission and your change and your leadership. So it becomes a one of versus the one that makes that happen. So I believe that as a leader, it's our job to empower other leaders in and around us in order to be successful, and that's a struggle Competing personalities, dominant thinkers the more people you add to that one-of group consensus becomes more divergent, there's more conflict, there's more confusion that you have to navigate.

Speaker 9:

But being able to partner and listen to feedback without judging and recognizing that inherently all people are good and we're all driving towards the same end mission is sometimes difficult to manage it To your point, herding cats. Sometimes that's probably easier than trying to get a team to function together and point in the right direction and go for the goal, because of all these outside forces that are competing against that team collaboration and efficiency. But in my experience, a leader alone cannot be successful. It takes all of the group and beyond to be successful in whatever change or issue you're trying to accomplish.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely. On the other side, there's always culture and people, and as you scale, actually, we realize the diversity of culture is quite realistic in every way, and when you work with different organizations from different parts of the world, this is a reality that you can't really ignore. But this is actually what is at the center of an organization. So how do you yourself match a talent and leadership within Imperium's network, you know, with Cognizant? There are people involved and there are different cultures involved.

Speaker 9:

That's the beauty of the network, Michael, because we're not a merging entity where we're taking multiple organizations, putting them together and one survives and comes out on top and that's the leader.

Speaker 9:

We have 38 CEOs that run their companies within our network under their authority as the chief executive and the highest ranking employee of those organizations. So we are a CEO rich network of thought leaders and experts that then are able to leverage each other's knowledge and talent to become best in class leaders. Because of the wealth of knowledge that we can collaborate and share. We pull all those leaders together from all over the country. So our leadership hails from 38 states, even though we operate in 20 states, or some of our leadership is living in states where we don't operate. We bring them together every month and we do a three-day leadership series where we all get together, including me, and we meet over two and a half to three days and talk through all of the issues that are ahead for us. We provide updates on what has occurred from the last meeting, we identify a work plan for the coming four weeks to the next meeting and we collaborate across all the issues that folks are having and struggling with in their business. Beauty of the model.

Speaker 8:

Wonderful, wonderful. So at Impact Masters, our philosophy is quite simple it's all about body, mind and spirit. Right, and this is one thing that personally I experience. Uh, if the mind is all right, the body always not cooperate. If the body is all right, the mind will not cooperate. If the spirit is all right, you know it has to be well aligned and balanced in a way, and you know the world we're living in is a fast world. You might get busy with other things, forget, you know one of those aspects what practices or philosophies guide you as a leader, not just in business, but in life?

Speaker 9:

I agree completely mind, mind, body, spirit. I think you have to take care of, uh, all three of them. I think you have to give them equal care in feeding, but it's sometimes you need to give one part of that a little bit more when it starts to struggle and being aware of that. Really, for me, life is about relationships and partnerships. No one wants to go through life alone as an only child. It can be awful lonely at times and I think I loneliness.

Speaker 9:

As a child growing up without brothers and sisters, in a home where my parents were young and both worked and I was left to my own devices.

Speaker 9:

At a very early age I learned to quickly embrace the importance of relationships and partnerships and how to listen to people, understand their unmet needs, that they communicate outwardly or communicate through nonverbal and action, and you have to listen to those and you have to check in with people and you have to make sure that what you're trying to do and what you believe you're doing with your best foot forward is having the consequences and the result that you believe it is by just asking and listening and observing without judging.

Speaker 9:

So that's really my philosophy, michael, for business relationships the network at Imperium, all the leaders with Imperium, my personal life, my boys, my wife that pretty much drives who I am and how I address situations. Not everyone's going to like me for who I am. Not everyone's going to believe my answers are correct. Not everyone is going to believe that my thinking or my ideas are grounded in their best interests. But if everyone understands that we all started a place of good and that we all get up every morning wanting to be our best selves and we don't set out to be a bad person or yell at the person driving next to us who cuts us off, that we're inherently good, I think we can achieve a lot as a society wonderful.

Speaker 8:

Well, that's that's, that's, that's quite really uh, solid um, and I can see where the success actually you know roots from, which is just quite interesting. So for the, you know, look ahead and where we are and the world we're living in and the realities of day to day, and even you know how the world is changing. Where do you see the greatest opportunities for growth in the nonprofit and business development space over the next decade, for growth in the nonprofit and business?

Speaker 9:

development space over the next decade. I believe that our population is aging, michael, and we are going to need to identify services for the elder population that we have, baby boomers and such that are going to not have extended families that will be able to provide them services. So I see some opportunity in that space business arrangements and combinations of dissimilar services, organizations that are nonprofits, that have those same cost drivers that are unrelated to what they're doing, that any business has, and creating efficiencies in that area is how we're going to navigate the future in our fragmented segment. We're not going to collaborate between like service providers and like geographies, because it's not in our nature as nonprofits to do that. But if we can collaborate with three in our area and leverage that economy of scale because we're in different services space and use what's common between us to create the efficiencies, I think that's the recipe.

Speaker 9:

Moving forward Obviously I would, because that's what Imperium's doing and that's what we provide. But I really believe that that's going to be the future the uncertainty of where the funding's going to land, how long the funding's going to exist. Is it going to be through this administration and then go away under the next, that uncertainty, I think the only way we navigated as nonprofits is to collaborate together, and that collaboration shouldn't just be aligned by like service entities. It should be all nonprofits that can get together and find any commonality to create savings.

Speaker 8:

Oh wonderful. You know, one harm-wise for-profit impact masters is because we realize, with 1.56, whatever billion people in Africa, one of the key thing is that you know young people, like most countries, their medium age is like 17, 18 years old, and they're super smart, super intelligent. The only thing that is actually missing is the platform, and one of the key things that we are trying to build between now and the next two, three years is a platform that really upscales this. Upscale this because, also, there's a world where, you know, the, the, the population is growing old. Uh, the intellectuals are also, you know, retiring and all that, and you know they need this support. They need the economy to be doing really fine, even to afford the pension.

Speaker 8:

As you know, right now, most of the countries are struggling that, given the population, majority of it is old, and I'm an avid promoter of let's not look at other countries as liabilities. Let's look at the way we can actually collaborate and empower them to be able to offer value and get value out of it, and we live in one planet Earth which is well sustainable. So what you said, actually I can relate with it 100%, even from this point. So, just for our listeners, many of whom are entrepreneurs, innovators- and leaders in different sectors.

Speaker 9:

What is one actionable step they can take today to position themselves for sustainable growth and impact? Call a peer at a competitor or a organization in your area and have a conversation. What are your cost drivers? What's breaking your back? What are you struggling with? Don't ask what are your secrets. How are you hiring staff? Where are you getting your donors? But ask how's your insurance renewal going? What are you doing for payroll? Ask how's your insurance renewal going? What are you doing for payroll? What are your retention strategies around retirement benefits? How could we maybe work together to create some efficiency? I think we live in very siloed world here in particular I don't know about in Africa, but in the US we're very siloed in our work lives and we don't collaborate a lot, and I think that would be what I would encourage people to do Call Imperium. Reach out through our website. Ask us to take a look at what they're doing and where their cost drivers are and how we might help. You'd be surprised what you learn when you ask.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely, absolutely, in fact. It's the word of collaboration. In fact, tech could not be where it is in the shortest span of time without collaboration, because one is providing cloud, the other one is providing 2G solution, the other one is providing, you know, business growth and in that collaboration you see proper growth which really fast-track the process. So you couldn't be far away from the fact of how things grow crop, and for me also, I think also there's a world where and I've seen a couple of you know big tech do this like Google, atlassian, where they are really intentional, like you know, can you take 1% of your revenue and be intentional about it in investing in some of these impact-purposeful companies, people dedicate hours to help out, even build websites or even help with the collaboration tools and whatnot. For us, every month we have developers gathered and we show them the global standard way of you know, building scalable software. So also there is a world where even not purely impactful companies could contribute in different ways to really, because at the end of the day, not everything will really be solved through for profit, but also I feel like that side needs to be touched on. So, as we close, ryan, this has been a masterclass in business development, leadership and purpose driven growth. Thank you so much for sharing your journey and insight with us.

Speaker 8:

Uh, for those who are listening, uh, you can learn more about ryan's work at imperiumorg, but, uh, for sure, we always give our uh, you know, um guests a chance to give a parting shot. It could be a proverb, it could be a book, that if you read one book the rest of your life, it's this one book that really makes sense. Or it could be just you know daddy jokes, or you know whatever it is that really would you feel like? You know, I'm free, I can share this, so feel free. This is your time. Look at your camera, talk to our listeners and our fans.

Speaker 9:

Okay, so I want to thank everybody who listened today. I want to thank you, michael, for hosting this, impact Masters for hosting me. I think most impactful book that would be helpful for any only child or someone who's married to or has an only child is a book called the Only Child being One, loving One, knowing One. It was written in the early 90s. Easy read 100 pages Tells a lot about only children and what makes them tick. I think it tells a lot about me and who I am. So thank you again for your time. If anyone wants to reach out to Imperium, I would love to talk, michael, with Impact Masters Nonprofit that they're standing up, see if we might be able to collaborate with you as well in some offerings. Please reach out through the website and again, I'm really thankful to the listeners and you for the opportunity.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely. Thank you so much, ryan, for your time. I know you are a very busy person given your day-to-day, but getting this time really means a lot to what you're trying to achieve. Showcasing wasn't shake us, recording these stories and sharing lessons that could go a mile to help someone out there. So at Impact Masters, our mission is to tell stories that spark change and encourage action, and through Africa's Talking, we continue to amplify voices shaping the future of innovation and impact, not just in Africa, but globally. But definitely I'm Michael Kemadi. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, keep strapping the status quo and within africa.

Speaker 1:

What I see personally is a collaborative space where we can create value across multiple different sectors and across multiple different countries. And what does that require? To rise each individual to play their part, and more so than that, it's also for us to be able to collaborate to make sure that we are maximizing the value that exists amongst us.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people founders here and a lot of developers here can attest that sometimes we build MVPs for even four months and six months, only to put it in the market and realize it's not going to work. People don't like it, it can't do anything, and then you have to build again for six months. Before you know it, that's one year.

Speaker 3:

The best gift you can give to a human is insurance.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, exactly, a child that does not cry will die in the carrier.

Speaker 5:

There are too many problems in the world for us not to be the solutions to them. There are too many of us pointing fingers, looking for other people to solve for things that we know innately. We have a piece of the puzzle.

Speaker 6:

Think about the failures you've had in your life. Don't you learn more from failure than you do from success?

Speaker 7:

I have Absolutely, that's where the biggest lessons are. Yeah, I have. Absolutely that's where the biggest lessons are, yeah.

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Michael Kimathi

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