From Idea to Impact: Tali Goldman’s Journey building Market for Good

Full Transcript

 

Chris Edwards (00:02.102)

Welcome to the Good Business podcast. This podcast is designed to help you create not just a business that has great profit, but also the business that is kind to people and the planet. Hi, my name is Chris Edwards. I’m an award winning entrepreneur and you may know me if you’re in Asia with my first business, which is called Honeycomers. Honeycomers is a digital lifestyle media guide to Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali.

 

And we’re now in our 15th year of operation and have over a million readers each month. Or maybe you know me from Launchpad, which is a community of conscious entrepreneurs that I founded almost two years ago. Launchpad has about 600 members across 11 countries. And yes, so I have two jobs, but let’s talk about this podcast and good business. In this episode, we chat with the delightful founder, Tali Goldman.

 

who founded a business and social enterprise called Market for Good. Market for Good is the first marketplace for sustainable impact, and it supports 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Market for Good allows companies like Johnson & Johnson and Citibank, who are both customers, buy products on this marketplace that, for example, like corporate gifts,

 

and that allows them to implement their CSR goals in a measurable way. All right, let’s get into it. 

Hey, Tali, so lovely to have you on the pod. I’m really looking forward to today’s chat. Thank you. I’m looking forward as well. Awesome. All right, well, let’s start at the beginning. Yeah, I wonder if you can just share your journey. You’ve had a number of businesses before, Market for Good, but yeah, maybe you can just share.How did you end up doing what you’re doing? 

 

Tali Goldman

I started in the beginning to, I wanted to help other mother, working mother to have the flexibility they needed and to have both in life, to be successful in their career and present mothers. And this is where I started. Then I was recognized by the Singapore government as a social enterprise. And they asked me to help another 48 charities in Singapore.

 

we’re talking about close to 50 ,000 people. They asked me if I can help all of them to have sustainable livelihood. So it was, of course, single mothers, low -income families, people with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, families with children, with different kinds of needs, ex -offenders families. And this is where my journey started to scale the impact that we are doing.

 

And when I understood that there is no way to help so many people other than creating the platform, it’s called Market For Good. So to give visibility to many thousands of people creating a fishing grout for them. So they have visibility, they can send the product and services to MNCs, large corporates, and by doing so, we empower them. We’re actually helping them to help themselves.

 

And so maybe taking a step back for our listeners that don’t really understand how market for good works, can you just explain the concept? Market for good is a market place as any other marketplace, but all the products on market for good, what make it very special, it’s every product on market for good creates an impact either on people or on the environment. And what we do special in market for good is that we created our own quantification model.

 

When we quantify social and environmental impact, we created this Ernst and Young when we all wanted to think one to 10. And we wanted to have to give transparent data when people when in companies, when they choose product and services, so they can understand how social the product is, how environmental it is. And of course, giving a lot of transparent data for the people that wants to read exactly how we go to this number. We show who is behind it, pictures and videos and the stories behind it.

 

Because people, we all eventually connect to stories in each and under our responsibility as individual and of course companies to align our procurement with our values and for companies to align the procurement where they’re sustainable egos. And this is how we happened to do so. And I suppose being a marketplace, your job is twofold. It’s to find the products that have the impact stories and the good ethics and, you know,

 

products that are, I suppose it’s just impact really, that’s going to have a positive impact. But then also you have to find the buyers. So I imagine you’re also out there presenting market for good to corporations for them to use it for their supply chain choices. Is that right? Yeah. I’m laughing or smiling because the challenges is endless. It’s not only finding the product and the clients.

 

It’s creating an IT system. It’s creating our own model to how actually quantify social impact. How do you actually give a number that’s something that is so abstract, but it’s so important to do so because only then we can understand how product, how much, how positive is it on people. And so it’s a lot of research that we put in IT and

 

And even now it never stops. So today we have the marketplace and we have the quantification, but the next step for us is we understood that collecting the data and verifying the data needs to be done better on AI based and machine learning model, because it will be much easier for all our vendors globally to give us the data. Otherwise it takes a lot of time from them. And especially it’s very hard when you’re talking about sureties and not for profits and environmental organization.

 

So the challenges never end because you always want to scale and grow. How do you face that constant challenge? Like how do you not get overwhelmed by the constant challenges? You take it one step at a time. I’m very, very blessed to have so many people on the advisory board and an amazing team. I’m never alone.

 

I’m really, really in a very long, there’s so many there that knows what we’re doing and wants to be part of it and, and, and share the knowledge and contact and even investment to market for good. It’s amazing, you know, and I already have four investments and all of them came from my advisory board and my team that came and say, can we invest? They so believe and so connected what we’re doing and wants to see it continue growing. So there’s always challenges, but there is a lot of blessing.

 

And my view is that where we have the challenges, this is why we grow. So I’m not afraid of the challenges. I’m just, they’re blessed because they always teach me and ask how to grow and how to do better. So of course it’s not fun and many times it’s very hard, but it’s really where we grow the most. So that’s interesting that your funding has come from your advisors and your team. So what’s the makeup?

 

How much funding have you gotten from, and when you say team, are they co -founders or are they employees or I’m interested? It’s really interesting, but they’re all employees and somebody from my advisory board. And I didn’t start yet to go through large investors, obviously. They’re all, we actually have more than a quarter of a million US dollar investment into market for goods that people that came to me. And for my head of operations.

It’s amazing. It’s such a blessing. It says, since I joined you, my life’s changed and I want to be part of it. And she came with her father and her brother and all the three of them with investment. And my CTO that says, oh, I so believe in what you’re doing and I have some money is going to be released. Can I put investment? I said, what? I’m happy. So this is how it happens. So of course it’s not, don’t think that I’m sinking and everything comes to me. I work very hard. I really work.

 

I put all my heart and soul and time into what I’m doing because I really believe that our highest purpose in life is to help others. And I feel very blessed that I’m fulfilling my mission in the idea of helping others. But, you know, things, the universe is very generous and people are very generous and coming and helping and being part of it. And tell me, how did you come up with the idea of Market for Good? Like, was there a moment where you were like,

 

this is missing and this is what we need. Like how did you join the dots? It’s amazing how it happened. I was, so because I’m recognized by the Singapore government as a social enterprise, a few years back, I think four or five years back, about four, I was sitting with a mentor. So they actually subsidized a mentor. And back then it’s where they come and say, would you like to have this, it calls project HOP, put on the one umbrella for the HRT.

 

Chris Edwards (09:30.414)

And I was sitting there and I was like thinking, should I? Yeah, I really, I’m so honored that they believe I can do it, but it’s a bit scaring as well because you know, so many people are, you can influence them and make difference in their lives and you need to do it well. So I was sitting there and he took him so hard, told me, I don’t think you should take it. He said, what happened if you fail? And this is where I understand there is no failing here.

 

There is only success. You cannot fail because there is nothing. So whenever you do, we just will do better. And all of a sudden it just came to me and the said, yes, I’m not going to fail. I’m going to do it. And I’m going to do it to an, and I understood that actually need to create a model to it because you cannot, back then I was already sending innovative gift solution to MNC. And I said, okay, I have the connection, but when you meet one and one people, how can you, you know,

 

Here are so many details and so many products. And I said, okay, I need to create a system to it and I need to give all of them the stage. You know, to really scale impact, the only solution is to bring it to IT and code the solution. And this is what we did. And I have master’s in system engineering. So I’m coming from this area of information systems. So I knew that this is the solution. And you’ve got corporations like Johnson & Johnson and Citibank.

 

as customers for Market for Good. I mean, they’re pretty significant names. How did you get in the door and get them to consider Market for Good? Like, was it hard to get their attention? Okay, Johnson & Johnson. I was nominated in one of these as the Social Enterprise of

the Year. I don’t remember, I was 2019 or, yeah, and I was invited to the Istana, which is the President’s House.

 

During this event, there was somebody from Johnson & Johnson that represented Johnson & Johnson and they hung. And one of my colleagues just came and talked to her. They just extended business card and since then and during the pandemic, they were one of our core clients. They were really, really helping us because they were purchasing and we did with them and PayPal during the pandemic was one of the really amazing project that we did because you know, but then everything was closed down.

 

Chris Edwards (11:53.678)

And we didn’t have market for it. So we had the idea and we started to work on it, but it takes time. And with Johnson and Johnson, we had an amazing project. In two weeks, we built a B2C, you know, just a shop, like a e -platform. And the employees bought on the shop product. It was Mother’s Day, another holiday in Singapore. And this one, one of the ladies that, so we just upload product of

 

beneficiaries in Singapore. And one of them was a lady that she managed to sold three bags during the pandemics on this platform to Johnson and Johnson. And remember, everything was closed and she came and she handed me those bags. And she was so proud and happy. She’s a mother to three children. And she said, it’s why only income now because the market that I used to sell the product that I hand made are closed now.

 

And she touched my heart so much, to be honest, that I knew that Market for Good, I do everything possible to make it happen. And I think that this is what our clients feel from us, the dedication. So it wasn’t hard to have Johnson & Johnson, and Citibank, and many, many others as part of Market for Good, because we are very concerned in who is doing what’s the impact. Every product that we do.

 

come with their certificate of impact, with the story, the image behind it. So, and to be honest, in the base of every one of us, we want to do good. And African shoes and just, you know, because they have this budget, the procurement budget, so they just shift it into impact. They feel good, we are happy, great, and impact. So it’s like a win -win situation. It is a win -win situation, isn’t it? Because they’ve got to spend the money anyway, right? So yeah, why not?

 

do it in a way that can have a positive impact. It sounds very easy. It’s sometimes easier as it sounds, but sometimes because we’re a bit more expensive because it’s handmade, they come and it’s not in easy shell always because sometimes they do and sometimes they’re really, I feel uncomfortable when sometimes companies don’t walk the talk. They talk about impact, but then you go and see what corporate gifts they bought and what they do for

 

Chris Edwards (14:17.262)

the new employees, you see that they bought products that have no impact, that are the cheapest one, I know where they bought it. And I think to myself, maybe we can buy a little bit less, it’s better to the universe, and let’s create the impact with the money. So it’s not always easy because people many times like to impress on they want to put in the same box, five items instead of three. And it’s, sometimes it’s even painful of it, you know, when you say, oh, this is what they choose instead of us, they don’t really, and you work, you…

 

You read their sustainability reporting and even investment that they put. But on the small choices, not always they choose what I believe is the best choice. So you’re still seeing a lot of greenwashing. Of course there’s a lot of greenwashing and it’s less than that. And because the carbon credits and this area that was not systemized enough.

 

I call it a bit social washing. I feel that sometimes companies want to do something. They go with other employees to, I don’t know, paint the wall or do something, which is nice. It’s beautiful. But you really need to walk the talk. When you have procurement power, you can, you should utilize it to empower. The corporate gifting market worldwide is a trillion dollar market. Trillion. One third in the US. One third in Asia.

 

The, when you look at the, at hotel industry, when you look at the only for, you know, the, for the rooms, when you look at the shampoo and those products, it’s another $50 billion market. How do you actually take this enormous budget and create an impact? If we can take one, hopefully 10 % of it to create an impact. How many people worldwide can we really?

 

and power for the long term. This is an enormous change that the industry can make just by choosing better. Yeah, that’s enormous numbers. I haven’t worked in corporate for a very long time. I actually didn’t even realize that corporate gifting was still a massive thing, to be honest. I mean, definitely in small business land, I’m sorry to say you don’t get a gift when you join honeycombers. It’s like you get a laptop, but there’s no corporate gifting. And…

 

Chris Edwards (16:40.332)

You know, I just feel like I’ve not seen a corporate gift that I’ve thought is something that I’d want to give either. I don’t know. I mean, maybe it’s changed since I was in the corporate world. We met when you were a finalist for the Launchpad Pitch Festival. Can you share with us the value for you to be involved in festivals and pitch events like that? I believe that visibility is one of the key components for success of the company.

 

And so for me there, I managed to fund another co -founder or founders that are doing the same. So uploading more product that creates an impact. One of the judges was actually we’re looking at how we can partner in a way that, you know, both our companies have these synergies. So my advice here is always go and be there. I always go and talk at any time that I’ve been.

 

you know, invited to share my knowledge and expertise in any way I can. And as you can hear, English is not my mother tongue. It’s not that I always enjoy to be on stages, but I do it because I believe it’s the right thing to do. In the Singapore Fenty Festival, I was invited to talk at the Fond du Spé, which is like a TED Talk. It’s 10 minutes that you need to share. And I shared about my learnings and the progress. And the last thing that I said there,

 

is that in her book, the regrets of the dying, the blending where she says that the number one regrets of people in the deathbed is that they were not true to themselves. I want to live a life when I am not true to myself. And I don’t want to regret not putting myself, back then it was in front of the audience and doing this kind of a test of, and it’s always people regret some things they didn’t do, not what they do.

 

There’s nothing like it’s not there’s nothing like the words mistake is not correct. It’s always a learning process We never do mistakes. We are always in learning the only mistake we do do is only if we if we are afraid and hold ourself back I love that. I love that and yeah, it’s it is interesting that reflection on What what people on their deathbeds? have regrets about right because life is

 

Chris Edwards (19:05.47)

shorter than what we all expect. You know, we only get one shot, I believe. And, you know, I’m sitting here middle -aged and it’s feeling like it’s going really quickly. So yeah, I love that, Charlie. It’s a really good message. I met her the other day, first time, and I actually believe that I’m going to bring her to part of my team or at least my advisory board when she shared with me. And I think that’s family gathering, her family gathering.

 

She was sitting next to the grandfather of her husband. And she said that he told her, it was many years back, that he back then who was in a nursery home, and he told her, you know, through my life I started with one, they had the shoe shop and then it become like 200 shops. And they grew up very nice and he said, nothing is important today. I didn’t have anyone. I just sold shoes. So.

 

message to her when she was in her 20s, like do something that is really meaningful, not for the night. So she shared it with me and I really, I really connected with her. It’s so meaningful because we all one day, it will be our last day. And hopefully when we are eighties and above and we are going to look at what we did and we want to make sure that we did everything we can to fulfill ourselves. Yeah.

 

And I also think about our kids asking us, you know, like you knew the climate was in crisis. What did you do? You know, like I think we’ve got accountability to our kids as well. Yes, it’s actually, we need to walk the talk. If you want our kids to be people that helps others and care about others, care about the environment and people, they need to see us on a daily basis doing it.

 

because values, it’s something you’re instilling, you’re suffering, you’ll, they see everything. Children is like magnets of energies. You can say

whatever you want, but they don’t really listen to the word they see you. So it’s important on this level as well. Yeah. And action, like they, they, a hundred percent, there’s no point saying something if you don’t mean it, particularly with kids, right? Because they, they pick up everything and actions speak a lot louder than words. So Tali,

 

Chris Edwards (21:33.294)

What’s next for Market for Good? So you’ve just secured some funds. What are you working on right now? How are you intending to grow the business? Thank you, Fran. It’s been a very good question, to be honest. We are, as I said, there is always the next step. And now we started to work on the AI machine learning based tool, where we’ll be able to connect the data from all the vendors and helping them to really very quickly quantify the social involvement in the market.

 

have an initiative. So it will be easier for them to share the data for us to collect the data, to quantify it. We’re going to looking forward to take this tool and help the financial sector as well. Wow, that’s cool.

 

Chris Edwards

 And tell me what advice do you have for aspiring social entrepreneurs that are looking to create a business that I suppose drives more than just profit but has a positive impact on the world?

 

I would suggest to them to start running and grow up gradually. And because there is a lot of learning on the way, lots of learning. And even when you bring investors in, and we are bringing now investors for the AI tool that they shall be built. You’re in a different place when you understand exactly the market, you understand the need, you have a product that is for us, it’s already working.

 

starts small and learn and then brings, you know, more and more people always. I really believe that it’s never one person. It’s always a team. So bring your advisors, create a great team. And other advice that I have is I really connect with people that have the same value as one. And this is always the best people that are broken and advisory board as well. So always look of course for the talent, but the talent needs to come with value.

 

Because the ones that have the same values with you, they will put their heart and soul in order to accomplish what the company wants to accomplish. And do you have any tips for hiring people that have the right values? Like what you do in your hiring process? So first I always invite somebody from my team to talk to them just, you know, for the basic qualifications. And I always come and I’m trying to know who is in front of me.

 

Chris Edwards (24:01.838)

What motivates them in life? I always ask them why they want to join Market for Good. What makes them happy? What is, you know, I want to see that we have the common gods. Because there are people that will come and say, oh, I’m just looking for a part -time, well, I saw something. And there are other people that say, oh, I’m so connected

with what you’re doing, and I would like to be part of it. I feel blessed to be part of it, and this would be the right people.

 

But you always feel it. I really feel people. So you will feel if somebody just, if you really connected, then calm down. You’ll feel if somebody just said because it sounds good or because they did it. So, so connect to people probably maybe it’s another tip that I have. Maybe I think in every level in everything that you do in the lot, in your life, you need to learn how to connect to feel the energy of the person in front of you. It’s really important thing. Yeah.

 

I think it’s an interesting skill that we’re almost losing, right? But it takes time to really connect with people and deeply look into their souls and really take the time to really deeply listen to their answers. But yeah, I think that’s beautiful. Tali, thank you so much. I absolutely loved meeting you at the Pitch Festival and it’s a delight to have you on the podcast. I think what you’re doing with Market for Good is…

 

is awesome and I’m, as you know, a big supporter and a big fan girl of what you’re doing. So thank you for your time today. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to share more. So I just want to share three things that I have taken away with me from this conversation with Tali today. One, I find Tali’s passion and drive and I suppose clear sense of wanting to do something in her life.

 

And I think her story about reflecting on your deathbed is you can see that in a way she chooses to live her life and even hold a conversation. I liked that she talks, she talked about that people need to be true to themselves. And finally that when it comes to hiring people, you need to really, I suppose, trust your intuition, but do some deep listening to make sure that you’re really connecting with people and making sure they’ve got the same values as you.

 

Chris Edwards (26:26.99)

because that’s the most critical thing that she finds when it comes to hiring. I find Tali really inspiring and just such a awesome person to have in our orbit. And yeah, I just love the story of Michael for Goods so much. Thank you for listening. I hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast as much as I have. Please hit us up in the D &S or share a snippet on social media if you found value.

 

And finally, I just want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that I’m recording this podcast on, which is the Iraqwile people of the Bundjalung Nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and future, and extend my respects to all traditional cultures. My name is Chris Edwards, and I hope that you feel as inspired as I am to create your own good visas.