Stories

Building an Equally Ambitious and Intentional Business

Two founders of major companies share how their shared passion for the food crisis drives both of them to create companies that demand change. 

February 17, 2023

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DEI Leadership Day Sara Menker 

Thelma Ferguson:

Let me ask the two of you: what could we, either individually or collectively as a society, do to ensure that we have the abundance of healthy, nutritious food for both our children and for our populations?

Sara Menker:

There’s this very famous quote that says, “Eating is an agricultural act.” Our interaction with our food systems and agricultural starts from the minute you wake up on your cotton sheets to the food that you eat, the fuel that’s in your car potentially because that’s ethanol or biofuels or biodiesel, whatever. It is so embedded in our lives and yet we completely live ignorant of it. As a company, one of the big strategic decisions I made, which was a very costly decision in the beginning but has paid off largely, really for us now, is we decided to be neutral. And that meant that we refused to take any capital from any investor that came from the agricultural industry.

Thelma Ferguson:

Which truly falls in line with some of the conversation you and I were having, Shazi, around education.

Shazi Visram:

So we just had this infant formula crisis, which should have never happened. And in our country here in the U.S., most foods’ secure. I don’t know if we all know this, but half of the babies born in our country are born into the WIC program. So that means that they rely on the government for nutrition, for maternal and infant health.

Thelma Ferguson:

These challenges are so monumental in so many ways. What keeps you up? What is it that gives you the most angst?

Shazi Visram:

There is a developmental health epidemic. Autism is gonna affect 1 in 44 babies born today, 1 in 6 children will get a developmental health diagnosis, ADHD is 1 in 10, asthma eczema, you name it. It’s what keeps me up.

Sara Menker:

For me, it’s just…the world we live in today and you think about the price of food and how much the price of food has gone up around the world. So, we have some structural disruptions that’ve happened back to back to back for the last 2 and a half years on the supply side. And on the demand side, we’ve had structural changes where population continues to grow in different parts of the world. And so demand actually has, regardless of these price changes, demand hasn’t receded. And so to me, my biggest worry is…we are just on the verge of some… economic shocks that are gonna get worse and worse. So I think the thing that keeps me up is how are we gonna rally the people that need to be rallied as fast as they need to be rallied to put some dent into this because the pain is real. Something that either weighs you down or it’s something that motivates you and I use it as…for every no I get as fuel to keep me going. So…and it’s worked thus far. It’s hard, but it works.

Thelma Ferguson:

What are you most proud of?

Sara Menker:

I think I’m most proud of the fact that we built a pretty significant business now that is respected as a brand in the industry that we serve without ever having to compromise our moral compass. And so it’s never been a tradeoff for me about wanting to be very ambitious about the scale of the business I wanted to build, but also the scale of-- the ambition of the impact that we wanna make.

END

 

Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence — a company that connects ecology and economy to create a more secure future and Shazi Visram, founder of Happy Family — a company that introduced fresh, healthy, organic nutrition to a limited market, are passionate about their work.

Both entrepreneurs have dedicated their lives to different problems within the agriculture space. “Our interaction with our food systems and agriculture starts from the minute you wake up on your cotton sheets to the food that you eat, the fuel that's in your car,” says Menker. “It is so embedded in our lives, and yet, we live ignorant of it.” Menker saw a unique opportunity to take analytics and shine a light on the relationship between earth's ecology and our human economy.

But perhaps one of the most notable things about Menker’s success is the fact that she’s been able to build such success without sacrificing her mission. “We’ve built a significant business that is respected, without ever having to compromise our moral compass. It’s never been a tradeoff for me about wanting to be very ambitious about the scale of the business I wanted to build and the ambition of the impact that we want to make, says Menker.

After realizing that the access to healthy, nutritious food for mothers and babies is far from equitable, Visram introduced her company with a mission to provide healthy food to babies, and make parents feel good about themselves. “There should just never be a time in our life that a baby doesn't get food when they need it,” says Visram.

At JPMorgan Chase’s Leadership Day, these two successful female entrepreneurs offered a bit of advice to anyone looking to lead a purposeful career: “Dream big, fight hard, take risks, make jokes. Try to enjoy your life while you're doing all that,” says Visram. And Menker: “The greatest superpower I have is people always underestimate us and underestimate me. And there's something that either weighs you down, or it's something that motivates you. I use it as fuel.”

Interested in the diversity, equity, and inclusion work being done at JPMorgan Chase? Learn more about our DEI initiatives here and check out our career opportunities here.

 

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The views and opinions expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of (or endorsement by) JPMorgan & Chase. JPMorgan Chase and its affiliates assume no responsibility or liability for the content, or any errors or omissions. The information shared by the speaker is provided on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness.  

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