The Organic Growth Strategy

With our ambition to become a participating part in the globalized world we sometimes forget that there are people around us who struggle with different problems. One major problem we faced on our 21^th July excursion was nutrition.

A short induction before we get started

The dress code “casual” indicated that this excursion would be different than the others, and this turned out to be true. First we met Adam Zmick, CEO and Co-Founder of Gardeneers. Adam told us about his work as teacher in the ‘Teach for America’ program. This inspired him and his Co-Founders to start a gardener program based in Chicago. “You are what you eat” is and ironic quote in a district where fast food and liquor shops are the dominating streetscape. Adam and his staff don’t want to fight this; they’re facing the root of the problem. Therefore they started a gardening program in schools, teaching kids how to plant so how proper nutrition looks like, because “habits from the age from 18 to 88 aren’t changing much.” (Adam, analogously) 

Some real teamwork

Our task was to help Adam planting some beans and strawberries after digging the patch and this turned out to be fun. The class really worked together as a team and this was a great experience. As Adam said “Teamwork is the most important skill, everything else can be taught” (analogously) Of course I knew about the importance of teamwork, but that really astonished me. This was one of the main aspects I learned on this excursion. Another even more important aspect which impressed me was the way Adam spoke about the growth of his business: “Even small steps are important” it’s all about moving forward, no matter how big the steps are. It’s about building something with your own resources, to collect funds on your own; so basically, how business students define organic growth related to companies, what an ambiguous learning this by literally planting vegetables and fruits. 

This is exactly the struggle we face in our teams as entrepreneurs, somehow the Gardeneers, giving us faith to believe in our vision to create a sustainable business strategy. Step by step, organic.