Toronto-based Lucky Iron Fish is one example of a small but growing number of startups that are devoting their entire operations to addressing societal problems.
The young startup has created a $5 iron-molded fish-shaped ingots that when used in cooking soups or cooked rice, “substantially reduces instances of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia.”
Iron Deficiency’s Impact
The World Bank estimates $70B (USD) in GDP is lost every year due to iron-deficiency related productivity loss, and 3.5 billion people are affected at some stage in their lives in both developed and developing countries. Over 50% of Cambodians are affected by iron deficiency anemia.
Lucky Iron Fish’s products are recycled from used materials like discarded brake hubs in Cambodia, a poor war-torn country in IndoChina that is still reeling from its brutal history. In Cambodia, a $5 Lucky Iron Fish provides the daily iron needs for a whole family for 5 years, and helps provide jobs to nearly 50 disabled Cambodians for the startup, many of whom are disfigured landmine victims from low-income communities.
As a proxy way of measuring impact, Lucky Iron Fish has been certified as a B-Corp which in effect signals to other firms that it has been independently reviewed by an outside party in terms of its community, HR, environmental impact and practices. The next challenge might be how this type of proxy measure will scale as more startups deliver purpose-driven products, and firms like Lucky Iron Fish continue to grow.
Sources: MaRS, ChangeMakers, Lucky Iron Fish
