Rich Dennis: Philanthropy as a Business Model

When it comes to the world of the rich and famous, or even talking about business, there is a lot to know. There are a lot of talks and a lot of people doing a lot of amazing things, but one person that isn't heard of or talked about enough is Rich Dennis. This successful lifelong entrepreneur is known for being both a business innovator and a relentless philanthropist. Dennis has woven a beautiful interconnected tapestry of highly successful business ventures woven together with streams of philanthropic activity that have gone hand in hand throughout his entire career.

How did Rich Dennis become an entrepreneur?

Rich Dennis' introduction to business really started up in college when he was attending Babson College, which is also actually an institution for business studies. Richelieu originally wanted to become a citrus farmer, but his interests took a detour. His mom used to make shea butter products, so he used to take these shea butter products and sell them to fellow colleagues. The idea of using shea butter in beauty products came from its history in Liberia. In Libera, shea butter is used in their culture to protect themselves from the sun. That's when they realized what a great business model it would be to start making and selling beauty products containing shea butter.

Rich Dennis didn't stop his money-making ventures in college, though. Once he graduated from college, his mother continued to make various shea butter products, including incense and soap, and he continued to sell these products on the streets. They also made shea butter and packaged it by the ounce or by the pound for the sale of the product itself.

The thing that made Richelieu stand out from the other guys that may have been selling products on that same street in Harlem was that Richelieu and his mom were even willing to deliver their products to some of their customers. This later branched out to requests for their products from county fairs and flea markets. Later on, this inspired him and his mom to also branch out into retail.

Becoming an entrepreneur wasn't an easy thing to pull off. In fact, it took Richelieu, his mom, and his friend Nyema Tubman 16 years to fully bring his business, Sundial Brands, over to retail. After serving as the CEO and chairman for Sundial. Richelieu decided to take on some other projects and also became the CEO of Essence Ventures LLC, which is a firm he founded in 2017. He also became the CEO of New Voices Fund and is the founder of SheaMoisture.

What inspired Richelieu Dennis to become an entrepreneur?

RIchelieu Dennis actually grew up with business all around him. He seemed to be born with the touch of natural business owners. It also helped that his father and his grandmother were professional business partners for many years, and Richelieu followed in their footsteps by carrying that same business relationship with his mother.

How does philanthropy fit in Richelieu's lifestyle?

Rich Dennis is very focused on making the world a better place, and you can even tell that by the way he came up with the initial idea for Sundial Brands. In order to be a successful business owner, you have to sell a product that people need. This means that your product has to solve a problem for the person buying it. You also have to know what kind of people to whom you are trying to sell your products. Leveraging a real issue that negatively impacts many people in one community, recognizing that, and answering the call of service with a real solution is of the greatest importance when it comes to becoming a successful business owner. Most of the time it doesn't work out if you're just in it for the money.

Rich Dennis leads a proactive lifestyle when it comes to doing things to help the community. He has created several philanthropic initiatives as CEO of Sundial Brands. Here is a look at a few of the most impactful creations from Rich Dennis:

• Sundial's Community Commerce

This project is an investment project which has led to improvements in the community by providing better infrastructure, access to affordable healthcare, higher incomes, more educational opportunities, better entrepreneurial opportunities, and safer work environments.

• New Voices Fund

This is a $100 million fund dedicated to empowering and investing in the black women entrepreneurs of the community to help them follow their dreams, learn different skills, develop leadership skills, and provide them with amazing networking opportunities.

• Social Mission Board

The Social Mission Board scales Sundial's Community Commerce economic empowerment and impact model throughout the global organization. The Social Mission Board also provides insights, strategies, and learnings across Unilever. 

In December 2019, Dennis stepped out of his official role as CEO of Sundial Brands to become chair of the newly-established Social Mission Board and continues leveraging his expertise to drive Sundial's purpose-led business approach.-Dennis also uses the time to offer his attention to new entrepreneurial and philanthropic adventures as well.

How does philanthropy benefit business?

When businesses or popular business owners do good things and create social initiatives for the community, that encourages the community to continue to support and associate with these businesses. Not only does it show the people that the business cares about them, but it also feels more relatable and like the products were made for them.

Businesses also get more public recognition, and can sometimes even get partnerships with other companies. Richelieu Dennis's Sundial was partnered with Unilever for both the New Voices Fund and the Social Mission Board, which not only means more support for the charitable projects but also more backing for the Sundial Brands for doing good things around the community.

It's important for businesses to adopt more philanthropic points of view. The whole thing that runs a business is that a business provides something a customer needs. The more supported a customer feels by the company or the products the company is producing, the more likely the customer is to identify with that brand, stay loyal to that brand, and talk about that brand. It's also important for the desire to help and identify with the community to be genuine.