Tuesday 19 November 2013

How my Expedition became a Green Sense Tour

It was Géraldine who introduced me to MakeSense. In July 2013 she organized a MakeSense hold-up in Ghent. My gut feeling told me to go there. Even though I couldn’t stay for longer than an hour, it made an impression on me.

My first hold-up in Ghent with Géraldine and Elien.
When I told Géraldine a couple of weeks later about my plan to travel, meet and help sustainable entrepreneurs, she mentioned MakeSense again. ‘Joris, you should become a MakeSense Gangster!’ A Gangster? Excuse me…

She explained that MakeSense is a growing community of young changemakers who are passionate about helping social entrepreneurs. Community? Check. Young? Check. Changemaker? Check. Helping social entrepreneurs? Green entrepreneurs qualify as social entrepreneurs. Check!

I found out soon enough what it meant to be a MakeSense Gangster. It is finding a gang of like-minded people all over the world. It is talking to other passionate people and feeling there is a click. It is finding other changemakers to join forces to create impact. I even found out about gangsters who are doing Sense Tours. While travelling they meet other Gangsters and make a difference for social entrepreneurs. Bruno Pison, for example is now on a Food Sense Tour for 400 days to meet sustainable actors in the field of nutrition.


I decided to turn my Expedition to Sustainable Entrepreneurship into a Sense Tour. A Green Sense Tour to be specific. I want to involve the MakeSense Gang closer in my project. I believe I can make a difference for MakeSense. I help MakeSense by convincing changemakers on my way to join the movement. I help MakeSense by starting up local MakeSense movements. I help MakeSense by doing Hold-ups (MakeSense workshops) to tackle challenges of green entrepreneurs. I believe MakeSense can make a difference for me. MakeSense gives me a ‘family’ everywhere I go. MakeSense gives me a framework to create impact. MakeSense gives me a sounding board and opens doors.

For my Green Sense Tour I greenified the MakeSense logo.

Monday 18 November 2013

Green Sense Tour - Our Challenges

I want to make a change for the world. I want to set up my own sustainable business. Therefore, I have decided to go on a Green Sense Tour. As a MakeSense Gangster I am helping sustainable entrepreneurs, meeting change makers, learning, sharing and exciting during my trip! MakeSense is community of 800 changemakers (November 2013) who are passionate about helping social entrepreneurs. Find out more about MakeSense on my blog.

Some facts about my Green Sense tour

  • I will be travelling for 300 days - this is from October 2013 until August 2014.
  • I will not fly. I will travel over land or over sea.  I prefer hitchhiking.
  • I will go to the Middle-East (Turkey and Israel), West Africa and Europe.



To create impact during this Green Sense Tour, I have given myself the following challenges:

  • I will find 150 challenges of sustainable entrepreneurs all over the globe. That is one per two days. By registering these challenges on the MakeSense Platform, others gangsters are challenged to help green entrepreneurs.
  • For 5 of these challenges, I will implement the solution myself during one month together with the green entrepreneur.
  • I will start 5 MakeSense hotspots. One hotspot for each time I work for a sustainable entrepreneur during one month. Such a hotspot is a local MakeSense community. By starting such hotspots, I will try to leave a sustainable impact in each city I visit.
  • I will convince at least 50 changemakers to become a MakeSense Gangster. 10 Gangsters for each hotspot. In this way, the hotspot will be able to thrive by itself.

To make this happen, I need your help!

  • Become a Challenge Scout! Help me find sustainable entrepreneurs. Help me to convince them to register their challenge on the MakeSense Platform. Send me an email or comment on this post!
  • Help me with starting a hotspot! Do you live there? Do you know any people there? Let me know! Send me an email or comment on this post! Right now I am starting a hotspot in Istanbul together with the fabulous Ayse Nur.
  • Become a part of the Green Sense Superheroes! I will consult these superheroes regularly for advice during my Green Sense Tour. Do you have experience as an entrepreneur? Are you an excellent coach? Or do you simply want to support me? Send me an email or comment on this post!