Social Enterprises, a conversation with Millie’s Founder Jenna Ahn

The concept of social enterprises was formulated by an economics professor named Muhammed Yunus, who was later awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace prize for his business structure. A social enterprise differs from for profit and nonprofits in the fact that it takes aspects of both structures to create a new formation that prioritizes social impact. A social enterprise works to solve a social problem, utilizing all the financial and economic efficiency that business has to offer.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of speaking with Jenna Ahn, one of the founders of Millie which is a social enterprise the works to prioritize career and college planning for high school students. Ahn has been working in the education field since she herself was in undergrad at Cornell where she started her first business of tutoring and offering college coaching to students. Her venture would go on to fund her higher education. Ahn’s current organization, Millie works with 12,000 schools around the world to bring academics, university prep, and career prep to students. Ahn went on to explain how Millie complements schools by filling the gaps of career education and university prep. Millie’s goal is to prepare students fully for post high school decision making. By hosting webinars and educational talks, on entrance exams, essay writing, understanding college majors, and seriously asking questions to their students of what they want to be “when they grow up”, Millie is complementing school’s current curriculum to ensure that students are ready to make difficult life decisions with intention and awareness. Ahn wants the students who go through Millie workshops to

“aim for the moon and land amongst the stars”.

Another way Millie is increasing accessibility of college and career planning is by offering its services as pro-bono to one in ten students. I asked Ahn what motivated her to start her own social enterprise and her response was aligned with the goals of many people from our generation. Having previously worked in the corporate world, Ahn had become tired of doing work that was not aligned with purpose. When speaking about Millie, Ahn stated that she has “never worked this much but I’ve never had such a rewarding career”. Ahn wanted to make it clear that what she is doing does good for society while also supporting her organization and creating a competitive income for her and her employees.

“One thing I want to debunk is that social enterprises aren’t charities”, Ahn shared.

Her organization attracts top talent that expect to be earning a competitive salary. It is most definitely a win for Millie’s employees and for the schools and students they are working with.

Ahn grew up in Korea where she was raised in a home that did not speak English. At an early age she decided that she wanted to go to school in the United States and she took it upon herself to get there. By funding her way through college Ahn was able to make her dream a reality. Her passion towards education and career readiness comes from a place of experience and wanting to help others achieve what she did.

Jenna Ahn is an inspiring individual who is striving to make a big impact in the education space and the lives of students around the world. I look forward to seeing where she takes her social enterprise.

Learn more about Jenna Ahn and Millie on her company’s website, make sure to check out their blog! https://www.milliegroup.com

Jenna Ahn Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennaahn/