Jeremy Meltzer AND His Purpose
Jeremy Meltzer lived in Havana, Cuba in his early 20s. During that time, he was exposed to the prevalent and normalised violence against women. To find out why this was happening, he began visiting NGOs and learnt about the complex work they do trying to shift the community’s long-standing, ingrained beliefs that enabled this behaviour.
By Elizabeth Formosa, Fashion Equipped
“Women suffer because of ideas of masculinity”
“The structures under which we are operating only exist because enough people believe in them”
He knew he still wanted to try to make an impact despite how complex the issue was. Being exposed to business via visiting NGOs and through his family growing up, he had some knowledge to do so. Jeremy asked himself the question:
“How can we unlock the power of business to create meaningful, sustainable & growing change?”
This led to the creation of the organisation i=Change, of which he is the founder and CEO.
i=Change: what do they do?
i=Change helps businesses be known ‘as a purposeful enterprise’ by helping them shift from the product and promotion model to product and purpose. This is needed, especially in recent years, because consumers are increasingly demanding for their purchases to create meaningful, sustainable social and environmental change.
“One thing we see continually now is that consumers want to shop brands that give back which is what we make simple”
Essentially, the model works by engaging customers with every purchase while brands give back for every sale they make. It lets consumers make an informed decision on where their money goes by shopping from brands committed to creating change. The simplicity and power of the model have allowed i=Change to raise over 6 million dollars!
People, Projects & Partners
On one side, i=Change partners with different NGOs and organisations. Some of these include The Man Cave in Australia, a maternal clinic in Mae Sot, and projects in East Africa that ensure women’s education. More recently, they are looking to set up a project with the UNHCR. This is because of the growing refugee crisis in Myanmar where Burmese ethnic minorities like the Karen people are being targeted by the army.
“We are really proud of our NGO partners and we support projects that are close to people’s hearts”
Jeremy discusses meeting Audette Exel – founder of the Adara Group – and how it was her who helped guide him towards different organisations at the start. Visiting NGOs is a big part of what i=Change does to choose which ones to support. They have a focus on ‘helping local people unlock local solutions’.
“We effectively see ourselves as bridging the worlds between the business sector & non-profit sectors”
On the flip side, i=Change is partnered with some of Australia’s largest brands like P.E Nation, Camila, Clarins and Pillow Talk with the goal to ‘change retail into a force for good’. They charge brands which allows 100% of the donations to be given and the brands themselves to get a tax reduction.
Overcoming Challenges
However, like with anything, there have been challenges along the way. One example Jeremy describes is that in the early days, many brands didn’t want to partner as they didn’t see the model as a fundamental part of their business. This is because of ‘the perceived cost of giving’ in which donations are seen as a cost as opposed to an investment for the brand. He had to keep persisting. Eventually, there were a couple of larger brands who decided to take the plunge.
Even with challenges, i=Change has managed to persevere and continue to grow. Jeremy credits this to the support system of people around him who are aiding the growth.
“Any journey worth going on might start as a solo mission but of course, it’s never achieved in a meaningful way without the support of people”
In this podcast, Jeremy Meltzer discusses i=Change in depth. He explains what they do, how they do it, and their purpose.
