Mr. Manekin is a social entrepreneur and community organizer from the Baltimore area. I first met him at a professional development training camp where he gave a speech about social entrepreneurship and how we can become the change within the communities that we want to see. Thibault is the cofounder of PeacePlayers and Seawall. PeacePlayers is an international non-profit that helps bridge divides and empower youth through sports and education. Seawall is a real estate development company that operates as a social business. Collaborating with the community, Seawall has successfully renovated and developed quintessential parts of the Baltimore area, giving them new life and a new look. They have successfully built three apartment buildings offering discounts to local teachers, renovated Baltimore’s famous Lexington Market, as well as many other examples, all while shaping their plans based on the community’s needs and input.
I encourage you to think about Thibault’s idea of social entrepreneurship and how his philosophy penetrates not just into his business model but how he views the idea of work as a whole.
Together, we discussed how state and local governments, along with the private sector, can cooperate to help communities develop, how your values can impact your business practices, and how real estate and land can impact society.
To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: https://www.hgsss.org/
