I was fortunate enough to attend the Virgin Unite fund-raising event hosted by Sir Richard Branson and his mother Eve.  It was an amazing event with a large number of people who truly cared about making a difference and supporting the Virgin Unite efforts.

It was an amazing gala and while everybody lined up to meet Sir Richard, I looked over to my right and saw this beautiful older lady sitting at a table all by herself. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to provide a random act of kindness, talk to somebody who was sitting by themselves. When I went up and introduced myself, I found out that it was Eve Branson, Sir Richard Branson’s mother.

The most interesting part of this was for the next hour, I had Eve Branson all to myself. It allowed me the opportunity to learn so much about how Richard grew up, the things he was truly passionate about, and more importantly, some great insight into potentially the greatest entrepreneur in the world… all from the perspective of his mother.

Eve was so wonderful in sharing “Little Richie stories” with me during our time together. It taught me an amazing lesson that people are more than willing to share their life experiences if you simply ask.

When I asked Eve about Virgin unite, she shared her passion for supporting such a worthy cause and the desire for the charity to make an absolute difference in the world. Again, it provided great insight into why the charity was formed, why it was so important that it succeeded, and the heart behind the many businesses Sir Richard has founded and fostered.

I learned that purposeful entrepreneurialism in many cases is an opportunity to fund far greater philanthropic opportunity. To a certain extent, it was my first look into social entrepreneurialism, which is entrepreneurial ventures addressing world issues. In other words, it is a for-profit action that is working to solve a global issue that is typically solved by nonprofit activity.

It is actually one of the reasons Talking with Giants exists. That is to provide solutions in an effective and efficient manner through entrepreneurial activities that will make a difference with some of the world’s greatest issues. We would be honored to have you join the TWG community in making that difference!

Thank you Eve Branson for being so gracious to sit with me, to share your heart, and to teach me so many valuable lessons in such a short period of time!