MISSION DIRECTED ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Identify and partner with entrepreneurs and mission-based organizations to create social ventures and impact ecosystems

Key Strategic Group, LLC has formed Key Impact Network, a practice to support mission-driven organizations and social entrepreneurs that want to build inclusive, sustainable and equity generating social enterprises in low-income neighborhoods. This initiative is designed to develop, launch, manage, grow and spin-out multiple social impact enterprises that are working to combat persistent economic inequality and improve underlying determinants of health.
 
Key Impact Network offers a shared infrastructure for social impact and community-embedded social ventures prioritizing employment, wealth-building and equity for residents. By offering a menu of key business functions (market analysis, strategic planning, management, investment/finance, etc.) Key Impact Network serves as a catalyst for scaling social ventures, regardless of the specific organizational or business legal structure. Each social enterprise in Key Impact Network will share common objectives to maximize community revenue sharing, recruitment, training and employment of community residents, and equity ownership components.

INDUSTRY SECTORS CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Technology

​QWanalytix, LLC is KIN’s first social enterprise created in partnership with an academic technology transfer office, to commercialize an intellectual property, using a community-based social venture model. KIN is partnering with Saint Louis University and the Small Business Empowerment Center to commercialize an advanced micro-predictability weather forecasting technology for use in the electric energy transmission, agriculture, security and transportation industry sectors. QWanalytix is structured as a mission-first social enterprise with financial and social return on investment objectives to build a sustainable business model while maximizing community revenue sharing, recruitment, training and employment of community residents, as well as, equity ownership components.

Food/Wellness/Health

Propel Kitchens
Propel Kitchens is a not-for-profit collaborative of mission based community kitchens in St. Louis, using food service training, wellness and nutrition programming, to help people with barriers, gain the knowledge and skills that lead to healthy and productive lives. Propel Kitchens has contracted with Key Impact Network to develop, launch and manage Propel Kitchens and its new commercial kitchen hub in Pagedale, MO, as well as, launch two affiliated social enterprises.
 
Social Enterprise Subsidiary’s

• WiseChoice Meals ™️
  KIN is partnering with Propel Kitchens to launch a social enterprise to produce healthy meal packs for various express, take out and pick up outlets, vending stations, mini markets, institutional food service providers and corner markets. The meal packs are designed to be distributed through various community mission-based outlets, and qualified for SNAP and available to food insecure populations in retail locations. WISEChoice Meals will be piloted in the STL market and will explore national expansion by subcontracting production within Catalyst Kitchens member network.
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• Plant-based Artisan Network
  ​A social enterprise cooperative developed by Propel Kitchens and Key Impact Network that would be a shared space small batch processing and co-packing peer-to-peer accelerator for minority-owned plant-based food product entrepreneurs.