Welcome to another WIN podcast featuring an EY Entrepreneur of the Year nominee!
Ali Dirul is the founder and CEO of Ryter Cooperative Industries. They are an L3C corporation - and if you don't know what that is, you're not alone! Not all state recognize low profit limited liability corporations. Tune in to learn more about this unique business status!
One of Ali's most recent achievements is the development of the first climate resilient community hub in Michigan. Ryter Cooperative Industries is creating resilient community spaces with solar power, helping residents in emergencies find shelter that is climate controlled and connected, using spaces they're already familiar with.
Ryter Cooperative was awarded the Michigan Business of the Year award on behalf Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2022.
Join us and learn how Ali is helping to build his business and his community.
Hosted by Carrie Richardson, partner at Richardson & Richardson Consulting.
Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?
Carrie helps businesses improve their sales and marketing teams.
Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.
Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com
Book time with them here: https://randr.consulting/connect
Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.
Welcome to another WIN podcast featuring an EY Entrepreneur of the Year nominee!
Ali Dirul is the founder and CEO of Ryter Cooperative Industries. They are an L3C corporation - and if you don't know what that is, you're not alone! Not all state recognize low profit limited liability corporations. Tune in to learn more about this unique business status!
One of Ali's most recent achievements is the development of the first climate resilient community hub in Michigan. Ryter Cooperative Industries is creating resilient community spaces with solar power, helping residents in emergencies find shelter that is climate controlled and connected, using spaces they're already familiar with.
Ryter Cooperative was awarded the Michigan Business of the Year award on behalf Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2022.
Join us and learn how Ali is helping to build his business and his community.
Hosted by Carrie Richardson, partner at Richardson & Richardson Consulting.
Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?
Carrie helps businesses improve their sales and marketing teams.
Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.
Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com
Book time with them here: https://randr.consulting/connect
Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.
[00:00:00] Carrie Richardson: Good afternoon everybody. My name is Carrie Richardson. I am your host of WIN Today. I am one half of the consulting partnership Richardson and Richardson. And with me today is Ali Dirul, the c e o of Ryter Cooperative Industries.
[00:00:15] Carrie Richardson: How are you doing
[00:00:16] Ali Dirul: today, Ali? I'm doing phenomenal. I'm doing phenomenal. How you doing today?
[00:00:20] Carrie Richardson: Ah, I'm doing the same as I am every day. Doing great. I actually know Ali pretty well. We went through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small businesses program together in Detroit. We were cohort 25, arguably the best Detroit cohort ever.
[00:00:37] Ali Dirul: Yeah. The best I'm.
[00:00:40] Carrie Richardson: And I'm super proud to announce that Ali was nominated as one of the EY entrepreneurs of the year this year. So it fits into my EY series and obviously he took my phone call. So thank you very much for joining us and let's talk a little bit about your [00:01:00] nomination.
[00:01:00] Carrie Richardson: Tell me about the process and tomorrow is the announcement. Yes. How are you doing?
[00:01:09] Ali Dirul: Yes, I am. I'm excited. I think They're, setting up a dinner for the finalists. They did videos for each of the finals actually. So there's like a little hero video of some background of us and like a one production, I'm really excited.
[00:01:28] Ali Dirul: I, I've not seen it, but I, submitted all of my B roll so that they can take a look and, put something together. Somebody from our community nominated us. We had. Something came through one of our newsletters through a group that we're part of called boss, which is Black Owners of Solar Services.
[00:01:51] Ali Dirul: And one of the EY nominations came up and somebody in our circle nominated us. And essentially what they're [00:02:00] looking for is people that are doing Innovative work in their areas of endeavor. And there's many people that I've had to connect with that I've had the opportunity to connect with in my in, in the finalist circle from people working on prostate cancer to people in clean energy.
[00:02:28] Ali Dirul: Dennis Archer Jr. Who is the son of Dennis Archer, who's the former mayor of Detroit, was nominated as well, the president of First Independence Bank, which is the first black owned bank. He was nominated. So standing next to all these really dope individuals, high level individuals I was like, man, this is really, is an honor.
[00:02:50] Ali Dirul: And I hadn't really heard of it before . I actually really got nominated and seeing what really it is and, really going into the space, there's a [00:03:00] lot of production value and a lot of care that they put into the, spaces. It was phenomenal.
[00:03:09] Carrie Richardson: Sounds like it's gonna be a really exciting evening.
[00:03:12] Ali Dirul: Yeah, so tomorrow is when we find out who's, won the regionals. So tomorrow's the dinner. They've taken videos of us, so everybody's had the opportunity to take a promo video and talk a little bit about themselves, their business, what they're committed to do, some hero poses, all that stuff
[00:03:33] Ali Dirul: But really share what their business is about and why. This work is important to them. The application was a process, right? They wanted to have your whole story like your backstory why you got into this space how do you demonstrate entrepreneurial spirit?
[00:03:55] Ali Dirul: How do you deal with adversity? And really understanding the narrative [00:04:00] of you as business owner, but additionally having support to your, team. So they want to know your financials and what your financial standing is, and actually have a story of the narrative. How your business became where it is today.
[00:04:16] Ali Dirul: But getting through that wasn't too bad. But we made the finalists and then they called us back and they said, Hey, we want you to do your videos and talk with this panel of judges. And the panel of judges was like it was like sitting at. The table, like the 12 disciples almost.
[00:04:39] Ali Dirul: It was like you're just, you're like, you're sitting there and then there's just, it's almost like they're grilling you, but it's not, it's more of a conversation. It's, it wasn't adversarial or anything like that at all. It was very natural. It was a flowing conversation.
[00:04:53] Ali Dirul: And one of the people that one of the judges on the panel somebody that [00:05:00] had known actually from the community, cuz she had the, been an EY entrepreneur some years back. And just Just the whole space was just awesome to be there. I really enjoyed it. Really enjoyed it.
[00:05:18] Carrie Richardson: It sounds like you've got some really interesting projects going on right now.
[00:05:24] Carrie Richardson: Ryter Cooperative Industries works in the renewable energy space. I'll invite you to share a little bit more about your business at the end of the podcast so that we can enter some info into the show notes. But you had mentioned one of the things that you were most proud of when we were chatting before we started recording was starting the first solar resiliency hub in the state of Michigan.
[00:05:45] Carrie Richardson: So tell us a little bit about that. I'm sure not everyone knows what that means.
[00:05:51] Ali Dirul: Yes. Ryter Cooperative Industries is leading the design, development and deployment of the Linux Center hub, [00:06:00] which is in Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood. It's a community center, like a recreation center that's built with grid power, solar power, battery power, and also will be outfitted with natural gas power.
[00:06:14] Ali Dirul: And the idea behind it is that we wanna create a space that can provide solace for community members in cases of blackouts, brownouts, heat waves, cold fronts. And they can come to this space and get medical services or food services and it's a space that they already come to so they don't have to go to somewhere new or somewhere that they're unfamiliar with in the case of emergency to reduce any risks of any risks that are just associated with going to an unknown place to get emergency services, right?
[00:06:47] Ali Dirul: Like they're already familiar with it. They know how long it takes to get there. They know where the entrances is, they know that it has a ramp, right? So there's a lot that's mitigated in terms of risk by having it be a space that people already come [00:07:00] to. And so when it's
[00:07:01] Carrie Richardson: hard having an emergency like having to go to a whole new space and not know what to expect, there is just adding on to the stress.
[00:07:09] Ali Dirul: Absolutely and that's the, and that's one of the points. The other piece right, is that we're using this as an opportunity to do some level of workforce development. So we're also training people in to be able to. Install solar, understand micro grids and how they work and how these systems play together and how it benefits the building and, the customers or the community members that are gonna be using it so that these can be replicated more across the city.
[00:07:40] Ali Dirul: So this is Michigan's first climate resiliency hub. The plan is to deploy more over the course of the next five years. But it's really exciting cuz that's how we've largely got started as. Pioneering pieces innovations that really have a deep community benefit.
[00:07:59] Carrie Richardson: My [00:08:00] understanding, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, was that one of the projects that Ryder had worked on previously was solar charging spaces in lower income neighborhoods in Detroit where people may be without power, people could go charge their devices, make sure their phones were still working.
[00:08:16] Carrie Richardson: And I remember thinking that was a really cool project. Yes.
[00:08:20] Ali Dirul: The piece that, the other piece of that was that we additionally added wifi internet capabilities. To that as well with, partners of ours in the community. Detroit Technique Technology Community Collaborative was one of our partners that worked on that.
[00:08:36] Ali Dirul: And you'd be surprised at how much there's still a digital divide. In terms of neighborhoods that have access to wifi and, affordable internet. And so we've been working with partners across the space to be able to deploy these types of solutions. And that, that was one of 'em that got a lot of support.
[00:08:56] Ali Dirul: That one got recognition from the state of Michigan. So [00:09:00] we also won Business of the Year last year from governor Gretchen Whitmer. In terms of our service for projects and support from Michiganders and clean energy support.
[00:09:13] Carrie Richardson: So I remember seeing your certificate, got her signature on it and everything.
[00:09:19] Carrie Richardson: Yeah. Yeah, I understand. You just got back from New York. Tell me a little bit about what you were up to there.
[00:09:27] Ali Dirul: Yeah, so we just got back from New York. Besides the smog, the smog was really, it was like really dense there. We went there for a finance form for a group called acor, which is the American Council on Renewable Energy.
[00:09:45] Ali Dirul: So it's one of the largest councils on renewable energy. And we're, connected at various levels, so we're connected at the city level with the renewable energy subcommittee and then also the state level with the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council. But [00:10:00] Acor is a collection of the country's largest clean energy providers, developers, and this one specifically was the financiers.
[00:10:11] Ali Dirul: They have, they had all the financiers from the industry there talking with other, the other businesses. On how these, how projects can be funded, how to get access to capital, how to appropriately leverage tax equity so that you can take that out and be able to use that for various project financing mechanisms.
[00:10:33] Ali Dirul: And it was just great just seeing all the people there. When we first got there. US Bank was one of the first people that helped. They, gave us a reception, had a very nice dinner and, talking with them, and just had an opportunity to connect and it was a really good time seeing what they're about.
[00:10:55] Ali Dirul: They have a, group called Impact Finance and that group is a wholly owned [00:11:00] subsidiary of US Bank, but it's specifically around being able to fund underserved. Or minority based businesses and make sure that their projects can Get financing. And it was great to see them and what they're about and it, was a good experience
[00:11:22] Carrie Richardson: one thing I remember from talking at Wayne State when we were there was that you have a special type. Of LLC and it was something that I had never heard about before. Would you mind sharing a little bit about that with listeners today that may not know anything about it?
[00:11:41] Ali Dirul: Yeah, so Ryter Cooperative Industries is what's called an L three C or a low profit limited liability company.
[00:11:50] Ali Dirul: Essentially we are a social impact enterprise that prioritizes our social mission over our profits. So we do still do seek to gain [00:12:00] profits, but we prioritize accelerating the adoption of clean energy and underserved communities and providing solutions or connecting communities to solutions that can positive.
[00:12:11] Ali Dirul: Comp positively benefit their bottom line their missions and the organizations that they're supporting. So it allows a little bit of flexibility. You're, able to get some PRIs or program related investments from nonprofits to be able to support particular programs. if, the state doesn't recognize it as the L three C, it defaults to an L C status. But in Michigan it, denotes that, yeah, you are a business you're about the people and, creating some kind of social good at the end of the day.
[00:12:47] Carrie Richardson: So forward thinking five years from now you got your EY entrepreneur, the year plaque hanging on the wall, and obviously we've attended many more [00:13:00] cohorts of things.
[00:13:02] Carrie Richardson: Both of us seem to collect them. Yeah. What's on the map for Ryter Cooperative? Where do you see yourself in five years? What's the, biggest opportunity that you see in front of you right now?
[00:13:16] Ali Dirul: Ooh. So definitely developing projects locally in Highland Park.
[00:13:23] Ali Dirul: We've started expanding that out to Detroit and now the state of Michigan. We're on track to expand out to the Midwest, so states like Illinois, Ohio, supporting them with clean energy development. Illinois has a lot of incentives for going solar, but to eventually expand out nationally and have other hubs so that we can support projects at a greater level. And then also at some point going across the Atlantic and developing more projects over in Africa. We've had the opportunity to do some education in [00:14:00] Ghana, which was very rewarding. And Continuing to do I like educating, so I, am still an educator, so I, actually, even though I'm the ceo, I still enjoy teaching classes.
[00:14:13] Ali Dirul: I've been teaching classes on clean energy and really getting this out towards folks. So I want to train up like thousands of people, like over these next couple of years. So we really get people out and get them engaged with this technology because that's where it is, where the future is going, and I, want us to have a part of it.
[00:14:34] Carrie Richardson: I think that's a perfect way to end the podcast today, so good luck tomorrow. I will have my fingers crossed for you, and I will obviously be watching the internet to the day after to find out who the regional finalist
[00:14:52] Ali Dirul: was. Yeah I'm excited. Yeah, it's, it is definitely an honor to even be listed as a [00:15:00] finalist.
[00:15:00] Carrie Richardson: That's what everyone says.
[00:15:02] Ali Dirul: It really is
[00:15:04] Carrie Richardson: but you, do want to win though,
[00:15:05] Ali Dirul: right? Yeah, I would love to win. Yes. Yes. That's the
[00:15:09] Carrie Richardson: name of the podcast, Ali,
[00:15:10] Ali Dirul: that was your quote. Came here
[00:15:14] Carrie Richardson: to win. I didn't come here to make friends.
[00:15:17] Ali Dirul: Yes
[00:15:20] Carrie Richardson: Yes.
[00:15:20] Carrie Richardson: Oh, it's so nice catching up with you. I I'm gonna have to go and recruit a few more cohort members to join us online.
[00:15:29] Carrie Richardson: I wanna hear their stories. It's been, what, six, seven months since the cohort ended And we've actually been pretty good at keeping, up. I've been meeting Goldman Sachs cohort graduates. All over the country since finishing the program, it's almost like a little cult.
[00:15:49] Carrie Richardson: If you're going to a city where there's some Goldman Sachs programming, you will find them and people will be like, oh, I saw on your LinkedIn profile that you graduated from Goldman Sachs. Me too. And then [00:16:00] everyone talks about who they liked best and what everybody likes mori best.
[00:16:05] Ali Dirul: Yeah, I'm gonna get
[00:16:06] Carrie Richardson: her on the podcast.
[00:16:08] Ali Dirul: You got to. You have to. Thank you so much for having
[00:16:12] Carrie Richardson: me. That was a pleasure. And I will look forward to chatting with you again soon. Until next time, everybody keep winning.
[00:16:19]