Chuck Slaughter began his career in the documentary film business. But it wasn’t until 1987 that he found his life’s passion while reading an article in the New York Times. The article was about Trickle Up, an early pioneer of the microfinance movement. Deeply inspired, Chuck quit his work in the film business and volunteered at Trickle Up. Chuck’s time with Trickle Up opened his eyes to the world-changing power of both micro-entrepreneurs in the developing world and social entrepreneurs like Trickle Up’s founders.

After Trickle Up, Chuck went to Yale to earn his Masters in Public and Private Management. At Yale, he developed a plan for a catalog business selling handicrafts made by Trickle Up entrepreneurs. Despite his best intentions, Chuck realized his model couldn’t reach the scale needed to be sustainable. He then applied his newfound knowledge of direct marking to create TravelSmith, a mail-order travel-gear company. Growing by 150% a year for six straight years, TravelSmith’s sales topped $100 million by 2000. With a desire to return to the social sector, Chuck sold TravelSmith in 2004.

In 2006, as Pro-bono President, Chuck led the successful turnaround of HealthStore/CFW Shops, a system of micro-franchised clinics serving the poor in Kenya. While working in Kenya, Chuck witnessed the inefficiencies of the fixed storefront model. Clinic owners were idle for much of the day, waiting for sick people to walk in. Chuck began to wonder if he could invert the model by bringing care directly into the community. He asked himself if the power of Avon’s model of franchised door-to-door sales agents could be brought to bear on the fight against poverty and disease. Chuck researched Avon’s history and business model. He ordered a starter kit and even spent time as an “Avon lady.” Despite subpar lipstick sales, Chuck’s Avon experience proved invaluable. He learned that Avon started in rural America in 1876 when villages had poor access to quality goods and women had few opportunities to earn an income while balancing the responsibilities of family and farm. He also learned that Avon grew to become a $10 billion business with a model that thrives in over 100 countries. Chuck was astounded by the powerful potential of harnessing Avon’s model of direct-selling to market products people desperately need. Thus, Living Goods was born.

Chuck launched Living Goods in Uganda in 2007. He embedded the same quick-footed nimbleness he perfected at TravelSmith into Living Goods’ DNA. He believes developing successful new enterprises results from lots of learning from lots of failures. The key is to fail fast and fail cheap. “Do, learn, fix” is Living Goods’ guiding philosophy. And like TravelSmith, Living Goods is off to a fast start.