Benefit Corporation Blog Series – A Happy Life
Ojala Naeem • March 19, 2014
Next in our series of Social Enterprise Stories we feature Vishal Patel. Vishal is the Founder and CEO of A Happy Life, a Wallingford, Connecticut based coffee roasting company that promotes happiness at home and throughout the world by profits to help farmers in developing countries live sustainable, happy livelihoods, coming up with ways to help customers bring more happiness into their lives, or finding the most environmentally sound way to deliver our products.
Why are you operating in Connecticut?
Having been born and raised in Wallingford, CT I wanted to start my company close to home.
Why did you decide to start a Social Enterprise?
After visiting Tanzania and other parts of Africa I realized there was a need to connect our wealthy market with their starving one. I wanted to create an entity that was going to help bring balance to the economic inequity between our society and undeserved ones such as Tanzania. Additionally, I wanted to create a brand that was going to help individuals realize happiness in their own lives regardless of where they came from.
What is the community you’re trying to have an impact in?
The main community we are trying to have impact in is in coffee growing communities in underserved countries around the world. We hope to help impoverished farmers create innovative solutions to the problems they face with the ultimate goal of creating a holistic and permanent end to poverty.
How do you/will you achieve that impact?
Using our profits from selling roasted coffee packaged in compostable 12oz bags we will help develop innovative solutions to improve healthcare, education, and entrepreneurship systems within each growing community. Additionally using, social media, creative packaging, and local events we want to create social movement designed around creating happiness in people’s lives today.
How do you balance purpose and profit?
We’ve decided to use 100% of our profits from selling coffee to help farmers in underserved countries because it was important to me that my company dedicate 100% of its resources towards accomplishing its mission and not be hindered by having to diverge additional profits to people that do not need it as bad.
What have been your biggest challenges thus far?
Our biggest challenge has been creating brand awareness. In a saturated market such as coffee it is difficult to differentiate and we have been working hard to create a brand that stands out.
What is the most rewarding thing to you about operating a social enterprise?
The most rewarding aspect of running a social enterprise is the freedom to innovate and create solutions to problems I see in the world. Being able to dedicate 100% of my energy towards solving these problems is a freedom I could not have in any other traditional job. I hope that my company, A Happy Life, will create this sort of environment for others as well.
Why do you want to incorporate as a benefit corporation?
Incorporating as a benefit corporation will allow us to create a corporation that will be able to effectively create change, inform the public of the change we are creating and preserve our mission in the DNA of our business.
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Dear reSET Community, The Board of Directors today announces the departure of Sarah Bodley as Executive Director of reSET in a planned transition later this year. The Board has immense gratitude for Sarah and all her contributions over the years. Over the last seven years, Sarah has built an amazing foundation for the organization and she leaves reSET in a strong position for continued growth and service. Sarah joined reSET in 2018 and over the past seven years has solidified and expanded reSET’s mission of supporting impact-driven entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut. Here are a few key highlights from Sarah’s time here: Facilitated the acquisition of Collab New Haven, expanding reSET’s footprint to a statewide geography and further enhancing our mission Developed and implemented new core programs including the award-winning Food Incubator, as well as the Food Accelerator, Retail Incubator, Measure What Matters, and Digital Marketing Mastermind Established reSET as a founding partner of the Hartford Culinary Collaborative, enabling greater connectivity and cooperation among food-centric support organizations in our region Doubled the organization’s budget to over 1 Million Dollars, securing multi-year State government grants Won the prestigious Neighborhood Builders Award from Bank of America, and the Leadership Greater Hartford Polaris Community Award in 2022 Established an endowment fund thanks to support from the Zachs Family Foundation to support the long term sustainability of reSET’s mission Over the coming months, we will be continuing our search to find reSET's next Executive Director. Sarah will stay onboard through June to ensure a smooth handoff to our next leader, and will be available as a resource throughout 2026. It is the Board of Directors’ priority, along with Sarah's, to make this transition as smooth as possible to continue the great work Sarah has helped us do over her tenure. The Executive Director’s Job Posting can be found at this link, and we invite you to keep in mind any potential candidates in your community or network that you think might be a great fit. The Board of Directors wishes Sarah the best of luck in her future endeavors. We are appreciative of the dedication and enthusiasm she has given to reSET over the last seven years, particularly navigating our organization seamlessly during the historic times of the pandemic, changes in administration, and an ever-evolving landscape of opportunity for entrepreneurs. We are confident that with Sarah’s support, this transition will be a smooth one for our Connecticut entrepreneurs, partners, and generous supporters. We look forward to continuing our growth and to serving our mission of supporting the social enterprise sector. If you have any questions or concerns during this transition, please don’t hesitate to reach out via contacting admin@resetco.org to get in touch with the board. Sincerely, Ali Lazowski + Dave Menard, co-chairs, reSET Board of Directors
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Listen in to the replay of John Voket of Connoisseur Media's interview of reSET Food Program Manager Katrice Claudio and Program Manager Ndubisi Okeke that aired on Sunday July 6, 2025. They talked about the reSET programs that are enrolling for the fall--the Food Accelerator for food businesses looking to scale, and the Retail Incubator for early stage product-based businesses looking to ramp up for holiday markets in Connecticut. Listen here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8745230-reset-fall-program-preview The interview aired on the award-winning "For the People" show on Sunday, July 6 on WEBE 108 FM, STAR 99.9, WPLR FM and THe VOICE of Connecticut and on the podcast.
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