One defining moment led me to add purpose to every purchase.

It started in a conference room packed with entrepreneurs in Radio City Music Hall, New York. Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS, walked on stage. He talked about his one-for-one model: Buy a pair of shoes, and a child in need gets a pair too. It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t complex — but something in me clicked. Eight of us from Shop LC were there. I turned to my team and said, “We’re doing this, but with food.” That was the spark, but the fire? That came later. 

A few weeks later, I sat with the president of Akshaya Patra. I’d been personally supporting the organization for years. They feed schoolchildren across India fresh, hot meals made daily in high-tech kitchens — but I’d never asked what they were missing. So I asked, and what he said hit me like a punch to the chest: “We have the kitchens, we have the trucks, but we don’t have enough money for food.” 

Then he added something that changed everything for me: “If a child doesn’t get a meal, their parents don’t send them to school. They send them to work — in kilns, quarries, factories. A meal is the difference between education and child labor.” That was it. I couldn’t unhear it, couldn’t unsee it. In that moment, Shop LC stopped being just a retail business. I walked away knowing every product we sell must feed a child. 

We launched Your Purchase Feeds the next quarter. Every item sold equals one meal for a child in need. We started in the United Kingdom, then expanded to the United States, then Germany. Today, we feed over 50,000 children every school day, supporting more than 300 schools. We’ve provided 53 million meals globally — and we’re not done yet. Our goal is 1 million meals a day by 2040. And that’s just Shop LC. Globally, the parent company VGL has crossed 100 million meals. 

Let me be clear: This isn’t a donation program. It’s not a checkbox on a corporate social responsibility report. It’s the heartbeat of our business, and it’s changed everything about how I lead. When you know that your success puts food on a child’s plate, that hitting your sales goals means that kid stays in school, you don’t cut corners. You don’t chase cheap wins. You lead with heart. You hold the team to a higher standard. You think about every missed shipment a little differently — because someone somewhere is counting on us. 

I didn’t build Shop LC to end hunger. I built it to sell beautiful things, but somewhere along the way, purpose walked in and refused to leave — and thank goodness it did because the company that feeds children, that’s the company I want to run. That’s the company I want to be remembered for — one meal, one child, one click at a time. 

“This isn’t a donation program. It’s not a checkbox on a corporate social responsibility report. It’s the heartbeat of our business, and it’s changed everything about how I lead.”

Written by: Sunil Agrawal, Founder & CEO of Shop LC

Guide to How I Lead With Purpose

Listen beyond financials. Numbers tell you what’s happening, but not always why. I walk the floor, speak to teams, and listen to what isn’t in the reports. That’s where you catch the signals early — morale shifts, process gaps, ideas waiting to be heard. For any CEO, some of the most valuable insights come from quiet conversations before dashboards.

Bake impact into your business model. At Shop LC, every item sold funds a meal through our Your Purchase Feeds program. It’s not a separate initiative; it’s built into how we work. The long-term goal is one million meals a day by 2040. For me, impact isn’t the add-on. It’s part of the purpose and the product. That makes it real for everyone involved.

Doing good is good for your business. When people believe in what you stand for, they stay longer and care more. Customers feel it. Employees feel it. At Shop LC, doing good has helped with retention, loyalty, and reputation. It’s not charity; it’s strategy with heart.

Hold yourself and your team to higher standards. I often say that high performance starts with high expectations. I set the tone by leading with clarity, consistency, and trust. When people know the bar is high and they’re supported to meet it, they rise to it. That’s how strong cultures are built.