Since I transformed my business activities into a social enterprise I've been asked by many for-profit entrepreneurs how they can help and support me in my journey. In short, I'm on a mission to contribute to creating a world where all Fortune 500 companies are social impact businesses, meaning besides making a profit, they also uplift humanity and the planet. They are actively seeking ways to create a better world through their for-profit business.
I strongly believe businesses should be a force of and for good to all stakeholders, not just the shareholders. This morning I sat down for coffee with a top the art furniture designer from Australia who creates beautiful workspaces for some of the top companies in the world. He told me they are already working hard on creating a fully transparent sustainable chain of records proving that all the furniture they design is 100% sustainable and ethical but he wanted to do more.
I shared ideas around using blockchain for that specific purpose, but if he wanted to go beyond that to contribute to a better world through his business, he should consider social entrepreneurship. But where or how do I start he asked me?
These are the few pointers I gave him, that I would also like to share here, because they may spark something in you as well:
- Every social impact business owner (or social entrepreneur) I've met thus far, myself included, start on this journey because they deeply care about an issue in the world. Put differently: something pisses them off. This can be anything: poverty, the environment, gender inequality or bad treatment of animals, really anything. Something that you care deeply about and you would like to contribute to serving that community and help them in some way.
- Find the community you would like to support or empower and ask what they need. Too often we think we know what someone needs, but we could be wrong. Know that helping is not the same as empowering! This is a great Ted talk by Ernesto Sirolli on this topic if you're interested.
- With the information, you gathered from the community to want to empower go brainstorm with people how your business could help. There are so many ways you can contribute, but most ideas fall into one of these four categories:
- Selling: directly to the people you want to impact at full price or a discounted price, such as Community Shop, a supermarket that sells surplus food to poor families.
- Sharing: giving a % of profit or revenue to the people you want to impact (or giving an actual product). LSTN headphones are for example donating a % of their sales to buying hearing aids for people in need.
- Sourcing: from the people you want to impact. You buy materials and use them in your production process. Ethnotek Bags is a great example of this.
- Staffing: employing the people you want to impact. A great example is The Giving Keys who employ people who transition from homelessness to assemble their jewelry pieces they sell to the wide public.
- Start small and learn along the way! As with all new projects, best is to create a small experiment and just have a go with it. Strongly engage with the community you want to serve and don't forget to share about your journey with your customers as I'm sure they will be inspired by what you're doing. This way you create a multiple ripple effect: you're making an impact on people's lives and also creating even more engaged fans of your customers through these stories!
Will you let me know if you jump on this train? I'll be cheering you on and rooting for you on my social channels!
Have a great day!
P.S. I have a side project curating a database of blockchain startups for social impact. If you know of any, can you please let me know? Thanks!