I thought I’d use this quote from good old Rockefeller to frame my discussion this evening. Because that’s really what it’s all about.
in business 20 years decided to do more with my talent 3 years ago started exploring social enterprise Created GeboMana So why am I building GeboMana? Well, 3 years ago I looked for a new challenge - Something that would make a mark on the world, to educate people so they can learn to look to look after themselves, their society and the natural world around them. - That would put put me in a leadership position in an industry - Something that drew on all my skills - Something that has a product that everybody uses.
Through my presentation I will be referring to GeboMana a few times as an example. So let me give you a really brief background. To the consumer GeboMana provides limited edition, organic fashion T-shirts. The twist is that for every T-shirt we ship, an underprivileged child goes to school for two months. For the enterprise GeboMana does this and a bit more. We provide a way for enterprises large and small to make their social efforts visible and meaningful to their teams and their clients and consumers. For companies with a CSR program we can couple the CSR donation with the T-shirt so that for example staff members know the T-shirt they’re wearing has really made a difference to the world.
There is a lot of talk about CSR at the moment what is important is social resp and the way I have come to interpret that in the last three years is a social enterprise. Some would call this business with a cause.
Let’s look at the trend for a moment Now this research is quite startling. Basically, almost 60% of consumers have a preference for companies that are socially responsible. The question is how can you use this to your advantage?
What is the key point of this presentation? This is it. Traditionally CSR or social contributions have been seen as a cost to the business. Starting with triple bottom line reporting it was by many organisations seen as something we ‘should’ do. It has effectively become another tax. To me that’s not very appealing In my view CSR is meant to be an expense not a cost
So how do we gain a return on our social investment?
Social enterprises can assist traditional enterprises becoming more social Traditional enterprises can adopt principles into their practice Apart from running GeboMana this is what I do—help enterprises become more social and profit from it.
key area where people fail By making it a role it is isolated in organisation Running a more social company starts at the top, but does not have to take much time But it does take commitment And most organisations require outside help
what would I suggest as your next steps? lots of people are happy to help your efforts
what level do you want to plat at in the new social economy? be an influencer move to a new level and make a difference or... maybe just want to keep a finger in the pie--- you never know where this might go Either level is fine, but setting expectations is important for the team
So, in closing I’m just going to come back to GeboMana. The way I’ve defined what we do as a social enterprise is to have real impact real profit
What I mean by this is that we’re not going to behave like a charity. We’re in this game to win, just as much as any other private company. However, we have a secondary outcome. But it’s not going to overshadow the fact that we need to run a well-oiled lan organisation. Because if we don’t we’ cannot help anybody We need to be financially strong so we can keep selling more T-shirt (and other goods) and therefore have even greater impact. On a serious note... We’re in the process of seeking investment capital. If you are able to help me with capital contacts or you’re looking for an ethical investment, please see me after.
In summary, what is my message here today? be clear in what is the social vision for the business. Only choose something that really resonates with the leadership of the company make it cultural not role based expect positive results across many areas and a real ROI brand leverage ... this should be an expense not a cost. Thank you. If you have any questions, please come and see me after.
