When it comes to social enterprise, one of the questions most people would normally ask is, “can social enterprise make money?”
This shows that the one who asked the question is not clear about the definition of social enterprise.
Social Enterprise is a business model between traditional business and charity or non-profit organization.
As in any business, profitability is the ultimate pursue. Why is it important to make profit? A matter of survival. At least, be able to self-sustain.
That, is one of the building blocks of social enterprise.
Case Study: TOMS Shoes
Take a look at one of the pioneers in social enterprise – TOMS Shoes.
According to TOMS Shoes website, the company was founded on a very simple idea, of which whenever a customer buy a pair of shoes from TOMS, they could help to give shoes to children in need.
During earlier days of operation, they even had the tagline of “One For One” – whenever you buy a pair of shoes, they will donate out another pair of shoes to the needy.
The TOMS Story is a bit different than that of The Citarum Story. Rather than turned a social challenge into a nation wide movement, TOMS version was running a sustainable business while creating social impact at the same time.
The impact to date? Over 96 million pairs of need-specific TOMS shoes integrated into larger education, health, and well-being initiatives.
Looking at the numbers provided by TOMS Shoes, and how the thrive since 2006, would you still think that social enterprise is an experimental model or just another charity?
Think out of the box
In summary, there are countless possibilities that we could make a difference while running a business that generates profit at the same time.
It is how we generate the profit and what we do with the profit that makes social enterprise a different breed than the traditional business.
Excerpt from the book Every Achievement Counts and content from presentation file embedded below:
