business with a greater cause 1
Contents
3 FAQ about social 10 More than
enterprises
just money
18 Bonham Strand
4 Bigger problems, 12 Same busi- 20 Elephant bigger chances Branded ness environment , 6 Diffiernt social different challenges problems, one busiGrow beyond ness solution 16 Making less 23 home creating 8 Cost effective- money, more social imness of social enter- pact 24 PhatRice prisesss 2
Cover photo: Jaspar Cheng
FAQ About social enterprises 1. What are social enterprises? In Hong Kong, there is no standard definition for social enterprises. But in UK which is one of the pioneer in social business, the national body for social enterprises Social Enterprises UK defines this business mode which: - are businesses that aim to generate their income by selling goods and services - are set up to specifically make a difference - reinvest the profits they make in their social mission
2. How do social enterprises differ from private enterprises? Social enterprises aim at maximizing social impact in a sustainable way by reinvesting profits back to projects, while private enterprises aim at maximizing the profits of shareholders.
3. How do social enterprises differ from charities? Both social enterprises and charities have social missions to tackle social problems, but social enterprises are run as a business to generate profits which are then used to benefit communities while charities rely mainly on donation.
4. Does a socially responsible business qualify as a social enterprise? Social responsibility can be referred to a business operation and how the business considers its customers and workers in business decisions. Unlike social enterprises which have two clear social and business objectives, a socially responsible business may or may not have this double bottom line strategy.
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Bigger G problems
Bigger
chances
oogle’s famous motto “Don’t be evil” perhaps suggests the general perception of a big business: enemy of good.
Business is always blamed for making profit at the expense of workers, society and environment, yet there is another form of business mode which aims at making the world better, named as social enterprises. The world has not come to a consensus on the definition of social enterprises, but it is generally accepted as a business that has positive social impact as a primary goal, over and above profit. The early use of the terms ‘social enterprises’ can be traced back to England to describe community co-operatives that used the ‘social accounting and audit’ system. This valued-based business also has a long history around the world, including Hong Kong. To many, Hong Kong is a city with a financial hub, educated population and a sound welfare system. Behind this prosperous facade, this former British colony is at odds with itself.
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The city was given the title of the most unaffordable housing in the world for the fourth straight year, according to US-based consultancy Demographia last year. People who wish to buy a home have to pay a price which is nearly 15 times of their gross annual median household income. While there are 1.3 million people living below the poverty line. However, a bigger problem perhaps means a greater opportunity. These social problems may be the key to the emergence of social enterprises. In the latest financial budget, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced that he would add HK$150 million to the Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme, one of the government schemes supporting the start-up of social enterprises. While the social enterprises are delegated to help the disadvantaged, they themselves need assistance in different forms in order to survive. Leung Yuen Kwan, Natalie Editor
Photo: Jaspar Cheng
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Different social problems One business solution Every problem has its solution. To New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, the solution for people with meantal illnesses is social enterprises.
The government recognised the role of social enterprises in 2001, when the project ‘Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprises’ Project (3E’s project) was launched to enhance the employment of people with disabilities. Yet, the idea of blending a social mission with business emerged in Hong Kong as early
Government programmes supporting social enterprises 6
trainees recovered from mental illness as salesmen under the supervision of job coaches.
between the trainees and the general public could help them understand each other more.
Located at a market in Tuen Mun, the stall sold the group’s farm ‘New Life Farms’s vegetables and ran the business without any difference from others, except employing
Former CEO of the association, Ms Deborah Wan Lai-yau, brought up this new idea as she found sheltered employment could not help the trainees get a job when returning to society. By setting up the stall in a community, Ms Wan believed the frequent contact
“The positive feedback from the general public not only proved that the venture was a success, but also boosted the confidence of the trainees, showing that if given an opportunity, they could work as well as other people,” said Ms Wan, the present vice-chairwoman of
Currently the government has five programmes supporting social enterprises including the Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme (ESR Programme), Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities
through Small Enterprise Project (3E’s Project), Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund), Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge and Social Enterprise Summit. These programmes provide social enterprises with
assistance of difference forms including startup fund and workshops for new start-ups. For example under 3E’s Project, qualified NGOs can apply for a maximum amount of $2 million for each approved project.
as in 1993 when New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association opened a vegetable stall as part of a pilot project providing employment for people recovered from mental illnesses.
the Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities. The stall only required a few thousands dollars to start up at that time, and thanks to the local favours of locally grown vegetables, the shop took one year to break even and became sustainable later on. Under Ms Wan’s leadership, the association has set up 20 social
enterprises in the 1990s and 2000s, ranging from restaurants to cleaning service companies. Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) sees more social entrepreneurs joining this developing niche, with the number of social enterprises last year doubling to 457 from 222 in 2007. One of the keys is the government support.
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Social enterprises
w enable our trainees
to stand on their own feet without the need to rely on the government,” said Ms Wan. “Meanwhile the association can run a sustainable business to hire our trainees.
”
Former CEO of the association Ms Deborah Wan Lai-yau
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Cost effectiveness of Social Enterprises With same amount of money input, social enterprises and the government have different outcomes, said taskforce member of SIE Fund Mr Kee Chi-hing. After the financial tsunami in 2007, social enterprises have become a global trend in addressing social issues, said Mr Kee Chi-hing, a member of the task force overseeing the SIE Fund. The hybrid nature crossing charity and business makes social enterprises a more effective way in poverty alleviation than the government or NGOs’ measurements, which
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is justified by Mr Kee’s research paper “The Blank Spots and Blind Spots on Hong Kong Social Enterprise Policies”. By calculating the social return on investment (SROI) of social enterprises, the study finds that for every $1 input, the social enterprise can generate $7 in terms of social impact over an average of 9.3 years, the average life-span of the studied
social enterprises. The money input by the social enterprises will be multiplied to become annual revenue and the multiplying effect will continue if the business ran smoothly. By comparison, every $1 input by the welfare service programme, the target receivers can only receive HK$0.81 after excluding the administrative cost.
“Happiness is not only
about making money. We have to make money to live, but we do not live to make money. Task Force Member of SIE Fund Mr Kee Chihing
As a businessman, former Hewlett-Packard (HP) managing director and vice president Mr Kee knows how well SROI can convince investors and customers of the social impact generated by social enterprises. However, as a social entrepreneur, he thinks SROI is nothing more than a set of figures for business people. For a same amount of investment, Mr said a company will get a monetary return while a social enterprise will get return in the form of social impact, but people tend to measure success finan-
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cially. “People makes money to buy satisfaction, but satisfaction is not about making money. It can be gained through other means like helping people and running a social enterprise is one of the ways,” said Mr Kee, perhaps explaining why he tapped into the field of social enterprises after retiring from the technology giant at the age of 49 in 2006. Now, Mr Kee is the chairman for social enterprise Fullness, a hair salon that has provided jobs and training for divergent youth since 2008.
Measurement Of Social Impact Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a analytic tool for measuring and accounting for a much broader concept of value that is difficult to be captured in traditional economic terms, such as social impact generated by
social enterprises. By taking into account social, economic and environmental factors, SROI can show how the changes are being created and uses monetary values to represent them.
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More than Just Money While both welfare service providers and social enterprises can address social problems, social enterprises can take a step further by tearing down the wall that exists between the people being “served” and the people doing the “serving”.
Language is always a barrier to local ethnic minorities in getting a job. However, Hong Kong TransLingual Services (HKTS) sees it as a gift of the ethnic minorities in offering a helping hand for their counterparts.
HKTS operations manager Mr Ryan Choi Wai-hei said the venture is planning to extend interpretation services to schools admitting ethnic minority student.
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“Although many ethnic minorities in Hong Kong have high education levels, their academic credentials are not accepted by local employers, hindering them from getting a job and depriving them of the upward mobility,” said HKTS operations manager Mr Ryan Choi Wai-hei. Knowing the language difficulties met by the ethnic minorities especially in using the
medical services, NGO HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre, set up social enterprise HKTS in 2010 with $700,000 start-up money from ESR Programme. The social enterprise hires ethnic minorities and trained them into intferprtators in medical field. Trainings will be provided by Hong Kong Baptist University’s Translation Department to ensure the service quality. Currently HKTS has about 80 interpreters who speak 20 languages including Hindi, Urdu and Tagalog. Mr Choi said HKTS has clients ranging from government
hospitals , to private companies, to individuals, but the government hospitals are its major clients. When the need for interpretation services arises, such as the ethnic minorities having problem in communicating with medical staff, the hospitals will call interpretations from HKTS and pay for the services. Thanks for the demand for interpretation services from government hospitals, HKTS had have a sound fiscal situation within its first year. Even now the hospitals are still their major clients, accounting for about 90 percent of its business, said Mr Choi.
To Ms Andleeb, working as an interpreter at HKTS means more than getting a job. The satisfaction and respect from the job are the main reasons for her to work at HKTS since five years ago. Moving to Hong Kong with her husband from Pakistan in 1995, the mother-of-three tried many times to find a job but in vain because she could not read Chinese and speak Cantonese. Although her fluent English helped her get a job in some educational institutions, without any qualification in Hong Kong, she did
not get well-pay and was only offered with temporary contracts.
to the patients who feel like having a friend to support them.
Her university degree in combined science at her home country meant nothing to local employers due to different education systems, but her science background helped her become an interpreter at HKTS.
It is the trust building between Ms Andleeb and the patients and the medical staff that she treasures the most. “I can feel the respect from other people,” said Ms Andleeb.
Ms Andleeb gains satisfaction from helping patients understand doctor’s meaning and the medical treatment procedures. Above all, Ms Andleeb, as well as other interpreters, can give a sense of security
Meanwhile, Ms Andleeb herself also inspires her friends to take the initiative to integrate into the local society, encouraging them to make use of social resources such as taking part in activities organised by NGOs for ethnic minorities.
“I was nothing to anyone back to the year I came to Hong Kong, but now many people know who I am.
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HKTS translator Ms Andleeb.
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Same business environment different challenges
Titled with one of the most expensive cities to rent in the world, Hong Kong has a stiff business environment for companies to start up and survive. However, Mr Kee’s research paper finds that 30 percent of the social enterprises studied can break even and 33 percent can make profit. Besides, despite the similar operating scale, social enterprises have a longer life-span than the small and medium-sized enterprises, 9.3 years compared with 3.7 years. However, the social enterprises studied by Mr Kee are those receiving government funding and most of them are set up by NGOs or some private organisations, which can provide assistance for the social enterprises when the funding is used up.
Love Multi Culture(LMC) is one of these social enterprises with back-up. Also set up by HKSKH Lady MacLehose Centre with funding from ESR Programme in 2007, LMC sells ethnic products made by ethnic minorities with a goal to empower local ethnic minorities. “Same as many social enterprises, LMC had many difficulties at the early stage such as finding an affordable shop for retail and tuning
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the design of products,” said operations director Ms O’mi Yu Chou Yin.
funding for MLC to go through the difficult financial period.
Despite the difficulties, the social enterprise now manages to survive and can sustain on itself. One of the keys to success is having the support from its organisation.
All forms of assistance are important to help MLC transit from relying on the centre to relying on itself, but without the diversification of business, the shop could hardly survive for about seven years, said Ms Yu.
Support is in many different forms, such as venues for organising workshops, connection for getting ethnic minorities to make products for MLC, and
LMC employs about 40 South Asian women on part-time basis to make ethnic products such as bracelets and , which
are sold at the retail shop at Domain Mall in Yau Tong. Meanwhile, it also sets up booth at some fairs to reach more people. Henna workshops are provided by LMC. (photo:LMC)
LMC’s shop at Domian Mall (left) and hand-made wallet(right) by ethnic minority women. (photo:LMC)
Unlike social enterprises backed up by NGOs, privately-run social enterprises seem to compare less favourably in the market as they have to rely totally on their own from the beginning. However, Mr Kee has seen more and more companies turning to be social enterprises in recent years, if not claiming to be, as they think this can help their business by attracting more customers.
According to the research on the social enterprises in Hong Kong conducted by HKCSS-HSBC Social Enterprise Business Centre in 2014, among 173 social enterprises studied in the research, there are about 37.6 percent of social enterprises studied are set up in the form of registered companies. However, there are no complete figures about privately-run social enterprises and their
business performance in Hong Kong as they are not required to provide financial situation to the government. With customers’ increasing consciousness about purchases, Mr Kee said social enterprises have certain advantages in public relations as media are keen on reporting people doing good things.
surveyed said they are willing to pay extra for products and services from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact, posting 5 percentage point increase from 2012, said in the report published by The Nielsen Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility conducted in 2013.
More than 50 percent of global respondents
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Founder of ICE Mr Freddy Law won the Hong Kong Social Enterprises in 2009 and then set up ICE with the start-up fund. (Photo:ICE)
Customers have a flavour for social enterprises, but Inter Cultural Education Limited (ICE) does not find being one of them gives much edge to it over other private companies, given local people do not have a clear idea of social enterprises. ICE was born after founder Mr Freddy Law had experienced global exposure at work and found that a global mindset was very important for one’s development. However, many local students like him before had a local
mindset due to a lack of international exposure in their growing environment. Therefore, Mr Law brought the idea of promoting global exposure among local students to Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge in 2009 and won the competition with $100,000 seed money from the competition to set up ICE. To facilitate an environment for global exposure at schools, the social enterprise provides programmes
led by trained local foreigners who are either ethnic minorities or exchange students in Hong Kong. The programmes can be in different forms such as having a Henna workshop to introduce Indian art or organising an American football match to get students moved. Through these activities, local students can experience foreign cultures and meanwhile the foreigners can understand local culture more. Subsidies are given to the foreigners and are paid by fees charging the schools.
ICE have worked with more than 40 local schools by providing different kinds of programmes to facilate a global environment. (Photos: ICE)
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Although the idea behind the social enterprise helps it stand out in the competition, not many people understand its idea and may think they are similar to English teachers. More confusing is its business mode. “People think very black and white, NGOs or for-profit companies, anything in between is difficult to explain,� said ICE general manager Mr Till Kraemer. Some of its clients
Social Enterprises endorsement mark (SEE Mark)
There are more than 400 social enterprises in Hong Kong, but not many of them are known by the public. In view of this, a social enterprises endorsement mark (SEE Mark) scheme was launched last year by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Social Enterprises Limited to raise the awareness of general
public about sociial enterprises and encourage ethical consumption. The assessment areas include organisation profile, community engagement, customers satisfactions, business strategies & execution, ethical consumption & cultural dissemination, governance and finance.
After undergoning the assement, social enterprisess will be categorised into one of the four categories: incubating, star-up, intermediant and advanced . Currently, there were 20 SEs in the first batch getting the SEE Mark in the last year.
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People think very black and white, NGOs or for-profit companies, anything in between is difficult to explain.
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mixed up NGOs and social enterprises and wondered why ICE would charge for the service. Therefore, when in doubt, ICE would define itself as a for-profit company, Mr Kraemer says. “We cannot book the government venues or apply for grants as we are not traditional charities, but at the same time we have to compete with English tutorial centres, educational centres which are purely money making,” said Mr Kraemer. ICE also won 2 more competitions with each providing $100,000. It
ICE general manager Mr Till Kraemer
seems that ICE has sufficient funding to sustain itself for a period of time, but that would not be long. Mr Kraemer says HK$100,000 allows a small-scale social enterprise to survive for about 6 months but it can be used up very quickly especially paying normal salary to staff. The major expense that eats away ICE revenues is not the rental cost but the salary expense. Including Mr Kraemer, currently there are two full-time staff working at ICE. But during peak periods such as winter breaks or summer holidays, ICE would
employ five to six interns to help organise programmes. To pay for these interns, Mr Kraemer sometimes had to skip his own salary. Therefore, although the revenue of ICE grows by 20 to 25 percent every year, it can make profit only when its staff are underpaid. “ Not everyone is taking the salary they should take so as to make ICE sustainable,” said Mr Kraemer. With limited budget, ICE cannot afford to employ any proper staff with expertise in business field. Graduated at Oxford University
with a masters degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, Mr Kraemer does not know anything about business and has to learn while running the business. Although ICE receives a lot of support from
Hong Kong General Chamber of Social Enterprises Limited through
mentorship, connections or workshops that it cannot even take all of them, Mr Kraemer thinks there is a lack of support like accounting services which can help them run the business more smoothly.
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Making less money Creating more social impact
Business, social or not, needs time to grow before making any profit. The only difference is how long it takes. However, that would not take long in a business world where only those make money can survive. If this kind of “survival of the fittest” law is applied to social enterprises, green shop Ground Works would
have closed down years ago. Setting up by NGO St. James Settlement under ESR Programme in 2007, Ground Works took six years to break even. To put it in another way, the shop was running at loss in the first few years and it could only survive with the subsidy from its organisation.
The venture operations officer Mr Tse Chunman says society has one way to measure the success of a social enterprise, and it includes a dollar sign. “Should a social enterprise be closed down when losing money?” Mr Tse asked. “It should be if thinking from a capitalist perspective. But if thinking in the other way, the money
lost can be regarded as money spent on providing social services, creating social impact that other social projects cannot do so.” The social impact generated by Ground Works, Mr Tse believes, can be converted into more money if it has to be measured financially.
Support Both Local And Mainland Farmers
Yet, local farmers do not find the city’s prosperity favours them as the agricultural land rent cost has kept rising while their incomes have not increased a lot.
Ground Works was born after the organisation found the growing difficulties for local farmers to survive and their declining social status.
Being the coordinator between local farmers and communities, Ground Works buys vegetables directly from local organic farms, cutting out retailers in between which always eat away farmers’ profit.
“Farmers can live without a city, but a city cannot live without farmers, yet the relationship between them is not equal,” said Mr Tse. With more and more agricultural land being turned into other uses for business purposes, the city is developed at the expense of agriculture.
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Started for local farmers, the venture has extended its idea to mainland China by importing some products such as cider vinegar from Shanxi province and camellia oil from Jiangxi province, hoping to support the agriculture in mainland.
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The money lost (by a social enterprise) can be regarded as money spent on providing social services, creating social impact that other social projects cannot do so.
�
Candies and biscuits are kept in glass jars instead of being packed to reduce unnecessary package.
Empower Local District Bridging farmers with local community, Ground Works not only brings more choices to local residents, but also creates job opportunities especially for residents in Wan Chai, where the shop is located. Mr Tse says many housewives are gifted with different skills especially in cooking but not many of them get appreciated as they have to stay at home to
look after family. Now their works are placed on the shelves at the shop : all sorts of jams made of peanuts, cashew nuts and sesame, different kinds of candies and biscuits made of ginger and peanuts. The shop employs 20 women on part-time basis as the flexibility allows the housewives to take care of the family.
Ground Works operations officer Mr Tse Chun-man.
Yet, helping more people also increases the difficulty in managing and co-ordinating staff. This and getting trust from customers were the major challenges in running the venture to Mr Tse, who worked as a social workers before. Still, lacking experience in business is not a problem to Mr Tse who thinks running a business itself is a learning process. Meanwhile, Ground Works
has received assistance from business industry and the government . Businessmen provided it with advice and Hong Kong Suppliers and Hong Kong Manufactures invited it to different exhibitions. With different support, Ground Works manages to do well with its social objective and business.
Locally made noodles (left) and honey (right)
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Bonham Strand Tailored for the undervalued
W
orkplace filled with tailors gathering at worktables, busily ironing sleeves, cutting fabric or stitching is no longer alive only in the reminiscence of Hong Kong’s past glory, but also in the studio of Bonham Strand, a local bespoke menswear company. In 1970s, Hong Kong boasted about 22,000 factories producing everything from clothes to watches to electronics.
But many of them moved to Pearl River Delta in mainland for the lower production cost in the region, leaving behind many industrial factories and skilled workers including the tailors. Many of these tailors, or sifus, turned to other industries, while still some chose to retain their crafting skills, though ending up in cramped cubbyholes such as in Mirador Mansions in Tsim
Sha Tsui, which stands in stark contrast with their current bright and airy working environment in Bonham Strand. “These sifus just like architects, the only difference is that they draw on clothes and architects draw on paper,” said company manager Mr Simon Wu Hak-hong. “But why the architects are regarded as highly as other professionals, meanwhile these skilled sifu cannot
receive the salary and respect they deserve.” Founder Mr Jong Lee Jong-chul believes the artisans deserve better. Thus, Bonham Strand was born in 2012, with a retail shop located at Central aand a workroom in an industrial building at Lai Chi Kok. By hiring tailors with decades of experience, the company hopes to revitalise the waning industry.
One more chance, one more choice Having grown up in US, Mr Lee has been always conscious of the problem of drug abuse and found the same problem in Hong Kong when he moved here. He knows rehabilitation centres keep the drug addicts distracted from addiction by keeping them doing detailed-oriented and reprtitive tasks, which is exactly the job natures of tailoring.
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The rise of drug addiction problem and the decline of the tailoring industry led to Mr Lee’s idea to bring these two groups of people together. The venture has cooperated with NGOs Caritas and Barnabas Charitable Service Association by teaching the recovering drug addicts to make something simple such as a bowtie. This can arouse
their interest in tailoring and hence learning a skill which enables them to get back on their own feet. While what drug addicts need is a chance, the new generation need one more choice. “In the past, besides school highflyers, people with crafting skills can bring home the beacon, but now the only way out for young people is studying,” said Mr Wu.
Mr Wu says that there is a general perception that people without a decent education credential means failure. The younger generation should have many other choices and the company wants to offer one of them through an apprentice programme, in which young people can learn the crafting skills from the experienced master tailors.
Bespoke tailoring has no economy of scale as every suit, shirt, and button-hole passes through the hands of master tailors. (Left) A man’s suit can be gotten for as little as $3,888, depending on the fabric chosen. (Right)
Still a business
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Although starting with a good heart, Mr Lee would not have set up the venture with $5 million of his own funds if there had not been a business opportunity. It is never exaggerated to say that a made-tomeasure outfit was on the to-buy-list on the trip to Hong Kong for its good quality and speedy delivery. The former U.S. president Bill Clinton and mayor of London Boris Johnson were one of them, bringing home with one from local tailor shops. The demand for bespoke suits has always been here. What has been falling behind is the quality.
These sifus just like architects, the only difference is that they draw on clothes and architects draw on paper, but why the architects are regarded as highly as other professionals, meanwhile these skilled sifus cannot receive the salary and respect they deserve.
“Foreigners used to come to Hong Kong to buy tailor-made menswear but they have lost confidence due to the declining quality,” said Mr Wu. “The general practice these days is the suit is crafted in Hong Kong but is made in mainland China, so it is difficult to control the quality.” To restore the reputation of made-in-Hong Kong, the venture has cooperated with Hong Kong Tourism Board to organise tailoring workshops for tourists. Through this, tourists can see where things come from, how the suits are cut and sewed, promoting this art to the world.
With the support from its parent company RGL Holdings Ltd., which also belongs to Mr Lee, the venture took just one year to break even and can now sustain on itself thanks to the word of mouth by the customers. Currently, over 80 percent of business comes from foreigners, who are more particular about bespoke suits. Yet, to sustain this waning industry, the venture needs more than just money. Master tailors and the younger generation are the venture’s valuable assets. However, the former is getting fewer and fewer and the latter may not be interested in this industry.
Bonham Strand manager Me Simon Wu Hak-hong
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Elephant Branded One Elephant One idea
T
he iconic elephant cement bags are never intended to carry more than just cement. Instead of ending up in landfills, these discarded bags are turned into funky, cool bags which are filled with Cam-
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bodian women stories and children’s hopes by Elephant Branded (EB). Making a better world is not necessary to be complex, it can be as simple as the idea of Elephant Branded ‘One Elephant…One idea’. By selling one of its ethically made products made by Cambodian women, the company donates one ergonomically designed school bag and kit to a child in Africa or Asia.
Having founded for just three years, the UK social enterprise was named as one of the 25 most ethical companies in the UK by the Independent on Sunday and won Google Young Minds in 2012 for its founder Mr James Munro Boon. Working as a designer in Hong Kong, the 26-year-old English man has never thought his business could go that far. To be precise,
Infographic: Idea of ‘One elephant, One idea’
he did not even think of setting up a social enterprise at the very beginning. But things changed after his stay in South Africa at university. Mr Boon studyed architecture at Bath University in UK and got an opportunity to design and build a school in South Africa. It was where the seed of helping poor children planted when Mr Boon was shocked by the lack of basic access to school equipment by children. After six months of hard work, the school Every year Mr Boon spends some time with the Cambodian families, which he considers as his second family. (Left) EB works with organisations to ensure every donation product is delivered to the child who needs it. (Right) (Photos: EB)
was built and when the light was turned on, Mr Boon felt nothing but sad, “the thing that I remembered the most was the first boy came to the school with just a piece of newspaper and a paintbrush,” said Mr Boon. “Despite the time and money we spent on building the school, it wasn’t a school, it was just a shell.”
in Hong kong, Mr Boon worked in Southern China after graduation. Meanwhile, he travelled around Southern China, Laos, Cambodia and some other South Asian countries and found himself in a situation similar to his experience in South Africa, hence deciding to do something to help the kids.
Although the problem was spotted out, its remedy had not been found out until Mr Boon travelled to Cambodia years later.
Yet, it was when he saw a woman selling recycled cement bags in a Cambodian village that he had found a sustainable way to address the education problem of the kids while helping
Before moving to work
widows and vulnerable women in Cambodia at the same time. Therefore, he brought 50 bags back and sold them to his friends to raise money to buy 50 school kits for the children. However, things went beyond his imagination when many people were interested in the bags.“ It was never supposed anything more than a few bags,” said Mr Boon. Thus, Elephant Branded was born, using a business means to solve social problems.
Business connects people Hand crafted products from EB: Wallet (Top), Clipper (Middle) and Laptop case (Bottom). (Photos: EB)
Cambodian women helps EB to train other women to craft bags using recycled cement bags. (Left) Mr Boon said cement bags with an elephant logo can be found everywhere in Cambodia. (Right) (Photos: EB)
The brand not only changes lives of many people, but also how Mr Boon thinks about business. He used to read books about the sharks of business and thought business was about trying to crush other people. Yet, after these years of running the company, he finds the opposite. “I don’t think business has to be seemed as an evil thing,” said Mr Boon. “I would have never met the Cambodian families and never had that relationship
Including Mr Boon, EB is run by four people.
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with them if it had have not been the idea of using business to connect people, even we do not have the same language, same religion or same culture.”
who lost their husbands in the fighting on the border with Thailand can get themselves out of poverty by learning skills to craft bags from recycled cement bags.
Mr Boon works with a Cambodian family to design products and look after finances to make sure everything runs smoothly. Instead of considering them as business partners, Mr Boon thinks they are his family members. “The villagers are my second family. It is amazing to see how a family grows and their every stage of life,” said Mr Boon, sharing the joy of witnessing a baby growing into a little kid.
Although the brand is set up to help people, Mr Boon shuns the word ‘ethical business’. “I want people to buy the bag because they like it, but not because they feel sad or feel like they should buy it,” said Mr Boon.
Starting with the belief that basic school equipment can change the lives of kids, Elephant Branded extends the idea to Cambodian women. This vulnerable group and the widows
From 50 bags to serval thousands bags sold, the steady growth allows the brand to have a sound fiscal year at the beginning. Currently, its products are sold across 14 of John Lewis’s flagship stores, through boutiques in Switzerland, FAB in Germany as well as online at its website.
Expand beyond home Coming from UK, realising the problem in South Africa, finding the solution in Cambodia, and finally running the business in Hong Kong, Mr Boon as a social entrepreneur himself shows that there is no boundary starting a social business and the social impact can reach as far as South Africa and even further in the future. Many global social brands back him up with their social impact being extended to all over the world. UK-based The Big Issue and US-based TOMS Shoes are two of the inspirational examples.
Logo of Elephant Branded
Founded by Gordon Roddick and A. John Bird in 1991, The Big Issue magazine helps the vulnerable group to help themselves. How it works: The homeless and the long-term unemployed people become the vendors of The Big Issue and they can buy copies for £1.25 and sell for £2.50. The difference earned allow them to have a legitimate income to change the life.
The big Issue vendors can take control of their lives by working, not begging. (Photo: Internet)
Key achievement: - working with around 2,000 individuals across the UK - circulating around 100,000 copies every week. - putting more than £5million in the pockets of vendors in 2014 including Taiwan and Japan.
Interviews of celebrities help the magazine compete with other for-profit magazines. (Photo: Internet)
Seeing the hardships faced by children growing up without shoes on travelling, Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes in 2006 with the idea of One for One to help different groups of people all over the world.
How it works:
Under the idea of One for One, a pair of shoes is donated to a needy child for every pair it sells. The idea has been extended to selling eyewear, coffee, bags to help restore people’s sight, provide clean water, and address the need for advancements in maternal health respectively.
Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS after traveling Argentina where he was shocked to see kids grow up without shoes. (Photo: Internet)
Key achievement: - giving over 35 million pairs of shoes to children in need in more than 60 countries - restoring sight to over 275,000 people in need in 13 countries - providing over 67,000 weeks of safe water in 6 countries - protecting more than 2 million children from hookworm with medication and its Shoes - increasing maternal health by 42% - working with more than 100 organisations to deliver shoes, sight, water and safe births to people in need
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PhatRice A platform for designers, developers and communities
P
urchases are no longer simply to satisfy one’s desire, but also to give something back to communities. Business can be a means to make the world better by marrying products with a good cause, too.
Cofounders Mr Anthony Lance( left) and Mr Matt Davis(right) became aware of the extreme social and environmental challenges being faced by local communities after travelling extensively throughout Asia at work. (Photo: PhatRice)
However, Mr Anthony Lance, and Mr Matt Davis found there was a gap between the socially-conscious consumers and the entrepreneurs. Hence they founded PhatRice, a
Hong Kong based e-commerce platform where philanthropic creatives could host their products and get their products reached the customers who also care. “Everyone has the potential to do something good, if giving a good opportunity. PhatRice is that opportunity,” said Mr Lane, who is going to share what is that opportunity PhatRice offers.
Bamboo portable speakers from Otis & Eleanor(Left) Watches from Handsome Co. (Middle) Backpack from Fjällräven (Right) (Photo: PhatRice)
Meaning behind the logo Phat: means cool, hot or trendy and Rice: is the most popular and fundamental sustenance for people all over the world. The company hopes to bring products which are cool, hot and trendy while also being made responsibly and providing sustenance for those who need it the most to its customerscommunities, with the ultimate goal of inspiring hope.
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The first Chinese character means: to send out; to show (one’s feeling); to issue; to develop, and the second character means rice, the kind that can be consumed for sustenance. The company believes that each story that is sent out from the platform will be like sustenance for the human soul, inspiring creativity, new ideas, new products and new communities.
Co-founder Mr Lance got a masters degree in Chinese Studies and is fluent in Mandarin, so he also adds a Chinese element to the logo.
What has been the greatest challenge in setting up and running PhatRice? How did PhatRice begin? Despite the great intentions of many initiatives to help address social and environmental issues, we found the lack of sales and marketing skills hinder their development. Since both Matt and I came from Sales and Marketing, we saw an opportunity to become the missing piece in the puzzle by providing a platform to build a thriving community of conscious buyers from all over the globe. Unlike typical retailers who dread paying more money for inventory, at PhatRice every time we place a new order to one of our now over 30 product partners, it brings a smile to our face, because it means that we have made a difference.
What are your thoughts about using business means to solve social problems? We are certainly under no delusion that business cannot solve all social problems, but many social problems are in fact caused by business in some forms or another, so to think that a solution can be found without using business is equally delusional. If a typhoon hits a nation, cutting off water supply and electricity, there is little that business can do in this situation, so instead charity is required. On the other hand, after the typhoon, the community does not need free water and blankets, they need business to crate job opportunities and hence possibilities of making a permanent difference for the lives. In fact, both charity and economy are required to make a difference.
None of the founders are web coders, or have any background in site design, so the first few steps of site design were really difficult for us. Especially in Hong Kong, e-commerce is still highly underdeveloped, so we had a hard time finding the skilled individuals we needed to design and develop the site.
What are the differences in running a social enterprise and a for-profit company? The main difference is in the expectation of how the profits will be utilized. A social enterprises reinvests profits into special initiative that it is working towards. So an investor would see the investment something similar to a philanthropic donation, because you will not be receiving anything back other than the feeling of joy seeing the organization accomplish its social objective. Meanwhile, a for-profit company aims at turning a profit for the shareholders, so its investor would put in money, expecting to get something in return.
How can Phatrice measure the social impact? We use the 3P bottom line method to measur our success: Profit, People, Plant. We put equal emphasis on meaning the success of our company based on these three metrics. Only if a company can make profit, and also have a positive social and environmental impact can the business truly be considered successful.
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PhatRice hand picks designed inspirational products and introduce them to its community every week. On the website of PhatRicwe, there are more than 200 products from almost 40 product partners from all over the world, and well over 200 product listing on the site.
The Base Project The fashion brand bridges between artisans in the developing world and the US fashion market. The collection of handcarved unisex bracelets is one of its projects, which is made of discarded plastic pipe by artisans from Northern Namibia, providing the artisans additional income for school fees, health care, and food.
Indosole Knowing the pollution problem caused by tires in Indonsia and inspired by local Balinese craft people, the US-based company Indosole brings these two ideas together and repurpose the tires into fashionable and functionable footwear.
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Ai-Funan Ai-Funan, meaning “flower” in the Timorese language, is a unique line of handmade soaps produced from local, all-natural ingredients by women in Timor-Leste. This line of soaps is rebranded and exported by The Hummingfish Foundation and wvall the profits from the sales goes back to support the women of Timor-Leste.
Bambu “How can we infuse the best of Portland with the native resources endemic to China?” Bambu was the answer. The eco-friendly home products brand comes from Portland, a place that is proud of eco-friendly values, but its products are made in China, a place is always criticised for its manufacturing processes. Working as a local company, Bambu sources materials locally in China to green the supply chain and work with local workers to promote fair labor practices. Photos: PhatRice
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Natalie leung hkbu 2014-2015
Journalism Honours Project
Email:
12013889@life.hkbu.edu.hk