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Business with a Bonus

4/30/2016

8 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, Founder of Mindful Marketing

For people looking for something to criticize, business can be an easy target.  First, it’s ubiquitous—there are companies all around us that we work for and buy from.  Second, like all individuals and organizations, businesses sometimes make mistakes. 
 
That said, business is one of the best things most countries and communities have going for them.  Businesses supply much needed products, provide critical employment, and pay valuable taxes, among other important outcomes.  Without businesses, our lives would be much more challenging.  Take a moment to look around you—the technology you’re using, the food you’re eating, the clothes you’re wearing are all made possible by hundreds of businesses working together to satisfy your needs.
 
Business certainly is a huge force behind our fruitful existence, but is that enough?  Many would say, “Yes,” which is an argument that’s hard to refute for the reasons referenced above.  At the same time, every area of life has its overachievers, people who aren’t satisfied with standard measures of success but who push themselves to do better and accomplish more.  In a business context those overachievers are social entrepreneurs.
 
What is social entrepreneurship?  It’s “developing innovative business models that blend traditional capitalism with solutions that address the long-term needs of our planet.”  In other words, social enterprises not only satisfy their own economic goals and the needs of their main stakeholders (customers, employees, owners), they also intentionally take-on at least one pressing societal need, e.g., poverty, environmental sustainability, health, education, etc.
 
One well-known social enterprise is Toms, which helps a person in need, for every product purchased.  Toms’ “One for One” model started by just giving shoes, but the company has since extended its benevolence to improving eyesight, ensuring safe childbirth, providing clean water, and battling bullying.
 
Another firm with a fully integrated social mission is Revolution Foods, which aims “to build lifelong healthy eaters by making kid-inspired, chef-crafted® food accessible to all.”  Recognizing the epidemics of obesity and poor nutrition that plague our youth, Revolution Foods has developed a profit-based business model to attack these challenges head-on, providing children in schools in over 15 states with food that’s both delicious and nutritious.

When we hear of examples like Toms and Revolution Foods, it’s easy to think that such social responsibility is out of reach for most entrepreneurs; however, hundreds of people recently saw that belief battered.  It happened on the campus of Messiah College, near Harrisburg, PA, during the school’s second annual Impact Venture Challenge (IVC).

The IVC is a year-long competition in which teams of budding entrepreneurs develop business plans under the tutelage of expert mentors.  Eventually the six top teams compete in a culminating event that somewhat resembles ABC’s Shark Tank.  A panel of judges and an energetic audience hear the teams’ final pitches and together vote to determine the first ($5,000), second ($3,000), and third ($2,000) place winners. 
 
The IVC differs from Shark Tank in many ways, but one of the biggest distinctions is that all IVC competitors are social enterprises.  Like the founders of Toms and Revolution Foods, these young entrepreneurs have developed business plans that simultaneously target both commercial and community goals.  All of the finalists from this year's competition were fabulous, but here are the top three teams:
 
1.  Accounting Beyond Borders:  It’s a nonprofit organization (in formation) that serves the accounting and business needs of missionaries and mission organizations in Panama and other parts of the world, allowing those individuals and organizations to focus their energy on their primary callings.  
 
2.  Sapwood:  This fledgling company has develop a unique, all natural air freshener that improves the aroma of automobiles without the potentially hazardous chemicals found in most store bought air fresheners, thus eliminating negative impacts to health and the environment.

3.  Omega Swap:  This company decreases college campuses’ carbon footprints and consumerism by bringing together students who want to buy and sell goods that otherwise might end up in dumpsters and landfills.
 
Like other social entrepreneurs, the IVC students "are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change."  In short, they’re not satisfied to simply serve themselves and a few specific stakeholder groups; rather, they want to accomplish a greater good and in one way change the world.
 
Social enterprises with viable business plans typically include effective marketing that creates stakeholder value.  Such organizations also tend to embrace standards that naturally uphold societal values like fairness and respect.  Together these two criteria equate to “Mindful Marketing.”  However, social entrepreneurship's intentionally broader impact for good suggests that an even higher category may be needed, perhaps one we should call “More Mindful Marketing.”
​

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8 Comments
Sarah
4/30/2016 10:02:47 pm

I agree with adding a higher category called "More Mindful Marketing." Impact Venture Challenge is a perfect example for this category. It was great to hear the many ways college students are able to impact the world through creating businesses that are social enterprises. The six final teams all had a great pitch for the judges and audience. The top three teams/businesses had really great ideas and captured my attention. Accounting Beyond Borders was definitely my favorite! From the presentation to the idea, I became really excited for the business and how it would help others around the world. It will impact the people who need help, but also everyone who is involved in the business!

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Lindsey Markle
5/1/2016 03:42:07 pm

I agree with Sarah. A new category, "More Mindful Marketing" would be one of the best ways to get companies to extend their impact for good. The Impact Venture Challenge completed at Messiah is such a great way to challenge students to create a company that not only obtains stakeholder value, but wants to effectively tackle social issues. We need more companies with these kind of intentions and thought processes.

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Noah Sneddon
5/1/2016 09:11:36 pm

I had not previously realized that there was such a term for people who innovate for the greater good of others, or social entrepreneurship. I know about TOMS' efforts, I own a pair of their shoes myself, and other companies of the like, but I agree that they should receive their own special kind of category. More Mindful accurately describes their heart to help make a significant difference in the lives of others. These types of companies, even those mentioned at Messiah College's IVC, falls above and beyond the normal realm of other corporations. I agree with the previous comments above; it makes me excited that there are competitions such as these that encourage creative entrepreneurs to try and bring their More Mindful businesses to life.

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Ha Sung Kang
5/2/2016 02:31:46 am

I think that the Impact Venture Challenge is a wonderful event here at Messiah. It is definitely mindful marketing as it upholds societal values by meeting a specific social need whether on campus or off campus. It also adds to the stakeholder's values as people want to support an organization or business that is going above and beyond than what it is required of them. Out of the three winners, I particularly found Omega Swap the most impactful for me. As a consumerist culture, we are inclined to purchase more and more things. However, this company will be good way for the community to recycle materials such as books and technology and not only decrease the cost of these items but also our overall carbon footprints.

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Grace Carvalho
5/2/2016 11:08:41 am

Shark Tank is a show that I have been watching since i was introduced to it in one of my high school business classes. So when Messiah decided to do Impact Challenge it was something that drew my interest. I defiantly see it as mindful marketing considering that the products/services that came from each pitch are great ideas and are also ethical. All of the companies that placed had great ideas that seems to give in one way or another. The company that stood out to me was Sapwood who placed second. I enjoyed their product because it is product that is made with e same resource they are giving back to. It was a very environmental friendly product for one they use no hazardous chemicals in their air fresheners and they also plan to plant a tree for every air freshener that is bought.

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Cody Charles Deegan link
5/10/2016 03:33:34 am

After business was registered, of course you have to market your business and I too believe in mindful marketing such as who will be affected by the marketing efforts of the company.

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Annual Reports link
8/3/2016 02:58:15 am

Don’t overdo it, however. Though frolicking kitten photos rule the Internet, they probably don’t have a place on your business’s social accounts unless you run a pet store....

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Brendan
11/5/2018 12:38:46 am

I think it's definitely harder to engage in social entrepreneurship, however it's very rewarding to know that your business is contributing to the good of humanity. I had no idea that there was an accounting firm that exists to serve the accounting needs for missionaries. That's pretty amazing that something like that exists. I think every business venture should strive to contribute to the world and the good of others.

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