Mars Wrigley Confectionery has decided to put smallholder farmers at the center of an ambitious new strategy.

The maker of chocolate for more than 100 years and one of the world’s largest buyers of cocoa, has launched a new plan for overhauling its cocoa supply chain.

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Called Cocoa for Generations, the plan places the interest of the smallholder farmer at its center, helps to safeguard children and forests, and creates a pathway for cocoa farmers and cocoa-growing communities to thrive. The plan is backed by an investment of $1 billion over 10 years and is incremental to the Sustainable in a Generation Plan investment that Mars announced last year.

“For nearly 40 years we’ve been working to achieve sustainable cocoa production,” said John Ament, Global Vice President of Cocoa, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. “While we’ve made progress, including reaching nearly 180,000 farmers with sustainability certification, we are impatient with our pace of progress and of the cocoa sector overall. We don’t have all the answers, but our first step is to put the farmer at the center of our ambitions and actions.”

 

Despite significant progress, many farmers haven’t experienced improvements in their incomes or living conditions at an adequate pace. Children continue to labor in hazardous conditions and deforestation continues with farming occurring in protected forest areas. Mars believes a step change is needed where business, civil society and government must think and act differently, and take a new approach that creates a pathway for cocoa farmers, their families, and communities to thrive.

The Cocoa for Generations plan consists of two pillars: 

Firstly, to have 100% of its cocoa from the Responsible Cocoa program responsibly sourced globally and traceable by 2025. Responsible Cocoa means having systems in place to address deforestation, child labor and higher incomes for farmers.

Secondly, the company hopes to demonstrate that a step-change in farmer income and livelihoods is possible. In partnership with an initial global group of 75,000 cocoa farming families and cocoa suppliers, Mars plans to test ways to increase productivity, income, resilience, and overall sustainability through crop and income diversification, gender programs, village and savings and loan models and farm development plans.

“We applaud Mars for recognizing the role of the smallholder farmer at the heart of any ambitious plan in cocoa sustainability,” said Fairtrade on hearing the news. “Without progress on incomes for these farmers, sector-wide transformation is not possible. We need more companies showing leadership on issues in this way.”

The Rainforest Alliance chimed in too: “We can all agree there needs to be a change on the ground for farmers, their families and forests,” said Britta Wyss Bisang, Chief of Sustainable Supply Chains for the Rainforest Alliance. “We commend Mars for deepening their commitment to cocoa producers, and for recognizing that step-change in action on the ground is needed.  We look forward to furthering a relationship which puts more focus on collaboration between producers, NGO’s, companies and governments.”

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Sixty years ago last month, Clara Luper sat down at the Katz Drug Store counter in Oklahoma City with her two children and several members of the NAACP Youth Council, refusing to leave until they were served.

Her efforts over the next several years desegregated hundreds of establishments across Oklahoma and led to one of the most successful strategies of the Civil Rights Movement — the sit-in protest. The anniversary of this historic moment in my hometown reminded me of two things that have become core to my pursuits over the past several years: you don’t have to be rich or famous to create change, and local solutions can create great impact.

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I spent the better part of my youth wondering what my own impact would be on this world. At 20, I was already a year older than Mark Zuckerberg was when he created “The Facebook.”

I was a college kid having a serious quarter-life crisis. Growing up, I had been told to “dream big” and to “change the world” — but the only thing that was big was my dream, and the only thing I was changing was my major.

With the weight of the world on my shoulders, I felt powerless. However, I then got involved with a group of young social entrepreneurs who had created small but meaningful programs: a custom apparel company employing women transitioning out of homelessness, and a children’s book company promoting cultural literacy in the U.S. while funding educational initiatives in developing countries. What these organizations lacked in size, they made up for in impact. Then it hit me — I was letting the debilitating fear of failing to solve global problems keep me from making any impact at all. I realized that I may not be able to change the world, but I could change my community. Ever since, over the past six years, I have worked to create innovative solutions to local challenges.

While in college, I realized that my hometown, Oklahoma City, had no job opportunities for individuals experiencing homelessness who had high barriers to traditional employment. Five years ago, I co-founded The Curbside Chronicle, a magazine sold by individuals experiencing homelessness. We adapted the time-tested street paper model to fit the socioeconomic realities of Oklahoma City, creating a program that builds job skills, time management, and financial success for our magazine vendors. Through Curbside, more than 100 people have ended their homelessness, and dozens more have moved on to steady employment. I’m picture above with my wife, Ranya, celebrating the Curbside Chronicle’s fifth year.

Three years ago, I moved to an economically diverse neighborhood and realized that many teens in my area were hungry for opportunity, but job prospects were sparse. After a year of research and planning, I started Sasquatch Shaved Ice, a nonprofit snow cone stand that employs low-income teens from my neighborhood. We provide job skills training and college prep and financial literacy workshops, and also match dollar-for-dollar what our employees save towards their future educational goals. With two seasons under our belt, 100% of our employees have graduated from high school in a neighborhood where only 58% of adults have a high school diploma.

Here’s my point: don’t fixate on solving the big, heavy problems of this world. You’re probably not the next Mark Zuckerberg, and that’s OK. Instead, focus on creating incremental change in your own community. I may never really change the world holistically — but for the 40 Curbside vendors who moved into housing in 2017 and the 5 Sasquatch employees who graduated high school this year, the world has changed.

The world puts an immense amount of pressure on young people these days. Global warming, economic disparity, and educational inequity are a few of the urgent, enormous challenges that millennials are tasked with addressing. With temperatures rising 1.4 degrees each year and 1.56 million individuals experiencing homelessness annually in the U.S. alone, the task of combating just one of the major crises we are facing seems impossibly daunting. The truth is that you can’t solve a global crisis alone, and neither can I — but together, our cumulative efforts can and will.

I’m passionate about creating supportive employment opportunities for underserved populations in Oklahoma City. What are you passionate about? The decline of bees, access to clean water, decreasing meat consumption? With every challenge comes an opportunity to create impact. In the singular, I am just one man on this pale blue dot — but together, we are a powerful force of change that culminates in national and global shifts. I won’t change the world, but we will. Let’s get to work.

Whitley O’Connor is a social entrepreneur, employment advocate, and Fellow of The Resolution Project.

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Saskia Bruysten, CEO and Founder of Yunus Social Business (above) speaks to entrepreneur Laura Koch about social business.

What exactly is a social business?

It’s a business that considers social problems as part of its business plan. It also aims to generate profit. I co-founded Yunus Social Business in 2011 with Muhammad Yunus and Sophie Eisenmann after seeing the success of a social business model in Bangladesh. I wanted to help spread this idea around the world. We’re different than traditional NGOs because we turn donations into investments within our social businesses, that we reinvest over and over again, multiplying the impact each time. Our Philanthropic Venture Fund grows businesses that provide employment, education, healthcare, clean water and clean energy to over three million people in East Africa, Latin America & India.

Operating like a business is crucial. We use typical venture capital strategies such as incubators and accelerator methodologies to identify social challenges and then seek local partners and entrepreneurs. This idea was unique when we started and our challenge was to keep adapting to find the right approach. You should be prepared to face different circumstances in diverse countries.

How do you operate? 

We give long-term loans to social businesses in Uganda, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia and India. We’ve invested in over 50 social companies that strive to be financially self-sustainable and contribute to solving social challenges. These companies have a clear mission to address one (or several) challenges described in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, in Uganda where nine million people don’t have access to clean drinking water, we saw results within five years from Impact Water, a business we invested in to provide clean water to over 1,200 schools and 800,000 students. The business was so successful it expanded into Kenya. Because they touch on eight of the 17 SDGs, they also deliver much more than just profit.

What’s the idea behind the local partner model?

There’s no better way to support local business than by teaming up with local business leaders as your partners. They already have strong local networks and deep insights into the countries in which they operate. We identify social challenges with these partners and then try and solve them.

 

How did your idea come about?

A speech by Muhammad Yunus at the London School of Economics inspired me. I was a management consultant at the time but decided I would instead devote my life to social business instead. Our first social business project in Bangladesh was with Danone in 2007. We tried to match the company’s strengths with the social problems we saw around us and developed a simple solution: a joint venture to produce affordable and nutritious yogurt to fight malnutrition in kids. This small project went on to influence Danone’s vision as a business for good and later the creation of Danone Communities, a social business investment fund.

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Saskia’s Tips For Becoming a Social Business

1. Read Prof. Yunus’ book: “A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.”

2. Become a donor to our local funds, help local entrepreneurs in India, Africa and Latin America build their own social businesses. 

3. Join us for a partner visit to see first-hand how our social businesses create positive social impact in one of our regions.

4. Become an advocate for social business in your country or create a local Yunus Social Business chapter.

5. Start a social business yourself.

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Where did this lead?

After Danone, we were approached by many companies wanting to develop something similar. Our consultancy arm helps large corporations solve a local, social challenge with their business. We help corporates create their social businesses and bring social entrepreneurs together with large companies to foster innovation. Dramatic changes are evident in the global economy and business is not just about making money anymore. It’s about providing value to society: a move beyond shareholder value to stakeholder value.

What about established companies? Can they also create social impact?

Most companies don’t know how to begin, but we suggest starting with a small venture. We all learn by doing, and associating your brand with a pilot project could be the start of something big. This adds a dose of “social business magic” into a company: employee engagement rises, customer loyalty increases and relationships with the community improves. We found that innovation is the number one reason corporate leaders find social business interesting. Look at your business from the perspective of society – do you think in a customer-centric or product-centric way?

What gets you out of bed each day?

I believe in the power of business to solve the greatest problems facing humanity. I see this in the work I do and it keeps me motivated. Corporations are key players in our economic system, playing a decisive role in shaping our world and its social and environmental conditions.

www.yunussb.com

 

 

Barbara Minuzzi a Brazilian immigrant who faced discrimination in the workplace. She came to America to lead a more purposeful life and to capitalizing on biotech and blockchain – in the hope that it could help solve the worlds biggest problems. Listen as she shares her journey.

 

Leaders who fail to increase their sophistication as their company grows are in peril of being left behind.

Many leaders have had that moment when they realize they are no longer leading the charge but are instead watching their business surge ahead of them. This is what YPO Member John Hillen  and Mark D. Nevins, co-authors of the new book “What Happens Now: Reinvent Yourself as a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You,” call a stall.

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Hillen and Nevins define seven types of stalls — purpose, teamwork, stakeholders, leading change, authority, focus and leadership development — and help leaders recognize when they are in a stall, assess and troubleshoot it, and recover through reinvention.

Hillen recently offered some thoughts for business leaders on stalls and how to return to the head of the pack.

Is there an overarching reason leaders stall?

When an organization grows, two challenges arise for the leader: increased complexity and a need for greater sophistication, the latter of which is a difference in kind, not in scale. In general, most leaders do a good job of addressing complexity — they have tools for that — but increasing their sophistication is a bigger challenge. They excel at tackling new business complexity to keep growing the organization, but they neglect to apply that same degree of deliberation to increasing their ability as a leader to run the new organization at the next level. They focus on changing the business rather than reinventing themselves.

Why are most leaders better equipped to handle complexity over sophistication?

It starts with the way business leaders are educated — and I say this as a professor in a business school. A few years ago, I read a great article in “Harvard Business Review” about how business schools lost their way by spending most of their time training students to do the science of leadership (methodology, analytics) while neglecting to teach them how to lead in the very human environment in which business takes place. Leadership is not exercised inside a formula!  It takes place in inchoate, inexact, sometimes confusing situations full of emotion and unusual behavior. Leaders seldom have all the time and information they need to make the “perfect” decision. They need to learn to understand the nature of achieving through others in a thoroughly human enterprise — which is the one characteristic that every organization has in common.

Which is the most common of the seven stalls?

Relatively new leaders tend to experience stalls in purpose, leading change and teamwork because those are the kinds of challenges facing them at that point in their career.

Ultimately, the most important stall — and the most useful to growing a company if it is recognized and addressed — deals with what we consider the highest art of leadership: developing leaders. It is common for leaders to be so consumed by running the company of today, they fail to take time to build the team that will lead the company of tomorrow. Leaders must become comfortable letting others accomplish objectives, so they can become leaders too. Failure to do so can stop an enterprise in its tracks.

Why should a leader categorize the organization’s stakeholders?

It is all about knowing where to most profitably spend time and energy. Leaders need to shift from only managing what we call down and in constituencies (staff, vendors, contractors, etc.), to up and out stakeholders (shareholders, investors, media, analysts, future customers, etc.) — that is, from people they can control to people they cannot control. This requires a different skill set and they are often not trained for it.

Why do you believe the CEO should act as the chief explaining officer, the chief values officer and the chief philosophy officer?

Simply put, because people expect it. If you are the leader of a company that is experiencing ethical or philosophical issues, who do people look to for clarification? Leaders own the organization’s culture, philosophy and value system and they must be able to explain them. For example, after the Target data breach a few years ago, the CEO chose not to go to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary during its hearing on privacy in the digital age to explain how the breach happened and instead sent the CFO. Two weeks later, the board fired the CEO and put the CFO in the top spot. As Mark Zuckerberg recently found out, if you are the leader, you cannot delegate philosophy, ethics or values.

What mistake do leaders often make when they realize they are in a stall?

They double down on the skills that made them successful. They think, “Something is not working, so I need to work harder.” What they really need to do is reinvent themselves and acquire a new mindset and behaviors.

The keys are self-awareness and self-reflection. Leaders need to understand that it is okay to be vulnerable and wonder if they have what it takes. I suggest asking your employees how things are going in their area, what you need to do differently and what else they need from you. Do not fear that these are indications of weakness; on the contrary, they are the actions of a confident leader.

Jane Seago is a business writer who focuses on topics related to governance, risk and compliance. Her work has appeared in publications targeted to insurance, internal audit, cloud computing, association management, IT governance, information systems audit and information security readerships. Connect with her on Linkedin

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With an approach as new as impact investing, corporate leaders often have to blaze their own trails, sometimes with a few twists and turns.

Take, for example Joe Speicher (pictured above). As a freshly-minted undergraduate, he headed to Wall Street with many of his brightest peers. But after what he describes as a “Eureka moment,” Speicher shifted gears, joined the Peace Corps and hasn’t looked back. He went on to earn a master’s degree at Columbia and then launched the nonprofit Living Goods, which uses the “Avon Calling” door-to-door sales model to build a health products marketplace in East Africa and Myanmar.

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Today, Speicher applies this breadth of expertise to his role as Executive Director of the Autodesk Foundation, the philanthropic arm of design software giant Autodesk. The company makes software for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, and entertainment industries. Launched in 2014, the Foundation’s mission is to deliver impact by supporting the design and creation of innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Speicher recently discussed some of the key principles the team at Autodesk Foundation applies to maximize the impact of their philanthropy:

ALIGN business and philanthropy

“Corporate philanthropy fulfills its promise when it aligns with the business and essentially becomes part of the DNA of the company,” says Speicher. “There’s so much value to be had by being closely tied with the company and leveraging those ties.”

Autodesk has set up its corporate philanthropy so that there’s a back-and-forth between the business and the charity, based on three buckets of value-additive services—financial capital through grants and investments; intellectual capital through software and technical assistance; and human capital through leveraging the expertise of employees. One example is the foundation’s work with Build Change, a nonprofit that helps communities in developing countries ‘build back better’ after natural disasters. In Nepal, which suffered a devastating earthquake in 2015, Autodesk employees helped Build Change streamline its building retrofit analysis from 3 days down to 3 hours using software scripts and plug-ins.

“It’s leveraging our human and intellectual capital to offer societal value,” he says. “And I think that’s the highest and best use of corporate philanthropy.”

INSPIRE and be inspired

“We are a company that is genuinely committed to doing good things, and we’ve put resources towards that end. In some ways, providing a ‘greater corporate cause’ is becoming table stakes for companies, but for our employees—particularly Millennials and Gen Z-ers—it’s critically important.”

In that vein, Autodesk Foundation taps the company’s design expertise and applies it in the field with “impact trips.” Several times a year, employees engage locally and globally in communities and frequently, “they come back with new product ideas or solutions,” Speicher says. “It’s actually feeding back into potential product opportunities.” Autodesk employees also come together one month each year to log thousands of volunteer hours supporting activities across the globe, such as putting together 3D printed prosthetic hands, digitally mapping remote at-risk communities, and packaging meals for schools, orphanages and crisis-relief programs. The Foundation matches employee charitable donations up to $3,000 per year and offers 48 hours of volunteer time per year.

That generosity inspires Speicher, whose impact investing mentors include Kevin Starr of the Mulago Foundation and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was initially established by Microsoft Founder Bill Gates as a vehicle for investing in climate R&D.

INCUBATE Ideas and opportunities

“The Foundation’s opportunity is to help the company think more about our role in society. And that means seeding our work across all business units in the company and showing that shareholder return and societal value can be one and the same.”

Sub-Saharan Africa, a big focus for the Foundation, may be one area where philanthropic insights from the Foundation trickle up to the business. With the Foundation’s help, Christian Benimana, who runs the Africa Design Center in Rwanda, spoke at Autodesk’s user conference two years ago on the built environment in sub-Saharan Africa. And a task force within the company is shaping an Africa strategy.

Potential new markets are also bubbling up in renewable energy and other cutting-edge areas which are supported through Autodesk’s philanthropic work. By taking the risks that the public or private sector can’t or won’t take and using its patient, long-term capital, the Foundation is seeking to build a path to scalability for emerging markets and low carbon technologies.

“So many of the world’s future challenges are design challenges. The implications for urban systems, for manufacturing and industrial production, for the built environment, are just enormous,” he said. “And so, the more we can be thinking about these things and get out ahead of them as opposed to being responsive to them, I think that is such an enormous opportunity for us.”

PARTNER for a powerful philanthropic portfolio

“We align our unique technical know-how with our partners, and find and fund ‘lighthouse examples,’ opportunities to seed the market with transformative technologies and solutions that can help light the way for others.”

Just four years old, the Autodesk Foundation is small relative to older, more established foundations. But the power of effective partnerships, says Speicher, is helping the foundation make an impact beyond its size and stay focused on its core mission.

One partner whose impact epitomizes the Foundation’s focus on supporting the design of creative solutions is MASS Design Group, a 501(c)(3) architecture firm, with offices in Boston and Kigali. The firm recently completed the sublime National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, but some of its most ground-breaking work has occurred with Paul Farmer, an American physician who is known for his humanitarian work providing suitable health care to under-resourced areas in developing countries.

“MASS Group is amazing. They worked with Farmer to build Butaro District Hospital in rural Rwanda, one of the most beautiful hospitals on the planet,” says Speicher. “And it’s a lighthouse example of how architecture needs to change to take into account the specific users.”

Autodesk Foundation supports MASS Design via ImpactAssets, its impact-focused donor advised fund. Through the fund, the Foundation makes complex grant making and private debt and equity impact investments, such as it’s recent investment in Closed Loop Ventures. It’s also able to leverage a shared philanthropic infrastructure with more than 1,000 individuals and organizations that also partner with ImpactAssets.

For Speicher, Autodesk Foundation’s impact investing success cuts across the organization. Autodesk leadership understands the strengths (and limitations) of philanthropy and charitable vehicles and integrates Foundation leaders into discussions about the future of the company. “We need a new model of corporate philanthropy that embeds charitable and sustainable outcomes into the DNA of daily operations—recognizing that this is good for business and society,” Speicher writes in a Fast Company article. Corporations can transform corporate social responsibility from a cost center to a value center, but “you need to know what philanthropy can and can’t do, and then ensure that it’s engaged from a strategic perspective.”

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Alexandra Britton of positive impact consultancy Palladium says firms should focus on creating value in their core business if they want to make a meaningful contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.

It’s inevitable. A few times a week, I come across new statistics supporting the fact that for companies to remain competitive, they must pay attention and respond appropriately to evolving consumer demands for sustainability. According to one survey, 81% of millennials believe business has “a key role to play” in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in another survey, 66% of respondents were willing to pay more for brands committed to making a positive social and environmental impact.

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As a millennial, these statistics sometimes frustrate me – why is this even a question? That is why I’m excited to see more and more companies recognize the importance of SDGs and work to find new ways to support the goals. For instance, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development recently
released a study that found 79% of corporate sustainability reports it reviewed acknowledge the SDGs in some way. At the same time, it found only 6% of companies are aligning their strategy to specific target-level SDG criteria and measuring their impact.

Dutch dairy company Friesland Campina is one company that does a good job of this, connecting its corporate initiatives with SDG targets. So, what’s stopping more from making these connections? A major reason is that companies are struggling to meaningfully incorporate SDGs into their core business strategies. Some businesses that undertake sustainability initiatives use the SDGs as a starting point rather than starting with problems faced by their business. Rather than look at their unsustainable supply chains or shortage of skilled labour, for example, and ask, “How can we solve these problems while advancing the SDGs?”, they may create a new social corporate responsibility program to expand access to clean water.

That is not to say that helping to expand access to clean water is a bad thing, but focusing on programs outside of a company’s core business means creating projects that don’t have clear feedback loops, and also don’t advance corporate objectives. So, what should companies do instead? They should focus on creating value and transforming the systems in which they operate. Here are five steps that can help companies boost their profits and contribute to the SDGs:

1. Start with major problems plaguing the operations and long-term viability of a business

Ask yourself what is threatening the sustainability and future of my operations?

For instance, chocolate companies are facing sourcing issues. Their cocoa farmers are aging, impoverished, and operating on tiny plots of land. Younger generations are choosing not to enter the profession in favor of more lucrative opportunities. Simultaneously, volatile weather patterns are affecting farm yields. This means multinational corporations face major issues in their operations if they don’t create a sustainable supply chain of resilient farms that offer opportunities for farmers. Mars, Inc is addressing this with its $1 billion Sustainable in a Generation plan, which it announced last year.

2. Document which SDGs relate to specific business challenges

The next step is to compare these business challenges with the SDGs and their top-line objectives. Critically think about which SDGs are affected by the problem you’re facing.

This may involve mapping your value chain to the SDGs and defining priorities for your company. For instance, in the context of the previous example of the cocoa supply chain and farmers, the most relevant SDGs are around the areas of poverty, food security, economic growth, climate change, and partnership. Specifically, Goals 1, 2, 8, 12, 13, 15, and 17

3. Map the existing ecosystem and stakeholders

Prioritizing and target-setting starts with understanding the system in which you operate. One reason many CSR initiatives and one-off projects don’t move the proverbial needle is because they fail to answer “What’s in it for me?” for each stakeholder.

4. Identify main areas for value creation

To create enduring impact, companies need to find ways to move beyond short-term performance pressures that can prevent progress on sustainability. Ask what changes needs to happen across it (in the form of new or strengthened relationships, new business models, etc.) to generate more value. Look for points in the system that can lead to behavior change and have the potential to scale. For example, in the case of cocoa, this can involve creating new organizational models around nucleus farming, aggregators, and supply chain managers to drive productivity, increased efficiency and higher quality.

5. Build the solution around these value drivers

Once you have identified the areas where you can create added value for your company and the areas where your company can improve its sustainability, design a solution that brings the commercial and sustainability goals together. A key piece of this is finding the right metrics to measure progress and aligning incentives to specific indicators that cover the business challenges and SDGs. For more guidance on this, refer to the SDG Compass and an analysis published by GRI.

Coupling clear reporting with an ecosystem approach makes it more likely for companies to positively contribute to the SDGs while driving long-term business growth. More importantly, though, it creates meaningful value for all players and delivers positive impact for both business and society.

Alexandra Britton is Manager of Global Thought Leadership at positive impact consultancy Palladium.

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Britain has announced plans to give more business to firms that have a positive social impact, as it seeks to cement its status as a global leader in the growing sector, but experts said the strategy did not go far enough.

The government said it wanted to work more closely with charities and social enterprises – businesses that seek to do good as well as make a profit – to create a fairer society.

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“This strategy is intended to help government strengthen the organisations, large and small, which hold our society together,” said the first plan of action focusing on civil society in 15 years.

“Together we can build a country that works for everyone.”

Social services, from health to transport, are increasingly being outsourced to private companies to save money and boost innovation, with a third of government spending going to external suppliers, government data shows.

The government said it will help social enterprises win more public sector contracts by boosting a landmark 2012 law, which encourages officials to consider the social and environmental impact of contracts they award, not just choosing the low bid.

“We are determined to ensure that public spending is used to generate social value in addition to the goods and services it purchases,” the strategy said, adding that businesses should benefit society, not just their shareholders.

Britain is seen as a global leader in the innovative social enterprise sector, with about 70,000 businesses employing nearly 1 million people last year, according to Social Enterprise UK.

But social enterprises only win about 10 percent of public sector contracts, says membership body Social Enterprise UK.

The new strategy comes amid years of budget cuts, which have strained social services, and questions over the rising use of private companies to deliver them, following the collapse of one major provider, the construction giant Carillion.

Social enterprise experts welcomed plans to boost the 2012 Social Value Act so that central government must ‘account for’ – in other words, report on – the social impact of procurements, rather than just ‘consider’ it.

But this should also be extended to local government, Andrew O’Brien, a director Social Enterprise UK, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He also expressed cautious optimism about plans to create a regular forum for social enterprises to meet with government, saying it could make it easier to learn about initiatives to help the sector.

“We want this to be something that has real substance to it. We don’t this to just be a talking shop,” he said.

By Lee Mannion

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Here’s the story of how tea has played an instrumental role in the lives of women through the ages. It covers the powerhouse activists from the 1700s to the 1900s, who used it to mobilize support for women’s rights around the world; the untold story of women’s influence in tea commerce that shaped the sector into what it is today and a South African woman (Annique Theron) who propelled Rooibos to the top of the global tea charts when she made an unexpected discovery.

Drinking tea has played a central role in the lives of women across the globe for centuries. It’s hard to imagine a world without tea, but like much of written history, the tale of women’s roles and how instrumental they were in shaping tea commerce as we know it today, has not been well-told.

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Mary Tuke (1725-72), who was born in England, was among the first tea merchants to build a chain of tea stores – the equivalent of Starbucks back in the day – and did so amid jail threats and fines as many (mainly men) were vehemently opposed to a woman running a business.

Oura Kei from Japan (1850-80s), was pivotal in creating the Japanese tea export market, while Catherine Cranston (1880-1930) from Scotland built a renowned chain of tea rooms in Glasgow, which led to hotels setting aside space for afternoon tea. The list of female tea innovators and influencers, such as Elizabeth Petrovna (Russia), Penelope Barker and Alva Belmont (both American) goes on and on.

To the powerhouse activists of the 1700s to 1900s, drinking tea wasn’t an idle pastime, these women used ‘tea gatherings’ to mobilize support for women’s rights, which over time paved the way for women to start identifying outside of the home, and obtaining loans to start small enterprises, owning property and frequenting establishments without the companionship of a man.

Another remarkable woman who propelled Rooibos tea to the top of the global tea charts is Dr. Annique Theron, fondly known as the “mother of Rooibos”.

She first stumbled upon the healing powers of this uniquely South African tea 50 years ago, in 1968, when she gave her allergic baby a warm bottle of Rooibos to drink. It was the only thing that settled her allergic reaction – even to mother’s milk – since her birth. Curious about its effects, Dr Theron set out to investigate if there was more to the tea, beyond a refreshing drink. As it was difficult to prove her findings as a woman at the time, she struggled and faced great adversity, but couldn’t ignore the miraculous change in her daughter’s health. She became dogged in her pursuit to scientifically explore and verify the healing properties of Rooibos. 

Today Rooibos is one of the most popular beverages consumed globally thanks to Dr Theron’s discovery. “Her tenacious and never-give-up attitude has created a booming industry, which has not only contributed to a healthier lifestyle for millions of people,” says Adele du Toit, of the SA Rooibos Council. “People have come to rely on this rare and unique herb for almost every ailment: Soothing sunburn, calming a colicky baby, revitalizing skin, keeping hair healthy and strong, boosting immune systems and improving blood flow.”

“No matter the issue, it seems that a cup of tea can solve nearly any problem,” laughs du Toit.

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From pioneering programs in slum housing to mobile phone banking, Santiago and Nairobi are emerging hot spots for business leaders seeking to drive social change, according to a poll of experts on the best countries for social entrepreneurs.

Berlin, London and Hong Kong were named as major hot spots for social entrepreneurs in the Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of nearly 900 experts in the 45 biggest economies.

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But, more surprisingly, the capitals of Chile and Kenya were also pinpointed as two of the five most exciting places for business leaders wanting to have a social impact.
Stephanie Koczela, co-founder of Nairobi-based Penda Health, a for-profit medical clinic group, said in richer countries, like the United States, people often ignored or dismissed social issues and enterprises but poorer nations saw the impact.

“In Nairobi, they want to learn more and help to drive change… Communities here are invested in social enterprises because they understand that they are striving to make the city a better place,” Koczela told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

East Africa is one of the global centres of impact investing – the fledgling market in investing for social good – according to a report by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).

This followed a major success in innovation by Kenya’s biggest communications operator, Safaricom, which pioneered a mobile money service called M-Pesa in 2007 that allows Kenyans to pay bills or receive funds on the simplest of mobile phones, giving people a new way of accessing banking.

M-Pesa, which swept across the country and has been mimicked across Africa, ignited interest from foreign investors in Kenya as an emerging hub of tech and innovation, entrepreneurs say.

“Kenyans are receptive to new ideas, those which want to make a difference. Nairobi is a good city to test innovations,” said Kenyan social entrepreneur Fredrick Ouko, the founder of Riziki Source, a mobile phone app for disabled job seekers.

With English as its main language and rising numbers of socially-minded university graduates, Nairobi has established itself as a hub for social entrepreneurs.

But, like in many other countries, there is no formal recognition for the sector, depriving it of potential investment and incentives like tax breaks, experts said.

Access to finance remains the major challenge, according to Ashoka, a global network of social enterprises.

“Attracting capital and funding is especially difficult for social entrepreneurs in Nairobi, because investors tend to turn to regular businesses for quicker and bigger returns,” said Peris Wakesho, Ashoka’s regional director for East Africa.

In Chile, social entrepreneurs also found it hard to access investment but did receive support from the government which has fuelled the recent, fast-growing trend in social enterprises in and outside Santiago, experts say.

Chile’s leading social entrepreneurs say access to government funding, the role of universities, a pool of well-educated Chileans, media interest and good internet connection have all helped make Santiago a hotbed for social entrepreneurs.

They said TECHO, a Santiago-based non-profit organisation that tackles poverty and housing in slums, played a key role in raising awareness about doing social good after its 1997 set-up.

TECHO, with a large network of young volunteers and now one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Latin America, has served as a platform to launch future leading social entrepreneurs and enterprises.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation poll, conducted in partnership with Deutsche Bank, the Global Social Entrepreneurship Network (GSEN) and UnLtd, the foundations for social entrepreneurs, found Chile came fifth in the ranking of nations where conditions favour social entrepreneurs.

The poll found Chile was the joint third best with France, behind only South Korea and Singapore, for the country where government policy supports social entrepreneurs.

“I’m amazed a lot by how Chile has developed in the last six to 10 years. Just five years ago, most people didn’t understand the concept of social entrepreneurship,” said Maria Jose Montero, head of Chile’s first Impact Investment Fund which raises funds for non-profit and for-profit social enterprises.

Santiago hosts the annual International Festival of Social Innovation, now in its fourth year.

Government programmes offer selected local and foreign entrepreneurs, mainly in the tech business, some equity-free funding, co-working office spaces and mentoring opportunities.

Sebastian Salinas, a Chilean social entrepreneur who co-founded Balloon Chile to support and train local entrepreneurs in rural areas to develop their businesses, said government support had been important for the growth of the sector.

“You can raise money through central and local government funds and each region in Chile has its own competitions and sources of funding for social entrepreneurship,” said Salinas.

By Anastasia Moloney and Kieran Guilbert.

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