Today I want to celebrate organizations that are taking on the big challenge of eliminating global poverty; businesses that are daring to tackle poverty through collaborative, empowering and inclusive ways.
There are a range of organizations working to create global change. Companies like Unilever and Nestle are offering products that serve middle income consumers in developing countries, B-corporations like Warby Parker and Toms’ Shoes are donating their products to people in need, while socially conscious entrepreneurs like Lush are developing business models to address environmental issues. Lush, an ethical cosmetics company, is offering packaging free products as they make it their mission to make the world better for people, animals and the environment.
The social impact space has gained amazing momentum over the last decade for many reasons: large and small companies see tremendous profit potential at the bottom of the pyramid in developing and emerging markets and are tailoring their products to meet the demands of a new consumer base. Western consumers are questioning the business practices of large corporations and are increasingly demanding sustainable value chains. While multi-lateral organizations and governments are continuously setting new goals and policies to address the world’s most pressing issues, visionary individuals are forming new businesses to accelerate change in the lives of billions of people who are facing economic, social, environmental and political deprivation.
Social impact has been used as a term to refer to organizations that are seeking both financial and social gain. Often times, these types of businesses are seen as social enterprises but the boundaries are not so clear. On one hand, there are charities that have no profit objectives but occasionally engage in social enterprises. The internationally renowned NGO CARE primarily carries out its mission to end global poverty through donations. Notwithstanding, it also operates social enterprises with the aim to harness the power of market based approaches to poverty reduction. Social enterprises usually pursue financial, social and/or environmental impact (double or triple bottom line).
Social businesses, as defined by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, are strictly cause driven and do not pay out any dividends. Any investments that exceed costs will be reinvested into the business to further the cause. The world famous Grameen Bank is a social business that has been replicated as a successful micro finance model, enabling the poor to access credit without collaterals. The distinction between social enterprise and social business is not always crystal clear but that is not really important as the focus of this article is on what they do versus how they are structured. Today, I want to put emphasis on a few social impact enterprises that have touched my heart as someone who experienced some of the highlighted issues first-hand.
d.light
Today, more than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity. Especially in Asia and Africa, many people rely on kerosene and candles to meet their lighting needs. Having spent considerable amount of time with my families in both urban and rural areas of Ethiopia, I can attest to the frustrating fact that centralized electricity systems are not only unreliable but also often don’t reach remote areas. Like most other families, we always kept candles readily available. d.light, which was founded on the mission to provide power to all, offers affordable solar lanterns to meet the demand for reliable energy amongst the world’s poor. d.light offers a range of certified, high quality, portable lighting product solutions that come with a two year warranty. In 2015, the company launched the world’s most affordable high-quality solar light, the A1, which is priced 40% lower than its current market leading solar lantern the S2. With this new product, the company is hoping to accelerate its goal to reach 100 million people by 2020. With its low cost, high volume strategy d.light has achieved tremendous success by tackling a social problem in a scalable and sustainable way. The company has sold over ten million products in over 60 countries, empowering over 50 million people and creating positive environmental impact.
One Acre Fund
In developing countries, agriculture continues to be the main source of employment, livelihood and income for between 50% – 90% of the population. Of this percentage, small farmers make up the majority, up to 70% – 95% of the farming population. Many women are small farmers and represent the cornerstone of farming communities. In Asia, women produce 60 percent of agricultural products, and in Africa that figure is 80 percent. Thus, it is imperative to empower women farmers so they can access credit in order to afford fertilizers and other essential resources. One Acre Fund is doing just that. Founded in 2006 by Andrew Youn, One Acre Fund supplies smallholder farmers with a robust bundle of services that include financing, training, market access as well as seeds and fertilizers.
Currently operating in East Africa, the organization has so far served more than 300,000 farmers, helping increase their income by 50% to $135 per farmer per year. Andrew’s mission is to serve 1 million farmers by 2020. While the core model has been scaling successfully, One Acre Fund is currently investigating how to harness the power of partnerships to accelerate adoption. I can’t wait to see how this organization will evolve to ensure that even the most remote farm family can benefit from their services and come out of extreme poverty.
Sanergy
An essential question tourists learn to ask in a foreign language is: “Where is the bathroom?” In rich countries we take for granted the fact that we can use the bathroom. Everyone should have to use a bathroom but unbelievably not everyone has access to one. There are over 2.5 billion people lacking adequate sanitation in this world. Sadly, the lack of proper sanitation is the prime cause of diarrhea, killing almost 2 million children annually.
The problem is intensified in urban slums where people live in crammed spaces. In Kenya, 80% of the 8 million urban slum dwellers don’t have access to basic sanitation. Sanergy is addressing this crisis in a very innovative way. The company operates a network of local micro-franchisees that sell high quality toilets, called FreshLife toilets. The franchisees get training and ongoing market support and in return generate local employment opportunities. Employees collect waste, which is turned into organic fertilizers that are sold to Kenyan farmers. So far, Sanergy has placed almost 800 toilets and is looking to scale to many more, serving over 50,000 low-income customers every day.
VisionSpring
In the developing world, there are over 700 million people who need eyeglasses but don’t have access to this important product. According to a University of Michigan study conducted in 2007, this lack leads to an estimated 35% loss of economic productivity, children falling out of school, and a significant loss of quality of life. VisionSpring, an award winning social enterprise, is aiming to create a global movement to reach those visually impaired individuals through its range of eyeglasses that cost between $2 and $4. The organization’s model is very innovative in that it sets up local shops and trains local men and women to run those. In addition, it taps into existing larger networks of local retail partnerships to conduct eye exams and distribute eyeglasses in untapped rural markets.
So far, VisionSpring entrepreneurs, of which many are female, have sold almost 2 million eyeglasses. Over 1 million have been distributed in India alone. While the model is primarily a social enterprise serving consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP consumers), it also distributes donated eyeglasses from partners like Warby Parker. VisionSpring has achieved tremendous success but is anxious to achieve the 700 million visually impaired globally. I can’t wait to see how the business will further evolve in its quest to provide affordable eye care to everyone affected.
