FOREWORD

HOW TO BUILD A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE THAT MAKES MONEY is a collaborative work drawing from some of OneLeaps most exciting social entrepreneurs. We asked 16 people who have proven themselves as social entrepreneurs to share what theyve learnt from their ventures. The results is this ebook. Short, pithy and to the point, we hope the book proves useful and inspiring to anyone wanting to use the market to achieve a social purpose. Whats more, every single contributor in this book can be contacted directly at OneLeap.com - just click on the link at the bottom of each page! - The OneLeap Book Team Robyn, Hamish, Alex and Wilf

OneLeap is an exclusive global community for entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and innovators. Our members can introduce themselves directly to investors, corporate decision-makers, influencers and eachother - and guarantee them a response. Every introduction raises money for our members' chosen charities. OneLeap is the smart, fast way to high quality introductions, whether you need investment, insights, partnerships or advice.

FACEBOOK.COM/ONELEAP

TWITTER.COM/ONELEAP

CONTENTS
1. TOM RIPPIN 2. PAUL CHENG 3. LILY LAPENNA 4. JUDE OWER 5. KALSOOM LAKHANI 6. MICHAEL WILKERSON 7. JAN MATERN 8. SELENE BIFFI 9. GINA BADENOCH 10. DAVE RADPARVAR 11. CHRISTIAN BUSCH 12. DANIEL DICKENS 13. BAILLIE AARON 14. SHIVANI SIROYA 15. DR. ALASTAIR BUICK 16. TIMOTHY AHRENSBACH

ONLY ARE THOSE HOPES OFTEN MISPLACED, BUT EVEN IF YOU GET THE FUNDING, IT CAN GET YOU INTO BAD HABITS. TWEET THIS

TOO MANY SOCIAL ENTERPRISES PIN THEIR HOPES ON FRIENDLY PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS. NOT

................................... TOM RIPPIN ON PURPOSE ................................... ......................

Start it how you want to finish it. Weve all been there: the business plan looks fantastic in year 3; 1000 customers, 2m turnover and enough profit for a small dividend (mustnt look greedy) and plenty of reinvestment in the business. There are just 2 minor problems left to solve: years 1 & 2. Unlike commercial start-ups which famously approach Family, Friends and Fools, too many social enterprises pin their hopes on Friendly Filanthropic Foundations. Not only are those hopes often misplaced, but even if you get the funding, it can get you into bad habits. If you want to be financially viable in year 3, then best start practicing now.

- of -

TOMS

TIPS

.......................

TOMS STORY

At On Purpose we discovered this the hard way. The original business plan banked on several hundreds of thousands. 12 months later and only 28k in, we decided to focus on building the business with the revenues we could generate. Whilst it means we have grown more slowly, it was also fantastically liberating to feel that the success of the business now depended on selling to our customers, rather than to relatively disinterested third parties. Dont get me wrong. If someone wants to give us some money, Ill gratefully accept it. But well use it for growth, we dont need it for survival. And, ironically, now we are in year 3, it seems like it might be easier to come by.

CONTACT TOM WWW.ONELEAP.TO/TOMRIPPIN

BE HUMBLE...

THE MORE YOU THINK YOU KNOW YOUR MARKET, THE LESS LIKELY YOU ARE TO REALLY UNDERSTAND IT. TWEET THIS

................................... PAUL CHENG SHAREDIMPACT ...................................

Be humble, and listen to as many people as possible as part of your initial planning. The more you think you know your market, the less likely you are to really understand it. Involve a diverse set of professionals, representative of all related stakeholders in planning your offerings. The right people will be keen to add value, but will still let you take the lead in shaping the organisation. Feed in their ideas and be prepared to pivot your initial concept as wider opportunities emerge. Testing and adapting at this stage is much more cost-effective than once you are up and running.

- of -

.......................

PAULS STORY

In this way, SharedImpact was able to develop an online platform for trading social finance assets, adding value to existing charities, intermediaries and funders. Our team of 'friends' then became ambassadors spreading the word, helping us to rapidly become accepted as a cornerstone of the sector. Our initial concept, using donations to refinance loans to charities, expanded to include a market for social impact bonds and many other asset classes, using both donations and investment capital, all designed to bring in new impact investment funding and lower the cost of capital for charities and social enterprises.

CONTACT PAUL WWW.ONELEAP.TO/PAULCHENG

......................

PAULS

TIPS

TO REACH THE MOST DISADVANTAGED AND FINANCIALLY EXCLUDED YOUNG PEOPLE

WE HAVE HAD TO GET CREATIVE ABOUT HOW WE GENERATE INCOME.

TWEET THIS

................................... LILY LAPENNA MYBNK ...................................

If youre going to reach the most financially disadvantaged and excluded you need to get creative about generating income both in terms of who might pay and what they might pay for. Social enterprises may be able to develop revenue models that include direct and sponsored sales, franchising, and consulting services both nationally and internationally.

- of -

.......................

LILYS
STORY

MyBnk delivers financial and enterprise education directly to 46,000 11-25 years olds. Our services are developed with two goals in mind: maximising our social impact and increasing our competitive advantage. We sell our financial and enterprise education programmes to schools and win government and corporate contracts to deliver these into the youth community. Nationally, we operate a social franchise model allowing organisations to access our brand, IP, training and quality control. In return we get a set-up and yearly license fee. Internationally, we consult for organisations who want to set up similar initiatives but its important to set limits - its hard for a small organization like ours to deliver on quality control when the client is 5000 miles away!

CONTACT LILY WWW.ONELEAP.TO/LILYLAPENNA

......................

LILYS

TIPS

A WISE MAN ONCE TOLD ME...

IF YOURE NOT MAKING MONEY, THATS A NICE HOBBY YOU HAVE THERE! TWEET THIS

................................... JUDE OWER PLAYMOB ...................................

Think about your structure early on, its important to define who you are. It will effect every part of your business from your brand/messaging, to fundraising. It also affects the way you make money, and who your customers are. This is important! If you dont know who your customers are, you will have a hard job selling and consequently, generating revenue. A wise man (Bill Liao of WeForest) once told me If youre not making money, thats a nice hobby you have there!

- of -

.......................

STORY

JUDES

For PlayMob, we deliberately did not set ourselves up as a Social Enterprise. Our structure is for-profit, a private limited company. We did not want anything capping our ability to make a profit. And the more we make, the more we can generate for charities. We also knew we needed to fundraise to create our product and that investors ultimately want an ROI. We are in the process of setting up a charity to run our donation flow through, and everything else is highly commercial. With our model, everyone wins.

CONTACT JUDE WWW.ONELEAP.TO/JUDEOWER

......................

JUDES

TIPS

YOU CAN'T EXPECT TO SCALE SOCIAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IF YOU'RE NOT ALSO FINANCIALLY VIABLE...

BE CREATIVE AND DIVERSE WITH YOUR REVENUE STREAMS.

TWEET THIS

................................... KALSOOM LAKHANI INVEST2INNOVATE ...................................

Building a financially sustainable social enterprise is not easy you're often building the market, and tailoring a product or service to an under-tapped and under-valued community. Often you're so fixated on creating your intended social or environmental change that ensuring sustainability becomes less of a priority. At i2i, we're just a year old, so we're still very much in the trenches, but we know you can't expect to scale social or environmental change if you're not also financially viable. While this can be difficult, be creative with your revenue model and factor in varied revenue streams for your company.

- of -

.......................

STORY

KALSOOMS

i2i is an intermediary organization that is launching our accelerator program next month in Pakistan. The most common obstacle for incubators and accelerators operating in emerging markets is that revenue generation is more long-term. Although i2i takes sweat equity in our for-profit early-stage enterprises, and does revenue-sharing or charges a flat fee for non-profits, the pay-out can take a number of years. As a result, we've had to think creatively when it comes to our business model - consulting for mid-stage enterprises or development organizations, and developing an angel network in the country. You have to stay lean, flexible, and authentic to your vision to build an enterprise that is truly viable.

CONTACT KALSOOM WWW.ONELEAP.TO/KALSOOMLAKHANI

......................

KALSOOMS

TIPS

FOR MANY OF US, A SLIGHTLY CRAZY EGOISM HELPS US FIND CONFIDENCE AND TAKE RISKS OTHERS WOULD SHY AWAY FROM. TWEET THIS

................................... MICHAEL WILKERSON OWN YOUR OWN BODA ................................... ......................

It doesnt take long in the social enterprise world to come across some strong personalities. For many of us, a slightly crazy egoism helps us to find confidence and take risks many would shy away from. Still, it is not uncommon to find businesses where the founder appears to be both the product for sale and the lead beneficiary, with the actual customers providing a backup chorus to the main star. Besides the obvious ethical drawbacks, such stardom (even if only in your own head) can make it harder to find and embrace weaknesses an essential process in making the business work for the long term. Few companies thrive right away and it is essential to make adjustments quickly. Finding what really works often means looking foolish or blowing your nice, clean business plan to smithereens.

- of -

MICHAELS

TIPS

.......................

STORY

MICHAELS

At Own Your Own Boda (OYOB), we provide loans in the form of new motorcycles to motorcycle taxi (boda boda) drivers in Uganda. The drivers pay off the bikes over 18 months, at which point their take-home incomes double. Our clients report using the savings to invest in improved houses, new side businesses, and better schools for their children. For most boda drivers the deal is a no-brainer. I figured that not only would we not have collection issues, but many drivers would pay extra to get to the finish line early. And then we had to do our first repossesion - a driver named Henry, who I knew personally and had vouched for with my gut. I made excuse after excuse for him, but after several missed payments we had to take the boda back, which wasnt fun. It turned out that my gut is not a good vetting tool.

CONTACT MICHAEL WWW.ONELEAP.TO/MICHAELJWILKERSON

DONT WAIT TOO LONG TO FIND OUT WHETHER YOUR BUSINESS MODEL HAS LEGS OR NOT...

DONT BE PRECIOUS ABOUT YOUR IDEA - SPEAK TO PEOPLE.

TWEET THIS

................................... JAN MATERN EMERGE VENTURE LAB ...................................

At the core of any sustainable enterprise, social or not, lies its business model. The key is: dont wait too long to find out whether your business model has legs or not. When you get started, dont be precious about your idea, go speak to people, and find out whether anyone actually cares about what you are building. Thats your proxy for the severity and size of the problem or need you are addressing. Second, test whether anyone will put money on the table for your proposed solution. Measure behaviour, not promises. If you tick that box, youre on to a good start.

- of -

JANS
STORY

.......................

Emerge Venture Lab (www.emergeventurelab.com) is an accelerator for startups that address social and environmental challenges at a systems-level. We are a community of entrepreneurs and investors that are passionate about supporting entrepreneurial teams apply principles like these to their early-stage companies. We walk the talk after extensive early testing, were turning from charity to social business, on the basis of a strong business model.

CONTACT JAN WWW.ONELEAP.TO/JANMATERN

......................

JANS

TIPS

WHEN YOU GO KNOCKING ON PEOPLES DOORS, YOU WANT THEM TO LISTEN, UNDERSTAND YOUR CAUSE AND FEEL COMPELLED TO JOIN IN,

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

TWEET THIS

................................... SELENE BIFFI PLAIN INK ...................................

It doesnt matter whether you run a for-profit, non-profit or hybrid social venture; when you go knocking on peoples door, you really want them to listen to you, understand your cause and feel compelled to join in, one way or another. As donations and grants to support your work may not always be available, consider instead proposing a value partnership. Value partnerships involve engaging your prospective partners and supporters in devising a new product or service that can be mutually beneficial, offering both parties visibility, financial returns and a chance to truly leverage eachothers assets for a greater impact.

- of -

.......................

SELENES

STORY

Plain Ink is a pioneering social venture communicating vital information to tackle poverty and social exclusion through high-quality stories, comics and childrens books. Through its works, Plain Ink inspires children and communities to find solutions to pressing local problems. Being all about storytelling, Plain Ink has worked out a partnership with a well-known Italian author and her agency to jointly offer paid-for, online courses to help aspiring authors hone their skills and get their books published. Another value partnership sees Plain Ink working with a stationery-making company to receive free notepads in exchange for original artwork from our workshops with illustrators, that can then be sold to support both.

CONTACT SELENE WWW.ONELEAP.TO/SELENEBIFFI

......................

SELENES

TIPS

FOCUS NOT ONLY ON THE RESULT, BUT ALSO ON THE PROCESS: IN THIS WAY YOU CAN BE

INNOVATIVE AND STRATEGIC IN SOLVING ANY PROBLEMS YOU COME ACROSS. TWEET THIS

................................... GINA BADENOCH OJOS QUE SIENTEN A.C. ................................... ......................

Create a business model that has diverse ways of generating income. Think about the value you can offer others and what can they give you in return in order to have a win win relationship. Work in partnership to lower your costs and guarantee quality. Focus not only on the result, but also on the process: in this way you can be innovative and strategic in solving any problems you come across. Build a brand that shows confidence, transparency and credibility. Get close to all your stakeholders, they are all important - so remember to make them feel that way!

- of -

GINAS

TIPS

.......................

GINAS

STORY

In Ojos que Sienten A.C. weve built an innovative brand of quality that gives shared value to our clients through our "sensory inclusive" model. This helps us have a positive impact on perceptions towards disability and encourage focus on the ability of individuals. We offer services with value, such as sensory corporate workshops, dinners in the dark and social impact gifts for our donors. With these methods we have managed to build different partnerships with local organizations, universities, restaurants and designers. In conclusion: work for the cause and with the cause, making sure you keep offering win-win relationships in order gain continuity and sustainability.

CONTACT GINA WWW.ONELEAP.TO/GINABADENOCH

DON'T LET BUSINESS PLANS, NAYSAYERS, OR OTHER BARRIERS-OF-THE MOMENT GET IN

THE WAY OF YOUR DREAM.

TWEET THIS

................................... DAVE RADPARVAR HOLSTEE ...................................

Go out and start creating. If you want to build a financially successful social enterprise the first thing you need to do is start. Don't let business plans, naysayers, or other barriers-of-the moment get in the way of your dream. Nothing extraordinary has happened by taking ordinary steps. If you can't see a clear path youre heading in the right direction for something incredible. Always remember to keep looking to the horizon and remind yourself that your dreams are memories in the making - all you need to do is get out there and start creating.

- of -

.......................

STORY

DAVES

When we first started Holstee we took a chance to do something we had no experience in, though. But we were convinced that with positive intention and a lot of hard work something would come of our efforts. Over the past few years as Holstee has grown, we have been faced with many challenges, though there has been an equal amount of opportunity, and had we never started we would have never learned from those challenges or grown with those opportunities. There are many ups and downs when it comes to creating anything, but as my brother always says, its more fun to ride a roller coaster than a merry-go-round, and for me the thrill of creating is the ride of a lifetime.

CONTACT DAVE WWW.ONELEAP.TO/DAVERADPARVAR

......................

DAVES

TIPS

HOW DO YOU ASSEMBLE A GOOD TEAM?

BY STATING A CLEAR PURPOSE, GIVING IDEA OWNERSHIP & FOSTERING A TRUSTED ENVIRONMENT. TWEET THIS

................................... CHRISTIAN BUSCH SANDBOX ...................................

The most over-looked yet crucial challenge of building a sustainable social venture is building a great team. If you have an interesting opportunity and a reasonable strategy, resources will follow but only if the people behind the idea are good enough. So what makes a good team? A good team is not only complementary on the competence dimension (e.g. marketing vs finance), but most importantly, on the character-dimension; a visionary needs to be complemented by an executer, or things never get done. How do you assemble and retain it? By stating a clear purpose, giving people idea ownership, and most importantly, fostering a trusted environment.

- of -

STORY

CHRISS

CONTACT CHRIS WWW.ONELEAP.TO/CHRISTIANBUSCH

.......................

At Sandbox, weve been extremely fortunate to have built a complementary team. while we had completely different skillsets and approaches, all founders had a similar vision: to build the worlds most valuable community of exciting young innovators and to help them grow and accelerate their global impact. Competencies ranged from law to marketing, while characters ranged from visionary to implementer. We never consciously thought about creating a corporate culture; yet, the more we grew, the more we realized that by living and communicating our passions and dreams, it was possible to attract and retain great talent, and ultimately sustain and scale the community and organization. More about our approach can be found in our recent work around Impact Organizations: http://youtu.be/mfGb1qZ7bW0

......................

CHRISS

TIPS

IN EVERY SUCCESSFUL STARTUP IVE LAUNCHED... THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AT LEAST ONE CRITICAL ASSUMPTION

THAT TURNED OUT TO BE COMPLETELY WRONG

TWEET THIS

................................... DANIEL DICKENS PARTICIPLE ...................................

In every successful start up I've launched, advised or simply observed up close, there has always been (at least) one absolutely critical assumption, built into the original business model, which turned out to be completely wrong. So my advice would be to set yourself and your team up to learn which one it is as fast as possible. Reacting decisively to this learning and setting out a bold new direction is your job as an entrepreneur and leader. Inside just know that all of us have been there, its part of the show. Take a deep breath and keep moving!

- of -

.......................

DANIELS

STORY

At Participle - www.participle.net - we are building future services that address the biggest problems we face as a society, from chronic disease, to ageing populations, to youth unemployment. As Director of Start Ups, I lead our ventures from prototypes to national scale and try to take my own advice to heart. I've developed a structured innovation process that iteratively tests each key hypothesis, from value proposition to operating model to business development. To the person experiencing the service, it's just getting better. Internally, it provides us with invaluable learning towards achieving both financial sustainability and social impact at scale.

CONTACT DANIEL WWW.ONELEAP.TO/DANIELDICKENS

......................

DANIELS

TIPS

TO ATTRACT MONEY, YOU NEED A CLEAR MISSION, VISION, AND SET OF VALUES. TWEET THIS

................................... BAILLIE AARON SPARK INSIDE ................................... ......................

To build a financially sustainable enterprise, youll need the right network. Develop relationships with a diverse mix of professionals experienced in social investment and charity finance, as well as in for-profits. You can involve them as directors, trustees or board members or benefit from their mentorship informally. They will help you to develop practical funding models for your business, and to build the structures to make you investable. Be careful about chasing money while it can be tempting to mold your business model according to the most obvious sources of revenue, you can come across as distracted. To attract money, you need to project a clear mission, vision, and set of values.

- of -

BAILLIES

TIPS

.......................

BAILLIES

Its a challenge to become sustainable when clients cannot pay for services. Spark Inside offers life coaching to young people coming out of prison, most of whom are indigent. Funding cuts to prisons and local authorities means that financing is highly competitive. Thanks to the input from its advisory network, Spark Inside has a 5-year plan for earning the bulk of its future revenue from earned income. In its pilot stage, it already has funded contracts with two Young Offenders Institutions; meanwhile, it is building partnerships to offer a more holistic continuum of care, as per government preference.

STORY

CONTACT BAILLIE WWW.ONELEAP.TO/BAILLIEAARON

THERE IS POWER IN VULNERABILITY. LET PEOPLE IN ON THE FACT THAT YOURE LEARNING AS YOU GO AND YOURE SEEN AS A BETTER ENTREPRENEUR. TWEET THIS

................................... SHIVANI SIROYA INVENTURE ...................................

There is power in vulnerability. Being vulnerable is one of the biggest challenges an entrepreneur faces. You constantly feel you have to show this perfectly packaged picture so someone is willing to start the conversation. But if you can let people in on the fact that you're learning as you go, you're seen as a better entrepreneur. You're showing people you're a nimble organization that is going to be flexible and adjustable to any challenges that you're facing.

- of -

.......................

STORY

SHIVANIS

With InVenture, we have had our own moments of incredible vulnerability. We have faced down early failures and seen them not as setbacks, but as lessons to help us move forward. We have grown immensely from our failures, but only because we were open and vulnerable with each other and our investors. Today, InVenture is nothing like what it was when we first started. InVenture has refined and focused our own model by being open and listening to the market. We changed from being a crowd-funding organization that was providing micro-investments to small businesses to providing credit scores to help other lending institutions expand their portfolios, reduce risk and increase financial access for all.

CONTACT SHIVANI WWW.ONELEAP.TO/SHIVANISIROYA

......................

SHIVANIS

TIPS

ABOVE ALL, MAKE SURE YOU AVOID BECOMING THE NICE IDEA THAT NEVER HAPPENED. TWEET THIS

................................... DR ALASTAIR BUICK MEDUCATION ...................................

Form strategic partners if you can. Be malleable but dont be vague. If you have a strategic partner you want to work with, be clear in how you see it working, but be open to change. Put yourself in their shoes and work from there. Understand the rate of dialog within the organisation or company you are talking to. If this is slow, as is common in larger organisations, then avoid the general ideas and be specific, trying to seal the deal in just a few meetings. If their dialog is fast, you may be able to afford time to discuss with your contact the 'best fit scenario'. However, above all, make sure you avoid becoming the nice idea that never happened.

- of -

.......................

STORY

ALASTAIRS

The Meducation team believe that if there was a place that the global community of medical professionals were able to support one another through learning, sharing and development, it would improve the quality of medicine and ultimately save lives. To this end, we are creating Meducation, an educational social-network where medics share their knowledge, resources and ideas, and where they support each other.

CONTACT ALASTAIR WWW.ONELEAP.TO/ALASTAIRBUICK

......................

ALASTAIRS

TIPS

THE MORE OPEN YOU ARE TO ENGAGING WITH COLLABORATORS TO BUILD YOUR SOCIAL VENTURE TOGETHER, THE STRONGER IT BECOMES. TWEET THIS

................................... TIM AHRENSBACH HUB WESTMINSTER ...................................

Build it with peers. Being social entrepreneurs, we tend to not only be passionate about what we do, but incredibly determined about how we do it. However, the more open you are to engaging with collaborators to build your venture together, the stronger, more responsive and ultimately more sustainable it becomes. This requires the social entrepreneur(s) to build a shared sense of purpose, which can be both time and resource consuming (many chats over coffee will be had), but the co-investment, extended networks and goodwill gained will make it worth your while.

- of -

.......................

STORY

TIMOTHYS

HUB Westminster was not built by 3 co-founders; it was built by a whole community of collaborators who shared the ethos of the project; from members and investors to friends and partners who joined along the way. The openness of the venture is evident in everything from co-designed (and hacked) furniture to collaborative programmes and an extended member hosting team. Engendering this strong sense of co-ownership has allowed us to create a platform for social impact where every member of our community is an ambassador for our cause.

CONTACT TIMOTHY WWW.ONELEAP.TO/TIMOTHYAHRENSBACH

......................

TIMOTHYS

TIPS