Our speaker Joanna, has mentioned in the lecture of Social Entrepreneurship that TOMS is a good example of social enterprise, and I have conducted some research to find out more about its initiative and beneficiaries.

TOMS is a one for one company which means with every pair of shoes sold, it will donate one pair of shoes to children who are in underdeveloped country. TOMS also has jewelry and eyewear line of products to help support poor people in potential diseases.

Yet there is plenty of criticism towards this popular social enterprise regarding its authenticity:

1) Giving out shoes to children in need does not help sustain the improvement of their living standards. Instead, the main issue should be focusing on the eliminating poverty through providing a job and earning income in underdeveloped countries.

2) The shoes are manufactured in China, which is notorious in having unfair working conditions. TOMS might have taken advantage of the low cost labour and be innocent about it.

To conclude, TOMS has been a good intention and raised a lot of awareness in poverty. Yet its solution does not help solve the overarching problem which customers are often misled by the fancy mask.