On the topic of social entrepreneurs, I’d like to share the story about Blake Mycoskie, otherwise known as the founder of TOMS, and how he came up with the one-for-one idea. (Fun fact: did you know that Blake was a contestant in The Amazing Race before he started with TOMS?)
Blake travelled to Argentina in 2006 to do some community service work among other things like playing polo and learning tango. During his time there, he was hit with the realization that many kids did not have proper footwear. Hence, he decided to create TOMS based on traditional Argentine alpargataa slip-on—in lightweight fabrics and vibrant colors and prints. With every purchase of a pair of TOMS, another pair will be donated to a child in need.
I think this is a pretty effective business model. Not only is TOMS one of the world’s most successful footwear retailers, more importantly, the method of helping the needy is effective too, unlike traditional donations that may or may not even reach the actual people in need due to the lack of transparency and bureaucracies.
Personally, I love the idea of social enterprises. They’re run by people with a genuine heart who want to make a change in society, starting up a social cause that happens to work exceptionally well as a business, as opposed to a business that happens to have a social cause. 🙂
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