In order for a social enterprise to be successful, Tucker says business owners need to understand you can’t bite off more than you can chew.
“We believe that beyond just bringing money to charity we should embrace supporting things which are of their own accord life affirming, positive and enjoyable,” he says “And no one can convince me otherwise that that’s not as valid as solving the world’s problems.”
An example of an “enjoyable” project Kooks Wine has supported is Tram Sessions, an event where bands perform on trams. The idea is to interrupt people’s daily routine and create a positive experience. Tucker says this is important because generosity can be fun and infectious, inspiring others to make positive changes to other people’s lives.
“It’s bringing vitality to a context where people are often self-absorbed, tuned out or disconnected from those around them,” he says. “It starts with enjoying the simple things and seeing others doing the same thing.”
Dr Ben Neville of Melbourne University teaches a subject on social entrepreneurship. He says often people decide they want to become social entrepreneurs and come into the industry with “rose-coloured glasses”.
“In actual fact it’s going to be like any small business,” he told SmartCompany. “It’s a lot of hard work and that means 100-hour weeks and confronting challenging, difficult problems every day.”
Neville says it’s clear consumers want products and services that are ethical or put money back into the community.
“There’s obviously been a growth in ethical and sustainable products and brands,” he says. “I think that reflects in the recognition that neither big corporations nor government are fixing the wicked problems the world has.”
Neville says this results in individuals stepping up to the challenge, whether this be through setting up their own businesses or “voting” with their wallets.
“But also, the social enterprise model is this really nice hybrid,” he said. “It takes the best of the business model and the best of the charity model and puts them together hopefully for the best of both worlds.”
Tucker says around three quarters of consumers prefer brands that “do good”.
“We’d be foolish not to find ways of aligning what we do in a society sense with the prevailing mood of consumers.”
Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
