A New Book and Some Inspiring People and Projects

It’s a book!
After devoting much time and energy this year to writing my first book—Small Business, Big Change: A Microentrepreneur’s Guide to Social Responsibility—I’m happy to say it was finally published on December 20th, thanks to the tireless efforts of Genevieve and Andrew at Night Owls Press. In the course of writing the book, I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting some wonderfully helpful and inspiring microentrepreneurs whose values and passions are the driving forces behind their commitment to running people and planet friendly businesses. Twenty-one microentrepreneurs from Canada (8), the USA (10), the UK (2) and Sweden (1) took time out of their busy schedules to tell me about their socially responsible business practices and philosophies and what inspired them to become socially responsible entrepreneurs.

These micro-business owners are remarkable examples of resourcefulness when it comes to finding ways to minimize their—and their customers’—impact on the planet’s resources. I met solopreneur seamstresses who transform eco-friendly fabrics or repurposed garments into gorgeous eco-conscious wedding gowns (check out Lori Del Genis’ company, Conscious Elegance) or steampunk and alternative fashion wear (see Jane Faye’s company, Gaia Noir), a business owner whose company manufactures the base for her LED task lamps from recycled and reclaimed materials (check out Nancy Wahl-Scheurich’s LittleFootprint Lighting), and an entrepreneur (Linh Truong, The Soap Dispensary) whose commitment to reducing the amount of plastic and disposable “goods” inspired her to open a refill store where she not only refills customers’ plastic detergent bottles, but also insists on reusing and refilling the containers from her suppliers. Linh and her customers helped to keep just over 400 plastic containers (e.g. for laundry detergent, dish soap, etc) out of the waste and recycling streams.

Social responsibility is not just about the planet friendly actions that a company engages in. It’s also about collaborating and working with like-minded entrepreneurs, social enterprises, and not-for-profit organizations on projects that bring lasting value to their local communities. Two Vancouver based microentrepreneurs I interviewed for the book—Toby Barazzuol of Eclipse Awards (Toby’s company produces recognition awards, including a line of green awards made from recycled and reclaimed materials, and works with client organizations to develop recognition programs.) and Saul Brown of Saul Good Gift Co. (As the name suggests, Saul’s company creates gift baskets. The contents of the baskets are comprised of locally produced artisan products and packed in reusable gift boxes made from recycled materials.)—not only share the same working space but have also collaborated on some inspiring projects, including organizing Sustainability Expos and green zones in their community and launching a materials exchange through their local business improvement association in the lower east side of Vancouver.

For José Flores of VOS® Flips (his company manufactures eco-friendly, recyclable rubber sandals), it made sense to give back to the communities in Guatemala where he sources the rubber for the sandals, so he partnered with local organizations to provide health and educational programs to the rubber plantation workers’ communities. As the owner of a socially responsible travel company, Joe Staiano of Meaningful Trips engages with both his community at home as well as partnering with community organizations in the destination countries where he leads guided tours. I’ll be writing more about these and the other 13 amazing individuals I interviewed for the book over the next little while, but if you’re in a hurry to learn more about what they do to make a positive difference in the world, you might just want to check out the details in the book.

Reuse, Reduce, and Support Local Agriculture
Over the course of the year, I also learned about some other intriguing projects unfolding in Vancouver. One project that caught my attention when it launched earlier this year (but nearly caused a meltdown when I had visions of having to entirely rework an important example in my book) is the Tiffin Project. (In case you’re wondering what the heck a tiffin is, it is actually a small meal, although many people have come to associate the word with the multi-level tiffin containers that are delivered by dabba-wallahs to office workers throughout Mumbai.) This project, founded by a socially responsible Vancouver-based chef with a strong commitment to local agriculture and food security, is a collaboration between the Tiffin Project Foundation (started in June, 2012) and several take-out restaurants as means to reduce the waste created by take-out containers, give people an incentive to get in the habit of bringing a reusable container to restaurants for their take-out food, and support local agriculture.

It works like this: You buy a tiffin box (the containers used for this project are comprised of just one container) for $25—either from the Tiffin Project Foundation or a participating restaurant—and when you take the tiffin box to one of the restaurants that supports the project you get a discount (or some other special deal) on your take-out order. Yes, at first glance $25 for a reusable take-out container does seem a bit steep. However, $4 from the sale of each tiffin box goes into a fund (held by the foundation) that will be used to support participating restaurants buy fresh produce from local farmers in the 2013 harvest season. If 1,000 people buy tiffin containers, that’s $4,000 dollars that ultimately helps support small, local farmers. You can read more about how the relationships and benefits between customers, restaurants, and local farmers are developed and supported here.

It gets even better: According to the project’s founder, if 1,000 people use their tiffin containers twice a week for a year, they will help to keep 104,000 take-out containers out of the waste stream. If the mind boggles trying to visualize what 400 plastic bottles per month piling up in a landfill looks like, imagine what a heap of 100,000 plus (and I’m betting that’s a conservative estimate) styrofoam take-out containers per year must look like! If you want to get some sense of what a cascade of hundreds of water bottles looks like, check out this computer simulated 21st century waterfall on youtube. I’m betting that somewhere out there in the youtube universe there is an equivalent computer simulation for mountains of styrofoam take-out containers. I’m hoping that the project will expand to other municipalities as it really is time we found a more planet-friendly way to do take-out food.

From Flash Mobs to Good Money Mobs
Vancity Savings (a BC based credit union) implemented a new campaign this year—good money mobs—to support local businesses and encourage others to “buy local”. Like a flash mob, it does require a bit of planning and coordination beforehand. Unlike flash mobs, no dancing or choreography skills are required; you just need some cash to lavish on the business selected for the good money mob. Quite apart from this campaign being a great example of how businesses can use social media to reach out to customers and get them involved in making a positive difference in their communities, it’s a great way to infuse cash into local businesses, create opportunities for business owners to forge relationships with new and returning customers, and foster a stronger sense of community. When you support local businesses, at least 30%–and often as much as 60%– of the money spent stays in the community and helps to create a thriving local economy and community, so give some thought to where you will spend your money in 2013.(1)

I’m turning the discussion over to you, dear readers. How have you supported local businesses in the past? What might you be inspired to do in 2013 that supports local businesses, people and the planet? If you own a small business, how do you engage with and give back to your local community? Please share your ideas and inspirations with us in the comments section below.

All the best for a happy, healthy, and successful (however you define that for yourself) 2013.

December 29, 2012

1. For more information about the impact of local spending on a community, check out the following resources: Urban Conservancy and Civic Economics, “Thinking Outside the Box: A Report on Independent Merchants and the New Orleans Economy,” September 2009, and at Maine Center for Economic Policy, “Buying Locally Pays Big Dividends for Maine’s Economy,” December 5, 2011.

December 29, 2012 · Susan · No Comments
Posted in: Social Responsibility, Uncategorized