As the Founder of ClearlySo Canada, I spend most of my days working with entrepreneurs that are trying to change or improve the world through their commercial ventures as well as with investors that are keenly involved in financing entrepreneurial companies.   Increasingly I find my role as one of translator; explaining the concept of blended financial, social, environmental returns to investors and helping the entrepreneurs in our network understand how the average investor thinks about risk and return.  When I meet with investors, I usually begin by trying to assess his/her expectations relating to financial and social return.  Often the response is something like, “I’m interested in a risk adjusted average annual return in the range of 20-30% payable on exit.  All entrepreneurs (social or otherwise) should be able to deliver this to investors if they know what they’re doing.”  As I’m sure you can imagine, the response from many of the social entrepreneurs in our network is, “Yikes”.

But in my role as translator I like to probe further and follow up these comments with questions like, “Well if I could prove to you that by investing in this organization, there will be fewer homeless kids on the streets of your city, would that be worth a discount on your financial return?”  The reply is always one of two things, “Yes, but you need to show me the numbers that prove that”, or “That’s what I do with my philanthropic donations.”  And the conversation continues from there.  Sometimes they eventually get it and sometimes they don’t and that’s o.k. because every investor has different personal interests, goals and individual financial needs.  What I am reasonably sure of is that only those social enterprises and businesses that can exhibit real, measurable, meaningful social returns on investment are going to convince a savvy investor that they should lower their financial expectations, and accept a lower than market rate financial return.

Canadian Entrepreneurs Leading the Numbers Innovation

Through ClearlySo Canada, I am delighted to be associated with organizations like ZOË Alliance,  a company that has a well thought out system to measure their impact, and to have the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs like Stephanie Robertson of SiMPACT Strategy Group, a leader in the world of Social Return on Investment.  What ZOË Alliance and SiMPACT have in common is a commitment to ensuring that the real and full value of social and community change be clearly articulated to investors, donors and other stakeholders. Tools and resources to help social entrepreneurs and investors measure their impact and the value of the change they are creating are being developed throughout the world and Canadian entrepreneurs are world class innovators in this field.  At ClearlySo Canada we think that’s worth celebrating.

About the Author – Julie McDowell – President TARIS Incorporated and Founder ClearlySo Canada

Julie believes in the power of entrepreneurship as a means of tackling the world’s most difficult challenges.  She has been working in, with and for small and mid-sized enterprises for the past 25 years.  As President of TARIS Incorporated she invests in people, projects and corporations aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of social and mission oriented enterprises and social investors. ClearlySo Canada, a national on-line marketplace for social enterprise and investment is one of those projects. As Founder of ClearlySo Canada, she works with a growing network of international professional advisors and consultants dedicated to celebrating, supporting and connecting Canada’s rapidly growing network of social entrepreneurs with the tools, resources, contacts and capital they need to maximize the outcome of their work and build effective, sustainable businesses.

She has held leadership positions with both social purpose organizations and in private industry. Most recently she served as Board Chair of the Canadian Abilities Foundation and was Regional Director for ORBIS Canada, based in Toronto.

She worked for 17 years in the apparel and textile industry, and has held sales and management positions in retailing, manufacturing, and small business consulting.  She was founder and CEO of Millenitex Inc., a successful promotional merchandising company that she sold in 1999.

Julie holds a Master of Science from Cornell University where her research focused on the effects of international trade policy on small and mid-sized businesses in the textile and apparel sector.

E-mail Julie at julie.mcdowell@clearlyso.ca

No. 1. The Intelligent & Sustainable Social Enterprise

In this series of  articles, we will be looking at the meaning of sustainable enterprise, what it takes to create it, and how it can be achieved and maintained.

In an ideal world, every business would be sustainable, and therefore inherently a social enterprise. People would just realize it makes more sense for everyone in the long run.  That’s clearly not the way things are, although we are witnessing increasing interest in that direction.

What do we actually mean by sustainable enterprise? To sustain means at its most basic level to keep alive or in existence; this is the basic goal of any business. ‘Sustainable business’ goes further by aiming at:

• financial benefits for the company
• natural world betterment
• social advantages for employees and members of the local community

A truly sustainable enterprise calls for a different understanding of organizations based on cooperation and win-win. Ecological thinking in its most profound sense understands the implications, both negative and positive, of every strategy, decision and action.  There is a way to foster this thinking and embed it within every aspect of our business, and that is by adopting a systemic approach to management.

An Enterprise is a System

Any enterprise is itself a system. We define a system as a network of interdependent components that work together to achieve the goal of the system.

The goal is by definition a measurable entity so, along with the goal, there has to be a way to measure its achievement. A goal, in order not to be an arbitrary one, must be the offspring of a vision and, in turn, this vision should reflect a basic set of values. The most fundamental prerequisite for a successful enterprise is that all of its members share its vision and the basic values that inspire this vision. Goal, vision and values must portray an idea of future and how their fulfillment will result in the betterment of the lives of everyone in the organization and society at large.

Once goal, vision and values are clear and shared by everyone in the enterprise, then we need to decide how we want to coordinate these efforts. We have to understand, just like in nature, the basic forces that keep the enterprise together and explain how it can function.

Any organization develops very naturally as a network of interdependent components; what makes this network a system is the definition (and the adherence to) a common goal. In other words, when people start collaborating for a common goal the interdependencies necessary to achieve it can be very easily defined. These interdependencies and interrelations provide a clear understanding of how the system should operate. The design of this system must include customers and suppliers and the way in which all the components of the system are going to benefit from the achievement of the goal. Let’s be as clear as possible on this issue.

Our suppliers (and their suppliers), our customers (and their customers) and we (including our competitors) are part of chains of value. This value is realized when an end user benefits from the product/service these chains deliver. Unless the end user pays for and enjoys the product the chains have delivered, in time nobody truly gains. On the other hand, if chains get better and better at delivering better and better products end-users enjoy, the market grows and with it everybody’s wealth. “The Market” is far bigger than what we think and its development is artificially limited by companies’ inadequacies to innovate and take to fruition the potential of innovation.

What can we realistically achieve with this systemic approach? Wealth, not just money, well being, not just profit; an ethical, transparent, environmentally conscious, safe and sustainable chain of efforts aimed at improving everybody’s quality of life through ever improving products and services.

Organizations are vessels; the intrinsic collaborative nature of their work clearly shows that the only meaningful way for any organization to prosper is to become an active vessel, a channel, for the development and distribution of products and services that help people to live better. The only sustainable role for any organization in today’s world is to facilitate for products the fulfillment of their role in the world. Any form of “hedging”, whether of money or goods that hinders this flow only creates artificial scarcity for the temporary and illusory advantage of few. This is the essence of a new, system-based economics. Sustainable enterprise is its engine.

Intelligent Management

With ten times the number of businesses registered on our site, 311 companies that incorporate social or environmental values and principles into the day-to-day operations of their social enterprises and businesses, ClearlySo Canada’s members are collectively changing the world in a meaningful way.  We know a lot about a few of them but are hoping to learn a whole lot more about each and every company in the coming year.

Like any new business we’ve had our share of challenges.  We are limited by time and resources, are working hard to clearly define and implement our vision and plan, and create value through products and services that are needed by the organizations on our site.  I know we’ve made a significant difference to some, but there is still so much more to do in order to truly unleash the collective power of this network.  If you’re a member on our site and have ideas on how we can collaborate in a way that would benefit others in the ClearlySo Canada on-line community, please feel free to e-mail me at julie.mcdowell@clearlyso.ca.

Today, though, on our 1^st Anniversary, the future looks bright and I am filled with gratitude for having had the opportunity to work with and learn from the many incredible entrepreneurs, advisors, collaborators, clients, sponsors and investors that make up ClearlySo Canada.

I’m especially grateful to Angela Loknath, for her dedication to ClearlySo Canada this past year.  Sadly, Angie is leaving us to accept a terrific position as Environmental Programs Analyst with Lowe’s – a perfect match for her skills and interests and we wish her great success.  Angela was instrumental in getting our website launched a year ago today and has supported all aspects of our start up phase with professionalism and humour.  We’ll miss her smiling face, tireless work ethic, high professional standards and delicious home baked treats, but are thrilled to welcome her as our Environmental Specialist on the ClearlySo Canada Advisory Committee.   Check back in April for announcements on new additions to the ClearlySo Canada team!

Lastly, without the vision of Rod Schwartz, this global network of incredible businesses would never have been created.  Rod is truly a pioneer in the field of social enterprise and investment.  He works tirelessly to advance the interests of social entrepreneurs, a club to which he is a paying member.  His time, talent, drive and courage is creating far reaching returns (both social and financial) to businesses and investors all over the planet.  I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to form ClearlySo’s first international network and to be celebrating its first successful year.

We’re looking forward to announcing some exciting initiatives later in 2011 and hope you will check in from time to time at www.clearlyso.ca and share our newsletters with colleagues. Thanks to those of you who have supported us financially through your membership, sponsorship and collaboration.  If you like what we’re doing you can upgrade your membership here or become a ClearlySo Canada sponsor.

The staff were unbelievably organized and friendly; the food delicious and savoury; the company in attendence magnificent. I don’t think we could have asked for a better atmosphere for the evening.

Members in attendance included Bernard Hellen of Traffic – Marketing + Design, Sandra Lester of Affecting Change, Angela Montgomery and Domenico Lepore of Intelligent Management, Timothy Nash of Strategic Sustainable Investments, Donna Parr of CellAegis Devices, Gerry Purcell of Furniture Bank, and members of our Advisory Committee.

We look forward to our Members’ next Networking Dinner! Thank you all for such a lovely evening of great conversation and delicious grub.

On behalf of my colleagues at ClearlySo in both Canada and the U.K., I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the 34 Founding Canadian members who listed their companies on our site and joined the ClearlySo global family.  We are proud to launch www.clearlyso.ca and look forward to building a Canadian network of businesses and investors devoted to using commercial enterprise and creative entrepreneurial talent to solve challenging problems and improve our communities, our country and our planet.  I’d like to extend this invitation to explore our site, meet our team in Canada and the U.K. and we encourage and welcome comments, ideas, testimonials and referrals.

I have so valued the opportunity to get to know a few of our members and we are looking forward to highlighting your amazing work on the site and in our monthly newsletters.  But now if I may, I’d like to share some personal thoughts about my early impressions of who we are and how we can collectively make an impact in the world in which we live.

Recently one of our members asked me why I wanted to be a social worker. I guess by the time we reach middle age, most of us have crafted an image of ourselves.  We wear many hats in both our personal and professional lives.  Mine have included devoted family member, friend, partner, boss, employee, business owner, fundraiser, volunteer, donor, advisor, investor and most of all entrepreneur, but never once had I thought of myself as a social worker.  In the same week another colleague suggested that I bring a private industry, profit oriented bias to my work that while appropriate for some, might not necessarily reflect the motivation of some 160,000 Canadian charities and not for profit organizations for which the social mission is paramount.

So how is it, that in the same month, as I’m going about my business saying and doing essentially the same things, one person sees me as a social worker and the other as a capitalist?  I guess it’s because I’m both or perhaps neither.  Like the entrepreneurs who have  joined our community, I no longer fit into one of the silos of kind hearted, doer of all things good for as little money as possible, or greedy, profit driven business person who cares only about maximizing the bottom line.

What I aspire to be, is a combination of the two – a social working capitalist, if you will and I know that I’m not alone. We are a growing, vibrant club of entrepreneurs who care passionately about using practical and effective business solutions to address serious challenges and build a better, kinder, fairer, cleaner and healthier world.

Here’s what I suspect (and hope to prove) many of us have in common.

• Our primary motivation is to do something valuable in our work benefiting the world at large and we measure our success first and foremost by the scale of our impact.
• We are entrepreneurs personally invested in our mission using our own time and resources to advance our causes and beliefs.
• We see commercial enterprise as a route to accomplishing a greater outcome in our work and building new successful business models.
• We aim to be financially successful and believe that financial success is not only a good thing, but enables us to do more good work.

Over the next six months our small team at ClearlySo Canada with the support and participation of our extraordinary partners in the U.K. led by Rod Schwartz, and an exceptionally talented and diverse Advisory Committee, will be connecting with our members to determine how we may be able to add value to your work through our on-line activities, events, and global network of businesses and investors.  Our aim is to play an important role in unleashing the power of social enterprise and entrepreneurship to create a better world.  It’s an exciting time filled with both opportunities and challenges and I hope you will welcome our calls and e-mails and feel free to share your ideas and comments with us.  You can reach me at julie.mcdowell@clearlyso.ca.

Thanks again for your interest and participation in ClearlySo Canada and welcome!

Kind Regards,

Julie

If you are not yet a ClearlySo Canada member and would like to join us please do so!

Please also feel free to add a comment for us!