In today’s ultra-competitive industries, one may think that there is little or no room for social purpose. However, there are many companies that believe not just in maximising their financial returns but in being a responsible part of society and giving back to society. They are striving to make a society where companies, customers and communities can all thrive together. Today we will talk about seven such businesses and how they are demonstrating their social purpose. So, without wasting any time, let’s jump right in.

1.Beam

Beam has been at the forefront when it comes to providing a stable home to homeless people in the UK or helping them get a job so they can have a bright future.

Beam’s Head of Communications, Montana Gerry, says, “At Beam, we showcase our social impact publicly via the transparency dashboard on our website. The dashboard features more than 100 live data points, from the number of homeless people we’ve supported into work to the amount donated by members of the public. Companies and individuals who donate through the platform also get their own impact pages, where they can see all the people they have supported and where they’re at on their journey.

She further goes on to say,

“Our beneficiaries can also share progress updates via Beam’s website, such as when they complete their training or start work. We capture this on a custom newsfeed, which is full of amazing success stories of people who have turned their lives around with Beam’s support.”

2.TrustonTap

TrustonTap‘s aim is to provide better quality home care for a better quality of life. They connect people directly with qualified hourly, overnight or live-in home carers starting from £14/hour only. TrustonTap is changing the way we care for older and vulnerable individuals in our communities by connecting experienced and trusted carers directly with families with the help of their team. They are the winners at the renowned National Impact Awards 2021.

William Cotton, Managing Director of TrustonTap, says, “The social care sector in the UK has seen a catastrophic collapse in funding with about 3 million elderly people who have unmet care needs. The challenge for many people is finding quality care at affordable prices and TrustonTap has developed a solution that can help with this.”

William further elaborates,

“Our platform helps match older people directly with high-quality carers, enabling them to have a closer, more consistent relationship and saving them over £2000 pa each. TrustonTap connects carers directly with older people (and their families) to support them to live independently at home. This helps ensure that the carer gets c.50% uplift in hourly pay, the client pays approximately 30% reduced cost, and receives a more personal, higher quality service than care via an agency. The 5-star feedback we have received from customers demonstrates that they value the care quality, the carer reliability, and the increased value for money. In addition, our Carers benefit from the closer relationship with care recipients and value the increased rewards.”

3.Kleiderly

Kleiderly is on a mission to make the fashion industry more circular. That is why all of their products are related to the world of fashion. They use old, unwanted clothing and convert it into a plastic alternative, lowering the fashion industry’s carbon footprint. By doing so, they are solving two of the environmental problems. The plastic problem and the textile waste problem, at once.

This is what Alina Bassi, CEO & Founder of Kleiderly, has to say about how Kleiderly is making a positive impact.

“87% of all material used for clothing waste ends up in landfill or is burned in incinerators. When ended up in landfill, it takes over 200 years for clothing to decompose because it’s primarily made of plastic, such as Polyester. This produces tonnes of CO2 emissions, so it’s no wonder that the fashion industry produces more emissions than both the shipping and flying industries combined. Our mission is to stop this. We solve this problem with our patent pending solution, turning unwanted textiles into a plastic alternative, hence replacing plastics. Our material can be used to produce anything from clothing hangers to eyewear, creating a truly circular economy. With Kleiderly we give clothing waste another chance at a useful life.”

She adds,

“Impact Forecast, an external third-party consultancy, commissioned by EU’s Climate-KIC, verified that we have a climate impact reduction potential of 7565 metric tonnes of carbon equivalent per year. This is equivalent to: 924,484,113 smartphones being charged, 1,365 hot air balloons of CO2 and 3,180 EU households electricity.”

4. Treedom

Treedom is the first web platform globally that allows people to plant a tree remotely and follow its story online. This is what its Founder and CEO, Federico Garcea has to say when asked about how Treedom demonstrates its social purpose.

“Transparency is the root of what we do at Treedom. We wanted to make it possible for individuals and companies to plant trees remotely, and to trust that their trees are being looked after – that is why we geolocate and photograph every sapling, sending regular updates about the impact that the project is having on local communities. It’s about planting the right tree, in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, and creating a world that is not only greener, but better, brighter and more equal.”

5.OLIO

OLIO was established to tackle the enormous problem of food waste. It does this by connecting neighbours with each other and volunteers with local businesses, so that surplus food can be given away, not thrown away. You can share any type of food on OLIO. For example, food nearing its sell-by date in local stores, the spare vegetables grown in homes, bread from bakeries, or the groceries left in fridges when people go away. Once can use OLIO to give away other spare household items and buy and sell homemade food and handmade crafts.

On being asked what motivated her to come up with OLIO, this is what its Co-founder & CEO Tessa Clarke had to say,

“The lightbulb moment for OLIO came when I was moving country and found myself on moving day with some good food that we hadn’t managed to eat, but that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away. And so, I set off on a bit of a wild goose chase to try and find someone to give it to, and I failed miserably. Through the whole process it appeared to me crazy that I should have to throw this food away when there were surely numerous people within hundreds of metres of me who would love it, the problem was they just did not know about it. And so, the idea of OLIO, a mobile app that connects neighbours to share food came about!”

She further says,

“So far our community has saved 25 million portions of food, and 3 million other household items from the bin. This has had an environmental impact equivalent to taking 80 million car miles off the road, and has saved 4 billion litres of water. And we’ve only just started….”

How OLIO Demonstrates its Social Purspose?

OLIO’s whole reason for existence is to try and solve the climate crisis in a way that’s inclusive and scalable, by connecting people with their neighbours so that surplus food & other household items can be given away, not thrown away. We’re also really proud of the fact that our carbon emissions as a company offset just 4% of all the carbon we save each month, making OLIO a massively carbon negative company. We are also playing a really important role in strengthening local communities which I also think is critical to achieving a more sustainable way of living.” 

6. Belu

Belu is a drinks business that aims to help transform lives worldwide with clean water. Powered by a clear purpose, Belu invests its profits in making a difference and by 2030, they plan to change the way the world sees water.

Talking about Belu’s purpose, Natalie Campbell its Co-CEO, says

“Belu is a drinks business that puts people and the environment first. We sell sustainable Mineral Water, Mixers and filtration systems to the hospitality industry and workplaces. Our products are not exported because there is zero need to ship water and drinks all over the world, it’s such a bizarre practice. We operate our filtration service globally because it is not carbon-intensive and actually saves on material waste.”

She continued,

“Our business strategy and operating model are underpinned by our purpose, ‘to change the way the world sees water by 2030’. We invest all our profits in pursuit of this. We are most known for giving all our net profit to WaterAid, over £5m to date, to bring clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene to everyone, everywhere. What people don’t realize is that we are also BSI PAS2060 certified which is the only global standard in real carbon neutrality and we champion the circular economy, which has allowed us to reduce the carbon intensity of our business by 68% since 2010.”

7. envoPAP

envoPAP makes innovative, sustainable packaging and paper that is environment-friendly. Instead of using wood they use renewable sources like agricultural waste and still deliver an industry-leading product.

When asked about how they demonstrate social purpose, Sohail Abdi, Marketing Lead of envoPAP, says,

“Our entire business is about social purpose – to reverse climate change and give society a fighting chance to perpetuate its existence, unthreatened by the wrath of the environment. Our main raw material – agricultural fibres – was previously burnt by farmers, causing several interconnected environmental problems. Now, we pay them for it. Additionally, we became a certified B Corporation in 2019 after clearing one of the world’s most stringent audits, having met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.”

Final Words

These are seven of the many businesses that are demonstrating their social purpose, making the world a better place. If you support an organisation or own a business that is having a social purpose, tell us in the comments section or join us and share it. We would love to hear about them!! And discover more about the people driving social and environmental impact by and within your organisation.