3 Lessons on Social Entrepreneurship
Two years ago I was packing my bags, ready to take a 15 hour flight to South Africa and then a 3 hour connection to Nampula, Mozambique. In the latter, I would work alongside World Vision’s WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) initiative for the following six months. I had been working with Water to the People and researching the water crisis for the past year. Nonetheless, this was my first direct contact with the situation.

Water to the People was conceived with the one-for-one model in mind. On the one hand, we had a global water crisis that needed urgent action, with peaking awareness levels. On the other, there was an exponential increase in socially minded ventures and a growing market attracted towards ethical projects. We sought to address both fields at once.
After Nepal’s earthquake on 2015, we launched our first campaign. Over the course of the next few days, we sold over 200 water mugs locally which helped finance water filters for 5000 affected Nepalese in rural camps. All proceeds were invested, the project derived no returns in terms of profits.
There is a difference between a short-term project and a long-term venture: money. It was never the main concern of Water to the People to create profit. However, profit does attract investment and investment is the biggest catalyst for impact. We needed to capitalize on our first campaign, unless we were expecting a mainstream tragedy every week.
We needed to sell a viable product in order to maintain relevant.
Social Mission does not sell by itself

There is a common misconception amongst social entrepreneurs; the idea that a social mission can sustain a company by itself. This is the biggest trigger for failure in the industry.
Social Mission is not a differentiator by itself. First, you need a good product and then you can complement it. If you can’t sell your product by itself, you won’t sell it because it provides water in Africa or food in poor communities. Even TOMS, which is a case to be studied apart, owes its popularity to low production costs and good branding over socially minded campaigns.
Becoming a B-Corporation or donating a percentage of your earnings does have its advantages, but will only take you so far. At the moment of purchase, customers will consider quality, price and reliability, once all of these are covered they can afford to regard charity.
In contrast, a social mission will hardly sell your first product but might sell your second. While focusing on your campaign instead of your product might hurt your sales, certain campaigns can create higher costumer loyalty. For example, printing stories of beneficiaries at the back of food boxes will increase the chance of a second purchase.
The idea that a social enterprise does not have to meet dividend as long as it provides social good is fundamentally wrong, specially if you are expecting continuous growth. While social enterprises have the double benefit of financial and charitable success, the cease of the first leads to the demise of the latter.
Social Good is not a sold product

As I arrived in Nampula, I tried to not create any expectations. I knew making an impact was not an easy task and that providing a service was always going to be challenging, specially in critical conditions. Nonetheless, I never expected to have difficulties selling an essential good, virtually for free.
I had convinced people in the US to invest several thousand dollars in the project, yet I had a harder time convincing communities about the importance of clean water. In sales, it’s easy to offer a product people don’t need but want; the real challenge is to sell a product people need but don’t want.
I, ignorantly, expected people to celebrate the arrival of water pumps or filters. And while some did, the majority didn’t understood the benefits or the significance. I spent the majority of my time in the African continent convincing people to drink water from a well and not from the floor.
Focus on the Story

There are 665 million people without access to water and one in every three people does not have access to proper sanitation. I repeated those numbers almost every day, and people, while in shock, forgot about them shortly afterwards. Statistics create an initial impact, names have longer retention.
Big numbers seem impossible to tackle, individuals are easier to target. Focusing your story around a few kids or events, helps maintain costumers interested.
On World Water Day, charity: water launched a campaign called Someone Like You. Based on your age and interests, it matched you with a person in a rural community, suffering from water scarcity. Even when donations would go to communities as wholes, details helped trigger action.
Scott Harrison, Blake Mycoskie, Doc Hendley -social entrepreneurs- all have fascinating stories. Their stories are easier to go mainstream than that of a children suffering from water scarcity. Costumers will become attracted to a cause as long as they feel represented.
