So You Want To Start Up. Care To Make It Socially Responsible?
Corporate Social Responsibility need not be an afterthought — it could be part of your organic growth
Could Startups be socially responsible?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) appears to be the burden of medium and large businesses. In the melee of trying to acquire customers, bring revenue, stabilize the product/service, and scale the business is it even possible to think about CSR?
It may be difficult, if not impossible.
What if all ventures were started as being inherently responsible? We want all businesses to be socially conscious and responsible. Could we then imbibe these qualities even as you start?
Adhering to these 4 simple and commercially beneficial guidelines will make you a socially responsible startup.
1. Being immensely useful
I want to make the case that there are no ‘asocial’ enterprises.
All businesses start as social enterprises at heart, as they all aim to solve a problem, to fulfill a service, and to make lives better. They create value and serve a unique need for society. That is how they make themselves indispensable. If you are starting up, think again about this need and the value.
How pressing is the need? How would your business solution impact and transform the lives of your customers?
What then, is the ultimate goal of your business?
If you have not done it already, capture the above in a short and meaningful vision statement for your business.
Check out these:
Disney — “To make people happy”
Ikea — “To create a better everyday life for the many people”
You may be surprised to see that your vision statement not only sounds humane but also that it is inherently socially conscious.
Record it, publicize it, and internalize it.
Let this vision be your guiding light for developing and growing your business. That would help your business retain social consciousness.
2. Being inclusive
Ensure that your staff and your potential customers are from all walks of life. By merely allowing people to participate, you create a positive impact in their lives in ways you may not imagine.
Mobile phones created a big social impact improving the livelihoods of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Before the introduction of mobile phones, people in those remote regions had never used a telephone.
Be inclusive and embrace diversity when you employ people. This allows for a well-rounded workforce with a lot of cross-pollination of ideas and perspectives. This could also lead to more revenue while giving people a fair chance to excel.
3. Building products that last longer
Design your product to last longer. Building for a use-and-throw consumer culture creates churn and waste. The average lifetime of a handphone is 18 months in developed countries. Why should it be that way? Old generation cars were made to last long. Some of us still care for our old fountain pens. (perhaps in fond memory of a parent or grandparent who gave them to us)
If your product is a service or a piece of software, strive to make it device-independent. Let your software not be tied to a hardware feature of a device that may be upgraded or become obsolete. The product must be useable despite the churn rate of devices.
Allow a user to repair your broken product. Companies like Patagonia encourage this behavior and even offer repair services for their wares. Apple has recently announced support to users who can complete their repairs with access to Apple spare parts.
4. Building a culture of ethics
Work to create and build a strong culture– one where you are resolutely ethical in your operations. Make it the business as usual.
A company today must, at a minimum:
- Keep their supply-chain clean. We know how a brand reputation takes a hit when we come to know that a company has been using a supplier who employs child labor. Or when we realize that a company sources from unsustainable sources.
- Be mindful of the use of natural resources. We love businesses that voluntarily disclose the use of natural resources, emissions, and negative externality. We have a healthy trend in that a conscious consumer today looks at these before making a purchase. Businesses could use the services of companies like Watershed to help track and measure carbon footprint.
- Make sure that the product-making process or its usage causes no harm to all life forms.
- Treat people with respect and fairness.
- Have clean and open business practices. This is about business ethics, where you obtain licenses and win sales deals by fair means, employ without bias — based on merit and experience, and be transparent with these as much as possible.
- Abide by the law of the land.
Do you have more ideas that could help build a socially responsible startup? Please share your comments!
