Zebras that Dazzle: How Yoshi and his team grew the Zebra movement in Japan
Hi everyone, this is Linzi Fidelin, taking over from the wonderful job that Anika Horn did on the ‘Zebras in the Wild’ series.
This month I spoke to Yoshi Tabuchi, who is one of the new Co-op Board members of 2022. In our conversation, Yoshi shared some amazing examples of how he took the concept of being a Zebra from unheard of in Japan, to a maturing (and thriving) market category in the space of only 4 years.
As a result of Yoshi and his colleagues’ work, there is now a Zebra chapter and a Zebra fund in Japan, the concept of a Zebra company has been named one of the most important topics in Japan by Nikkei Newspaper (the parent company of Financial Times) and Yoshi and his team are now in discussion on how to incorporate Zebras into a key policy pillar of Prime Minister Kishida, known as “new capitalism”.
If you are thinking of starting a Zebras Unite chapter, are already running a chapter, or you are working in a new territory of any kind — this conversation is for you.
Hi Yoshi! Tell us about your Zebra journey
In my previous life as an impact investor, I met an entrepreneur who introduced me to a type of company that was completely new to me. It happened while I was doing due diligence for an investment in her company, and she told me that she didn’t want to grow in the way most unicorn companies do. She had a clear vision on where she wanted to go, and she knew that to maintain the quality and social impact of her work, she would need to stay relatively small. Now I know that any venture capitalist would just walk away at this point. In fact, I was shocked by what she had revealed. But knowing what an amazing entrepreneur she is, I realized that this was a different type of company, and it intrigued and inspired me.
It was not long after that I met Astrid Scholz, and she introduced me to Zebras Unite. Since I was already feeling like there should be more diversified capital available to entrepreneurs, I became extremely curious as to what this might look like in Japan. Fast forward to 2019, and I started Zebras Unite:Tokyo Chapter with my colleague Yuji Suyama and we started to advocate for this concept.
How did you create such a successful chapter, in a place where the concept of Zebra was so new?
When we started, Googling ‘zebra’ in Japanese would bring up a company that made ballpens! Now, if you search that same term you will find Zebras Unite and our work.
I really didn’t know what to expect starting out, but the response was great. When I first started talking about the concept, people seemed to understand quite quickly what I was talking about. I think that was because, rather than creating a new concept, I aligned it with what already existed. Zebras were already everywhere; they just needed a name, and to recognize themselves and each other.
We facilitated this happening by identifying specific characteristics that Zebra companies have, most of which are about their mindsets. For example; companies that are trying to make a social impact through their work, and also companies that require more complicated support than just a capital injection (like time, community etc). We also translated this graph; because we found it so useful to understand the concept — and indeed that worked very well for us too.
With these tools in place, we took a 3-pronged approach to building the ‘Zebra Market’:
- We started a trend: Through blogs, media, online events and more we got the word out about what a Zebra is, what they need, and started to build the community.
- We networked: We leaned heavily on our existing networks to find allies in other businesses, and people in the industry.
- We spoke to the government: Yuji, my chapter co-lead, comes from a career in the Ministry of Economy so we talked to a lot of people through the government, and found that the concept of a zebra really resonated.
Once we had started to see movement, we then launched our own capital fund with three of us, Yuji, Yohei Azakami and myself; all of whom had been involved in the Zebras Unite Tokyo Chapter. This is something that I had planned since the beginning, but I knew that I had to create a market first. Once it was clear that there was a market for the Zebra in Japan, and that it was starting to mature, I knew it was time to truly evidence the concept with a fund. Without this, the likelihood was that the trend would end, and people would move on. We needed to back up the advocacy with action, and that’s what we’ve been doing ever since.
What did you learn about yourself along the way?
I learnt a lot about how to fight my fears along the way. It turns out that most of my fights are with myself rather than others, but sometimes that can be the hardest thing. Everyone has fears, and when we’re starting something completely new, our fears can bring up stories that we didn’t even realize we had hidden in our minds. They get in the way of our progress, but I’ve learnt that by being bold enough to take just one step at a time, we can create magic.
When I came to Skoll World Forum in 2018, I had no idea what to expect. But by stepping outside of my own networks, I met Astrid, I met the Zebras, and now I’ve been elected to be one of the 2022 Board Members of the Coop!
Who would you like to shout out?
One of the first people who said ‘I’m a Zebra!’ in Japan was my old friend who is the CEO of Gundendo. Since then, he and his company have been a big supporter of the Zebra movement.
You can find out all about Yoshi here. And watch this space, you’ll be seeing more and more of him in the years to come!
(5 Dec 2022 — We’ve updated this story to reflect that it was written by Linzi Fidelin, and published under the joint handle of the Zebras Unite founders.)
