By Stephanie Jacob
Imagine you have set up a company where the measure of success is not evaluated by the profit you make but by how far you advance the social goal of your company. It might seem strange for a company to not prioritise profit, counterintuitive even, but such companies are beginning to sprout all around the world.
Known as social enterprises, they are becoming increasingly common in a world where people want to work at companies which are more than just about chasing the dollar.
“A social enterprise is a business whose aim firstly, is a social goal as opposed to pure profit. Profit is not inconsistent with what a social enterprise wants but it should be either a dual goal or it has to be below in priority to the social goal.
“The money is really to keep them sustainable and to help them get a bit of returns so they can attract talent into the organisation, and besides you also need to grow your business.
Yap Mun Ching
“So social enterprises are businesses which have particular elements – they have to sell a product or a service and they have a business model. But the business model aim is to fulfil a certain social goal,” explained Yap Mun Ching, executive director of the AirAsia Foundation.
On Nov 6, the AirAsia Foundation together with its partners ThinkCity and MaGIC Social Entrepreneurship will be hosting an event called Destination: Good – Asean Social Enterprise in Kuala Lumpur.
The event will be an opportunity for social enterprises from across the Asean region to meet, network and share their experiences with each other. It also aims to give the general Malaysian public to get an idea of the social enterprise concept and to discover the many different organisations available.
Furthermore, a range of speakers who have built and are running successful businesses will be on hand to speak about what they have learnt over the process of building their companies, this includes AirAsia Bhd founder and group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes. There will also be a group of social entrepreneurs on hand to speak about their stories and the challenges they have faced.
KINIBIZ spoke to Yap to learn more about the event and why the Foundation believes that supporting social enterprises is a good way to give back to society.
Supporting social enterprises through the AirAsia Foundation has become the cornerstone of the AirAsia Group’s social projects and as Yap put it, a focus on social enterprise defines AirAsia’s social philosophy.
“We started the Foundation about three years ago by giving out grants, with the aim of promoting the values of the AirAsia brand. Which are entrepreneurship, equal opportunity and innovation.
“The grants were really to help these social enterprises start up as many of them have difficulties accessing capital because the banks are not gonna give them anything, given that they are not profit driven. So we decided that we will give out grants to those who have a chance of being sustainable rather than purely focusing on whether the business will be successful (in terms of profit).
“The other aspect we wanted to offer was the business mentorship element, because the AirAsia network is very powerful; whether in terms of marketing, resources, Asean linkages or transportation. So we want to find a way to build that into our community work as well,” explained Yap.
Currently, the Foundation supports 10 social enterprises in six countries. Yap said that AirAsia supports these enterprises, through more than just grants. For example, the Foundation might offer them help with their marketing or help them through capacity building workshops, by leveraging on expertise from the larger AirAsia Group.
Furthermore, if the product or service ties into the AirAsia’s business, then the enterprise is given a chance to present a business proposal asking for their product or service to be marketed by the AirAsia brand.
In the past, the airline has promoted a social enterprises which offered on sustainable tourism programmes and also it has also included products in their inflight sales catalogue and food and beverage menu. When such partnerships are done, however, it is done at a business to business level and official contracts and agreements are drawn up.
The Foundation is funded through an allocation of RM1.5 million to RM2 million per year. Of which, 30% goes towards the Foundation’s own costs, while the rest is disbursed through grants and other assistance.
Currently, those who have received the grants are not required to return the money or show any pre-determined results. However, they are expected to present a clear yearly plan to use the money given to them and must provide an account of what has been spent afterwards.
As these enterprises become more sustainable the Foundation might look into how it can generate more funds for itself by working with the successful social enterprises it has supported, said Yap.
In Malaysia, the Foundation is working with several enterprises covering a range of social issues. Among them is APE Malaysia which focuses on improving wildlife welfare and the environment. The group came up with the innovative idea of turning waste into materials into strong enrichment toys and tools for wild animals such as balls for bears as hammocks for orangutans in zoos and animal sanctuaries.
Originally they approached the Fire Department to take their old fire hoses which the department is required to change every few years. Given the strength of the hoses they are the perfect material to be used in building these enclosures.
As their reputation grew, APE was approached by a zoo in Laos which asked if they would make some materials for them. However, the zoo asked APE to source the material themselves because they did not have any. APE agreed to help and set about procuring the materials and organising transporting it to Laos via AirAsia. However, they hit a bump in the road when they realised that there was a limit on the amount of cargo space they could purchase.
They approached Yap for help and she agreed to help them transport the materials to Laos. She also encouraged them to come up with a business plan of how they could make their organisation sustainable, and to present it to the Foundation. After about six months, APE came up with a plan to make pet toys which they planned to sell commercially in order to raise funds to support their social goal.
To help them, the Foundation approached AirAsia’s engineering arm and asked them if they had non-biodegradable, strong materials that were no longer needed. The department agreed to help and passed on old plane materials such as old life jackets, seats and seat belts.
The Foundation sourced designers who helped make the products more attractive and to improve their branding.
Although many question whether social enterprises are capable of being sustainable over the long term, Yap believes that changing mindsets especially among the younger generation of workers will make the difference.
“There is a younger generation of graduates who want to move away from the corporate rat race. Or there are people who are burnt out from the corporate world and they feel totally disillusioned by the type of things they have been asked to justify. They want to use their skills for something else. They might not get the same remuneration but it is really rewarding in other ways.
“Generally the people who gravitate towards it, are socially aware and have an interest in environmental issues, for example. But in the past they would do a regular job and then be very active in volunteering for CSR activities on the weekends. Now, there is a career path and it can become part of your work. So it becomes more than I work to make money and then on weekends I do CSR, now you can incorporate it as part of your job,” said Yap.
For more information on the Destination: Good programme, speakers and for ticket details, please visit airasiaredtix.com and for more information on the AirAsia Foundation please go to http://www.airasiafoundation.com/.
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