Enterprising for Social Good (SCALE)
Micro, small and medium size businesses
We seek collaboration with entrepreneurs.
HR&S / Action10 claim that if social problems are to be tackled successfully,
organisations seeking to solve them need sustainable revenues and investment to innovate and grow,
thus the program itself must generate funds to cover the program running costs without being dependent on donations.
Moreover the creation of, or employment in companies with local or national ownership is seen as means for development. Good businesses start with a good business idea. That would be a fundamental principle, but it is also true that a good idea is not the only thing required to get a business going.
Aspects to consider are also that i) good ideas aren’t necessarily unique, ii) timing is critically important, iii) “on paper” does not always translate to real life, iv) circumstances change, and v) execution is as important as planning. The HR&S / Action10 Business idea template aims to cover the important aspects which require attention, at the same time the template aims at as not being too demanding, but a first step. HR&S / Action10 also offer a Business plan template (www.humanrightsandscience.se), which compiles more details.
Pitch
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Version one – a first short text
Introduction
Introduce yourself – give specifics.
This is where you tell people who you are and why you’re an authority. …
The problem
Define the problem and explain why your audience should care. …
Our solution
Explain our solution. …
Requested investment
Make your ask. …
Thank you
Say thanks.
Version TWO – in a meeting
Establish the need
“What problem are we trying to solve?” Convince the audience that there is a need. Give the audience a definite, concise statement of the problem, with an example or two illustrating the need. Show the audience how it affects people. Then follow up with our solution to address the need.
State our competitive advantage
What is our competitive advantage? How is what we are pitching better than what our competitors are offering—or at least, how it is different. Also show any potential entrants in that space. What is our shield against those?
Include a sound bite
A sound bite is a short, catchy phrase. Most people don’t remember data, but they will remember a sound bite. A sound bite is the Velcro that makes the message stick. We all remember Steve Jobs’ famous sound bite, “The world’s thinnest notebook” when he first introduced the MacBook Air. It pays to spend time to come up with just the right sound bite to catch your listeners’ attention.
Introduce the team
The audience needs to have the confidence in that we have a solid team to back us up. Keep the team’s accomplishments relevant and high level, and include photos.
Take “yes” for an answer
We must know when to stop selling our idea, to be able to read the signs that tell us our idea has hit home. The more we continue to talk beyond that point, the more we are likely to say something that can reverse the positive direction.
The follow-up
Come prepared for the next steps. What happens if we get a positive response? What do we want our audience to do?
We shall practice our follow-up steps as diligently as we practiced the pitch. Preparation will help us move forward with confidence.
Business iDEA
Components
- The team
- The expected outcome
- Products and services
- Customers
- Finances
- Scalability
- Competition
- Risks
- Implementation plan
- The team
- ¨Team members
- ¨Good team spirit
- ¨Cross-cultural partnership
2. The expected outcome
- ¨Identified challenges and proposed solutions
- ¨Social impact
3. Products and services
- ¨Products and services identification
- ¨Status of product development
- ¨Modes of selling
4. Customers
- ¨Customer identification
- ¨Customer paying capacity
5. Finances
- ¨Revenue
- ¨Start-up capital and future costs.
- ¨Income statement budget
- ¨Cash flow budget
- ¨Financial Sustainability
- ¨Partnership agreement ‘
6. Scalability
7. Competition
8. Risks
9. Implementation plan
Reflections
¨The team
¨Team members
¨Who are in our team?
¨What relevant experiences do they have?
¨What roles do they fill?
What is the background of the entrepreneur and leadership team?
Why are they qualified to lead this venture?
What are their skills, do their skills complement one another; are there any skill gaps?
Do we work well together?
¨Good team spirit
¨How do we ensure cross-cultural partnership awareness?
An honest, positive and supportive team-spirit is crucial for the success of any business.
¨Cross-cultural partnership
¨How do we ensure cross-cultural partnership awareness?
To understand another culture is not always easy. The aim with having a Cross-cultural partnership (CCP) awareness raising approach is to increase knowledge and understanding, meeting needs and at the same time impose empowerment and respect.
The CCP aims to provide information and thus to help avoid misunderstanding.
¨The expected outcome
¨Identified challenges, proposed solutions
¨Which are the identified challenges?
¨Why do we do this?
¨What is our proposed solution?
¨What is our vision?
¨Social impact
¨What is the theory of change?
How do we see our organization causing customer “actions” that link to measurable “outcomes” and thus real “impact”?
What social, environmental and financial impact can be achieved (positive and negative)?
How does our organisation intend to measure the outcomes, and how do they tie to social impact? (eg metrics, definitions).
¨Products and services
¨Products and services identification
¨Which are the products and services?
What is the product (define succinctly)?
What pain point facing customers does this product address?
How does this product – in a unique or superior way – address the pain point?
What is this product’s unique advantage? unique solution? product innovation? improved quality?
Business model innovation? Customer reach? Unique partnership?
¨Status of product development
¨Is our product / service fully developed?
¨If not, how much time and capital would be required to create a sellable product / service?
¨Modes of selling
¨Where will we sell our product / service?
¨How will we sell our product / service?
How will the entrepreneur be able to produce the product, or deliver the service?
What is the distribution strategy to reach the customer?
What is the customer acquisition strategy?
What aspects of the business model have/have not been tested or piloted?
¨Customers
¨Customer identification
¨Who are our first customers?
¨Who are our long-term customers?
¨How many are they?
¨How do we reach them?
Who are the target customers? What customers have used product/ service, and what impact has it had on their lives? What is the customer’s willingness to pay? How large is the addressable market size, and customer demand? What evidence exists that customers care about the value proposition (customer referrals, voice of the customer interviews…?
¨Customer paying capacity
¨How much money do we estimate that our customers can spend on our product / service?
¨How big is our potential market?
¨Finances
¨Revenue
¨How do we generate revenue?
¨Where will we get the money from?
¨Start-up capital and future costs
¨Which are our biggest costs?
¨Will we need capital for the first year?
¨How do we plan to finance this?
¨Which are our future costs?
¨Income statement budget
¨Develop an income statement budget.
¨Explain the numbers and the assumptions we have based our calculations on.
An income statement for a business reports its earnings and expenses for a given period of time, for example a year. It is a predicted income statement for a future period of time.
¨Cash flow budget
¨Develop a cash flow budget.
¨Explain the numbers and the assumptions we have based our calculations on.
A cash flow budget is an estimate of all cash receipts and all cash expenditures that are expected to occur during a certain time period, for example a year. Cash flow budgeting looks only at money movement, not at net income or profitability.
¨Financial Sustainability
¨What is the revenue model?
When will the product/service be cash-flow positive? Financially sustainable?
What milestones will this financing round enable? (Please include a copy of the company’s financials, and explain any assumptions used).
¨Partnership agreement
¨What is the contribution and the benefits for all partners?
¨How do we ensure that contributions and benefits for all partners balance?
¨How do we ensure a continuous excellent team spirit among partners?
In a business partnership between, let us assume two actors, both sides must contribute and benefit in a balanced manner, preferably equally much because this type of business balance is more easy to feel comfortable with.
The first revenue is used to pay back investment capital with 10 % interest. As soon as the investment capital is paid back the two partners share equally the revenue amount, and use it to cover their own programme costs.
¨Scalability
¨How will the organisation achieve scale?
¨What is the existing scale (e.g. number of customers reached)?
¨How will our organisation achieve significant scale within five years (e.g. reach 1M end users; grow by order of magnitude)
¨Competition
¨What is the competition?
What is the advantage (in areas that matter to the end customer) of this product/service over existing ones that are either currently available on the market or through charitable distribution channels?
What are those alternatives?
What are the three-to-four key market drivers that would affect the market and all players operating within it?
¨Risks
¨Which are the risks?
Which are the main risks your organization faces or would face, and how can each risk be mitigated? (e.g around technology, manufacturing, product, marketing, IP, demand, operations, distribution model, etc.)
¨Implementation plan
¨Please create an implementation plan with activities and milestones.
¨Programme partners
¨Available sessions
¨Scientific collaboration
¨Business relations
¨Development programmes
¨Integration