Social Business Challenge

I spent yesterday in Portsmouth with my Green Schools Project hat on. We were at Portsmouth Grammar School, delivering a one day workshop to year 10’s on social business. I worked with Green Schools to design the Social Business Challenge as a way to introduce secondary school pupils to the principles of this better way of doing business. We featured Muhammad Yunus, B Corps, Winnow, Hiut Denim and our office buddies Franklin Scholars to explain the concept and inspire the children to work, in teams of six, to come up with a Social Business idea to ease or solve and environmental problem.

What pleased me most as we listened to the three minute pitches at the end of the day, was the degree of systems thinking going on. Not only were the teams telling us how their product or service would tackle problems like plastics, water shortage, climate breakdown and wildlife loss; they also talked about the way they’d run their business to have positive social outcomes too. Everything from involving local communities in the design process and paying staff a living wage, to donating profits and products to related causes. I think that showed more than anything how they grasped the concept.

I came away feeling really encouraged by their enthusiasm for Social Business, hopefully we’ve had a positive impact on the way they think about the world of work and the purpose of business. 

More info on the Social Business challenge here: https://www.greenschoolsproject.org.uk/social-business-challenge/