We support startups with positive impact – says Dorota Nowicka, head of our Social Innovation Department.
We invite you to read the article published in this year’s edition of the “Positive Impact Startups: Radical Social Innovation” report, published by Koźmiński Business Hub in partnership with Orange, BNP Paribas, and Samsung.
– This year’s Positive Impact Startups report and ranking is once again an opportunity to briefly look at business from a different perspective. Year after year, a new type of entrepreneurship with a clear, positive impact on the environment and people (employees, customers, communities) is becoming increasingly established. We increasingly read or hear about innovative companies with a social impact.
In searching for terms to define positive impact startups, we built a narrative around the word “new.” New business models, new products created with environmental impact in mind, a new group of consumers more aware of their choices. A new, better market was emerging before our eyes.
Today, we once again face something new – the changes resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The reality we are slowly coming to terms with requires us to rethink fundamental issues: what corporate responsibility consists of and how deeply it is embedded in its DNA. This is a time of difficult business decisions, but also a time to assess the company’s condition – whether it is authentic in its declarations and the principles it has adopted as the pillars of its operations. The pandemic raises concerns about the health of ourselves and our loved ones, but it is also inexorably drawing attention to the economy. The near future will reveal how many startups with a positive impact will continue to operate in the market, and in what condition. Will more be created? Will we continue to see the development of this type of entrepreneurship, where “business is not just for business,” despite all the difficulties?
We are increasingly talking about the new “good footprint” entrepreneurship. We enjoy learning about new companies that are launching businesses based on truly noble ideas and expectations, including for themselves. We are delighted by others’ sensitivity and responsibility. We will likely desire to experience this even more from businesses in the post-pandemic reality. However, even with the greatest willingness and goodwill on the part of entrepreneurs, they will not have the opportunity to develop their companies without us – our customers, both individual and business. It’s important to realize that we are a “system of communicating vessels.” Customers who are aware of their choices and take responsibility for them can have the greatest influence on whether a startup with a positive impact will thrive.
Purchase decisions are a market force. We sought to leverage these assumptions when building the www.dobryrynek.pl platform dedicated to companies with a positive impact. The idea, resulting from numerous conversations with people close to “big business” and observing small, positive entrepreneurship, arose several years ago, but it remains more relevant today than ever. The idea of the Good Market was born from the belief that every purchase or service ordered from a company with a positive social impact strengthens its market position, increases its chances of growth, and, in the long run, transforms the market itself.
The platform promotes companies for which responsibility is a pillar of their operations. It supports companies whose owners view their business in a broader context and offer customers additional value beyond the product itself, for example, by striving to reduce waste, collaborating with organizations that use it as a material for upcycling, ensuring biodegradable packaging, working with disadvantaged groups, and supporting immigrants and people with disabilities.
Social Innovation
In recent years, we have observed a growing market for positive impact startups, but the current situation, which is hindering a significant portion of the market, is a particularly difficult test for micro-entrepreneurs. What we can offer startups through Dobry Rynek (Good Market) is free space to promote their offerings and communication support. Our goal is to bring together suppliers with a positive social impact in one place, making it easier for potential customers, both businesses and individuals, to reach them.
DobryRynek.pl is a tool we provide to startups, free of charge. Positive impact startups are new and small businesses. It’s worth emphasizing, however, that many of them have offered technologically advanced solutions from the very beginning. Their products are innovative – they address problems faced by society or selected groups. When trying to characterize startups, we often think of them as social innovators. During a recent conversation within the team – the Social Innovation Department at FFW – we asked ourselves how we understand social innovation today and what has changed in our understanding of innovation since we launched the website www.miejscennowacji.pl in 2015.
It turns out that our attention is constantly directed towards solutions that leverage technology, and the change we observe lies in the very nature of innovation. Technology is increasingly becoming an integral part of social innovation. Examples include personalized 3D-printed prosthetic arms, VR-based therapy for children on the autism spectrum, and an app connecting volunteers with dependents who need assistance with daily activities. Przestrzeninnowacji.pl collects examples from Poland and around the world, but it also serves as a tool for promoting positive impact startups and the solutions they offer.
Positive impact startups are increasingly open to international collaboration in their search for business partners, investors, and new customers. We have created the platform www.Skyrocketplatform.eu for such organizations. This platform is dedicated to stakeholders in social innovation: the innovators themselves, companies interested in incorporating innovation into their business processes, and other entities seeking to implement innovation into their daily practices. On the platform, positive impact startups can introduce their organization, showcase their innovation to potential customers, and establish contacts with entities from other European countries.
Founders of positive impact startups are not only mission-driven suppliers, but also employers who instill these values in their employees and suppliers. If we want positive impact startups to become a lasting model of new entrepreneurship, it’s worth actively supporting them.
I hope that the Cooperation Fund Foundation’s activities will contribute to the expansion of the support system for positive impact startups and strengthen their market position. This way, businesses and we—individual consumers—will be able to benefit from their offerings and make choices, while also leaving a “good footprint.”
This article was published in “Positive Impact Startups Report: Radical Social Innovation,” p. 77.
The full report can be downloaded here: http://raportspw.kozminskihub.com
