What is the power of Small Business?

In 2007, Masami Sato, stood in front of an esteemed panel including Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Grameen Bank Founder, Mohammad Yunus, bestowed with presenting a vision. A vision for which she had two minutes to promote. This is what she said.

“Being small doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference.
And we recognised that small to medium size businesses also wanted to make a difference. But currently, SMEs do very little regular giving.
Maybe because they don’t have the time. Maybe because they don’t have the expertise. Or maybe because they just don’t know where to begin.
 
So we founded Buy1GIVE1 (B1G1) in 2007 to give SMEs the tools and resources to embed giving and purpose into their everyday business activities:
- We provide a giving search engine filled with prescreened worthy causes and their projects.
- We provide a mechanism that tracks the tangible social impact they are making through their contributions.
- We offer tools that help them engage their employees and customers in their giving activities.
 
Today, B1G1 has over 500 business members supporting projects in more than 30 countries. But we know many more businesses will join us if they are exposed to the B1G1 concept and understand how easy it is to make it happen.
Imagine if you were a café owner and every time you sold a cup of coffee, you gave a child in Africa access to life-saving clean water.
Or imagine if you were an author and whenever you sold one of your books, a tree got planted.
Just imagine – every business in our world making a difference every day regardless of the size of the company.
Because businesses have the power to change lives."

 

Back in 2007, a group of small business owners imagined something special. They asked, “What would happen if we all gave back just by doing the things we do every day?”. And now, Foster Mann is a part of this initiative, making a great impact each and every day.

Partnering with Buy1GIVE1 alongside 1,400 businesses globally, ensures that over 700 projects, across 70 countries have received 100% of contributions; creating more than 74 million giving impacts. That is something truly magical.

 

That is what Masami created with her two minutes. What will you create with yours?

 

Highlighted Projects for March

Every business development project we complete supports economically disadvantaged women; helping them escape from a life of poverty by providing a business loan which includes on-going training and mentoring.

Every business development project we complete supports economically disadvantaged women; helping them escape from a life of poverty by providing a business loan which includes on-going training and mentoring.

Every new client we engage provides a Kenyan family with a new source of income through sponsoring a goat and the provision of breeding infrastructure.

Every new client we engage provides a Kenyan family with a new source of income through sponsoring a goat and the provision of breeding infrastructure.

Every set of accounts we submit equips a local Technician in Tanzania with the work skills and experience of water point construction to establish a successful business.

Every set of accounts we submit equips a local Technician in Tanzania with the work skills and experience of water point construction to establish a successful business.