As the impact business sector has matured over the last decade, large companies have realized the need to add sustainability to their operations. And incorporating impact business into their operation – or their supply chain – would be a great way to do that.
A Yunus Social Business survey revealed the top reasons leaders interviewed encounter for investing in purpose-driven business:
To do so, the report suggests the following step-by-step approach:
Develop an internal process to create a solid understanding about the search for impactful companies. From there build strategy and prepare partnerships.
Build the pipeline of relevant social impact businesses and start the evaluation process to ensure the right match.
Integrate impact businesses into the company, (co)developing products, contacting and shipping first orders.
Develop scaling strategies to further integrate the impact business into the company’s value chain.
“Our research was able to break down the myths that social impact businesses are not competitive, cannot deliver in high volumes, or cannot guarantee consistent quality,” say the authors. “As social and environmental impact procurement consolidates, demand for innovative services around market and working capital, independent measurement and impact assessment or export and certification services will become key pieces of the puzzle for the puzzle for the impact procurement ecosystem.”
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Source: Yunus NS