Social enterprise (doing business for good) Hinonga pāpori (mahi pakihi mō te pai te take)

Your business can make money, create jobs and delight customers — as well as making a positive difference to the world.

If you’re starting a new business or changing something in your current business, you can set things up well to make an impact.

You’ll need to think about:

• what problem you’re solving
• how you meet your customers’ needs
• your ideal business structure
• how to attract and keep investment.

With a clear purpose and a healthy cash flow, your business can be a force for good. Your business could make a difference by: 

• donating profits
• reviving a community or environment 
• giving away products or services
• making something from waste
• doing something completely different.

Before you can start making an impact, it’s important to research the problem you want to solve and find out who else is making money in the way you want to. Think about what you can offer that others don’t. 

Measure the impact of your work to find out if you’re succeeding at doing good and avoiding doing any harm. 

Evidence that you are creating positive outcomes can persuade others to support your business. Choose specific, relevant measures for your business and keep good records. You can change what and how you measure as your business and impact grow.

How you set your business up will determine how it runs and what sort of funding you could get.

You’ll need to:

• choose whether to be a charitable trust or a limited liability company, and register as a charity if appropriate
• write key documents like a constitution and a shareholders’ agreement
• decide how to measure and report on impact
• comply with company, employment and tax regulations
• get insurance to cover any business risks
• build a support team to fill gaps in your knowledge
• pick a name.

Lasting impact depends on your:

• business model — how you create value for customers
• impact model — how you fulfil your purpose. 

These two models work together. Answering certain questions can help you develop these business and impact models.