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A presentation on Elephant Branded, a socially responsible apparel company that supports education in the developing world. Their mission is to make a positive, long term, sustainable change to the communities that make their products and the children who receive their school kits. You buy one ethically made, recycled bag or related Elephant Branded product and they give an ergonomically designed school kit to a child in Africa or Asia. Simple as that. These school kits are hand delivered by partner organisations working on the ground to make sure that every purchase makes a positive change to someone's life. Elephant Branded support the communities that produce their products by paying a fair and reasonable wage, and giving them the opportunity to learn valuable skills that permit them to have a sustainable, effective way to get out of poverty. Together, through hand delivering school equipment to children across the world, you give them the chance to better themselves, their future and that of the communities they form part of. The school equipment that you donate by buying Elephant Branded's products is the tool that lets them do this. Where possible, donation equipment is sourced in country to develop local economies and avoid transportation emissions. Elephant Branded absorbs the cost of all donation equipment through each product they sell. Businesses should be engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility, which aims to provide for a good and fair society, one that is sustainable and this cannot be created without the help of companies. With power comes responsibility and I believe that businesses have a responsibility to become moral actors and have a role to play in making the world a better place alongside and perhaps even above its narrower commercial obligations. Elephant Branded, in my view, are doing just that.
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Going back to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
“CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility or Companies Saying Rubbish?”
CSR does stand for corporate social responsibility but the world should also see CSR standing for creating sustainable reality. A sustainable society is a good and fair one and businesses have a responsibility to become not just economic but moral actors.
Elephant Branded are a perfect example…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6k4hExAx
K8&feature=share
Who are Elephant Branded?Elephant Branded are a socially responsible
apparel company founded by James Boon (Zeitgeist Google Young Mind 2012) (Virgin Pioneer member) (UK Government Start-Up Loans Business Ambassador).
Product range: bags, wallets, laptop and iPad cases, pencil cases, hats.
Private Limited Company. Operating since April 18 2012
Where can EB products be purchased?
EB products also available from shop.elephantbranded.com
Elephant Branded’s mission
Elephant Branded’s mission is to
“make a positive, long term, sustainable change to the communities that produce their products and the children that receive their school kits”
Elephant Branded – Our Story (http://www.elephantbranded.com/our-story)
How Elephant Branded seek to achieve their mission
You buy one ethically made, recycled bag or related product and Elephant Branded gives one ergonomically designed school kit to a child in Africa or Asia. Simple as that.
Elephant Branded pay a fair and competitive wage to local villagers who make the bag out of locally sourced, recycled materials. Not only do they get a fair, reasonable wage but they also have the opportunity to learn valuable skills that permit them to have a sustainable, effective way to get out of poverty.
Is Elephant Branded really helping the local villagers?
http://elephantbranded.com/communities/cambodia
http://www.virginmediapioneers.com/2013/10/on-the-line-2/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ElephantBranded
Actions speak louder than words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=layhzITAzEk&feature=share
Links to Human Rights
Article 26 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that EVERYONE has the right to education.
Elephant Branded supports education in the developing world.
Education! Education! Education!
Further links to Human Rights Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Articles 23 and
24 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights – Articles 6 and 7
These relate to the right to work, fair wages, and safe and healthy working conditions.
Elephant Branded supports these provisions as they support craft in developing countries, pay fair and reasonable wages and they don’t harm the working conditions of the villagers who make their products or demand huge orders – the villagers produce what they can when they can.
Contrast with the likes of Walmart and Primark and factories in Bangladesh!!! The supply chain is an important area when looking at CSR. Companies must not only become economic but also moral actors. Social and ecological criteria must be taken into consideration i.e. treatment of employees, organisation of the production process, and responsible business practices of suppliers.
Elephant Branded cares about its supply chain.
Back to CSR…It’s all good seeing large multi-national companies
doing good deeds but it’s not part of their core values and it’s often the case they are just spending a small proportion of their profit.
CSR is how companies make their profit!Elephant Branded are doing this in the right way. Would Elephant Branded still have the same success
if they operated as a charity instead of a business?NO – it wouldn’t be sustainable and as a
business they have more resources to do good and make a real difference.
CSR and Employee EngagementIf your employees get your message then
they can spread the message effectively.Student Reps spread Elephant Branded’s
message at the grass roots on campuses, sell their products, deliver donation equipment in Africa and Asia, and have even set up co-operatives in Uganda.
Employees of integrity along with appropriate organisational structures are essential to realise CSR
Shareholder/Investor issues? Ownership and Control issues?Non-existent in Elephant Branded’s case.Elephant Branded’s key principles are to:- give the older generations the skills to get
themselves out of poverty- invest back into grass roots with their school kits.Shareholders/investors may pressure you to
corrupt your original values and are prepared to give you lots of money to deviate.
James Boon is the founder, owner and director of EB
http://www.virginmediapioneers.com/2013/10/on-the-line-2/ (3:09-4:20)
Elephant Branded have stuck to their guns.
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility or Companies Saying Rubbish?
Elephant Branded’s mission and principles are noble but how do we know that the school kits are reaching those who need them?
Student reps Partner organizations - Education Africa - Cambodian Children’s Fund - The Responsible Safari Co - Africa & Asia Venture Ltd
Elephant Branded is certainly not a ‘company saying rubbish’
To see more photos go to http://elephantbranded.com/donations#our-pictures
Other companies that operate on a 1 for 1 modelTOMS - Buy a pair of shoes, donate a pair of
shoes
Warby Parker - buy a pair of glasses, donate a pair of glasses or eye treatment
2 Degrees Foods – Buy a bar, give a meal to a child
These companies work with partner organisations to combat poverty, sight issues and child hunger. These are also good examples of companies engaging in CSR in a positive way.
These companies, along with Elephant Branded, are doing more than just operating on a one-for-one business model – they also provide jobs for those in the areas where the goods are being donated.
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility…Consumer Social Responsibility? It’s a bit of both Consumer – UK – sales of Fairtrade products in 2012 reached
£1.5bn – an 18% increase on 2011 sales. Corporate – Sainsburys made all their tea, bananas and sugar
Fairtrade. Sainsburys ‘basic’ range also sell fish certified under Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards.
Birds Eye – sell fish made from pollock, a more sustainable source than cod.
Consumer philanthropists? In a sense, yes. But there could be so much more if the big companies were more committed. Sketchers sell shoes and donate a pair but only for some of their shoe range, whereas TOMS do it for their entire range. Sketchers are a £2bn company and if they were more committed to their 1 for 1 model they could solve the problem of the lack of footwear in the world and we’d see even more consumer philanthropists.
More and more consumers want to be associated with good companies and CSR adds value and gives the consumer a reason to shop with you.
Sunday 8th December 2013. Announcement on Facebook at 8pm
Sunday 8th December 2013. Announcement of Facebook 45min later
Consumer loyalty, consumer power, consumer voice…consumers are becoming philanthropists and along with businesses are helping make a real difference.
AwardsGoogle - Zeitgist Young Minds 2012Smarta – Smarta 100 UK Business
Winner 2012UK Start Up Business – Top 20 Start-
Up’s in the UK 2012Lord Young and the ACCELERATE 250
– Top 250 fastest growing companies in the UK 2013
The Independent – Top 25 most ethical businesses in Britain 2013
For more on Elephant Branded
www.elephantbranded.com www.virginmediapioneers.com/2013/09/
on-the-line-1/ (through on-the-line-6; there are six episodes in virgin media pioneers ‘get inspired’ series)
www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-gelber/doing-good-in-in-malawi_b_4041154.html
Elephant Branded’s channel on YouTube Elephant Branded’s Facebook page.
Contact If you would like to know more about Elephant Branded
feel free to drop me an email on [email protected] and I’d be happy to discuss them with you.
If anyone is interested in any of the products you can get 10% by using the following discount code: anthonyLincoln-blue
Make a purchase with a difference…make a purchase
AND A DIFFERENCE Thank you.
