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Stories of Impact

Understanding the Power of Social Enterprises: Navigating Barriers and Embracing Social Procurement.

Understanding the Power of Social Enterprises: Navigating Barriers and Embracing Social Procurement.

In recent years, the concept of social enterprises has gained significant traction, serving as a driving force for positive change within our communities and the global business landscape. Social enterprises are unique entities that combine commercial activities with a core mission of creating social, environmental, or community impact.

Unlike traditional businesses solely focused on profit maximisation, these enterprises prioritise generating meaningful, sustainable change while ensuring financial stability. As our society moves towards a more conscious and inclusive economy, understanding the essence of social enterprises is crucial.

Corporate Hackathons: Fueling Social Innovation

Corporate Hackathons: Fueling Social Innovation

The past year has brought a lot of change to the work environment. The new ideas and changes came in a spur of the moment, but the innovative ideas of online message boards and remote working had been cultivating long before the pandemic.

When people with similar passions such a programming, marketing, or social innovation get together, they can challenge each other and cultivate new ideas or grow existing ones. When one engages with other professionals, it is like working on a team; everyone brings something new to the table. Corporate hackathons enable impact, disruption, and innovation within an industry.

Carbon Capture: A Solution to Carbon Emissions?

Carbon Capture: A Solution to Carbon Emissions?

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming is the goal set out by the Paris Agreement. The global energy demand makes it impossible to abandon carbon as a source of energy altogether. However, companies have turned to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology to address carbon release into the atmosphere. The technology has been utilized in a wide range of industries since 1972 and reduces greenhouse gas emissions around the world.

CCS involves three significant steps:

1. Capturing CO2 at the source

2. Compressing CO2 for transportation

3. Injecting CO2 deep into a rock formation at a carefully selected and safe site, where it is permanently stored.

Positive Social Innovation Continues in 2021

Positive Social Innovation Continues in 2021

The United Nations set up a collection of 17 interlinked goals designed to be achieved by 2030 to attain a better and more sustainable future. The goals serve as a blueprint towards change and influence the social innovations of the global community.

Three months into 2021, several trends have begun to grow around social innovation inspired primarily by the 17 UN sustainable goals and the global pandemic's impact. Headlines are bleak in depicting the changes going on around us, but below are a few positive changes worldwide.

The Social Entrepreneur Paves the Road to a Better Tomorrow

The Social Entrepreneur Paves the Road to a Better Tomorrow

Entrepreneurship is a key aspect of business growth. It can promote economic growth, innovation, spark social change, etc. The new ideas, products, and services developed by individuals or groups of individuals hold power for change and improvement.

The social entrepreneur brings about positive change in society by tackling social, environmental, and cultural issues. Social enterprises find their roots in the minds of social entrepreneurs. The impact generated by their entrepreneurial ventures is seen in local and global communities.

One10 client CLARA wins 2020 Global Project of The Year Award

One10 client CLARA wins 2020 Global Project of The Year Award

One10 Group client Consolidated Land and Rail Australia Pty Ltd (CLARA) just won the ‘2020 Global Strategic Project of The Year’ as part of the 13th CG/LA Infrastructure forum.

This is great news, #CLARA was up against 250 major projects from around the world, narrowed down to the Top 100, then shortlisted to 15, then to 3 and then as #WINNER!

Positive Living Skills supporting youth wellbeing

Positive Living Skills supporting youth wellbeing

Self-harm is the leading cause of death for young people in Australia aged 5-17, half of all mental health problems emerge by age 14, and anxiety depression and suicide are on the rise.

Now with the extraordinary challenges presented to Australian communities in 2020 with drought, floods, bushfire and now covid-19, mental illness is skyrocketing, and children are at an increased risk. According to a new report released by University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, even in a “best-case scenario”, Australia is forecast to see an increase in suicide deaths of “at least” 13.7% over the next 5 years.

Social Innovation Today Leads to Success for Tomorrow

Social Innovation Today Leads to Success for Tomorrow

It’s no secret that innovation is the key for success in business today. Innovation allows us to reshape the processes that we have to improve upon what is already there. Whether it allows us to use less resources, become more sustainable, achieve a higher profit yield, or bring a new idea into the world, innovation is the key to be a successful entrepreneur in the world today.

Social innovation can be seen in many companies and businesses across the world whether it can be seen in their processes, products, workshops, or even at their headquarters.

How To Incorporate Social Impact Into Your Business

How To Incorporate Social Impact Into Your Business

Some would argue that businesses have a responsibility to incorporate some social impact initiatives into their business models. Regardless, the impact of doing so has an effect far beyond the communities the initiatives seek to benefit: it can help the business, too. For one, 64% of Millennials won’t take a job at a company if it doesn’t have values aligned with social responsibility.

A recent global report by Accenture found that customers are more likely to spend money with a company when their brand purposes reflect issues that matter to the consumer.

Perhaps you feel the pull to align your business with social impact and are wondering how to start. To alter your business’s impact while positively affecting your company’s reputation for future employees and customers, follow these steps to incorporate social impact into your business model.

Will Social Enterprises Survive or Thrive?

Will Social Enterprises Survive or Thrive?

With the advent of new century, the world has witnessed a boom in the number of social enterprises across the globe. In US alone, more than half of social enterprises were institutionalized in 2006 or later and the trend is same elsewhere too. In India, around 89% social enterprises are just ten years old or younger. This signifies towards the novelty of social sector sphere, providing a colossal magnitude to budding entrepreneurs for innovation, ideation to experiment, refining or pivoting towards new ones, job creation while giving out million of dollars for maximizing social values through organizations, work and lives.

How a country kid became a social entrepreneur.

How a country kid became a social entrepreneur.

Geoff Gourley, Founder of One10, shares the story of his journey to launching the company. From a country kid to a recognised Global Social Entrepreneur.

Growing up at the back of the coal mines in La Trobe Valley, Geoff saw first hand the impact of the mining industry on the environment and people around him. He recalls a school excursion where he and his friends were shown 3D models to the power station. On the model, one image haunted him: all the towns had been dug up for coal.

Get to know Geoff in this one on one interview.

A new way of giving this Christmas

A new way of giving this Christmas

Finding the right present for your loved ones can be difficult, but now disruptive social businesses are making giving a little bit easier, providing not only great gift ideas but ones that support charitable work here and overseas.

How corporate Australia is embracing Sustainable Development Goals.

How corporate Australia is embracing Sustainable Development Goals.

“There are a range of ways the private sector can contribute to the SDGs – through responsible business operations, new business models, investment, innovation and technology, and collaboration,” Alice Cope, UN GCNA.

mykensho - Global Impact-driven EduTech Enterprise

mykensho - Global Impact-driven EduTech Enterprise

mykensho is a unique technology, knowledge and human-enabled adolescent identity, career and advanced life skill development ecosystem solution. 

Social enterprise & the UN Millennium goals

Social enterprise & the UN Millennium goals

Social businesses and not-for-profits are coming up with innovative ways to tackle the SDG in anyway they can from finding different approaches to tackling these ingrained and complex issues.

When the weight of expectation becomes crushing

When the weight of expectation becomes crushing

There is so much going on that I want to share and be proud of, but I cannot work out why I look at the string of emails and messages I have been unable to muster the effort to respond to and wonder how I woke up suddenly feeling like I was drowning.

When time-out looks like a challenge...

When time-out looks like a challenge...

There is never a perfect time to take an extended break. There is always a seemingly good reason to delay, shorten or simply keep it as a pipe dream. In May, I took the plunge and and boarded a plane to Santiago, Chile to pursue my long awaited adventure to South and Central America.

Entrepreneur Tales: Beehive hostel

Entrepreneur Tales: Beehive hostel

We’re all travellers sometimes, and when we do hit the road, we take our values with us.

I recently stayed in Sucre, Bolivia’s former capital now university town has a colonial charm that draws in tourists in for Spanish lessons and a chance to escape the hustle bustle of other Bolivian cities such as La Paz.

Mentoring with Spark

Mentoring with Spark

Last Friday Geoff headed along to mentor some aspiring entrepreneurs at Deakin’s first Spark event of the year.SPARK@Deakin is an experiential program designed to give students, staff and alumni of Deakin University an opportunity to see, experience, and relate to the early stages of the entrepreneurial path. The focus of SPARK@Deakin is educating and training aspirant entrepreneurs regarding how to approach a project from a commercial perspective. 

Discovering resilience and managing emotional investment

Discovering resilience and managing emotional investment

I was sitting in another meeting with a potential investor last week. It was very much the same old spiel until the woman running it said something that really resonated: “We don’t invest in just anyone. We need to make sure you’re resilient.” That was followed up by a number of examples of resilience at work, in personal life, and during conflict and rejection.