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Give Your Business a Purpose

By Luis Fernando Pelayo - ATALIA
Founder

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By Luis Fernando Pelayo | Founder - Thu, 03/23/2023 - 14:00

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As absurd as it may sound, the purpose of a business goes far beyond "selling." Nowadays, new ventures, besides starting with a business idea, start with social responsibility in hand, a social purpose or the intention to improve some situation.  

We have heard for several years now the words Corporate Social Responsibility and although I personally do not believe that being a socially responsible company is the same as being a company with purpose, I do believe that this push for companies to have some social responsibility resulted in ventures with social purpose. 

What are purpose-driven businesses?

It is very simple: any business that proposes to solve a problem, rather than a need. Although it can also be a traditional business that from its origin does not solve a problem but is interested in supporting one that may or may not be related to the business. 

Now, as business owners or entrepreneurs, we could ask ourselves: Is there any benefit from my company having a purpose? My answer is: Yes! And not just one, it has many:

- Today, having a purpose is very much appreciated by the market. People look beyond the brand and its products. They even "watch" the good practices of the business, and some sectors definitely place more importance on the purpose or social causes supported by the brand than to the product itself. 

- Having a purpose helps you generate a community, a number of people who identify with your cause and without thinking, will join it. And even if this does not result in immediate sales, in the future it will because your brand is in their mind. Even if not as the No. 1 product in your category, it is more emotional and, therefore, more relevant. In the end, generating community will create more than customers, but fans of the brand, which I personally consider more relevant. 

- The purpose will even help us to reach places we did not expect. We can participate in social calls, for example, to generate more funds for the cause and, certainly, in all this, the brand will have positive organic public relations. 

Businesses with purpose are distinguished by being led by people who work from their passion, where resources and time have greater  value and are invited to be used in the best way.  It is a way to bring together personal growth and professional development.

It is a change in mentality. Not everything is to be sold and the process of growth will be slower. Once you know that a certain part of your profits will be directed to your purpose, as well as time, resources and effort, you have to be aware that maybe this will slow down your growth process. I would like to be very clear here: you should be aware that not all your time, profit and effort will be directed to sell your product or service, but that a certain part of it will be destined to the creation of social spaces, events, support of causes, creation of programs, and so on. You know very well that you will not grow at the same speed as those who do not have a purpose, but that's not bad! Because, as I said: Businesses with purpose are distinguished by being led by people who work from their passion. Growing the business and the purpose at the same time will give you much more satisfaction than just growing economically . 

There are even cases of medium and large companies that after several years of working on a purpose, ended up opening a civil association, which  is incredible. 

What Causes Can We Support? 

There are definitely hundreds of causes and I think it would be useless to list them, because the purpose of your business is something that should be born from you, that inspires you and fills you. 

There are those who may think that certain businesses could not have or relate to a purpose, but I say the opposite. For example:

-Automotive industry: The purpose is the inclusion of women in mechanics, for example, and from there, you start a series of possible activities, such as providing courses for women in basic mechanics. 

-Agricultural industry: There are many areas of opportunity, from supporting educational development in communities and digitalization, to educational support for new generations in the community. 

-Restaurant industry: Imagine the purpose of fighting malnutrition and that together with other restaurateurs you can donate food  to marginalized communities. 

And of course, there are other industries that have it perhaps "easier," such as the fashion industry, beauty, educational services, and hospitality. As I mentioned before, the important thing is that the purpose resonates with you and then with your work team. In this case, the result will be incredible. 

Undoubtedly, we are experiencing different moments of entrepreneurship than in the last 10 years, where there are already social enterprises, "businesses" that operate merely to address a problem. They do not sell products or services, but function as a company. That is certainly very interesting and something we will address later.

Photo by:   Luis Fernando Pelayo

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