In 2008 Rebecca Scott left her long-standing job as a Scientist at the CSIRO and co-founded Streat – a Melbourne-based social enterprise that sells delicious food and coffee whilst providing homeless young people with hope, self-belief and the opportunity to get qualified in hospitality. As Streat’s tagline suggests – Streat stops homelessness the delicious way.
In this fireside chat I recently had with Rebecca she explains:
- What a social enterprise is … and for that matter what a social entrepreneur is.
- How and why she came to start Streat.
- How Streat has gone from an idea to now owning two inner city cafes, some street carts and the seller of fine fair-trade coffee beans online.
- How to market a social enterprise to build both the cafe’s customer base and sponsorship support.
- How she manages the constant pull of demand outstripping supply in terms of helping homeless youth in and around Melbourne.
This is a wonderful story of how you can start a business, make some money and do the world of good along the way.
Here’s some ways to support Streat:
Buy fair trade coffee online from Streat.
Give Streat a few (or lots of) bucks.
Links & Resources Mentioned In This Episode ..
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Streat – The social enterprise Rebecca Scott co-founded.
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8 thoughts on “#103 How to make money and do a world of good.”
Great interview with Rebecca Scott, especially interesting was where she outlined the difference between companies that do a little bit of social good vs organisations whose sole aim is bettering society. My business is on the former end of the spectrum and we like to use our social conscience to leverage our marketing effort, but its a balance, since we also exist in a marketplace where we need to turn a profit. We have thought about the issue a lot. Rebecca does a great job of explaining her viewpoint. Keep it up Timbo!
Great interview with Rebecca Scott, especially interesting was where she outlined the difference between companies that do a little bit of social good vs organisations whose sole aim is bettering society. My business is on the former end of the spectrum and we like to use our social conscience to leverage our marketing effort, but its a balance, since we also exist in a marketplace where we need to turn a profit. We have thought about the issue a lot. Rebecca does a great job of explaining her viewpoint. Keep it up Timbo!
Thanks Beetlebox. Yes, Rebecca explains the difference exceptionally well. That constant balance between turning a profit and doing good is always front of my mind as well. I like to think my show does good, but maybe not in a social conscience type way – I’m currently putting some thought in to how to integrate a cause / social enterprise like Streat in to what I do.
Large you should speak to Dr. Jon Carnegie, his schools have been very successful in this area.
Largest, let’s do it. Are you about in the next three weeks?
Hi Timbo, I’ve been listening to your show religiously since February. Thank you for your great work and for being you! I especially loved this episode. It inspired me to formalize one of my life missions, which is to offer opportunities and mentoring to young people. I had such great opportunities and mentors early in my career, and want to do the same for others.
I have a full-time job as the instructional design specialist at a top community college in the US. On the side, however, I run my own business called Wildfire Web Design and Marketing, a company that helps “businesses and their web presence spread like wildfire”. Anyway, while Wildfire is designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, its social mission is to offer well-paid and valuable work experience along with professional guidance to students and recent graduates with financial need. The hope is that by making a decent wage, the students will have more time for their studies, while still meeting their financial requirements. Likewise, recent grads will have more time to job hunt, while building their resumes and body of experience.
Admittedly, I don’t know if it would have occurred to me to set a social mission for my business if I hadn’t learned about Streat. Informally, I have been mentoring young people ever since my first full-time job. But now, I’ve been able to create a formal opportunity while running a successful company, and I would like to thank you for your role in all this. I haven’t yet promoted my business’ social mission, but will do so very soon. Kindly, Stephanie Burak Fehlenberg, http://www.WildfireWebMarketing.com
Hi Timbo, I’ve been listening to your show religiously since February. Thank you for your great work and for being you! I especially loved this episode. It inspired me to formalize one of my life missions, which is to offer opportunities and mentoring to young people. I had such great opportunities and mentors early in my career, and want to do the same for others.
I have a full-time job as the instructional design specialist at a top community college in the US. On the side, however, I run my own business called Wildfire Web Design and Marketing, a company that helps “businesses and their web presence spread like wildfire”. Anyway, while Wildfire is designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses, its social mission is to offer well-paid and valuable work experience along with professional guidance to students and recent graduates with financial need. The hope is that by making a decent wage, the students will have more time for their studies, while still meeting their financial requirements. Likewise, recent grads will have more time to job hunt, while building their resumes and body of experience.
Admittedly, I don’t know if it would have occurred to me to set a social mission for my business if I hadn’t learned about Streat. Informally, I have been mentoring young people ever since my first full-time job. But now, I’ve been able to create a formal opportunity while running a successful company, and I would like to thank you for your role in all this. I haven’t yet promoted my business’ social mission, but will do so very soon. Kindly, Stephanie Burak Fehlenberg, http://www.WildfireWebMarketing.com
Hi Steph. Love your work. Well done on setting up Wildfire and your mentoring offering. You’ll make a huge difference in the world, no doubt. Cheers Timbo.