This weeks interview is with Social Entrepreneur Simon Griffiths from Who Gives A Crap and Shebeen, both socially conscious businesses that support communities in developing countries.

WhoGivesACrap is an eCommerce company launched in 2012 that produces and sells environmentally friendly toilet rolls by subscription. Half of the profits from Who Gives a Crap go to building toilets in the developing world. They ship to 85% of Australia for free and Simon (Pilkington) is a happy customer!

Production runs of toilet rolls typically require a minimum order of 50,000 rolls. Simon didn’t want to be stuck with 50,000 rolls if the business didn’t take off so they launched the project via crowdfunding on IndieGoGo which meant that the product was preordered, and the company would have an initial customer base. Crowdfunding also helped Simon and the team determine how much demand there was for the product.

They realised they needed some ‘special sauce’ to sell the crowdfunding project because they were selling a boring product with no cult following, so for the crowdfunding promotional video they set up a webcam of Simon sitting on the toilet, surrounded by toilet rolls, vowing not to get off until they reached their target of $50,000. Simon ended up sitting on the toilet for an agonising 50hours and 15minutes!

The toilet paper is sold using a subscription model which makes a lot of sense for toilet paper – no one wants to run out of toilet rolls. It is also a great business model with predictable revenue and increasing customer value as you know they’ll purchase more than once.

Shebeen is a not for profit bar in Melbourne. The profits from each drink purchased in Shebeen are donated to a project in the drinks country of origin. Simon realised there was a limited reach for Shebeen – only a limited number of people can be in the bar. Mass market products like toilet paper give a much larger reach and has the potential to reach every Australian. Contrary to Simon’s best planning Who Gives A Crap and Shebeen launched at the same time – both projects within 6 weeks of each other after two years of work.

Simon’s background is in Engineering and Investment Banking but he made the call to work in the non profit area. After working with a NGO Simon determined working somewhere between the not for profit sector and the for profit sector was the right mix for him, and has since founded these two ethical businesses.

Previously Simon launched Ripple in 2007 with the intention of engaging a new audience in charitable giving, however he found that it didn’t reach a new audience just further engaged with his current audience. As a 24 year old at the time he decided a bar would be a great way to reach a new audience.

Listen to the interview below to hear Simon’s story including details on how he is able to get his products made overseas without compromising Australian jobs, how he found ethical and responsible sourcing from China and how he is minimising the environmental footprint in his logisitics management.

The post #12 Social Entrepreneur Simon Griffiths – Who Gives A Crap appeared first on Yellow Click Road.