Nothing says different, like making a difference
Welcome!
For the past 2 years we’ve been busy working to create a new community of entrepreneurs: a community with purpose. EG (which is short for ‘Entrepreneurial Giving’) aims to bring purpose to the heart of the conversation amongst start-ups. We have built a platform to allow entrepreneurs to discover why embedding purpose is great for both their business and society, whilst connecting them with like-minded individuals across the UK (and, hopefully soon, the globe!)
Over this time, it has been so encouraging to watch the amazing achievements of organisations that share our ethos in helping to spearhead the growing purpose-led movement (such as Founders Pledge here in the UK, Tmura in Israel and Pledge 1% in US). Together, we can work to change the paradigm that you have to wait until you’ve ‘made it’ to start thinking about giving back. In fact, all the research points to purpose actually helping you ‘make it’ in the first place!
By signing up and coming to our events, you’ll be able to learn how to do good to do well and connect with forward thinking business owners, just like you. At the core of EG, you can pledge to give a chosen percentage of your net-proceeds (that’s the amount you personally profit when you sell your business) to a charity of your choice. This locks in your commitment, enabling you to create a legacy for your start-up from day one.
What we’re particularly excited about is how anybody, anywhere, can become a member of the EG community. Whether you’re a techie or a baker, we want to create a community you can be proud of. There’s no criteria to signing up, other than a desire to discover how your business can stand for something more than just profit (and grow your business at the same time).
I’m Jamie, and I’ll be working to launch and grow the community here and so you’ll see me blogging, tweeting and at events in the near future – I cannot wait to get to know you all. Formerly I held a similar role at a campaign called StartUp Britain, which was launched by 8 entrepreneurs and backed by the government, aiming to inspire, accelerate and celebrate entrepreneurship here in the UK. Now I want to bring that same energy to EG (and we’ve got the same press team working with us too!)
Behind the scenes are a group of distinguished gurus (you can find out more about them all here) who will be advising us on all things entrepreneurial, political, social or all of the above. We’re honoured they’ve agreed to help us steam ahead on our journey. They’ll be joining a group of champions who are running their purpose-led businesses as we speak, alongside you, to help advise us on how we can serve you best. Maurice Ostro OBE, the founding guru, is the mastermind behind the whole idea for EG and is funding the platform via his Ostro Fayre Share Foundation. He’s given 10% of his businesses to charity in the past and is fascinated by what will happen when you bring together thousands of purpose-led small businesses. We all can’t wait to see the results!
I would just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has taken the time to meet with us and share their thoughts to help guide us in the right direction. A special thanks goes to BWB and EY for giving an extremely generous amount of time to help us get to launch. Thanks to them, you can be sure that your pledge is simple and effective and we wouldn’t have been able to do this without them.
I hope to meet you in person at one of our events soon.
