This weekend the Social Good Summit Australia brought together thought leaders, business owners and participants to connect, share stories and get inspired to take action to do good.
The Summit focused on raising awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that can be used as a blueprint and a roadmap to guide organizations, government and individuals to create a better future.
Catia Davim, founder of Social Good Summit Australia, opened the day reminding participants that every single action makes a difference and challenged everyone to answer ‘What world do you want to live in by 2030?’
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are changing their business models and collaborating creatively to achieve and tackle the 17 SDGs.
Their message was loud and clear, individuals, businesses and entrepreneurs can make a significant impact on society, by taking on and tackling social and environmental challenges.
The opportunity is immense with the social procurement market estimated to be $600bn in Australia.
OZHarvest
OzHarvest CEO, Ronni Kahn spoke about her vision to build a world with zero food waste and hunger, with their continuous work have provided 120 million meals to people in need.
OzHarvest is aligned with six Sustainable Development Goals, ranging from Zero Hunger, Responsible Consumption & Production to Climate Action.
The Bread & Butter Project
The Bread & Butter Project provides training and employment to refugees with their ‘Makers of Bakers’ Program.
GGs Flowers
GG’s Flowers employs people with special needs and disabilities and pays them the award wage.
Sea Bin
Surfer and ecopreneur Pete Ceglinski spoke about his passion to clean up the oceans using the SeaBin, designed to collect trash floating in the ocean. With 746 Seabins in 48 countries, he collects 2 tons of trash per day globally.
Social enterprise initiatives outside Australia
The summit also included international examples and video presentations of emerging social enterprises like Change Please who are building creative businesses and solutions to tackle global challenges.
Change Please
Change Please is empowering the homeless community by training them to be baristas. Change Please provides barista training, jobs paying London Living Wage and support with housing, bank accounts and mental wellbeing.
Change Please is a social enterprise staffed by the homeless, to help the homeless, because really good coffee doesn’t just taste good – it does good too.
All 13 social good summit speakers offered inspiring and heartfelt stories that will shape future thought leaders and businesses for years to come.
By Elizabeta Trajkovska and Carlos Mauleon – Responsible-Investors.com Insights
