Buy with Heart | SMALL BUSINESS
Fellowship Competition and the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. SVPRI is currently raising the first round of capital, and the launch of the Buy with Heart Marketplace is tentatively scheduled for April 2013. The Buy with Heart Marketplace will ensure that Rhode Island continues to be a national leader in social entrepreneurship. Revenues generated from Buy with Heart will be used to fund SVPRI’s programming that supports local social enterprises. The Buy with Heart Marketplace will provide social enterprises nationally much-needed access to consumers. Balancing the pressures of operating a business with the challenges of providing a social service leaves many social enterprises with limited resources for marketing and expansion. Launching an e-commerce platform is well beyond the capacity of many social enterprises. Buy with Heart will give social enterprises the opportunity to compete in the market and provide a new venue to reach consumers and sell products. To ensure that all purchases made through Buy with Heart have a social impact, Social Venture Partners Rhode Island will offer an online verification process for ventures interested in selling products on Buy with Heart. The verification process will provide enterprises with a credential that speaks to their social impact and give consumers confidence that their orders are contributing to the social good.
out of the box thinking lending Capital for all the right reasons THE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY www.bdcri.com
401 351 3036
Let’s not forget that entrepreneurs and consumers are not the only people that benefit from social enterprises. Social enterprises are great because of the people they help and the issues they support. Some social enterprises donate a portion of their revenues to support a social cause. Others make their contribution by providing training and work to people with barriers to employment. There are thousands of people, like Zaid, who have been given a chance because of social enterprise. Soon supporting social enterprises will only be a click away.
Briana McGeough CEO Buy with Heart
www.risbj.com | volume one issue eight
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