This Christmas, it’s more important than ever to support social businesses. At a time when it may feel easier to shop online at the major online retailer ‘who shall not be named’, why not take a bit of time to find a social business which benefits a local community?
Today, we are highlighting three social businesses we have been working with over the last year who are selling presents online!
Akojo Market is the leading UK platform selling handmade accessories, jewellery, homeware and fashion from independent African designers. They carefully select talented designers and brands who promote local culture and artisan craftsmanship, and are committed to a sustainable and transparent way of working. We worked with Akoji Market this year as part of the F-LANE accelerator from Vodafone.

Alive and Kicking are the world’s only not-for-profit ball manufacturer. Their centres across sub-Saharan Africa create hundreds of ethical jobs for adults facing disadvantage. Profits from balls sales and additional fundraising give young people access to sport and health education Alive and Kicking are selling their wide range of balls on their online shop. https://aliveandkicking.org/shop/

RangSutra are one of our portfolio companies, they act as a bridge between rural artisans and global consumers to create sustainable livelihoods and revive India’s rich craft heritage. They work with artisan cooperatives from rural villages to source textiles that are then turned into finished garments. And they ship internationally!


Every week, through March, YSB’s new CEO Jana Lessenich will ask one of our female social business entrepreneurs questions about leadership and their lives. Stay tuned to this space to read their inspiring insights!

In this guest post, Ritu Soni Srivastava (https://ritu.io/mentorship-basics/) talks about her involvement as mentor of the MAN Impact Accelerator (our corporate innovation accelerator program) and the 3 things she would encourage every mentorship program to adopt.

For 14 months, we’ve been working closely with remarkable employees at some of the best known corporations in the world. We wanted to understand how they are driving corporate innovation from within and making their companies a force for good. On Tuesday, we spoke live to some of these intrepid Social Intrapreneurs, and shared the findings from our extensive joint research. Here’s what we learned