Case Study
Launched in 2010 by 23-year-old entrepreneur Tom Chance, Giveacar enables motorists to scrap their cars and give the money to charity
model existed in the USA, he started Giveacar using his own savings of around £10,000. However, with no personal experience of the scrap industry, his start up soon ran into problems.
He says: “The scrap metal industry is not famed for its transparency or for its ethical approach to business, so the biggest challenge for me was finding the right people to work with.”
The second biggest challenge, he says, was gaining the trust of the charities, to the point that they would feel comfortable promoting the new scheme to their supporters, but it didn’t take Chance long to win that trust. Since its launch, Giveacar, which operates throughout the UK, has helped users get rid of more than 6,000 vehicles, raising money for more hundreds of charities in the process.
He explains: “People have realised that this is one of the easiest and hassle-free ways of getting rid of an old banger and helping a good cause at the same time. For charities, it has generated a new income stream from a previously untapped source. There are environmental benefits, too, with dangerous and unsightly cars being taken out of
circulation
before being cleaned up, decontaminated and processed to the highest environmental standards.
“Customers simply ring us up; we take the details of their car and ask for the name of their favourite charity. The cars are then collected by tow truck directly from their home address and then either scrapped or sold on. We’ve established a good network of scrap merchants and auction houses reaching into almost every corner of the UK, and we always aim to get the best price for every car that is donated.”
Two years on from its launch, Giveacar employs five people at its Putney office and has 872 charities registered with the scheme, with new ones joining every week. To date, the firm has raised more than £720,000 for charities, and is on course to break the £1m barrier by early December 2012.
Having established a team of enthusiastic people, including new manager Alex Harvey, two graduates and a volunteer, Chance has taken a step back from the enterprise’s day-to-day operations, although he remains in a strategic advisory role.
And his best piece of advice to other social entrepreneurs looking for business advice, support, or funding is to always be positive.
He says: “One thing that I have learned is that no matter how good your idea is, when your enterprise is tiny, everything you need for it hinges on you and your personality, and how you come across to others. So even when you are feeling exhausted after a long day or week in the office, you have to maintain a positive attitude when you are around the people who can help you because that will influence their decision.”
29 entrepreneurcountry
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