&A
ASK THE EXECS
JANINE-NICOLE DESAI Founder, Outside Partner
Approach your pitches in exactly the same way as you would with a purely commercial venture. Any investment committee will want to see a robust business plan
based on high-quality data and sensible assumptions. Quantify the problem that Smile will solve and identify which parties bear most of the cost whenever vaccines are rendered useless. These entities will show the most interest. A range of public-private partnerships and global foundations are engaged in vaccine-related work. If you can show them a compelling solution to this problem, you will obtain the support you need.
Janine-Nicole Desai is a member of IoD London JOHN COURTNEY CEO,
BoardroomAdvisors.co.uk
The social investment tax relief supports social enterprises seeking external finance by off ering individual investors a range of concessions. Investors will take a close interest in how your venture is performing, so you should focus on maximising its profits. And, if you need patents to protect future profits, you should continue that process. While it may be a challenge to find investment, at least grants are also available – any start-up should consider UnLtd or incubators such as Social Innovation Camp as a resource. John Courtney is a member of IoD Bristol
DOWSHAN HUMZAH Independent board director
To be investible, any enterprise needs a sustainable business model, impact, scalability and good returns – be they in financial, reputational or CSR terms. Your story is powerful and also relevant to many suppliers that are trying to get their products across “the last mile”. Given this, you should secure the patents you need; share your story widely, both online and of line; and gain advocacy from civil society, commercial partners and experts in healthcare and logistics. Use digital channels to facilitate open innovation, crowdfunding etc. And, lastly, demonstrate Smile’s potential to prospective investors through the use of a strong test market.
Dowshan Humzah is a fellow of the IoD
KATY PILLAI Investment director, Big Issue Invest
Social enterprise investors can seem diff erent from mainstream investors, but their basic concerns will be the same. For instance,
I’d want to know whether Smile really can solve this big problem in the vaccine supply chain. Will it work in hospitals without reliable electricity? Can untrained and/or illiterate people use it? What is your launch strategy and what kinds of partners do you need? Are any other ventures developing similar products? The real diff erence comes with the relationship after the investment. For example, a social investor might encourage you to use early profits to subsidise Smile’s roll-out to lower-income customers instead of paying dividends straight away. It might also ask you to measure Smile’s impact on communities, enabling it to use this data on top of the financials to decide whether the investment has been a success. The great news for Ideabatic is that the social
investment market is growing quickly. It will be worth spending the time to find the investor that really understands your goals and will help you to succeed.
director.co.uk 29
PAUL CHOWDHRY Chair, Brainnwave
It may seem counterintuitive, but I think that investors in social enterprises have much the same needs as investors elsewhere. Their ROI criteria may be more relaxed, but their assessment of your venture will be just as exacting. Get good at pitching, get used to not taking rejection personally and plan for the process to take you far longer than you think it will.
Paul Chowdhry is a member of IoD Scotland
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