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Sebastian Backhaus is a German social entrepreneur and marketing specialist. On his blog www.sebastianbackhaus.de, he regularly writes about media, marketing, sustainability and innovation in Germany. He founded the company ‘Backhaus Marketingberatung’, a PR and advisory firm based in Freiburg, Germany, with focus on sustainable marketing for social businesses, NGO’s and charities. Mr Backhaus gladly agreed to be featured with an interview on our blog and to share his insights of the development and innovations in the sustainability- and social business sector in Germany.

Mr. Backhaus, could you introduce yourself and your enterprise ‘Backhaus Marketingberatung’ in a few words?

I hold a Masters in business administration with a focus on media and communications and I am the founder of ‘Backhaus Marketingberatung’. My work essentially involves two basic components: On one hand I create communications concepts for companies, charities and NGO’s as well as providing advisory services. On the other hand, as the project manager, I apply those concepts and implement them via a well established network of consultants. As regards to contents, I specialize on sustainable businesses and enterprises. We provide all traditional communications aspects and recently broadened our focus to the online and social media sector.

Your focus lies on sustainable products and services, that is, you primarily advice social and ecological start-ups. Do those companies have special needs that you intend to satisfy?

Generally, social and ecological start-ups require the same support and advisory services as traditional companies. However, there can be differences. For example in terms of the basic inventory we provide. A number of questions arise here: How can a company find an internet provider that hosts their website carbon neutrally? Or how can I find ecologically produced office equipment?

Furthermore, it is important to have the know-how of the relevant target groups that demand social and sustainable products and services. For several years, I’ve not only been involved in the development of media in this regard but also with the respective target groups and their needs.

How do you proceed in creating publicity for such sustainable companies? Is there some sort of ‘best practice’, a formula that guarantees success?

I don’t think there is a formula for success. Alongside the more traditional fields such as PR and advertising, marketing measures that aim for a dialogue with potential customers have proven successful. This can be corporate blogs or social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube - just to name a few.

Those new modes of communication are valuable for a number of reasons: First, sustainable companies are generally interested and willing to communicate honestly and to create transparency, as well as being thankful for feedback from customers and partners. In addition, [online marketing using web 2.0 tools] is relatively fast and low cost compared to traditional ways of advertising. By using web 2.0 applications the target group is able to distribute the contents further. After all, people enjoy telling their friends and relatives about products or companies they like.

What comes to your mind when you think of the term ‘social business‘?

Spontaneously, a number of terms come to my mind: Future, Fairness, Profitability and Sustainability. In principle, a social business integrates commercial with social targets. A social business not only aims to sustain itself but to provide a social asset, too. Its objective is that of serving humans.

The social business model was primarily introduced by Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus, founder of (among other things) the ‘Genesis Institute for Social Business and Impact Strategies‘.

What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of these social businesses?

I believe that social businesses enjoy a high credibility on the market as well as trust among consumers. The major aspect surely is the social benefit of this business model. Companies that bridge the gap between commercial targets and social objectives (and ideally integrate ecological aspects), are in the long run more successful and more resilient to crisis than traditional companies.

The weaknesses lie, in my opinion, in the initially higher prices of products or services of a social business. That is either due to more cost-intensive production or lack of experience in a certain field.

What are the themes of your blog www.sebastianbackhaus.de?

When I started this blog I chose ‘Marketing‘ ‘Media’ and ‘Sustainability’ as umbrella terms. Principally, those terms still apply to this day.  The themes I use are manifold, but mainly center around ecological or social impact. Posts range from from interviews with companies, to reports on organizations, events, conferences and products and to introductions of campaigns, videos, e-petitions and book reviews.

In general I write about things that interest me and which I think the public should know about. My  sources include newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, blogs, websites, recommendations by friends, Twitter and Facebook, just to name a few.

What is the aim of the two maps depicting ‘sustainable blogs and journals’ and ‘sustainable businesses’ on your blog?

The map of sustainable blogs and journals is based on a list created by Micheal Wenzel for the website www.bioemma.de. Shortly after seeing this list I created a map to show where the different bloggers live. It’s nice to see that it is working and that it leads from online to offline. With this map, I was able to meet some of the bloggers in real life.

The second map of sustainable businesses and organization evolved from a similar idea. I asked myself, whether there are any social businesses in Freiburg and if I could include them in my blog. I began with conducting interviews with those businesses but, due to time constraints, I include business descriptions too, as of now.

Do you think that the number of social and sustainable businesses in Germany will increase within the next years? And if so, why?

Yes – but not only for altruistic reasons. In case of finite resources it is just a matter of time that people will reconsider and change to ecological alternatives. However, that doesn’t necessarily include the social sector. One can only hope that there will be enough reasonable people. I do not have recent figures with regards to the development of social and sustainable business at the moment, however I do know a fair number of people in search for a meaningful work. For some this may lead to the formation of a business which incorporates commercial, ecological and social objectives.

To see more videos, please visit us on YouTube.

Financing, business economics, statistics, accounting, mathematics, human resources, marketing. Subjects like these can be found in the timetable of more or less anyone who has decided to study business at university. It would be in the timetable of someone who will maybe become a social entrepreneur in the future, because he wants to change the way things are and to help others. Or someone who will never get the chance to learn about all the opportunities available in this sector, because he will simply never come across terms like ‘sustainability’ or ‘ecological management’. He will probably learn about CSR and the Code of Conduct and find out that a lot has changed for the better during the past few years. But, sadly, in the course of his studies, he’ll never discover that he can actually help people and run a business all at the same time.

An isolated case, you might think. But guess what: This student is not alone. He’s got a friend. This friend has decided to study Social Work, and learns about mediation, self development, social perspective strategies, social psychiatry and intercultural communication. She likes her studies but, for some reason, she wants to something more entrepreneurial at the same time. She just doesn’t know how to do it. So both students are in a dilemma, because they can’t find the connection between doing business and tackling urgent issues like poverty, hunger or climate change. They know that the concept of social business can work out, somewhere and somehow, and they have heard of Mohammed Yunus…but Bangladesh seems a bit far away. Too far away. As does the idea in general. So they’re going to forget about the idea. And continue studying as if nothing had ever happened. The End.

Hold on: Isn’t it possible to bring together both groups? To teach them how to deal with social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way? To describe to future business economists the different social fields of activity in which they can work? To tell the future social workers about the positive side-effects of dealing with poor or handicapped people using words like profit and growth? To really challenge both kinds of student, to encourage them to choose a social problem of their own and to let them come up with a business plan that addresses this problem?
The answer is: Yes, there is.

And where can you find such a possibility? In Nuremberg, Bavaria (state in the south of Germany), more precisely: at Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences. The seminar is called “socialbusinessideas – Social Responsibility as Business Opportunities”, and Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman and Alexander Zeitelhack were kind enough to tell me what it’s all about…

If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.

To see more videos, please visit us on YouTube.

There was a time when things were not going well for hessnatur. Amidst the dot-com-crash and resulting economic fallout, Germany’s leading manufacturer of natural clothing had to discharge one quarter of its employees. When mail order giant Neckermann took over the company in 2001, people wondered whether hessnatur would really stick to its roots or, more precisely, its sustainable standards.

But today, roughly eight years later, skeptics can breathe again. Despite the fact that a lot of companies have been badly hit by the credit crunch, it seems that the market for organic goods in general is booming. hessnatur, again employing around 320 people, offers a large range of different organic clothing products and has been showered with awards such as the “Positive Award” in 2008 (at Public Eye on Davos, a critical, non-profit-orientated counter-event to the World Economic Forum), the German Sustainability Award 2008 in the “buying” category and the Minne 2009 Sustainable Marketing Award. Having heard so much praise for this company, I wanted to find out why the company from Butzbach (located right in centre of Germany, 40km north of Frankfurt) is considered to be such a pioneer.

Founded way back in 1976 in Bad Homburg by Heinz Hess, the business concept has always been as simple as it was innovative: Provide consumers with pure, natural clothes that have not been chemically treated, ensure environmental sustainability in every step of the supply chain, and design products that not only look good but also meet environmental and hypoallergenic criteria. Sounds quite manageable, but in reality it’s a long process that’s still ongoing. hessnatur is unique, because its whole value added process is unique. Take the creation of a t-shirt, for instance: At hessnatur, this really basic piece of clothing is made of cotton seeds that have not been genetically modified and that have grown up on pesticide-free land. Workers can spin the yarn, cut and sew the clothes under humane working conditions, thanks to a special monitoring system that has been set up together with the Fair Wear Foundation and the Clean Clothes Campaign. Plus, chemicals that could probably contaminate the local environment on site are not used in the process of knitting the fabric and dyeing the t-shirt.

And it’s not only the manufacturing that makes hessnatur such a pioneer. It’s the consistency. The head quarter building in Butzbach, for instance, was built in the mid-90 from an anthroposophical point of view: No toxics, no air-conditioning, 100 % bioenergy. Employees take their lunch in an organic café and customers visiting the store can shop in a pleasant atmosphere, thanks to a stamped clay-wall that cools down the room. Speaking of the customers: They come from Germany, Austria, Switzerland or, most recently from the U.S., and get their products delivered from the catalogue or the online shop. Apart from the store in Butzbach, hessnatur has got two more shops: one in Munich and one in Hamburg. The company also has European expansion plans for its online and catalogue operations.

A couple of months ago, there was again a time when things could have become bad for hessnatur. Neckerman’s and hessnatur’s parent company, Arcandor, had to file for bankruptcy on June 9th. The fear of losing the job returned. But on the very same day, Wolf Lüdge, CEO of hessnatur, gave the all-clear: the company is in the black and neither directly nor indirectly affected by the insolvency. None of its employees will lose their job. Having these news in mind, I met the good humoured managing director at his office roughly one month later. To find out what he thinks about social responsibility, monitoring systems and the social business sector in general, please watch the video.

If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.

To see more videos, please visit us on YouTube.

Social business: Such a great word, so many different interpretations. When writing to Max Wittrock (head of PR and one of mymuesli’s three founders) for the first time, he got back to me quite quickly and said: “Well, of course you can do an interview, but we don’t think we are a social business.” He referred to the definition of the Grameen Bank (where an entrepreneur has to approach and solve a social problem in order to become a social entrepreneur) and was quite surprised that ClearlySo uses a slightly different definition of the term. Anyway, I finally managed to get to mymuesli’s well-hidden office on the outskirts of Passau, Bavaria, to talk with Max and the other young and friendly company members.

Before watching the video, some short information on mymuesli:

Founded in 2007 by three former students, mymuesli quickly became Germany’s probably most hyped and frequented Internet start-up and won a whole series of awards: enable2start award (Financial Times Germany start-up award), BayernOnline award and start-up of the year 2007 award (voted by the German Start-Ups jury). The idea is as simple as it is clever: In a country where cereals play such an important role in breakfast culture, why not give the customers the opportunity to customize their own muesli,. And why not offer exotic ingredients as well such as Quinoa Flakes, Goji Berries (regularly sold out, though) or Gummi Bears? In a fast-growing commercial world of customisation and individualisation (just take Nike’s iD shoes as an example), mymuesli’s successful story showed that an idea like this can really work out. Plus, one of the most crucial parts: everything is 100 per cent organic. Since 2008, mymuesli has started to sell its products in the UK, too.

If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.

To see more videos, please visit us on YouTube.

I met Dr. Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn on a stormy day at his Frankfurt office to discuss the “Green New Deal Tour”, an innovative approach to solving the financial crisis.  Strengmann-Kuhn is a well known figure in Germany but, for the benefit of readers outside Germany, I will introduce him.

Who is Dr. Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn?
Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn is a member of the Bundestag for “Bündnis 90/Die Grünen” (Germany’s Green Party),a party forecast to get around 12-13 % of the votes in the upcoming national elections. Strengmann-Kuhn is also the main spokesperson for the Green New Deal Tour Hesse.

What is the Green New Deal?
The Green New Deal refers to the comprehensive package of economic programs that Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced in the early 1930s as an immediate reaction on the Great Depression. This so-called “New Deal”, which included the deployment of  large amounts of public money, bank and monetary reforms and the introduction of a social insurance system, was picked up on by the UK-based Green New Deal Group and put into a modern context. In July 2008, right at the beginning of the credit crunch, the group published a report that consisted of views and recommendations on how best to tackle the current climate, financial and energy crisis. These recommendations, actually already policy proposals, ask for:

• A new set of regulations international finance
• The creation of “green collar” jobs
• A larger stake of renewables in the energy mix through a large governmental stimulus package
• More realistic fossil fuel prices that include the cost to the environment.

The crucial point, according to the report, is to think of all current crises (financial, environmental, social) as one: a triple crunch that has to be fought collectively. This idea was taken up by Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, adjusted slightly and presented at last year’s Green Party congress (Bundesdelegiertenkonferenz) as the Green Party’s answer to the breakdown of the economy.

And what actually is the Green New Deal Tour Hesse all about, then?
In the course of the Green New Deal Tour, Strengmann-Kuhn visited numerous businesses in Hesse (a state in Central Germany) that fulfil the expectations of the Green Party in terms of sustainability and green management. Declared objectives of the tour were to network, to learn from those companies, and to show that, even within a credit crunch, “green” ideas can by all means be in the black.

Strengmann-Kuhn told me that he purposely visited a sample of different companies to point out that doing business in a socio-ecological way is already feasible in almost any sector. Furthermore, he added that, on a macro economic level, it’s important not only to back exemplary businesses, but to also visit other businesses that are hit by the crisis in order to sit down together and think about new “green” options to help them in their struggle to survive and thrive.  He has published a position paper asking for a sustainable and effective use of natural resources, a modernization of the industrial policy and comprehensive governmental investments.

In the interview, the politician talks about impressions he gained during the tour, and about educational investments that he considers as a necessary means to combat the credit crunch.

If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.

Welcome to “ClearlySo in Germany”! The aim of this project blog is to find out more about the social business and enterprise (SBE) sector in Germany. As well as introducing general issues related to the German social business sector we will ask questions like “Are there more companies that act on a sustainable and organic level in Germany than elsewhere?” and “What kind of social businesses actually exist here?” The content of the site will be both video and written interviews with social entrepreneurs, professors, politicians or experts.

About the authors:

Hans Schmucker finished his degree in Online-Journalism / Online-Public Relations at the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt and currently lives in South Hesse. After several internships in both journalism and PR- and freelance work at organizations and companies like Hill & Knowlton, Städel Museum, TU Darmstadt Racing Team, Software AG and Echo Online, he decided to do another 4-month internship at ClearlySo to learn something about the social business and enterprise (SBE) sector.

He gained valuable experience during that time and was especially involved in the PR and communications work. He started wondering why so many people were aware of the terms “fair trade” and “charity”, but not of the social business and enterprise world. So he decided to find out if there actually is a SBE sector in Germany and if so, how far it’s already been developed

Having finished his studies as a visiting student at the University of London by the end of May 2009, Julian Sartorius decided to do an internship before returning to Germany to complete his curriculum in Philosophy and Cultural Management as an undergraduate at the Witten/Herdecke University.His keen interest in sustainable and socially responsible business development led him to pursue a two month placement at London based ClearlySo, the worlds’ first online marketplace for social business & enterprise, commerce and investment.

Julian currently resides in his home town in Freiburg and reports on socially minded businesses, conduct interviews and to create public awareness for the social business and enterprise sector in this region.

Contact Details:
If you have a social business you would like interviewed or wish to contact one of the authors in general, please email: schmucker.hans(at)gmail.com. or juliansartorius(at)googlemail.com.