We had the honour of interviewing the founder of the Brazilian social enterprise 100% Amazonia on the topics of B2B sales and working with corporations. Check out the valuable insights she shared with us below!

Can you explain what your social enterprise does?

We are a B Corp specialising in innovative solutions that transform Amazonian resources into unique ingredients. We offer renewable, non-timber forest bio ingredients produced in collaboration with communities, local cooperatives, and family farms to leverage the best of the Amazon rainforest.

We first started as a trading company to help Amazonian communities to sell and export their products. But we were struggling to scale, due to challenges in quality, regularity, and quantity. To address these, we shifted our approach and created a processing facility called the Factory of Forest. This facility processes everything we receive from the community — turning fruits into purees, extracting oils, or producing butter. We transitioned into production to scale our operations effectively.

Can you tell us about the beginning of your B2B journey and your B2B clients?

Our B2B journey began when we realised the need to educate consumers on the Amazonian forest, and the respect of nature and local communities. I founded our company to empower communities rather than just buying products from them.

We secured deals with large brands such as LUSH, Firmenich, Nestlé and Kerry Group. We achieved that not because of our positive impact on people and the planet, but because of the great quality and competitive price of our products. We understood that impact unfortunately doesn’t sell. But the product does.

Is this how you differentiate from other suppliers?

Exactly. Remember, companies don’t buy impact, they buy products and services. The impact is just a differentiator. This was so frustrating when I found out, but unfortunately it is the reality today. And social entrepreneurs need to know that: they need a good product or service, at the right price, if they want to convince clients.

How did you find the right player in the value chain to work with?

Our business model is based on buyer diversity, not limited to one industry, so we had to balance our business model to cater to both final product brands and their suppliers. We make sure our portfolio is diverse by selling to clients across various industries: we sell our ingredients and processed products to food, beverage, and cosmetics companies.

Initially, we identify the distribution channel and then choose our customers. As a B2B and B2B2C company, we find it easier to engage with small and medium-sized companies, because we can close contracts faster than with large companies (which can take up to two years). It is also easier to find contacts in those smaller organisations. However, contracts with SMEs tend to be smaller. It is therefore important to have clients of all sizes in your portfolio to ensure stability and growth.

Did you face any challenges in working with companies?

Yes, of course. One of the main challenges is meeting the demands of large companies. They have such high and strict requirements that it can feel impossible to meet their demands. They need to understand the capacities of social enterprises and learn to be patient. And it’s not only because of organisational differences, but also because of cultural differences between regions. The way of doing business will be very different between regions in Brazil, and therefore different from the way it works in the Amazon.

This is why communication is so key. Companies need to hear our reality and be ready to adapt their processes if needed. As impact entrepreneurs, we believe in collaboration over competition and emphasise transparency and honesty in all customer interactions.

Another gap we face with clients is the timelines. Sometimes, large companies can only pay us in 90 days, whereas we need the cash flow sooner to secure our production and our impact to the communities. Again, it is key that clients are open for discussion and ready to adapt.

Did any intermediary organisation help you connect with your clients?

Yes, many of our clients come through partnerships with NGOs like WWF and TNC Conservancy. These networks often refer significant customers to us. For smaller companies, we attend trade shows, leveraging our B-Corp status to connect with like-minded businesses.

How do you find and approach your customers?

Our approach phase varies depending on the company size. For smaller companies, we often meet them at trade shows. For larger companies, we may come through R&D departments, though this takes longer. Sometimes, top-down approaches work best. That’s what happened with Kerry Group, when the CEO himself came to our organisation to find a specific ingredient they needed to create a new beverage.

We also collaborate with distributors to extend our reach. But companies try more and more to avoid middlemen, in order to ensure traceability in the supply chain.

What is your process for handling larger bidding processes and contracts with large customers?

We start by identifying all potential distribution channels and industries we want to sell to. We then identify the right customers. Using CRM software, we rate potential leads to ensure they are suitable. Once we have entered into contact with a lead, this can take a lot of time as we’re in the ingredient industry.

Selling ingredients involves a detailed process: creating a product formula, conducting consumer tests, and if successful, proceeding to larger orders. The entire process can take up to 18 months. And the client needs to wait until the consumer test results before telling us if they want to purchase more. Overall, on all the processes we launch with clients, we have a success rate of 39%.

Also, having good legal and accounting support is crucial to manage contracts and ensure we can meet demand. Transparent communication with customers is essential to align expectations and realities.

What advice would you give to other social entrepreneurs selling or wanting to sell to B2B clients?

One of the most important things to me is: be true to yourself. Every time you talk to a potential customer, always be transparent and honest. And don’t think the impact you generate will be enough to them: make sure your product is of high quality and competitively priced. From there, your impact will be the differentiator to traditional suppliers.

Fernanda Stefani, Co-founder & CEO of 100% Amazonia

Tiny Miracles is a social enterprise on a mission to create a slightly more just world. They do this by attempting to create confident, liberated communities who can access the global market and participate in it with dignity. They work with brands and companies who want to put social impact on the agenda by socially procuring their products.

We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sid Menon, Tiny Miracles’ Chief Creative Activist, to learn more about the role of branding and storytelling in its B2B sales journey. Check out the inspiring insights that Sid shared with us below!

Can you tell us about Tiny Miracles’ work, and your B2B journey?

Tiny Miracles started as a foundation when Laurien Meuter, Founder, realised that providing education for children wasn’t enough to alleviate poverty because parents needed jobs to support them. If parents don’t have a stable income, they tend to keep their kids out of school to help them raise money for the family. Therefore, education and employment are intrinsically connected. This led to the creation of a social enterprise to employ parents as a means to uplift communities.

Initially, we designed products sold on a small scale to museums, which didn’t provide stable income. In 2010, Laurien approached cosmetics and lifestyle company, Rituals. She presented her case to the founder and CEO, Raymond Cloosterman, and convinced him to become a donor of Tiny Miracles. That is how the partnership with Rituals first began.

Four years later, Laurien sent Raymond a memorable text message – “We don’t need a donor, we need a customer.” Laurien and her team had realised that the need for parents, especially women, in the community was to secure stable jobs in order to achieve financial independence. To be able to employ them, they decided to shift from a foundation model to a social enterprise model.

It really helps to have a first strong client. Rituals transitioned from a donor to a client, marking the start of our B2B journey. This year, Rituals ordered 2 million bags, and their involvement has helped us gain traction with other businesses by showcasing the value of our partnership. ​​Rituals is not only purchasing a product, they’re purchasing an impact story.

Tiny Miracles is now present in 9 communities across Mumbai, affecting the lives of more than 3,000 actively engaged community members. Apart from providing dignified well-paid work, Tiny Miracles also has innovative impact programs that help community members empower themselves. Other clients now include Heineken and Tony’s chocolate.

How did you build your brand and storytelling?

We shifted towards a storytelling approach about a couple of years ago, understanding that brands like Rituals were buying not just a product, but the story behind it. We aim to craft a simple, honest narrative that resonates with end customers, making them feel a connection to the larger cause when they touch our products.

We had a look at your different channels (website, LinkedIn, Instagram..) and your branding looks amazing. How did you decide to build such a colourful and visual brand?

In January 2023, I joined the company with my background in brand consulting. The first thing I did was think about the question, ‘why would a company buy from us?’ We realised that while impact is important, it is not enough on its own. Brands buy a product, but also need a compelling product with a compelling story behind it.

We decided to differentiate ourselves with our storytelling. We aim to be a globally recognised brand, advocating for a more just world. Our branding reflects this activism and is consistent across all platforms.

It’s not easy, to be honest. People working here frequently ask me to tone it down when we’re talking to high end fashion brands. But my feeling – and I might be in a minority here – is that a good brand is like a person, you don’t change it based on who you’re talking to.

Do you think powerful branding is important when working B2B?

Yes, powerful branding is crucial. If you don’t tell the story of your impact, you cannot ask for the premium that finances your impact. It helps convey the impact story effectively, which is often something B2B clients are looking for.

In this world, companies do something because they have a problem to solve. Branding helps your business partner tell your story, which is one of the reasons why they buy from you in the first place.

When we pitch to clients, we use our imagery but adapt it every time to the customer’s branding and visual identity. We show them how it could look in their store, or how they could communicate about it, playing with their existing colours and logos. This approach, along with showcasing strong existing partners such as Rituals, helps build trust and emphasises our impact.

Do you have any tips on the types of channels you use for communication?

LinkedIn is my least favourite social media platform but it is one of the most important channels for B2B sales, and we would like to be more active on it than we are today. It allows direct communication with senior partners and business leaders, and is also the most leveraged channel by brands. Companies love to tell their peers what they are currently doing, especially when it comes to impact.

And it is important to adapt your strategy according to the channel: for instance, on Instagram, it works well to have carousel posts, which generate significant interest. We noticed that a written post may not be seen by everyone. But what is most important is the feeling it triggers to the few people who see it. The goal is not just broad visibility but meaningful engagement.

Are impact reporting and transparency as important as branding? How do you ensure your impact is well understood and shared as a story?

It depends on the industry, but often impact reporting is as important as branding. It’s a key part of our story and essential for social enterprises to convey the full scope of their impact.

We align our impact metrics with our brand narrative. We use specific measures like the “better than yesterday” index to gauge our impact or the number of people employed, trained, etc. Clients are of course eager to receive those metrics and share them themselves.

How do you tell stories about your impact in a way that challenges rather than perpetuates stereotypes?

There is a certain joy that people feel when they feel seen. We like to focus on that joy and the sense of empowerment it creates in our communications.

For example, we did a shoot a few months ago called ‘The Sassy Women of Tiny Miracles’. The only point was to show how sassy and cool these women we work with are. We’re not interested in showcasing misery or attempting to elicit pity. These are strong powerful women who don’t need a handout, they just need a fair shot at life. That’s the point of our portrayals in communication.

Any general tips for other social entrepreneurs?

My biggest advice is radical honesty. Be true to yourself. Let me give you an example:

Recently, we created toolkit boxes for the women who cannot leave their homes for work in Mumbai, India. They would come once a week to one of our centers in the city, pick it up, then work from home and deliver what they had crafted the week after. We put in a lot of effort to personalise these boxes to their daily realities and to create joy and excitement when they will open them. For example, we included encouragement posters and stickers and scorecards, among other things.

This probably doesn’t qualify as ‘impact’. But not everything can be measured. Our branding and design aren’t only for the brands and end customers. We also always make sure to create joy for the community. And we just did it for them, not for the story.

But involuntarily it became a piece of the story. Some clients like Rituals heard about it and really liked this initiative. It shows how sometimes you don’t even know where the story will come from. And you should never try too hard, you should be authentic and the rest will follow.

Sid Menon, Chief Creative Activist at Tiny Miracles

Angirus is a waste management company which produces damp-proof bricks made from 100% recycled waste material. They partner with municipalities and vendors to collect plastic and industrial waste, turn it into bricks, and put the repurposed waste back into use for the construction industry. With this product, Angirus eliminates the use of fertile soil, coal, and water thus conserving scarce natural resources and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions for the production of building bricks.

What is your experience with B2B Social Procurement?

We mostly work with corporate clients. Thanks to these partnerships, we have already diverted and recycled more than 90 metric tons of non-recyclable and  single-use waste. Corporations in the construction industry that buy Angirus bricks can help to reduce waste and create a positive environmental impact, all without disrupting their daily operations. Corporate clients are essential to growing our business and to increase our impact, the issue is that it’s difficult to start a new partnership. There are a lot of nuances in the corporate world that we need to fit into, and a lot of innovation that we need to keep up with.

Do you think this series could help you with knowledge on how to bridge this gap with corporates?

Yes indeed, particularly in the field of compliance, legislation, and keeping up to date with constant changes, it would be great to receive your support. An example that comes to my mind is around carbon regulations, it’s a complicated world, but if I can prove that our products can help companies reduce their carbon footprint I believe that they will want to work with us. There are a lot of policies and regulations to learn about carbon credits.

What do you think of the format?

I like to have written content that is free and I can go back to when I need some information. This way, I can read it when I find the time and I am in the right mindset. I also like the idea of having masterclasses and creating a network of peers that I can help and get help from. Sharing information with peers could help save a lot of time.

I think the chapters are all very useful. For example I have had mentors in the past helping me to develop a strategy and that was extremely valuable. Another chapter that I think I will use a lot if around HR and policies, we started as a small company and have not yet put full processes in place. A big topic is around measuring our impact, we get asked a lot of questions around this, calculating carbon emissions, our social impact, and our theory of change, so learning how to do this properly will be very useful.

We are very keen to find new clients, and everything that can help us to do this will be a good contribution. It is difficult for us to find the time to search for insights online, so having everything in one place will be great.

Kunjpreet Arora, Co-founder & CEO of Angirus.

We had the honour of interviewing Claudine Leclerc, Program Director at Groupe Arès, which is one of the largest French social enterprises, specialised in professional and social inclusion. Check out the valuable insights she shared with us below!

Can you tell us more about Groupe Arès?

Arès, founded in 1991, is a social enterprise focused on professional and social inclusion. Our mission is to help people who are far from the labour market transition into regular employment. We do this through our programs which run across a network of 15 entities, across four different sectors: logistics, construction, circular economy, and digital. Through our core activities and operations, we empower 1,500 to 2,000 people each year.

Our B2B clients play a key role in supporting our mission, both by enabling our activities and by hiring our trainees for long-term positions after their inclusion period.

Very interesting! And what is the link with SocialCobizz?

Through our work at Groupe Arès, we’ve come to innovate with some clients and co-create social joint ventures which address a specific social mission. The way it works is that Arès owns 51% of this new entity and the client owns 49%. We’ve tested this model already with large clients such as GXO, Accenture, the SEB Group, and VINCI.

In 2016, we decided to launch SocialCobizz, a sister company of Groupe Arès which supports businesses in developing social joint ventures and social impact projects more broadly. SocialCobizz has been co-launched with our partners Vitamine T and Investir+. It is made of a team of 5 consultants, with very operational expertise.

Could you tell us more about your B2B journey? And how do you work with corporate clients?

The key factor in convincing a company to co-create a joint venture with us is understanding what is the strategic goal this partnership can address. What will make this project truly valuable to the client? Of course, corporate social responsibility and sustainability are growing topics, but they’re not usually enough to convince a company and ensure their lasting commitment.

It is therefore essential to first identify the needs and strategic priorities of the company. For example, do they face recruitment challenges in hard-to-fill roles? In that case, they may need support with talent identification, training, and integration. Or perhaps the company is trying to position in a market where including social clauses is expected from their customers. Some organisations are also trying to advance on their ecological transition. These are just a few examples of strategic priorities a lead may have and where we can bring value.

Once you identified those needs, what is your offering?

Our methodology is structured in several stages:

1. Awareness: We start by introducing clients to the social and solidarity economy, showcasing examples of social joint ventures and other impact-driven collaborations.
2. Project Scoping: Once the client is interested, we identify the potential project and key stakeholders needed to bring it to life.
3. Implementation: We executive the project, which includes the economic and legal structuring needed.

And what is the profile of your B2B clients? Have you started working with smaller or bigger companies?

Both. Through our link with Arès, we attracted interest from large companies right at the beginning. At the same time, we really see the value in working with small and medium-sized businesses, which often have greater flexibility in decision-making and face the same challenges as large corporations—such as recruitment, ecological transition, and market positioning.

And on the Groupe Arès side, we count a very diverse portfolio with a total of 250 clients. While we’ve quickly gained large clients, we also work with smaller organisations—some of which have grown alongside us. For instance, Veja entrusted Arès with its logistics from the start of its journey. Our relationships vary greatly: some clients come to us for one-time projects, others are regular clients, and some even become long-term partners.

Are there specific factors to consider when working with large corporations? Have you encountered any obstacles or challenges?

One key factor is choosing the right point of contact. In smaller companies, decision-makers are often easier to reach. But in a large corporation, it’s essential to identify the right entry point and secure a high-level sponsor who can champion the project. Without this internal sponsor, it often comes down to price alone, so building a genuine partnership is crucial.

Understanding payment processes is also important. Large companies typically have specific procedures for setting up vendor accounts, which means we need to know all their requirements to ensure timely payments.

There’s also a need for rigour, which applies to all clients but especially with larger ones, where expectations around service quality and regular reporting can be even higher and more formalised.

Did you need to adapt any of your internal processes to meet these standards and requirements?

Yes, we’ve had to adjust our information systems to better track our logistics services. We’ve also implemented client monitoring systems to manage cash flow and ensure timely follow-ups.For example, as Arès works in logistics and construction, we need full traceability for our activities, which is best managed through a Warehouse Management System (WMS). Implementing this kind of software allows us to monitor production and operations effectively.

That being said, we don’t want to treat large companies differently from smaller ones. In fact, managing a diverse portfolio of smaller clients, each with unique needs, can sometimes be more complex than working with a large corporation with clear, established processes.

As final words, what advice would you give to other social entrepreneurs entering the B2B space?

Never forget that you should start by understanding your clients’ needs and making it clear how your solution directly addresses them.

Claudine Leclerc, Program Director at Groupe Arès and Director at SocialCoBizz

To see what this theory looks like in practice, let’s look at a real-world example. We recently had the opportunity to interview Borris Gamarra, CEO and head of Operations, from Recidar, a social enterprise that collects unused objects to give them a second life. Since 2015, they have been mitigating environmental pollution and creating purchasing opportunities for low-income families through its eco-social markets. Here’s what we learnt from him:

What is the problem that your social enterprise is solving?

In Peru, an average of over 21,000 tons of waste is generated daily, of which only 2% is recycled. The city of Lima alone generates approximately 50% of the total waste. Furthermore, poverty in Peru continues to increase rather than decrease, with 29% of the Peruvian population living in poverty. As a result, many people are forced to shop in informal markets, commonly known as “cachinas,” where the primary supply comes from the trafficking of stolen objects.

What is your environmental impact, and how do you measure it?

With our reverse logic system, we have extended the useful life of over 1 million unused objects, prevented more than 2,000 tons of waste from ending up in landfills, and mitigated over 17,000 tons of CO2.

76% of customers are aware that their purchases positively impact the environment. Quotes from our customers include: “The bazaar recycles and reuses, giving new life to things.” and  “Before, there were many discarded furniture pieces on the street. Here, they’re given a chance.”

What is your social impact and how do you measure it?

We have created a community space through our two eco-social markets, which attract an average of 3,500 visitors each month. On average, 90% of customers believe that the service in the markets is good or very good.

One customer in Chorrillos said “It’s a nice experience; people rush to buy, there’s friendliness, one de-stresses choosing their product, and people know each other. There used to be problems, but now that has changed. Before, different types of people would come, take merchandise, leave it behind, and take what they needed. In the market, I would highlight the order; it’s a more comfortable shopping experience. It’s all about talking. Now that’s decreased; we know each other, we talk, we joke; people know each other.”

96% of our customers believe the market offers economic advantages and access to essential goods for low-income individuals. Another customer in VES said “Because it helps acquire products; money doesn’t stretch. There are humble people with no fixed salary living on 20 soles a day. I bought a sofa for 35 soles, and now I have somewhere to sit. It helps us.”

How do you work with corporate clients?

Since 2021, we have created Empresas 2s: Solidarity and Sustainability, so that all our corporate partners can be part of a community striving to create a more circular, inclusive, and supportive world. Our services include:

• Conscious Reuse Campaigns: We conduct campaigns that raise awareness among employees, customers, and students of various organisations about Circular Economy, in addition to scheduling free pickups at their homes or setting up collection points at their facilities. At the end of the campaigns, we provide impact indicators to demonstrate how easy it is to generate social and environmental impact.
• Responsible Inventory Disposal: Our reverse logistics services enable companies to consciously dispose of unused furniture, decommissioned inventories, and objects that have lost their commercial value in a way that supports their sustainable development goals.
• Visits to Recidar’s Workshops/Markets and Volunteering: Various companies, universities, and associations visit our facilities, where we exchange experiences about the circular economy and allow them to explore our markets, workshops, and warehouses. We also have a volunteer program where allies-for-a-day can be part of our operations or engage in fun and educational activities in our eco-social markets.
• Logistical Treatment of Objects: We provide logistics services for companies (transport, storage, and extending the life of objects to create social impact), which help fund our markets.
• Social Projects: Through corporate financing, we create social projects in communities where we can conduct initiatives against cold weather, recover public spaces, and provide training on recycling and reuse.

How do you track your impact?

Currently, the operations team is responsible for recording the number of items received by category and their average weights, so that later, with a conversion ratio, we can obtain the CO2 mitigation value and the positive impact achieved by not having to create a new product. This conversion data was provided by the consulting firm Libelula. Social indicators are obtained through an anthropological study conducted annually.

How did you select your key performance indicators (KPIs) and certifications?

Given the reverse logistics service, it was essential to convey the carbon footprint being mitigated by not creating a new product (currently, we are the only ones in the Peruvian market providing this information). Additionally, to ensure that the eco-social markets were fulfilling their value proposition, we decided to start conducting these studies with external consultants. The B Corporation certification was also fundamental for us since the concept of a social enterprise was not well-known in the country when Recidar started. The market mainly had welfare projects relying on external financing rather than self-sustainable support projects. This certification helped validate our business model and raise awareness of the positive impact we generate among our partners.

How does measuring your impact benefit your corporate clients? What metrics/indicators do you provide, and how do you help track and communicate your own impact?

Our partners benefit from impact measurement as we are the only ones in the market providing this information, helping them in their plans related to the SDGs and ISO certification.

We provide metrics for reused items, kg avoided in landfills, and CO2 mitigated, along with an annual summary of social impact. We consistently communicate these figures across our various channels to improve visibility and reach regarding what we are achieving together.

Any advice for other social entrepreneurs starting their B2B journey who want to develop strong impact measurement and management?

Measuring Recidar’s impact and beginning to share it with partners allowed for a 100% growth in corporate allies in its first year, demonstrating the importance of clarity that the model is functioning at both social and environmental levels. However, it must be aligned with each organisation’s goals and based in an understanding of what can be measured and what cannot.

Boris Gamarra, CEO & Head of Operations

An example of a social business that has successfully scaled up through the different stages of the journey is Hasiru Dala Innovations.

Hasiru Dala Innovations (HDI) is an India-based social business that develops innovative, circular economy business models that help create a waste-free world and transition waste pickers to entrepreneurs and predictable livelihoods as an integral part of the evolving circular economy value chain. It refers to it as Inclusive Circularity®.

The organisation provides waste management services and fair-trade plastic waste. The social business has an international reach and supplies global brands including Unilever, H&M and Cofresco. Yunus Social Business supported Hasiru Dala Innovation with a long-term loan, thus helping the business to grow and scale its impact.

HDI was recognised as a Guaranteed Fair Trade Enterprise by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO). This fair trade status and the social impact it created with informal waste workers was used as a differentiator to approach global brands to provide fair trade plastic waste to their supply chain to be used as recyclates in their products or packaging.

At Unilever, the Global Brand Manager for Sunsilk Shampoos became HDI’s champion internally when Unilever India was looking for a partner to pilot their Sunsilk Naturals brand with fair trade plastic. After a long sales cycle of nearly 2 years (which is standard for global corporations of Unilever’s size), the shampoo bottle is now made of 50% recycled PET made from plastic waste sourced exclusively from HDI and carries a Guaranteed Fair Trade Origin Label from WFTO.

Being a supplier to H&M also opened new doors for HDI. When H&M Foundation set out to run a collective impact program for waste pickers in Bangalore, it introduced HDI to H&M India. Their Head of Sourcing was so taken up with the idea of impacting the lives of waste pickers and informal waste entrepreneurs that he fast-tracked the piloting process with the button manufacturer and they were onboarded in just a few months.

The co-founder & CEO of HDI, Shekar Prabhakar says “The key to getting global brands to try us out was first to be authentic, transparent about everything, and being highly responsive to their processes and second to find an internal champion who orchestrates the right people to come to the table for the discussion and finally the decision.”

HDI creates better and safer livelihoods for waste pickers and informal waste workers. In the words of Shekar, “our goal is to provide the opportunities and market access to bring about a quantum change in the quality of their lives in a matter of years.”

The organisation has been awarded the ET Now Leaders of Tomorrow – Green Solutions Provider of the Year, 2024; the Sankalp Artha Global Circular Economy Award 2023 and the FICCI Circular Economy Award 2022.