Member Article

Social exchange platform named Branson’s top business

Last night the winner of Sir Richard Branson’s ‘Screw Business As Usual Competition’ was announced as Raise5, a new social fundraising platform.

The Canadian company accepted their award via videolink through the competition Summit in London.

Their prize will now be a ‘connection trip’ to Sir Richard’s home in South Africa to discuss their idea in person.

Among the other entries were a solar powered football, the world’s most ethical pants and a train carriage that allows passengers to share business ideas and strategy.

Raise5 was started by a team of young social entrepreneurs, and provides a platform where people can purchase the knowledge and skills of others for a charitable donation of five dollars.

Discussing the Raise5 concept, Sir Richard said: “It’s simple, entrepreneurial and it works. There were so many fantastic entries but Raise5 stood out for me as a perfect example of how anyone can think differently to affect change.

“Raise5 is about leveraging your skills, talents and creativity as a force for good and that’s exactly what we’re asking business leaders to consider in the way that they approach the world of work.

“The sheer number of companies that entered the competition who want to be successful and profitable but also want to do more to help people and the planet is inspirational. Profit alone is now not the only driving force for many businesses.”

Raise5 were voted for by the public, and made the final ten entries, before being put to a panel of judges from other social enterprises, including Sir Richard.

Mike Tang, founder of Raise5, said: “There were so many fantastic entries but we took an idea that we felt could genuinely help.

“We’re so happy that our idea has been recognised by Sir Richard Branson. We wanted to create a new way to give back which is fun and convenient.

“Looking around, everyone has talents, so we thought how can we turn those talents into donations? And that’s when we came up with the idea for Raise5.

“We’re so looking forward to the next steps for Raise5, working with Virgin Unite and getting the Screw Business As Usual message out there.”

Some of the other entrants will feature in Sir Richard’s next book.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .