Symbio Impex: The triple bottom line in agriculture

Tokya E. Dammond is the president of Symbio

Impex Corporation, which he, Symbio Polska,

and Artur Tyminski founded in 1998 in the United

States. Using a Polish/American venture-cap-

ital fund, the three created a company that

contracted small family-owned farms and land-

scape parks to produce and process Polish-

grown organic fruits and vegetables.

Symbio started with 20 farms, but today the

company works with more than 300 farms, sell-

ing produce to the European Union and North

American industrial and retail markets. The

company gained $4.5 million in revenues in

2006 — taking care of the first bottom line.

The company also helps solve a social problem

by paying a fair price to small family farms for

their organic produce, which addresses the

second bottom line. Small family farms are in

danger of disappearing in the face of competi-

tion from giant factory farms.

And, when it comes to the third bottom line,

Symbio achieves environmental sustainability

through organic farming. Healthy soil is cre-

ated to produce healthy plants, which have

high immunity against plant diseases and

pests. Organic farming recycles natural materi-

als back into the soil, thereby sustaining fertility

and creating a natural approach to controlling

pests and disease. This cyclical process, say

the Symbio executives, eliminates the need for

artificial fertilizer, chemical pesticides, growth

hormones, and similar unnatural additives.Marketing with a conscience

The most obvious and common way for your social enterprise to become

involved with the market and make some money is to try to sell one or more

of your products or services. (We illustrate this approach in the sidebar

“Aiding the poor in a profitable way: The Kuroiler chicken,” earlier in this

chapter.) But you have to sell with a conscience. In addition, there are sev-

eral other approaches that social enterprises may take to exploit the market.

 Beyond just starting to sell your goods and services in the marketplace, you

can market your products or services with a conscience. The main idea is that

you want both to promote your enterprise and make some money in a manner

that is morally acceptable to you, your colleagues in the enterprise, other

stakeholders, and the wider community:

 ✓ Rent out your brand. A social enterprise can make available to a for-

profit (non-social) enterprise its reputation as a trustworthy and socially

beneficial organization. The business then pays the social enterprise for

use of this asset. Affinity credit cards are a well-known example, as are

some minibuses that serve disabled people.

 ✓ Endorse someone else’s brand. A social enterprise can endorse a par-

ticular business brand and receive payment from the company selling

the branded good or service. The American Cancer Society entered

into such an agreement with several manufacturers of nicotine patches.

What would prevent a hospital from naming a visitors’ lounge in recogni-

tion of the local corporate sponsor who pays for its construction and

operation? (You could imagine the “Caravel Room,” after a local dairy,

or the “Lakers Lounge,” after the professional basketball team.)

 ✓ Form an exclusive brand partnership. A social enterprise may sell or

license its services to a corporate sponsor, for which the corporation

pays the nonprofit. A common example these days is corporate support

of educational programs and institutions, such as Coca-Cola gaining the

exclusive rights to the sale of soft drinks on a university campus or a

caterer gaining exclusive access to all catered food in a large museum.

 ✓ Sell or license intellectual property rights. A social enterprise may earn

money from certain intellectual property rights. This contested practice

is evident, for example, when a company offers a research grant contract

to a university if the university gives privileged access to the results of the

research. There may even be some advantages for the company in terms

of eventually gaining patents through such an exchange.