Funded by Green Industries SA, the ‘Heaps Good Hustle’ Circular Social Enterprise Incubator was delivered by Collab4Good (SA), in partnership with Australian social enterprise ecosystem builder and crowdfunding platform Start Some Good, from May to July 2022.
Teams participated in a 10-week course to define and develop their circular, purpose-first business idea, supported through masterclasses, live group coaching calls, one-on-one coaching and site visits.
Course modules spanned a range of skills and elements essential for developing a successful purpose enterprise, including designing business models, prototyping, market and customer research, funding options, a pitch masterclass, digital marketing, video storytelling and crowdfunding.
The course culminated in a pitch night, held on 11 August 2022 at The Joinery, where teams presented their business ideas, with 2 teams launching a crowdfunding campaign.
Increasingly, many members of the community have ideas that may not be a fit for traditional business incubators, but are seeking to explore ways to develop a business which helps address both environmental and social challenges set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and create positive outcomes for both, through purpose-driven enterprise.
‘Circular social enterprise’ sits at the nexus of this, with products and services designed to help the shift from linear to circular when it comes to materials, and also to prioritise positive social impact and inclusion through purpose-first business models and meaningful work.
The incubator program is intended to give effect to these strategic priorities by supporting ‘business-as-unusual’ innovators and entrepreneurs who have this ethos baked into their approach, and who may find that this doesn’t fit well with traditional business incubators.
Learn about the participating teams
ShowMe Exchange
Repair is an integral part of a circular economy, but not everyone has DIY skills, or the time and confidence to attempt repair and maintenance tasks around the house – or they attempt them and are unsuccessful, resulting in wasted materials, time and money.
The internet may be full of instructional videos, but what if you could access expert guidance through a real-time online platform where an expert can walk you through the job one-on-one, saving you time and money to get the job done?
ShowMe Exchange is a DIY app that connects people seeking to fix things around the home with the people who know how to fix them. It has a strong focus on impact through job creation and income for people who have knowledge but face physical barriers, as well as the circular economy approach to encourage fixing, reuse and repurposing of materials around the home.
Ocean Kind (formerly Days Like This)
The impact of waste plastics on marine environments is devastating in many ways, such as marine life ingesting it or getting tangled in it, leading to injury and sometimes even death. Port Lincoln is the largest fishing port in the southern hemisphere and has 1,500 tonnes of fishing nets sitting in the dump, destined for landfill.
Ocean Kind want to turn discarded, highly recyclable fishing nets into new products through a dedicated recycling centre. Potential products will be made from nylon and polyester and include items such as leisurewear and plastic pellets that can be sold to local plastic manufacturers.
EcoCaddy Organics
When food waste is sent to landfill, it causes significant emissions issues as it generates methane – a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Capturing food waste and composting it helps to reduce this impact, and also helps to put nutrients back into the soil to grow more produce. Food waste collection from hard-to-access places is important in higher density environments.
EcoCaddy Organics are leveraging their fleet of zero-emission trikes to reduce urban food waste in Adelaide’s CBD. These trikes with trailers attached allow riders to navigate into small spaces to quickly and easily collect food waste from food services, and aggregate the waste for collection by a major composter.
To help food businesses to understand the problem they are contributing to, and the solution that this service can offer, EcoCaddy Organics have developed an online dashboard to track waste and impact data.
On-Farm Food Waste Project
Food waste happens where people buy and consume food, but a significant amount of food waste is also generated by farmer-producers along the value chain, through seconds and excess produce.
The On-Farm Food Waste Project is looking for opportunities to collaborate and connect with farmers to capture excess produce and redistribute it as raw fruit and vegetables, or to utilise shared infrastructure and turn the produce into value-add products, such as pickles, preserves and chutneys, that can be sold.
The project is seeking $45k of investment to assess the viability and ability to scale a social enterprise solutions to on-farm waste in co-design with small scale regen farmers and producers.
Visit the Food Embassy website for more information, or contact Co-Founder Liz Sanders with any enquiries.
UP by GOGO
Moving house, downsizing or clearing out a loved one’s house and possessions has an enormous impact on time and energy, and while it would be good to ensure a zero-waste removal, it’s not always possible.
Up by GOGO offers a wraparound moving service to carefully move possessions to a new home, and then responsibly repurpose, rehome, or upcycle possessions that are no longer needed.
The team has launched an online crowdfunding campaign with StartSomeGood to raise much-needed funds to pilot and validate their model, and create employment for marginalised people who face complex barriers to employment.
Cinch Textiles
It is estimated that Australians purchase 27 kg of new textiles every year, and discard 23 kg. Annually, 1 million tonnes of textiles are imported into the country, and a whopping 60,000 tonnes are sent to landfill by charities alone.
For unwanted textiles, few pathways exist outside of sending them to landfill, and although fibre-to-fibre technologies are emerging, there is a need to address the 60,000 tonnes of textile waste generated each year.
Cinch Textiles seeks to turn commercial and consumer textile waste (think embroidered uniforms and clothing items) into a marketable product, with the aim of reducing the need and use of new materials. Through building a textiles microfactory recycling facility, Cinch will be a channel to take textile waste, process the textiles, and provide the product to local crafters and community groups as a new source of fibrefill for toys and furnishings.
