Home Articles Woolies and Thankyou! Big Business marches hand in hand with social enterprise

Woolies and Thankyou! Big Business marches hand in hand with social enterprise

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Of all the ‘social’ that touches our everyday lives, social business might be the best to come alive.

This happened recently, when Woolworths began to stack Thankyou’s products, giving a huge fillip to the tiny social enterprise’s philanthropic efforts in the developed world.

Thankyou’s managing director, Daniel Flynn, said the rollout by Woolworths in a dozen stores was the culmination of a great year of growth for the startup, which funds a variety of projects in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Thankyou’s dreams just got bigger

With Woolworths’ decision to get behind the range, “nearly our entire product range – including cereal, muesli bars and body care products – will soon arrive on Woolies shelves around the country,” said Flynn.

Flynn said the sales at Woolworth stores would tremendously impact Thankyou’s work in the developing world, and “we can now dream even bigger.”

“…with the help of Woolworths customers, we will be able to assist hundreds of thousands, and then eventually millions, get access to food, water and hygiene solutions,” he said.

It was in July that Flynn reached out to Woolworths and Coles, appealing to their sense of business as much as to their humane spirit. That gambit has paid off for a man who sold gobstoppers and yabbies when still in primary school, as his mother once recounted to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Just this year, Thankyou has launched two new brands – Thankyou Food and Thankyou Body Care, adding to its bottled water – and increased its product portfolio by 18 products. It also implemented a social media campaign whose response Flynn called “overwhelming.”

Thankyou was founded with the sole purpose of funding safe water and other projects in developing countries. Over the past five years, Thankyou has raised $700,000 for a variety of projects, helping 56,000 people in developing nations find safe water, food and hygiene.

The social enterprise has aided projects in Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Burundi, India, Timor Leste, Kenya, Haiti and Uganda, working with partners such as Oxfam, World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse and Australian Red Cross. Thankyou’s products are sold at 3,000 outlets, including the 7-Eleven network.

Woolworths will sell Thankyou’s broad range of products including bottled water, muesli, nut bars, rolled oats, and hand wash and lotion.