These days there is much talk of ethical or 'enviro' entrepreneurship and it's easy to get lost in the jungle of jargon. But creating a business with a conscience should be at your idea's core writes Heather Wilkinson...

What does ‘Business with a Conscience’ mean?
Conscience: (n) ’a sense of right and wrong, scruples, principles, ethics’

Creating a Business with a Conscience is about a setting a code of ethics, to ensure the operations of the business generates a positive impact on its environment, local economy and community. Whether a business is a micro, small or medium business, codes of ethics can be integrated as a strand of the business or fully embedded within the nature and ethos of the business.

Why is having a business with a conscience important?
Firstly it’s about running a responsible business, one which takes responsibility for the way it operates and builds relationships with its manufacturers and suppliers through the adoption of fair-trade policies, and engages in effective relationships with its customers and local community.

Secondly, it’s about being a sustainable business, one which takes a constructive approach to social and environmental practices to ensure its financial sustainability through maximising cost efficiency and recognising the competitive advantage.

As a business owner you can adopt a number of different approaches to incorporate responsible and sustainable business practices within your overall strategy, at different levels:-

Low Level

Incorporating a Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy
A Commercial Business can implement both internal and external practices that are responsible and contributory to the well-being of their employees, customers and community. The development of a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy will draw out your key principles to tackle environmental and social factors and provide an ethical backbone of the company.

e.g. Michael Jackson, Founder of Ebony Bailey Marketing
Michael runs Ebony Bailey a commercial telemarketing company, but his passion and commitment to young people is a key strand to his business. Michael not only named the business after his children, but he is also committed to supporting the NSPCC on an ongoing basis. As part of his commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, he provides the NSPCC with free telemarketing services, and he actively supports and helps to engage celebrities in NSPCC initiatives.

Medium Level

Adopting the Principles of an Ethical Business
An Ethical Business is founded on its ethical principles and practices, and these make up the DNA of the business. It would be a commercial business set up to promote they're ethical values, whether these are embedded within the manufacture, delivery or purpose of the service or product.

e.g. Leila Wilcox, Founder of Halos n Horns
Leila wanted her products to be as gentle, hypoallergenic and toxin free as possible to reduce their harmful impact on children’s skin. She stays away from using the term ‘organic’ as she believes that when it comes to care products, the term ‘organic’ ends up meaning ‘over-priced’. The industry is notoriously under-regulated and a company only needs to prove that 5% of its ingredients originated from certified organic soil to use the 'organic' claim. The rest of the product can be as harsh and as toxic as any other and often are. Halo n Horn’s instead thrives on reaching over and above this statement in quality and ethos of creating safe care products for children.

High Level

Managing a Triple Bottom Line as a Social Enterprise
A Social Enterprise is a business model based primarily on achieving social objectives. Within overall business operation, it orientates itself to provide social or environmental services. As a business model it operates to achieve a profitable revenue, but surplus income is principally reinvested for the purpose in the business or in the community.

e.g. Amy Carter, Founder of Bespoke Experience
Bespoke Experience has clear objectives; to provide the ultimate holiday experience while reducing poverty and promoting cultural and biological diversity.

To achieve this objective Bespoke Experience are creating exclusive resorts in areas of outstanding beauty and extreme poverty. The lodges are developed and ran to complement and help the local environment and people. By doing this they hope to raise the international standards and benchmarks to which other "ethical" tourism companies are measured.

Each resort supports conservation and community projects, working together for a better, more sustainable future through channeling funds into SERF (Social & Environmental Regeneration Fund), their charity arm set up to work with communities in and around their lodges to sustainably reduce poverty and promote biodiversity.

Heather Wilkinson is founder of the entrepreneurs' network Striding Out.