Knowthybrand Women, championing gender inclusion in business

KnowThyBrand Women is not my first stint at entrepreneurship, in fact it is a spin-off of my other business, a traditional marketing and branding agency. Over time I realised that something was amiss, and I wanted to use my experience and knowledge to help make a positive impact. That’s how I came up with the idea of a social enterprise that uses branding as a secret sauce to champion women in business. 

When I moved to Luxembourg in 2020, I also moved my company but, like for many people, COVID put things in perspective. As, I always wanted to make a positive impact and over the years had volunteered for many causes, but at that point I realised that I wanted to dedicate my whole business to it. Equipped with an understanding of social enterprises (a well-established business model in my former home of the UK), a desire for a more equitable world, and a few contacts in Luxembourg, I began reaching out to people and sharing my idea. At first, I was surprised by how many people didn’t know what a social enterprise was (I later discovered that it’s a quite new model in Luxembourg) and especially how adamant everyone was that I should just continue with my company and add the championing gender inclusion as a ‘good to have’. Luckily, I also found people who believed in the project and encouraged me to go ahead. Without them I don’t know if I would have had the courage to jump. 

I soon came to realise that what I knew of social enterprises and how social enterprises (société d’impact sociétal - SIS) operate in this country were two quite different things. However, the concept is the same: SIS are for profit organisations (so no ASBL) that operate like any other traditional business but that reinvest profit into a social or environmental cause. There are several ways SIS operate, for “KnowThyBrand Women” I chose a model that focuses on gender equality while still supporting other social or environmental projects. 

Getting the certification is not easy. It is important to be able to demonstrate not only the commitment to a cause, but also your practical ability to achieve clearly defined goals. The process is also quite scar, since should you fail to meet your goals, not only you lose the certification, but the company will be forced to close. (This law might be changed soon). Luckily, I wasn’t aware of it at the time, so thanks to my blessed ignorance I progressed and received my official SIS certification. 

Now that the company was set it was time to see if my business model worked.  

My initial plan was to focus on small projects and let customers pay what they could afford, but it soon became apparent that it was not a clear or fair approach as people would ask for discounts even when they didn’t really need them, plus there was not enough revenue to survive as a business. So, as it often happens in business, I needed to pivot to achieve my goal.  

One important thing for entrepreneurs is to find the right support and in my case I was lucky to be selected for a Nyuko programme that helped me to take a clear look at my business model and come up with a strong plan.  

My ultimate goal with KnowThyBrand Women is to champion gender equality and to empower women in business in order to help create a more inclusive and equitable future.