Non Standard Issue: Into the Heart of Human Nature and its Disruptive Business Model

“Ma’am pa-check na lang po tapos papirma nito…” the delivery guy for an online store said as he handed me a tightly-sealed package and a sheet of paper. He was around forty, kindly-faced, wearing faded jeans and a journalist vest.

“Kapag nagkataon po kasi, naku, hindi pa sapat ang sahod ko para mabayaran yan,” he added.

Struck by what he said, I returned the signed acknowledgement form and thanked him. I silently wished him luck; he will need it as he weaves through the traffic, the rain, and the thieves of the metro with his bulky delivery bag. I’m not even sure if this hardworking man receives the minimum wage, let alone SSS or healthcare benefits. I don’t even want to think how his family would fare if something happens to him.

That was two years ago, and it still bothers me. That wealth remains to be concentrated at the top bothers me. The “that's the way it's always been done” mentality of some people bothers me. That I haven't figured out a way to alleviate the unfairness of it all bothers me too.

Some may blame the status quo on plain laziness, citing examples of people who rose from scarcity to prosperity through “sipag at tiyaga.” Yet, poverty is a complex problem. As Reese Molina puts it "Some people don't lack the hard work, they just lack the opportunity.”

Enters now the era of social enterprises. In a business culture that patronizes profit over people, a new breed of socially-conscious businesses is cropping out to prove that doing good can go hand in hand with doing good business.

And, the even better news is, the Philippines is catching up to this development.

The rise of social enterprises

The GK Enchanted Farm defines social entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of an opportunity to create pattern-breaking social change regardless of the resources you currently control.” There is no universal definition for what a social enterprise is, but one defining characteristic is that: “mission is at the center of business, with income generation playing an important supporting role.”

Compared to other countries with thriving social entrepreneurship landscapes like UK and France, the Philippines is still emerging. But that’s about to change as both the government (through its Go Negosyo program) and the private sector (with organizations like Gawad Kalinga creating a platform via the GK Enchanted Farm) are recognizing that entrepreneurship must be nurtured to promote inclusive growth in our country.

The social enterprise scene in the Philippines holds a lot of promises, with a number of social enterprises already achieving national scale. Some of them, like Rags2Riches and Human Nature, are steadily breaching the global market.

Though I’m still waiting for anyone to gift me with a Rags2Riches bag (*ahem* Riki Tote and Pouch *ahem*), Human Nature is something I can talk at length. A quick audit of my toiletries is enough evidence of that.

Human (Heart) Nature

Think of Unilever, except it's all-natural, pro-Philippines, pro-poor and pro-environment. World-class quality, and yet proudly Filipino-made.

Think of L'oreal, except it promotes beauty with compassion, and your every purchase helps break the cycle of poverty by supporting a brand that pays fair prices to local farmers/suppliers and above minimum wages to its employees.

The fact that all their products are all-natural and not harmful to the environment are by themselves already a bonus.

Founded by the husband and wife team of Dylan and Anna Meloto-Wilk, with Anna’s sister Camille, Human Nature was officially launched in November 2008. Their vision is to create a business that “would produce high-quality, Philippine-made natural products that would restore productivity to the land and impoverished communities.”

In a talk, Dylan once said: "Two things that discourage business owners in the Philippines are the thinking that a) you have to pay the lowest wages b) you have to bribe…Filipinos are world-class expect in the Philippines because of the way business is being done here."

One of the admirable decisions they have made is to pay their workers more than the minimum wage. Even their employees outside Metro Manila have the same salary range as their city peers. That is to prevent the exodus of people from the province to the big cities – a step towards declogging and decentralizing urban areas.

That's a far cry from traditional businesses populated with overpaid executives with their perks and underpaid “lowest” employees with their short-term contracts.

Aside from regularizing their employees, Human Nature invests time and effort to ensure their workers get their due benefits like SSS. Some of them may even lack basic documents like birth certificates and so they help them process these legalities. As pointed out by Anna: "It's not about the number of jobs created, it's about the quality of jobs that allow the poor to live in dignity."

A snapshot of Dylan Wilk's slide during his talk

Their business model is not without its challenges, of course. No work on Sundays means they’re unable to open outlets in malls, relying instead on online and offline shops and a wide dealer and distributor network. There was a time when a shipment was delayed because they refused to bribe someone from customs. A no firing policy means that they have to train their workers well and have good management in place. As per Dylan, if someone underperforms, most likely it’s his fault: he has not trained that person well or he didn’t put that person in the right job.

But all these efforts are paying off because Human Nature is now a social enterprise leader in the all organic cosmetics market in the Philippines. Last year, it became the 1^st Asian Brand to win the prestigious International Sustainable Beauty Award, besting long-established players like the famous French brand Givaudan.

“The interests of the poor, from making safe and genuinely natural products more accessible to setting a more dignified standard for labor practices in the Philippines” is at the core of everything Human Nature does. By fusing compassion with competence, Human Nature is demonstrating that doing things the right way works, a move which can hopefully usher and inspire a new wave of businesses that share their ideals.

Perhaps, if these socially-conscious companies proliferate, we’ll see a decrease in the number of Filipinos forced to leave the country to seek bread elsewhere.

Oh a Tiny Dream

When we talk about disruption, the first ones that come to mind are technology-enabled ones.

But, paradigm shifts can also take the form of changes in mindsets and perceptions. In the case of Human Nature, it’s about showing that profit-making can co-exist with profit-sharing, and that there can be a more humane way of doing profitable business.

In my heart is a seedling of a dream – to have my own social enterprise that takes care not only of its customers and the planet, but also its employees. A business where even our delivery guys can earn decent wages with good benefits and a room for progression. All I would ask in return is for them to take pride in what they are doing as we work together to achieve the company’s mission (a work in progress in my mind).

Anna once said that “unless we change the definition of success, we are going down the path of unsustainability.” So maybe the future social entrepreneur me would not make it to the Forbes' Richest People in the World list (which to many would be the epitome of achievement), but who cares – that’s not my yardstick of a meaningful life.

It would be enough to sleep peacefully, happy in the knowledge that I've become a catalyst for pushing progress and wealth to flow from the upper tiers to the lowest tiers of society. Life is unfair, so we have to make it fair.

Into the Heart of Human Nature and its Disruptive Business Model

The rise of social enterprises

Oh a Tiny Dream

Further Reading (related blog posts)