#MuherezaWrites
In 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and colleagues founded the social media App Facebook. Initially founded to socially connect only Harvard Students, Zuckerberg in his own words says “When we launched Facebook at Harvard, I had connected the whole university, but I knew someone would connect the whole world, what I didn’t know was that it would be us”. In 2006, Facebook was launched to the whole World.
With an estimate of 2.95 billion users across the world, Facebook ad revenue is expected to hit 153.76bn $ by the end of this year.
The app was successful because it intended to solve a social problem and in that, it defined its purpose.
A study published by Harvard Business Review found that when companies had an articulated purpose that was widely understood in the organization, they had better growth as compared with companies that hadn’t developed or leveraged their purpose. Specifically, 52% of purpose-driven companies experienced over 10% growth compared with 42% of non-purpose-driven companies.
Businesses that define and brand themselves as solutions to current societal problems always build unwavering customer loyalty and the reward system is always money. As an entrepreneur running a start-up, brand yourself as a problem solver, find something that your business seeks to fulfil and identify with that. Purpose in business is easy to pitch and it can help you sell your ideas or product effectively.
Making money shouldn’t be the sole purpose of your business. There has to be a sense that the service or product your business provides brings value to the market and that because of that value, the company makes money. If you don’t build a brand based on purpose, then you’ll find yourself in a commodity business constantly competing on price alone.
By Modern Muhereza
The Author is a Ugandan entrepreneur and media columnist.
