Last week I had an interaction with an incredibly talented individual in Zurich. She is the co-founder of coachfrog.ch, a Swiss portal to connect coaches and therapists with the people who seek help.

During our discussion of raising capital for such a venture, she asked a question that stuck with me. Why do we classify companies as "social impact"?

Firstly, "social" is very often terribly misinterpreted. Some people still misinterpret social for being equal or close to socialistic (or even communistic). Or at least people think of it as spending more money and creating more welfare. But that is the unfortunate result of decades of political and ideological infights.

Let's look at this from another point of view. Social is an adjective relating to companionship, human society, societal activities, or community. Also, companies and business are a way of organizing economic activities in our society. So if social is used to describe societal activities and companies are a way of organizing a society's economic activities, how can any company not be social? Why would the company as a part of a community/society do something that does not benefit the society itself? In other words, any business that is out there should have a social component, otherwise there is no reason for it to exist.

Secondly, "impact". I'm not sure the following is even worth the paragraph. If we do something that has no impact, what's the point of doing it? As individuals, as well as organizations and companies we want to change things - have an impact.

So why again do we classify some companies as social impact and others not?

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Please share your comments and inputs (via comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.