Why understanding business impact matters
Everyone Wins When Business Gives Back
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82% of consumers prefer brands that support local communities (Edelman)
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70% of employees are more loyal to companies engaged in social impact (Cone)
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Small businesses give 250% more to local causes than large corporations (SBA)
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Community engagement isn't just good ethics — it's good strategy.
Local Business, Global Impact
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Whether it's a café in Cape Town hosting support groups, a workshop in Dhaka training young apprentices, or a salon in São Paulo donating to local charities — businesses have the power to lift communities, one act at a time.
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Money spent in community-connected businesses has a multiplier effect — boosting employment, trust, and local pride.
Communities Benefit Too
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Brief social encounters (like chatting with a shopkeeper) measurably improve mood and mental wellbeing (UBC study)
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Social trust and local belonging are linked to better public health and safety outcomes (Harvard)
💡 A business can be someone’s only conversation that day. That’s impact you won’t find on a balance sheet.
It All Starts with a Story
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Behind every impact is a person, a purpose, and a story. That’s why we created Stories of Business — to share the journeys, the struggles, the big wins and small gestures that show how business can be a force for good anywhere in the world. Find out more about our vision here
Why this is important
Business decisions rarely stay contained.
Choices made about pricing, sourcing, hiring, distribution, or technology don’t just affect balance sheets — they shape local economies, working lives, supply chains, and the places people live and shop.
Exploring these connections matters because most of their effects are indirect. They unfold over time, across communities, and through systems that aren’t always visible to consumers, founders, or policymakers.
Stories of Business exists to surface those links — to show how business shows up in the real world, through outcomes, trade-offs, and everyday consequences.
By making these dynamics more visible, we help readers better understand the businesses they support, the products they use, and the systems they participate in — and why some approaches hold up better than others over time.