The Book « Joys and tribulations of a social entrepreneur »

“We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good. This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation – the B Corporation – which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders."

I want to introduce this book project with the B Corporation declaration of interdependence that [beyt] has been adhering to throughout more than 15 years.

This book is all about stories. My social enterprise was first founded in Lebanon in 2005 before we launched in the United States. Beyt by 2b design is a multiple award-winning social enterprise, featured as a social entrepreneurship case study by the Harvard Business Review and covered by international media.

Through personal anecdotes, reflections on the meaning of heritage, and the social impact of repurposed design, this book makes us better understand the meaning of social entrepreneurship and the challenge of recycling.You will read stories of how homeless people have found purpose and added value in the United States by creating lampshades and how an illiterate woman worker was taught Arabic by an American traveler and thus could create impact in her community.

The book has 180 pages and is written in French and English. It is supported by pictures and watercolors. All these years I've been wandering around in the Middle-East and saw so much beauty - 19th c. old mansions with triple arcades windows, red tile roofs and forged balconies. Their broken beauty is even more revealed and they are still cherished despite their cracks and wounds.

A practical guide to Social Entrepreneurship is detailed in the first annex. I'll show you our approach and how after developing our mission we broke it down into dimensions translated into tangible principles and initiatives.

In the final pages you'll have the chance to read (or re-read) press interviews.

Some reviews of our readers :

“Most extraordinary adventure ! From Beirut to Boston, despite the war and with clients in Europe, Japan and California... Read Benedicte’s powerful testimony and discover how an entrepreneur can lead the way to a (much) better world by focusing day after day on restoring the hidden BEAUTY of the unseen. As demonstrated by Bénédicte and her husband Raja’s transformational approach to business success, an enduring and profitable business growth can act as a FORCE FOR GOOD if it has an inspiring purpose and seeks at all times to create value for all stakeholders.

At the heart of their business model, a constant sense of priorities: transform the worker into a creator and work into an opportunity to transcend social and cultural differences, transform existing materials into upcycled objects and both suppliers and clients into partners for a better world.

This is a must read ! I can only recommend that you offer this extremely valuable and ground breaking contribution to humanly responsible entrepreneurship !” C.H.