We are social entrepreneurs and ethical investors – seeking both profits and a positive long-term impact on the society we live in.

This is not a radical idea, merely a decision that is sensible for the world we live in – one where the impact of our buying decisions and operational practice are known to us and to others. We are therefore willingly compelled to consider a triple bottom line – People, Planet and Profits. And why not? It’s certainly more rewarding to pursue our passions without any guilt – even though we are far from perfect, we have made it our mission to keep trying.

Our world is not just customers and shareholders, but stakeholders who are influenced by our actions, or who influence each other often with a click of a mouse via a website. At any one point in time, our stakeholders include staff, customers, shareholders, suppliers, policy makers, non-governmental organisations, local residents, journalists and opinion formers, bloggers, students and researchers. Our ventures and those we support may not exist to serve them all directly, but a business can often meet diverse needs with very little extra effort. After all, our customers may also be local residents, our staff may also be customers, opinion formers may also be our shareholders, and a charity seeking to protect the local environment may also be protecting a resource that we value for our business.

All ventures undertaken or supported by Barefoot Investments comply with a demand for socially and environmental responsible practice. We believe in ethical and transparent business – which is why we volunteered to have our ventures audited by Ernst & Young – and we are constantly thinking of ideas to make our adventures profitable, environmentally-conscious and socially responsible: in other words, truly sustainable business that is profitable, ecologically responsible and socially ethical.