Ecosandals.Com: The Digital Transformation of a Social Enterprise

Abstract

Two individuals were instrumental in the transformation process of Ecosandals.com: Benson Wikyo, a social worker based in Nairobi, Kenya and Mathew Meyer, an American student from Brown University who was on a study-abroad program in Kenya. Mathew Meyer was studying Swahili in the study abroad program and sought to gain experience in how the language is used by embedding himself in Korogocho, a slum in Nairobi characterized by high levels of poverty. Benson Wikyo, as a social worker, had, over the years, interacted and counseled with many residents of Korogocho slums and therefore understood the extent and the impact of poverty on the lives of the residents. The experience of poverty and destitution in the Korogocho slums led Mathew and Benson to reflect on role they can play to improve the lives of the residents of Korogocho slums. Having worked and lived in the area for many years, Benson was aware that many residents were involved in various small enterprises such as making sandals made from discarded used rubber tires. Mathew and Benson partnered to focus on how to improve the quality of the lives of a group of sandals makers by starting a cooperative known as the Wikyo Akala Project in 1995. The Wikyo Akala Project, as a cooperative, was setup as a social enterprise that sought to pool the efforts of the sandal makers to improve their sales revenues by using the Internet platform. In transitioning to the use of the Internet platform, Mathew Meyer played a decisive role by injecting capital obtained from a grant of the Samuel Huntington Fund of Westborough, Massachusetts, USA. Wikyo Akala Project struggled to survive as a “bricks-and- mortar” social enterprise in the first six years of operations. However, with the adoption of a “clicks-and-mortar” digital strategy through the Ecosandals.com e-commerce platform, the project witnessed phenomenal growth as the Internet architecture provided them with an opportunity to re-think their operating model. The launch of the Ecosandals.com ecommerce site in February 2001 saw phenomenal growth in labor capacity (from 5 to 30) and a rapid increase in sales which rose to over US$ 7000 within the first six months of operations. There were also major increases in international sales, with the selling price improving from barely US 15 cents to sometimes over US$ 40 per pair of sandals.As the adoption the Internet platform (ecosandals.com) became much more intertwined with the very survival of the social enterprise, the decision to transform to a more “clicks-oriented” or digital model became more urgent. There was need to understand how to evolve to a new digital operating model, with new mass customized products; and to transform processes of the social enterprise to align appropriately with a new digital environment. In seeking to transform to a digital enterprise, the key considerations revolved around how to organize the logic for the business processes related to sandal making and develop the necessary Internet-related capabilities to ensure success of the operating model. Articulation of the extent enterprise standardization and integration requirements therefore formed the basis of a new digital strategy that transformed the enterprise from “bricks and mortar” to a “clicks and mortar” enterprise that has successfully operated as a social enterprise since 2001. In crafting a strategy and adopting a particular digital operating model, the decision options available to the founders involved deciding on the extent (low to high) for both process standardization and process integration.