I went to the launch of an initiative called Buzzbnk last week, which was very inspiring. Full of people with a desire to make a difference in the world, and some incredible visions they wish to bring to life. The Buzzbnk team who have formulated a new way of doing business. It invites you to present your vision for a business which serves a social imperative, then use ‘crowd funding’ to get it off the ground. What a great idea!
You may ask why Buzzbnk is written with no ‘a.’ Well, of course, calling yourself a ‘bank’ was frowned upon by the FSA. It may not comply with existing criteria for what constitutes a bank. It may not even look like a bank, to most people. But therein lies the beauty. Buzzbnk is shaking up the idea of what a Bank should be, and how it should behave. Shouldn’t banks be designed to encourage vision, growth and community, like they were originally supposed to do? Buzzbnk is playing an important part in shaking up some institutions and economic models, which no longer serve us. I invite you to have a look, support the ventures that you wish to take root, or put your vision forward. I have one for wholefood kitchen, which I plan to share.
Pictured: an image from the ‘Trees for Cities’ Venture, giving children the chance to plant and care for a young tree from seed. ‘My Pet Tree’ will grow childrens’ wider sense of environmental stewardship. Children will appreciate trees for what they are: living, breathing creatures that need our care. It may just remind us adults of this too, in the process.
