When people ask me what I do, I have two responses, depending on my mood. The first is to reply, "Well, I am a cobbler," hope that they chuckle with confusion while I slip away. {That would be my occasional anti-social response.}

The second is to actually answer the question like a normal human being.  I often use different words and phrases to help people understand the vision of Sseko.  I'll say something about an income generating project or a social enterprise or an initiative. And sometimes I keep it simple and say something to the effect of, "Well, I started a company in Uganda that…"

Something interesting happens when I use that particular phrase, "..started a company…" that doesn't happen when I use other phrases. There is something about a "company" that seems impossibly big or ambiguous or mysterious. There is always a bit of surprise when our thoughts about what a "company" or "business" is collides with an actual human standing in front of you. (Especially when that human looks like a 17-year-old and most likely has chipped toenail polish and tangly hair.)

But I think this surprise is an interesting picture of how a business goes from being a group of individuals, coming together to achieve a common goal to an "other."  An entity.  Something ambiguous and untouchable. A machine of sorts.

And it is that ambiguity and "otherness" that contributes to a lot of the way we do business these days. I think anytime we can diffuse the responsibility of our decisions, it becomes a lot harder to make good ones. Decisions that put others before ourself. Decisions that we are proud of. Decisions that are hard and require sacrifice and a vision that goes beyond what is good for me, right here, right now.

That is why we have to have seminars and public speakers and workshops and college classes devoted to this mysterious thing of "corporate ethics."  There is something about people coming together and forming a group, that it seems, makes it substantially harder to just do the right thing.

I think this goes both ways, from the consumer and corporate perspective. The more we can distance ourselves from the "stuff" we buy, the easier it is to diffuse the responsibility we have and to ignore the consequences of the way we do business. We buy our stuff from a company. And that company is big and elusive and ambiguous. So we pass that responsibility on to them. I buy my stuff, spend my money, and cross my fingers that my actions are not having a negative effect on the people I can't see behind the curtain. 

And then there is the company side. If you are part of this entity, it becomes easy to say I am just the _____(fill in the blank.) Just this tiny part of a big old entity that will do what it does with or without me. Making ethical decisions is not really my responsibility. That is ____'s (fill in the blank) job. I will do what I am told and cross my fingers that this action doesn't have a negative effect on the world I can't see behind the curtain.

And there you have it, a whole lot of people, closing their eyes and crossing their fingers. And a lot of companies acting as curtains and a lot of consumers willing to pass off responsibility because their can't possibly see beyond the almighty curtain.

Well, I refuse to buy into that. I for one won't close my eyes and cross my fingers. And I am certainly not up for building a team of people that close their eyes and cross their fingers. This means we are trying to build a community of people that really believe their decisions, no matter how small, matter. That they are in fact, co-creators of this product, this brand, this company. That a "company" is not some big, mysterious entity. But rather, made up of individuals. And that those individuals matter. That they make a difference. That we value them first as humans, then as employees, customers and suppliers. 

There will be no closing of the eyes and crossing of the fingers, but instead a proactive and sacrificial posture as a company that realizes Yes, the things we do HAVE an effect. And we do have a choice as to what that effect will be. We will do away with the curtain and say, please look at us. Look at every part of this chain that connects you to this "stuff" and then say yes. Or no. But please, look. Take responsibility. Bring down the curtain say hello to Oz.