A question I was asked during a recent talk to MBAs at the Asia School of Business was : why are we not seeking to make Earth Heir Collective similar to Etsy as an open platform?
There are several reasons:
Open marketplaces prioritise scale and accessibility. This often leads to diluted impact claims, resellers, and price competition that makes it difficult for genuinely responsible products and services to stand out.
Social impact producers and service providers are often disadvantaged in algorithm-driven platforms that reward speed, volume, advertising spend, and discounting — rather than social impact and long-term community outcomes.
Many social impact goods and services are intentionally slower, more community-centred, and require deeper engagement with producers, beneficiaries, and supply chains. Forcing them into mass e-commerce dynamics often results in compromised quality, diluted impact, or unfair compensation for communities.
Marketplaces typically focus on transactions. Earth Heir Collective focuses on ecosystem building — including mentoring, co-creation, sustainable design, quality and ethical standards, fair pricing structures, and organisational capacity building for partners.
Responsible consumption today requires trust and verification. Consumers and corporate buyers increasingly want to know: Who benefits? Is the impact real? Are supply chains ethical? Open platforms struggle to consistently validate these claims at scale.
Earth Heir Collective is intentionally *curated and relationship-driven*, allowing us to verify impact, support partners holistically, and ensure integrity across products, services, and experiences.
Many global platforms extract value primarily through fees and commissions. Our vision is to create shared value where growth directly strengthens communities, social enterprises, and responsible businesses.
We are not trying to build the largest impact marketplace. We are building infrastructure for transparent, accountable, and community-centred social procurement and conscious consumption.
The real question is not whether social impact products and services can scale —
It is whether they can scale without losing the integrity of the impact they promise.
Thank you Melati Nungsari and Asia School of Business for having me.
-Sasibai Kimis
Founder - Earth Heir
#buyforimpact #socialprocurement #socialimpactcommerce
