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This is a free, founder-friendly guide designed by Ayomide Yemi to help startups integrate social impact into their brand, product, and messaging — in a way that aligns with the SDGs without needing a CSR department or large team. Written for founders, marketers, and ecosystem leaders who want to build with purpose and communicate with clarity.

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Overview

In today’s landscape, customers don’t just care about what you sell — they care about what you stand for. Yet many startups (and even investors) still treat social impact as something to be “added later,” once revenue goals have been met.

But what if we reframed what it means to build a great product?

I created the ICS framework to represent what truly sets modern companies apart:

Innovation — What you build and how it's different

Care — How you treat your users, team, and community

Society — How you contribute to the world beyond your product

It’s not just about building fast — it’s about building with purpose.

The most respected products today are known for three things:

1. They work.
2. They serve people with care.
3. They show up in the world with integrity.

No one wants to buy from a company that’s innovative but silent on global issues. People want to buy from brands whose values match their own.

This guide is here to help you embed social impact into your company’s brand, messaging, product, and marketing — in a way that’s clear, honest, and aligned with how people make decisions today.

The Impact Blind Spot

In working with startups, I’ve come to recognize what I call the impact blind spot — the gap between the good that companies are already doing and the way they talk about it (or don’t). Whether that impact is driven by strategy, altruism, or brand goals is another conversation entirely — but the point remains: many startups are creating social value and failing to name it.

In my blog post Marketing and Social Impact: A Missed Opportunity?, I shared how many companies unintentionally align with global goals like the SDGs, but miss the chance to frame their work in that light. These goals matter not just because of their UN backing, but because they offer a shared language for global progress.

But social good doesn’t always fit neatly into an SDG. For example:

• Sourcestack, a small data sourcing startup, offers complimentary credits to students and nonprofits — making powerful tools accessible to those doing social impact work. The founder is a solo operator, which challenges the idea that meaningful CSR requires massive resources.