Why Start a Vegan Business?

I've spent most of the last few years as an activist campaigning for animal rights.

My first job out of university was as a Campaigner at a UK vegan charity, specialising in educating university students about the plight of non-humans in this country. Shortly after leaving there, I then and worked at another animal rights and climate organisation.

Only after having been in the campaigning space for well over a year did I make my first foray into the world of business, and started working in my current day job at a plant-based pet food company. 

Despite still being in the early stages of my career, my (somewhat brief) employment history has taught me a few things.

Having worked in charities, activist organisations, and businesses, I came to realise that you can do a lot through business. A lot that you simply can't do anywhere else. 

It's strange, though, because business feels in some ways as if it should be rather constricting.

I mean, you have to make money, for one. If you don't, you fail. 

I mean, I'd love to give all my card games away to families needing something to lubricate those particularly gnarly conversations about animal rights... but I can't do that. 

If I did, the business would go under sooner than I could say "nooch". 

Instead, I need to find ways of paying back that substantial business loan I took out a few months ago, and doing so in a semi-reasonable timeframe. 

That means I've got to make things that people like. What I make has to work. It has to be well-made, funny, educational, and entertaining for a broad swathe of people. All while carrying a vegan message. 

I've also got an entire business loan behind me because I was able to successfully argue to a bank that there are legitimately people out there who would love more vegan games in their lives. 

Now, I'm not saying my time in the non-profit space was not enjoyable or that I didn't learn much. I definitely did enjoy it, and it was a constant learning experience. 

I did, however, find that I often wasn't sure what we were doing.

As non-profit agents-for-good, we couldn't easily collect or quantify metrics other than amounts of donations raised and how big of a splash we could make in the press. In terms of impact, we were limited. 

We also couldn't be as creative as we wanted because we were bound by certain codes of conduct and mission statements.

Larger non-profits, I find, are often more regimented (perhaps 'set in their ways' is right here?) than young, small, entrepreneurial businesses. 

Setting up a limited business gives you total freedom create and operate as you see fit. Your only metric is simply this: growth! 

The more you grow, the more people you reach, and the more the word spreads.

If you don't grow, you die.

That's the sort of encouragement you need to get something genuinely good off the ground. Maybe it's just me, but the thrive-or-die strictures of business, the obsession with metrics, and the obligation to keep your eyes on the prize are more enabling and encouraging than anything else. 

As a vegan business owner, I've found that I've reached more people more easily than I have at any time in my campaigning past.

Whether it's plant-based dog food or silly vegan card games, I've been lucky enough to witness the power of ethical businesses first-hand. 

So if you're out there wanting to start your own vegan business, all I can advise is this:

Go for it!