Lippylala is an ethical social enterprise that has, at its foundation, several core values and beliefs:

• Beautiful products can be sold in a way that provides fair payment, fair prices and fair profit.
• A percentage of profit will be Invested in People’s Dreams.
• Quality relationships are integral along the whole supply chain.
• People want to make a difference and life can be fun in the process.

Short term aims

• In the first year of business up to 85% of products will be sourced at the producer/designer level.
• Up to 30 % of products will be made from recycled materials.
• Up to 10% of products will be sourced from new producer/designers with the aim to provide them with a broader market exposure.
• If products are bought through an agent or wholesaler then Liz will ascertain the story of the products development.
• At least one Lippylala Experience will be held a year.

The Story so Far
Lippylala was founded in 2005 by Liz Lennon and is run by her – with the intellectual and emotional support of many family and friends.

The idea for Lippylala came from a conversation between Liz and one of her brothers Marc in 1999. Marc commented that Liz’s love of design would one-day form part of a new enterprise. He said that her commitment to community development and social justice was at the core of everything she did – and one day she would find a way to meld her different passions.

For over six years Liz has explored and talked about the idea of a social enterprise that merges beautiful design, ethical profit and social change investment

She has a file full of drawings and ideas and notes and in 2005 she decided to move from talk to action – and as a first step Liz registered the business name Lippylala.

Business Model – new ways of viewing profit

Liz wants to develop a new kind of business model that embraces broader definitions of profit.

Liz believes that monetary profit is only the tip of the iceberg and there are many other forms of profit including: –

• Social change profit
• Creative profit
• Empowerment profit

Liz is also passionate about investing time, skills & profit in ways that affect real and positive change in people and places. She has created what she calls Investing in People’s Dreams.

Each year Liz distributes a percentage of the profit from all her micro enterprises to creative people.

Liz has run a collaborative change management consultancy Focused Solutions since 1993. She works with many organisations in the non-profit sector to explore ways to be even better at what they do. She also runs a self-publishing enterprise called Lippylala Publishing.

Believe it or not – Liz isn’t run off her feet or stressed and finds plenty of time to loll, sip champagne and chat with friends & family.

Lippylala gives Liz the challenge of exploring how to move ethical theory into practice. She also gets to interact and meet with people creating beautiful things and in the process support their efforts.

Organisation Structure

Lippylala is a flat organisation with some innovative ways to utilise people for key organisational functions.

Liz Lennon – Liz is the owner and driver of Lippylala. She will facilitate the initial development of the business over the next three years. Liz is aware that one person cannot do everything in a business and she has developed some key positions to help her source products and market Lippylala.

Marc Garnaut – Marc is one of Liz’s brothers and is creative director of an innovative branding organisation in Singapore. Marc is both Liz’s sounding board for Lippylala ideas as well as creative branding director for the business. He is also one of her most enthusiastic Lippylala Nomads.

Lippylala Nomads – These are specially selected people who meet several criteria:

• They enjoy travel and have a good eye for design.
• They understand the underlying ethics of the business and this drives their product selection decisions.
• They take the time to gather the story of the people who design and make the products.

There are currently five to six Nomads based and/or traveling in Ireland, Australia, India and Singapore.

Lippylala Mouths – These are people who will act as champions for Lippylala. They will be gatekeepers into either age, gender, geographic and or lifestyle cohort groups.

They will use word of mouth to engage people to attend a Lippylala Experience and explore Lippylala @ Moo – Design & Wine.

The products that Liz and her Lippylala Nomads source will only available in one place in the world – at Moo Wine Bar. Ballinamore. County Leitrim. Ireland.

Moo is our one and only wine bar and is run by an enterprising and creative couple -Mary and Brent.

Moo is more than a wine bar. It’s a place where they will host fashion parades for charity; stage a local theatre’s play; show old films (with popcorn) in the winter; sell locally made icecream, cakes and chocolates.

It’s a real amalgam of small & local creative enterprises.

Lippylala @ Moo is a happy synergy of wine & design.

Lippylala will start small because Liz wants to test the model before scaling it up – or – it just may stay a small and beautiful jewel of a business.