The First Chapter Single pages low res

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PREFACE
As I reflect on Theodore Roosevelt’s famous words I am proud of the fact that
TDi is firmly ensconced in the practitioner camp. We are “in the arena”, our
faces are “marred by dust and sweat and blood”, and we are “daring greatly” in
pursuit of something we hold dear. That being, our confidence in the concept
of Blended Value; that you can do good and make money in the same
business model.
TDi: The First Chapter is a beautiful opportunity for reflection, celebration and
thanks. As Peter Baine said so powerfully “with action comes clarity”, this has
certainly been true for us at TDi. We initially embarked on this journey five years
ago as a project of the donkey wheel Foundation. We later evolved into a
separate organisation, growing and refining its model, particularly over the
two-year pilot period.
As with any start-up, many of our assumptions about how the business model
would work didn’t play out as planned… We were agile and changed. The
market proved far more immature than we hoped… We were responsive.
Funders didn’t follow through on their commitments of support… We were
innovative and worked even harder. Everything took far longer than hoped…
We were resilient! As a result we are still here, making us stronger and better
positioned for the next chapter in TDi’s development.
It’s our hope that reading, or flicking through, this book will give you a sense of
our work, our approach and the exciting results we are beginning to see. This is
truly only the The First Chapter. We have only just scratched the surface and we
firmly believe that the best is yet to come.
Bessi Graham
CEO and Co-Founder