Iris Braun: “I believe that everyone wants to make our world a better place”

With our products, we want to make the world fairer and thus balance out the effects of social injustice. But how did the founders come up with the idea, what do they see as the mission of share and how do they themselves deal with the issue of social justice? We spoke to one of our founders, Iris Braun. In the interview, she explains what convinced her personally of the share principle and what a family in India has to do with their commitment to more equal opportunities. She also gives valuable tips for women who dream of starting a business and explains why she is committed to more gender equality.

Iris, almost exactly 5 years ago you founded share together with Sebastian, Ben and Tobi. What was your idea behind it?

We founded share back then without thinking about consumer goods or products in the supermarket. We wanted to find a way to combat inequality in the world and what solutions could be and how we could do it easily. Because I firmly believe that everyone wants to be good, to get involved and to make our world a better place. But sometimes that's just complicated or there are bad feelings associated with it. Instead, we wanted to find a solution that would ideally also be fun, because we actually feel good when we help people and share things. That's how we came up with the initial idea of ​​share .

How would you describe share’s mission? Our mission is to make it possible to do good in everyday life – in as many places as possible for as many people as possible. It is important that we do something that is relevant. We want to reach as many people as possible and give them new opportunities to get involved. What convinced you of the mission? Before I started share, I traveled as a researcher in many emerging and developing countries. There I wanted to find an answer to the question of what we can do to make life better for people there. What we need to do to develop economic systems and how the world can make progress together. And then I realized that there are already a lot of answers to these questions. We actually already know a lot of things that work – e.g. school meals so that children can learn something and have the strength to attend class. Or the construction and repair of wells so that people don’t spend most of their days traveling long distances to get water.

Was there a personal experience that motivated you to pursue this vision?

I lived in India for two years to do my research. A family lived on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. The entire family consisted of two adults and two children. Their apartment consisted of this 2x2 meter sidewalk. At first, this affected me. I tried to support them and gave things from my household. Over time, I just accepted their suffering. Until one day, a baby was lying on the sidewalk and the family didn't even have any clothes for this little creature. That woke me up again and I realized that we have to actively do something every day to improve the situation.

But I also thought, that can't be true. Why do we always have to have negative experiences before we can do something good?

So, step by step, we realized together that we can have a positive impact on the things we do every day. That means we can do all the things that we know are right and important, and all of that can be combined with positive emotions. That's exactly what happens when we buy and use share products.

We know that many people are not aware of how incredibly inexpensive it can be to help. They are not aware that it is possible to do good with normal shopping, almost without even noticing. We want to change that and instead spread our message:

Where do you particularly notice social injustices in your everyday life?

Unfortunately, in many places. We also run projects against homelessness with share and with Tafel Deutschland . In these projects we share warmth and food - important basic needs that are not yet available to everyone in our society. These are aspects that we experience every day.

But many aspects of social injustice remain hidden from privileged people in their everyday lives. I was particularly aware of this because my partner at the time was a social worker and worked with many families in socially disadvantaged areas and underage refugees. This taught me how much goes on behind the scenes.

Of course there are the dramatic cases that we see on television. But there are many people in our society who come from families where everything seems to be going well, but who are struggling with difficulties behind the scenes such as neglect and violence. That made me realise that there is a lot of work to be done here too.

How would you describe your personal situation? Have you ever been treated unfairly?

I grew up believing that social injustice did not apply to me. I had access to educational opportunities and to see the world. My entry into the job market also seemed very equal to me.

But I have also noticed that the further you progress in your career as a woman, the more difficult it is to get ahead. In Germany, competition for attention, resources, topics and networks does not tend to occur when you start your career, but rather when it comes to influence, power and positions.

I find this very difficult and that is why I would like to personally work to ensure that more women start businesses and take on responsibility.

I can only advise women and other marginalized groups to network. The content of your studies can never be as important as the people you study with.

What exactly does share do to make the world fairer? How does the business model work? At share, every product automatically includes a social donation when purchased. To do this, we work with internationally recognized organizations to ensure transparently that the money goes to the right places. We focus on the four basic needs: food for nutrition , drinks for drinking water , care products for hygiene services and stationery for education . In this way, we want to balance out the consequences of social injustice and make it as easy as possible for people to do good in their everyday lives.

What can other companies do to support or even contribute to the vision of a fairer world? For companies that are currently starting up, it should be a given that they consider a (social) impact model when they are founded.

In my opinion, the current situation of our world and society means that we can no longer do without a (social) impact model.

It is important for companies that have already been founded to network with innovators in their respective industries to see what more they can do. They should send their employees the signal that they are taking social and ecological change seriously and are helping to shape it in order to drive cultural change. In my view, this must also be supported and carried forward by the leading employees in the companies, who are happy to get inspiration and ideas from small and young companies.

Where are the limits of sharing?

We provide support for basic needs and that is really important. There are still so many people who are stuck in this area of ​​their lives. So, if 83 million people are suffering from acute malnutrition and hunger, then these people really do need something to eat now. We can help. It is very concrete and we know how it works. It is perfectly clear to me and everyone who deals with this that this is not everything you need to lead a fulfilling life. Of course, people need many other things and a good system in which they can live and develop. As share, we cannot help in every area with our simple approach. But we can create a basis for other organizations and public bodies to do further work.

What would you say needs to be done politically to make the world more socially just?

In many areas, companies like ours also need government support. I don't mean money, but the framework. Concrete example: We launched the first 100% recycled water bottle with share. That was really cool and I think it really motivated a lot of other companies to follow suit. After that, we looked at what we could improve on the other packaging. Can we switch everything to bioplastic? Can we use other methods?

We quickly reached our limits because we need framework legislation to ensure that things from the rubbish can actually be recycled.

Many large companies are working together on challenges like these to ensure that the necessary legislation is passed. We cannot do this alone. We need politicians to create the framework conditions.

There are really many other areas where I believe that politicians need to do more to enable industry and companies to do their work in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. I hope that there will be more political foresight in the future and that the right course will be set.

What are your goals with share for the next 5 years? Firstly, I have to keep reminding myself how much we have already achieved. That makes me very proud. Because last year we achieved over 100 million shares. I think that's really cool!

Shares are our internal currency. This means that every time a share product is sold, we can share something and that is then a share. With these 100 million shares, we have now supported around 2 million people with our social projects.

But we want to achieve much more:

On the one hand with the products we already have, but we also have many new ideas.

Can you give us an outlook?

A few things are still secret, but I can already say that we will be available in new locations soon. For anyone going on holiday to Spain this year, keep your eyes peeled!

Our nut bars will be available in supermarkets there from May. I'm really looking forward to it!

If you would like to know more about our impact so far, please read the current Social Impact Report .