Pursuing Sustainable Value – Doing Well by Doing Good
Messy Bessy is a United Nations-recognized social enterprise founded in the Philippines
in 2007 by Krie Lopez. The idea came out of Krie’s mind in 2006 when she went to the Delancey
Street Foundation in San Francisco, where she got inspired to adapt the business model to help
and empower the marginalized members of society through commerce. She then created Messy
Bessy Cleaners Inc. – a now-growing business with a cause.
The company manufactures and sells affordable household cleaners, personal care
products, and baby care essentials made from natural and plant-derived ingredients, making
them non-toxic to users. Messy Bessy also assures the consumers that they are not manufacturing
products at the expense of harming the environment and the creatures living in it by committing
to avoiding animal testing. Furthermore, to minimize the harm done to the environment, they
launched Messy Green Days, a return bottle program. This initiative invites customers and
business partners to return their used and cleaned Messy Bessy bottles and jugs for repurposing.
The containers are made into eco-planks for building emergency shelters and other products for
those in need. To encourage participation, the company gives discount coupons, picks up bottles,
and delivers the following orders.
Besides helping sustain the environment and providing consumers with beneficial and not
harmful products, Messy Bessy has a firmly established mission to help at-risk and disadvantaged
young adults aged 18-30. This cause is strengthened through their partner foundation, HOUSE,
which stands for Helping Ourselves Through Sustainable Enterprises. Messy Bessy is the main
business of HOUSE that has been helping those who were incarcerated, sex trafficked, and
impoverished by providing them with means to study and work – a second chance in life.
Photos from IG: @hellomessybessy
Since 2017, Messy Bessy has been a part of the United Nations Development Program and
Business Call-to-Action (BCtA) for their poverty alleviation model and actions. Today, the business
has over 20 products, ten kiosks, 40 retail partners, and a growing online presence. Their
foundation has also produced 72 graduates, 56 new college enrollees, and 110 employed and
retained young adults.
Messy Bessy is practicing sustainable marketing as it impacts individual consumers by
providing desirable non-toxic products, the environment by making a return bottle initiative and
promoting green practices to minimize harm, and the society by helping the marginalized through
the HOUSE foundation. Moreover, the company is guided by sustainable marketing principles as
it continues to see the need through the consumers' eyes, hence, creating valuable products for
them, benefiting society as well. Messy Bessy also announced that they are using their Recovery
Journey now to innovate and come back better and stronger. The actions and products of Messy
Bessy is meeting today's needs while also making futures ever possible.
Reference:
Baby, personal and household care: Messy Bessy Online Shop. Messy Bessy. (n.d.).
https://messybessy.com/