Paying It Forward: How to Be a Social Entrepreneur
The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller from the founder of Social Bite. It is part memoir, part manifesto, part practical manual for anyone who wants to put purpose alongside profit and use entrepreneurship as a force for social good.
When Josh Littlejohn started a small sandwich shop in his home city of Edinburgh, he would never have thought that within 10 years it would be frequented by Hollywood megastars, that he would have opened a string of successful cafés across the UK, and that he would be honoured with an MBE by the Queen. Not to mention raising over £25 million to combat homelessness around the world — all set in motion by a person experiencing homelessness, named Pete, walking into his café one day and sheepishly asking for a job.
Paying It Forward is part memoir, part manifesto for social entrepreneurship, and part manual for putting purpose ahead of profit. It reveals what social entrepreneurship is and how it can make a difference. How if only 20% of entrepreneurs became social entrepreneurs our world would be in a much better state. How we can ‘Calculate Risks’, why we should ‘Help Just One Person’ every day, and that ‘If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get’.
The path to being a social entrepreneur is never a smooth one: Paying It Forward is the compass for finding your own path and making a difference in the world.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book is donated to Social Bite to support the mission of ending homelessness. The book includes a foreword by Sir Bob Geldof.
About the Josh Littlejohn MBE
Josh Littlejohn MBE is a leading social entrepreneur, philanthropist and campaigner tackling homelessness and displacement around the world. He co-founded Social Bite in Edinburgh in 2012, building it into a nationally recognised social enterprise employing people from homeless backgrounds and giving out over 200,000 items of food each year.
In 2018, he launched the Social Bite Village, an innovative housing project for homeless people, and in 2019 staged The World’s Big Sleepout — a global campaign in 52 cities, with 60,000 people sleeping out in solidarity.
Josh has raised over £25 million for homelessness causes and holds five honorary doctorates. He is featured in Debrett’s list of the 500 most influential people in the UK, and was awarded his MBE, which he dedicated to homeless and marginalised people.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Social Bite to help combat homelessness.
Reviews
“Full of heart, honesty, humour, and genuinely helpful advice — an essential read for our times.”
Richard Curtis CBE, filmmaker and co-founder of Comic Relief
“Josh Littlejohn is a brilliant entrepreneur who has poured his heart, soul and energy into helping others — with remarkable results. Paying It Forward is a fantastic, must-read book for anyone who wants to learn how they can also channel their ambition into changing society for the better.”
Sir Chris Hoy
“Filled with remarkable people and illuminating stories, Josh ‘pays it forward’ by revealing how we can all make a difference to our world and our fellow human beings.”
Dame Helen Mirren
“Josh makes the case — powerfully — that business and entrepreneurship must become systematic forces for good, tackling not just homelessness but the twin evils of environmental degradation and social inequality.”
Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever
“Having been in Social Bite and witnessed first-hand the immeasurable difference that Josh has made to the lives of innumerable people, Paying It Forward is an urgent and unmissable call to action.”
Martin Compston, actor, Line of Duty
- Social Bite sets supporters 100 milte challenge and more fundraising event news (11 September 2024)
- Coffee for good causes – a round-up of beneficial beans (16 May 2023)
- Property entrepreneurs off flats to homeless people in support of Sleep in the Park (7 December 2018)
