Pete Yao: Chief Impact Officer at Thankyou

In this interview I chat with Pete Yao who is the Chief Impact Officer of Thankyou. Now for those who follow me on social media, you’ll probably know that Thank you are one of my all-time favourite social enterprises. I love them because they’ve kind of flipped the whole consumer product FMCG model on its head and as a result are doing incredible work and creating huge impact. In this episode we go into a lot of detail about how they track impact and the custom-made system that they’ve built in order to do that efficiently. We chat about how they’ve managed to effectively combine the business and social elements into a thriving social enterprise that has impacted over 750,000 people in 20 countries.

Thankyou was founded in 2008 in response to the World Water Crisis where at the time, over 900 million people didn’t have access to safe drinking water on a daily basis. And at the same time, the Australian bottled water industry was worth an estimated $600 million. Which is crazy! So, the co-founders of Thankyou decided to take advantage of this and do what? Well they decided to launch a line of bottle water (as you do), that would fund water projects overseas. The company has since expanded its range from bottled water to food, hygiene and sanitation products around the world and just last year, launched Thankyou baby which is a range of nappies and baby care funding child and maternal health programs.

I think what stands out for me about Thankyou as a company, the work they’re doing, and now after meeting Pete is the incredible authenticity that they all radiate. They are open about their successes and failures, but also their challenges too as a young company run by young people. A key defining feature of Thankyou is also their out-of-the-box thinking, creativity and ability to execute on ideas that others put in the ‘too hard basket’. I mean, who hears about the world water crisis and decides to launch a brand of bottled water without knowing anything about how to even make bottled water? They do. I think that’s what I love about them most, is that they inspire others to believe that anything is possible and that if you want to change the world, no matter how old you are, you can.

Before we get into the interview, I recommend that you check out their book, Chapter One. It’s a pay what you want model and all funds go to support the Future Fund, enabling the grow and scalability of their work. The book is a really insightful and honest look at Thankyou’s journey so far writer by Daniel Flynn, one of the co-founders.

Pete Yao started at Thankyou as a volunteer in the organisation’s early years and went on to become one of the organisation's very first full-time employees in 2012. With experience in youth social work and a genuine heart for helping others, Pete’s studies in international development opened his eyes to poverty on a wider scale and the importance of addressing current issues of injustice affecting communities globally.

Pete is now Thankyou’s Chief Impact Officer and carries the responsibility of overseeing the development and implementation of projects worldwide as well as managing the social enterprise’s innovative Track Your Impact system. Having completed a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts majoring in Human Resource Management and International Studies, Pete’s knowledge of development and passion for the developing world enables him to lead our Impact Department in ensuring that the projects Thankyou funds are sustainable, cutting edge and committed to empowering local communities.