When he started his Bachelor of Business Management degree, Zachary Fook wanted to become the next Richard Branson. But then he took a social entrepreneurship course, and everything changed. His focus shifted to finding a career with purpose and creating a positive social impact.
Zac began his social entrepreneurship journey during his studies when he co-founded The Tippy Toe Co., Australia's first social enterprise ballet school for young people of all abilities. Now, he's the founder and executive producer at TheraPlay.TV and founder and CEO of Active Eight.
What do all these businesses have in common, apart from their founder? Their mission: to make the world more inclusive, accessible and fun (for everyone). They’re also all social entrepreneurship examples.
Here’s how he went about finding a career with purpose as a social entrepreneur.
Why did you choose to study the Bachelor of Business Management?
When I finished high school, I didn't know what my future career would look like. But I was always interested in things like economics, legal studies, business and accounting. I've always had an interest in understanding why people make purchasing decisions and behave the way they do. Every time I drive past a business around town, I wonder who their customers are, what their business model is and what makes them different.
So, it was natural that I gravitated towards business at university.
The foundational courses in this program are great if you don't know exactly where you want to end up, because you can do a bit of everything. They give you exposure to:
- economics
- accounting
- finance
- marketing
- entrepreneurship.
They’ll help you learn more about yourself and how the world works. By the end of your degree, you can narrow the focus of your studies by specialising in 1 of 7 majors to shape your career path. You'll also meet employers and do different internships.
How did this program help launch your entrepreneurial career?
I found my way into social entrepreneurship by chance.
I thought I wanted to become the next Richard Branson, so I wanted to focus my studies on for-profit entrepreneurship. But because of a scheduling conflict (I was working full time while studying), I ended up taking a social entrepreneurship class instead.
During this class, we had an assignment to create our own social enterprise from scratch and take it to market. This provided an opportunity to gain hands-on experience of what it's like to create a business. Having already completed the foundational courses, I was able to apply everything I’d learned into the business.
I see enormous value in the entrepreneurship course, which has been designed to teach the process of birthing an idea into existence and then nurturing it through the vital early stages of life.
How did you come up with your idea for this entrepreneurship course?
My mum identified there was a gap in the market for inclusive extracurricular activities for children with disabilities. While a lot of kids spend the weekend playing sport, there’s a significant number who don’t have that opportunity because most clubs aren’t set up to support their needs and coaches receive very little training in the way of inclusive practice.
Our startup idea was to create a ballet school for children of all abilities, holding lessons every Saturday morning. And that's how The Tippy Toe Co. began, back in 2013.
Nowadays, the allied health industry is booming. About 95% of our clients come through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding model. This means we must be competitive in our offering. Branching out from ballet, we repositioned ourselves as Active Eight.
Since then, we have grown to become a leading provider of paediatric therapy and programs. We occupy a 1000sqm state-of-the-art centre in the heart of Toowong, with plans to grow across the east coast over the next 5 years.
Image credit: Active Eight
How did this social entrepreneurship course change your career trajectory?
Sometimes we can feel torn between pursuing a career for money or titles and an intrinsic desire to make the world a better place (i.e. finding a career with purpose). Despite intending to pursue a corporate career, after experiencing the profit-for-purpose sector, I realised this is where I could fulfil both desires.
After I graduated from the Bachelor of Business Management, I worked for Youngcare in the not-for-profit sector as part of the philanthropic partnerships team that connects corporate giving to Youngcare’s supported disability accommodation projects.
Our purpose was to build accessible housing for young people with disabilities, so they didn’t have to live in aged care.
I worked there for a few years and then took up a role as an innovation management consultant working with a portfolio of universities in Australia and the UK. My role was to deliver projects that increased student satisfaction, improved graduate outcomes and widened participation.
These opportunities and the mentors I met along the way really developed the confidence I needed to pursue The Tippy Toe Co. on a full-time basis. Eight years after Tippy Toe Co.’s inception, this project I started as a uni assignment became my full-time role. We now have 17 full-time staff and 33 casuals providing over 17,500 allied health services and programs annually.
As well as that, we developed a new type of service delivery in TheraPlay.TV, which we’ve dubbed as a new genre blending therapy and entertainment: ‘Thera-tainment’. This has enabled us to take our Brisbane-based programs and deliver them to a global audience.
Image credit: Active Eight
What made you decide to leave the corporate world and further develop The Tippy Toe Co.?
It didn’t happen overnight. While I was still working in a corporate role, I remained committed to fostering these incredibly meaningful connections with the community on the weekend, volunteering in the ballet school. This meant I could earn a living and hone my professional skills, but also fulfil a deep-seeded need to genuinely give back and be part of a group leading change in the local community.
Before I made the leap, I was working for 2 amazing bosses who backed me during the transition phase. They paid my weekly wage but gave me the time and flexibility to put a strategy in place to take the ballet school to its next phase. Looking back, perhaps it was a reward of sorts for over-delivering on several of our university projects. They could probably also see that I had this itch I needed to scratch that I just couldn’t in my 9-to-5 work.
It was a rare arrangement at the time in the corporate sector, but nowadays it’s far more commonplace for companies to invest in their employees’ side projects and offer that flexibility. This personal experience certainly impacted how I support my employees today in their work and side project endeavours.
Financially, making the move meant a significant pay cut for the first 6 months. But that just motivated me because it meant I didn’t have the option of failing.
Would you recommend other aspiring young entrepreneurs study this program?
I believe those who have studied or been exposed to business are likely to be more successful at starting a business than those who just wing it or go by gut feel. There's so much merit to studying entrepreneurial theory, evidence-based frameworks and tried and tested methodologies. That's why entrepreneurship courses like those in the Bachelor of Business Management exist.
When I hear my mates namedropping the extremely successful businesspeople who don’t have a university or college degree, I remind them that they’re talking about rare exceptions.
While studying, I challenged myself to go out of my way to connect with students from other disciplines and degrees. Being able to use the university campus experience to gain an appreciation and insight into how innovation and value is derived in other fields is invaluable.
In the entrepreneurship course, you shape an idea into a business model or plan by:
- exploring the value proposition to consumers
- understanding the value chains and market
- finding a greater sense of meaning behind the idea and answering the question of profit for what purpose? That’s where things can really get interesting.
Unfortunately, a lot of business ideas explored in university courses don't make it beyond the classroom. This is why I see enormous value in the entrepreneurship course. It has been designed to teach the process of birthing an idea into existence and then nurturing it through the vital early stages of life. The process and methodology taught is transferable to any idea or industry.
What’s your advice for other startup founders and young entrepreneurs?
- Dream your customers’ dreams
It might be obvious, but your customers’ dreams should match up with your product or service roadmap. With Tippy Toe Co., for example, our foundational clients all expressed a similar dream of one day being able to access psychology, physio, martial arts, yoga (and much more) all under the one roof. - (Broadly) map out your life’s work*
Open a note on your phone and put into simple words what you want to dedicate your life’s work to. Everything I do career-wise and entrepreneurship-wise will contribute to one of these pillars. If you can’t think of what your pillars should be, it’s time to hit the float tank! My pillars include:- inclusive communities
- healthy tech
- the morning routine
- greener places.
- Be someone who others want to invest in
The first person who invested in me did so because they believed in me as a person, not just the merit of my idea. Authenticity, empathy and logic are timeless traits of good leaders and investible professionals.
*Credit to Jack Delosa for this one.
Ready to pursue your own career fuelled by purpose? Learn more about the Bachelor of Business Management.
