PPB February 2021

HHP LIFT When Products Change Lives As more companies realize the vital role communities play in their success, combining purpose with profit has become part of the core business strategy for companies that recognize its importance to business results. At Chicago-based supplier HHP LIFT , purpose isn’t just part of the business strategy—it is the business. by Kristina Valdez A s a nonprofit social enterprise, HHP LIFT “marries markets to mission” by creating business for social enterprises that, through workforce development programs, expand job opportunities for people trapped in the cycle of poverty. Under the leadership of President Dena Hirschberg, HHP LIFT has not only grown in the promotional products market but also as a direct provider of jobs to people from underserved communities in Chicago through their 1eleven® program and LIFT™ product line. “It’s amazing to think how a seemingly inconsequential product can profoundly transform lives for people from under-resourced and overlooked communities. The impact of a corporation’s purchasing power also creates generational change,” says Dena Hirschberg, president of supplier HHP LIFT in Chicago. “Because when you change mom or dad’s situation, you change the future of their children.” When you buy social impact products fromHHP LIFT , you are changing someone’s life, says Hirschberg. “These unique, eco‐friendly, retail brand and hand-crafted products provide a roof over someone’s head, food on the table, a sustainable livelihood, a fair wage and a pathway out of poverty.” Founder Michael Arkes first opened Helping Hands Partners (now HHP LIFT ) in 2007 after 42 years of working in his family’s business, Hinda Incentives, where he was the company leader for 26 of those years. While in the process of selling the business, Arkes first thought of HHP LIFT as his “retirement project,” and as a way to combine his passion for helping others with his expertise in the incentives industry. “Prior to that, he had volunteered at a social enterprise in Chicago called the Enterprising Kitchen, which was run by a mutual friend of ours,” says Hirschberg. “And what he realized was that most social purpose businesses did not understand how to sell to distributors or penetrate our niche channels of distribution such as the promotional products industry and the incentives market. So, Michael knew he could significantly help the Enterprising Kitchen increase their earned income through sales by introducing their products, initially, to the incentive industry. Adding that channel increased their annual sales from about $150,000 to $650,000 in a couple of years. He then decided to offer that to other social enterprises, initially as a rep, but our business model has changed a few times over the years.” HHP LIFT currently operates in four channels of distribution: direct-to-consumer, the incentives industry, to retailers and the promotional products market. Hirschberg is the co-founder of Made By Hands, Inc., a line of children’s arts and craft kits. She began working full- time at HHP LIFT in 2012 as a sales manager and steadily Dena Hirschberg 66 | FEBRUARY 2021 | CONNECT