Imagine sailing across the Philippines in a sailboat similar to the ships that navigated the waters 1,000 years ago. Imagine sleeping on a different island every night with a group of strangers, with little to no running water, no air conditioning, and no internet access for six days. Imagine this becomes one of the best experiences of your life. 

On the surface, the TAO Expedition is a heightened sailing trip between El Nido and Coron for tourists, but after witnessing how the business is built around nourishing and caring for the land and its communities, you start to see why social enterprises like TAO are the future. 

In contrast to corporations driven by creating only shareholder value, SEs are businesses that focus on three bottom lines: profit, people and planet. Aiming to be a net positive on society is no easy task, but somehow a crew of Lost Boys, two terriers and an abundant flow of jungle juice managed to make fourteen strangers from different walks of life fall in love aboard a paraw. 

Let’s dive into how the business works. 

Counting the foot prints 

Revenue streams:

1) Sale of ‘Expeditions’ and/or ‘Experiences’ ranging from $100 – $1,000+ depending on the duration of the trip

2) Sales of local products sold at the main base camp (t-shirts, soaps, coconut oil, etc.) and

3) Add-on services such as massages (I would recommend another item: cookbook!) 

Impact: 

• A % of sales contribute to the Tao Kalahi Foundation to build schools for local communities 
• The company trains and employs only Palawan locals 
• The food served on the sailboat and at their sites is grown by local farmers and seasonal (it’s insanely delicious) 
• Employees are sent to school and on overseas trips so they can experience what it’s like to be a tourist themselves 
• Filipinos are given a discount on the sailing packages so they can explore their own land and learn more about the culture 
  

If we’re lost, we can be found

Floating on the clear water with no phone and no worries except how to win the next round of Farkle awakened an inner peace rarely felt in my day to day grind. 

How could it not? I was eating freshly baked bread infused with turmeric and coconut water and fish caught directly from the ocean. I slept to the lull of the ocean waves and rose with the sun. There was no screen to ease the unfamiliar silence between strangers so we played games, exchanged stories and made jokes. We learned to re-connect to the earth and to one another.   

It took some time, but navigating new experiences together helped us form a bond. That bond doesn’t necessarily need to last forever, but in those moments it connected us to our humanity. An understanding that we’re all goofs, all have ego, all fear judgement, all love to laugh, eat good food and no matter our age, gender, country of origin, we’re all in the middle of figuring something out. Something so easy to forget when we’re always online and feeling disconnected. 

Social enterprises like TAO just make sense because everyone wins – the communities, the employees, and the customers. There are thousands of social enterprises like this doing the good work though we rarely hear about them in the mass media because they’re probably not raking in billions and in many ways, their impact is much more meaningful.  

I find it funny the crew is called the Lost Boys because they aren’t the ones who are lost – they’re showing their passengers a new way to experience life.

I dare you to try. 

Happy day of love. 

2025 & beyond, 

Cyn 

I’m passionate about companies who not only make profit but do so by creating a positive impact on society. Follow @carewithcaose for more social enterprise stories.

Photo credit: Ben Ayriss @shotdifferently