FADE IN.
Act 1
EXT - ROAD - DAY
PETER drives as he listens to a radio interview.
ANCHOR (O.S.): How social enterprises should be funded?
GUEST (O.S.): The best way is to fund it with private money.
PETER (V.O): Which social enterprise would do that?
GUEST (O.S.)(Cont'd): Over 95% of social enterprises use public money to run their social projects.
Pausing.
GUEST (O.S.)(Cont'd): They don't incorporate. Once they've spent all the money, their projects ends.
Pausing.
GUEST (O.S.): They don't have the entrepreneurial spirit.
PETER (V.O.): That's true.
Act 2
EXT - ROADS - CONTINUOUS
FLASHBACK
INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT (2018)
Sitting at a table, LADIES and GENTLEMEN including Peter chat.
LADY#1: I'm doing a social project.
ALL: A social project?
LADY#1: We train delinquents to become Thai boxing instructors.
PETER: How interesting!
LADY#1: You all are welcome to join our boxing classes.
Some shake their heads sideways.
INT. HONG KONG CLUB - DAY (2020)
Peter is having lunch with LADIES#1 and #2.
LADY#2: How's your social project?
LADY#1: We've got further private donations. We can run for 2 more years.
PETER: Have you applied for any entrepreneurship funding?
LADY#1: We once applied, but was unsuccessful.
PETER (V.O.): I see. Her business model isn't competitive.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She was a sportswoman. I told her while we were parting that in order to keep my younger son company, I first learned snowboarding at the age of 64.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): Later that day, she sent me an email, asking me to enroll her Thai boxing class, suggesting that I could protect myself better.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One of the reasons that I took up law was because I believed it'd protect me better.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I prefer swimming butterfly style than defending flying knees, sharp elbow strikes, hard kicks and swinging punches.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In short, boxing has never been my cup of tea.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But the point is to support potential delinquents rather than for my benefit.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But if I belong to her social project's target customer segment, her business model can't be sustainable.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I finally said no.
Act 3
EXT. ROADS - CONTINUOUS
GUEST (O.S.)(Cont'd): There're now B Corps...
PETER (V.O.): What?
GUEST (O.S.)(Cont'd): B for Benefit. It's a new kind of businesses that balance purpose and profit.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Interesting - 1st time hearing it.
Looking at cars' registration numbers.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I always like to think that my car registration number "BC 7896" signifies something.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): "BC" for "Be Creative", and "7896" sounds in Cantonese as "Getting rich straight".
Smiling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Now, I might interpret "BC" as "B Corp".
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've been sharing the results of my creativity for purpose and not for profit.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've also tried to be entrepreneurial by making my "business" sustainable through tapping the free creativity in me and the free publication over the Internet.
As the radio program ends, Peter manoeuvres through a traffic jam at the Cross Harbour Tunnel.
FADE OUT.
THE END

Comments