On a sultry Monday afternoon when people were bustling in and out the air-conditioned Da-an metro station in eastern Taipei City, a man stood outside the exit, his forehead sweating under the scorching sun as he touted the latest issue of The Big Issue Taiwan—a magazine sold by the homeless and underprivileged to help them earn a living.
Lu Shao-hua, who was wearing an orange vest that reads “The Big Issue Taiwan” with a pictured badge numbered 114, looked a bit weary from the weighty sack of over 20 magazines hanging on his shoulders, or perhaps it was because of the heat. He told Taiwan Today that selling the magazine is not an easy job, but it has brought hope to his hapless life.
“This work makes me feel alive again and has helped increase my self-esteem,” Lu said.
Lu, who contracted polio as a child, said he felt despondent after losing his job in product quality control at Panasonic Taiwan earlier this year. To make matters worse, the 55-year-old then lost his home, forcing him to crash at a friend’s house until another friend from church introduced him to TBI Taiwan in March.
Beginning with selling just one to two copies a day, Lu said his income has stabilized after he was assigned to the busy Da-an station, and now he is able to eke out a living by selling 200-300 copies per month, which translates into roughly NT$15,000 (US$517) of net profit.
“It isn’t Christmas every day in terms of business, but the bottom line is I can support myself,” said Lu, who works eight hours a day, six days a week. He lives at the church to save money.
Lu praised TBI Taiwan for providing the homeless and underprivileged like himself with a chance to get back on their feet, saying that “the magazine has really brought meaning back into my life.”
During the interview, 29-year-old Ku Ming-he stopped to buy the latest issue of TBI Taiwan. Ku said he has been a regular customer of Lu, as he finds this business meaningful and the editorial content intriguing.
“This is a very good magazine with a lot of art-related articles and event information,” he said. “More importantly, it helps people when you buy an issue.”
Inspired by Street News, a newspaper sold by the homeless in New York, The Big Issue was founded in 1991 by British social entrepreneurs John Bird and Gordon Roddick, co-founder of The Body Shop, as a response to the increasing numbers of homeless people in London.
The central philosophy of TBI has always been to give “a hand-up instead of a handout.” For the dispossessed, TBI serves as the first step on a journey away from homelessness through voluntarily making positive changes in their lives.
Initially published monthly before going weekly in 1993, TBI is the world’s biggest street magazine by circulation, with over 124,000 copies sold per week, and a total readership of 585,000 in the U.K. It has franchises in Australia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan.
Having the same belief as the TBI founders, Fines Lee, editor-in-chief and chairman of The Big Issue Taiwan, Ltd., adapted the successful experience of TBI in other countries and founded the Taiwan version of the magazine in April 2010 in an attempt to help the homeless reintegrate into mainstream society.
“Instead of giving the homeless money, we provide them with a way to help themselves, and we encourage the public to do the same,” Lee said. “Under the motto of ‘working, not begging,’ we hope to create a sustainable positive cycle that can help them get back on their feet and end their homelessness.”
Every country runs TBI using similar models with minor variations, Lee said, adding that out of respect for privacy rights TBI Taiwan does not require potential vendors to prove they are homeless or vulnerably housed.
According to Lee, people who want to earn their own living and are prepared for an exacting job are welcome to approach TBI Taiwan. Once at the office, interested applicants undergo an induction process and sign up to its code of conduct before becoming official TBI Taiwan vendors.
Qualified vendors are then assigned a fixed selling point, usually at metro station exits. They are given 10 free copies of the monthly magazine, and once they have sold them they can purchase additional copies, which they pay NT$50 (US$1.7) for and sell at NT$100, thereby making NT$50 per copy, according to Lee.
(TBI vendors in the U.K., South Korea and Japan sell the magazine at similar price ranges—2 British pounds, 3000 Korean won and 300 Japanese yen, respectively.)
The main readership for TBI Taiwan is people 20 to 35 years old who are not only culturally engaged and socially aware, but also have a great interest in international affairs, Lee said.
After a year of operation, the number of vendors for TBI Taiwan has increased fivefold from 10 to 50, while the number of copies sold every month now stands at 15,000. By comparison Japan, a much larger country, has about 150 vendors who sell 40,000 copies of the biweekly TBI Japan.
A major difference between TBI Taiwan and other models run abroad, Lee said, is that vendors here are allowed to sell back unsold copies or exchange them for newer issues.
Such flexibility is a big relief for vendors since it spares them from having to worry about clearing inventories, he added.
“The money they make through a day of honest work, along with the confidence and self-respect they build during the process, is crucial to helping the homeless gain independence and a healthy mindset that will allow them to be reintegrated into mainstream society.”
Many people look down on the homeless, thinking they have the ability to work but choose to live on the streets, Lee noted. He added that TBI Taiwan does not want to judge the homeless and only hopes to provide them with an opportunity to choose again the life they desire and to be responsible for themselves.
Despite its success, TBI has been at the center of much controversy with critics lashing out at the magazine for being too businesslike in its operations and overly commercial with its flashy design and tabloid content instead of providing a voice to the homeless.
Supporters of the magazine contend, however, that TBI applies a successful business model emulating mainstream papers and magazines to generate a large profit to benefit the homeless.
Asked about the ongoing debate whether the magazine should be the voice of homeless people or a medium to provide them with jobs and an income, Lee said TBI Taiwan has no charitable functions for the moment, and it should be viewed as a business with “social participation.”
“It is unfair, both for the vendors and the editorial team, to brand TBI a charity. There is nothing philanthropic when the vendors make legitimate labor income and the team puts together fine editorial content for readers.”
TBI is positioned as a type of “social business” that adopts entrepreneurial practices and sound business strategies to promote social inclusion, according to Lee, citing TBI founder John Bird as saying that “it is possible to be both profitable and ethically correct.”
The official website of The Big Issue defines the company as one of the U.K.’s leading social businesses, saying it is an organization made up of two parts: a limited company which produces and distributes a magazine to a network of street vendors, and a registered charity which exists to help those vendors gain control of their lives by addressing issues that contributed to their homelessness.
The website added that The Big Issue Company publishes a weekly entertainment and current affairs magazine and any post-investment profit generated through magazine or advertising sales is passed on to The Big Issue Foundation charity.
“While it is essential for charity organizations to exist to respond to certain pressing needs of the homeless and underprivileged groups, social businesses are equally necessary to compliment the functions of charities by providing these people what they need most–a job that can bring sustainable hope,” Lee said.
According to Lee, TBI Taiwan certainly has room for improvement, and many challenges remain as to how the business can grow to help more underprivileged people.
The long-term goal for TBI Taiwan Ltd. is to set up a foundation responsible for charitable affairs, Lee said, noting that it takes five years on average for TBI branches around the world to reach this target.
At the moment, the efforts of TBI Taiwan are directed toward transforming it from a monthly magazine to a biweekly, because such a transformation would help vendors make more money and the magazine would then be able to accommodate more people in need of jobs, he said.
The number of homeless in Taipei now stands at 556, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Social Welfare, Taipei City Government. The Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation, Taiwan’s largest social welfare group dedicated to helping the homeless, however, estimates that the actual number could be higher.
Asked to comment on TBI Taiwan, a spokeswoman for Zenan praised its efforts, saying that her foundation has been working with the magazine to promote the work model among the homeless to help them decide whether to become TBI vendors.
“Work brings dignity. We welcome efforts that help the homeless get back on the right track and become self-reliant,” she said.
“This is more than a magazine or a job. What it offers is a reason to live.” (HZW)
Write to Rachel Chan at rachelchan@mail.gio.gov.tw