Capitalism – in the way it works today – helps the ‘haves’ make profits and accumulate more wealth while the ‘have nots’ sink more into economic disempowerment. This is apparent in India where our rapid development is quickly creating huge imbalances in society and exacerbating social inequalities and disadvantages. There are, however, a few crazy, unreasonable, and idealistic individuals who are addressing these large scale issues with their innovative business ideas – social entrepreneurs.
Social entrepreneurs are commonplace people with uncommon, and sometimes unpopular, ideas. They create ‘forprofit,’ socially beneficial initiatives that have the structure, discipline, and vigour of any profitable business rather than the lax social initiatives that sometimes have little to no effect thanks to poor planning, lack of knowledge of the services required, orinadequate funding. Abandoning the charity mindset, they create detailed business plans, chalk up estimated revenues, and give investors a sizeable dividend that compares favourably to any other entrepreneurial venture.
Today, social entrepreneurs are addressing some of the major problems in the world, from poverty to climate change, with profitable, and hence sustainable, business models which are of direct benefit to people at the bottom of the pyramid. They are coming up with solutions that can be replicated, scaled up, and absorbed by the mainstream business community.
As with most start-ups, the main barrier to market entry for social entrepreneurs is funding. In developing countries, venture capital is not usually in place and banks are unwilling to support untested services or products. Those who are trying to create high-impact change for marginalised communities can attract investors and funders with adequate communication. Investors generally want to know if the business is creating social and environmental change. The entrepreneur has to
Unreasonable
Social entrepreneurs are unreasonable. The idea for this comes from a quote by playwright George Bernard Shaw who said, “The reasonable man adapts himsel to the world as he finds it.” The unreasonable person tries to make it different. Social entrepreneurs do not take the world as it is as a given, they are game changers. They are wildly ambitious.
Crazy
Some, if not most, have been called ‘crazy’ at times. Muhammad Yunnus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, for his work as a social entrepreneur, describes people in this field as 70 per cent crazy.
Emotional
Effective social entrepreneurs are emotional. They put their drive and passion not into competition or making money, but to alleviate the living and working conditions of over four billion people. A good example of such a person is Wangari Maathai who got the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. She has planted 30 million trees across the desert belt in Africa. She is a good example of a person who has done something that others consider impossible.
Seek profit in unprofitable pursuits
For most social entrepreneurs, they define profit in very different ways. It is not just a financial quantity. They are working in areas of substantial market failure. Some explain their idea of profit at blended value – so you look at the social and in some cases the environmental value that is created at the same time.
Ambitious
Social entrepreneurs are not humble as you might expect social workers to be. They are impatient and some won’t take no for an answer. But it is not themselves they are ambitious for. They are trying to help other people, passionately. They feed and support each other, reinforce each other’s work. Maybe we should all be that ambitious!
Source: Harvard Business Review
JOHN ELKINGTON
Founder and CEO, SustainAbility, points out the key traits that social entrepreneurs should have.
They are the following:-> By Minal Patodia
Volumn 1 Issue 2
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