what is a social entrepreneurship
TRANSCRIPT
What is Social Entrepreneurship?
Academic week prep lecture
Who is a Social Entrepreneur?
• A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change (a social venture). • Social entrepreneurship is a verb.
Whereas Business Entrepreneurship…
Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur focuses on creating social capital. Thus, the main aim of social entrepreneurship is to further social and environmental goals.
Who are Social Entrepreneurs?-Individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems; offering new ideas for wide-scale change.
-Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.
-Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it.
“6 years ago, the city gave us a piece of abandoned land in the middle of our community that was full of garbage and weeds. What used to be weeds is now full of herbs and vegetables, all organic, that we use for our dressings. People used to look at us like we are gang people and going nowhere. We started with a small plot and now help look after 27 family plots and 42 youth. We also have our own greenhouse and a commercial kitchen where our magic happens. We love growing a social enterprise and it’s awesome because you don’t have to be a certain age; it doesn’t matter where you come from or what color you are, you can work hard, use your imagination and create something that grows hope. Hope Blooms is a great product and gives back to our community. Our motto is “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”.– Tiffany, age 12
What is a Social Enterprise?Source: Social Enterprise Canada, 2015
• Social enterprises are social mission driven organizations which apply market-based strategies to achieve a social purpose.
• The movement includes both non-profits that use business models to pursue their mission and for-profits whose primary purposes are social.
• Their aim is to accomplish targets that are social and/or environmental as well as financial: is often referred to as the triple bottom line.
• Many commercial businesses would consider themselves to have social objectives, but social enterprises are distinct because their social or environmental purpose remains central to their operation.
So which business model are you?
• People, planet, profit• Triple Bottom line• Blended value• Socially Responsible/CSR• One for One
Connecting your business with social responsibility
• Begin researching a charity, organization, cause or movement that aligns with your business
• The cause may be personal to you; or fit with your business
• Every profitable company is expected to exercise their social responsibility by donating a percentage of your profits, or one for one or any other model that initiates social responsibility
• This should be clear at the trade show