SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: CAN YOU EARN PROFIT?

Social entrepreneurship is the business enterprise with the goal of providing solutions for social problems along with making some money for the entrepreneur. This ‘social problem’ can be anything from climate change to saving an endangered species. The general belief is that social entrepreneurship is a not-for-profit organization, but the reality is pretty different from that.

The truth is that every modern day business needs to have the aspect of social entrepreneurship. Business owners have a major role in shaping the economy of the world and now they need to take the responsibility of social and environmental welfare.

The very first thing to consider while starting a social enterprise is the basic idea of the business. One has to find out a profitable business scheme that can be beneficial to the society as well as the entrepreneur. Finding out or creating such a multi-dimension idea may seem difficult, but is not impossible. Social entrepreneurship requires the entrepreneur to think outside the common way. Shifting the focus from serving the consumers to serving the government can be a good option. These days, most governments are being interested in reducing their dependency on conventional energy sources. So, if you can invest your time and funds in such an alternative energy resource, success is sure to knock your door. The idea of selling useful information for fighting against addiction (alcohol, smoking etc.) is already running with success. Similar consumer services which can become beneficial to the society can be the first choice for social entrepreneurs.

In case, there is already a running business and the owner is willing to add some social aspect to it, without changing the products or even adding something more to the production line, there is an option for it too. A simple donation to a meaningful social cause will do. It is seen that common consumers are interested in spending in such companies which are attached to a social cause.

PRAISE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA FROM THE FIRST LADY

Africa’s first lady Jeannette Kagame mentioned the path of social entrepreneurship to be the most befitting for the economic development of the entire continent. She attended a gala dinner at Kigali to celebrate the achievement of Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award winners of 2016 for Africa. This event was organized by the Motsepe Foundation and the Schwab Foundation. The award function declared the recognition of some extraordinary social entrepreneurs from 11 different organizations which have been operation in more than 70 countries across the continent. The social entrepreneurs were praised for pioneering marvelous solutions for environmental and social challenges, right from eradicating child labor, empowering the women and paying necessary attention towards climatic change.

The first lady was of the view that social entrepreneurship has been successful in providing necessary solutions for the most serious issues of the society. The programes undertaken by the social entrepreneurs did not only target at empowerment of women but at the same time, they cared for making the best use of the women’s potential and thus, designing some creative solutions to have the best impact the entire environment around them.

Social entrepreneurship, very similar to business enterprises, is able to build organizations which are sustainable and aim at driving the transformation and social innovation into various fields including health, education, and enterprise development. Pursuing the goal of eliminating poverty with the enthusiasm similar to a profit making business organization brings about the success we can experience now.

Besides the first lady there were several other eminent personalities as the AfDB President Adesina A. Akinwumi, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin (the Executive Director of UNFPA) and Dr. Motsepe Ramaphosa (wife of Deputy-President of South Africa) were present at the event and all of them were of the view that social entrepreneurship is sure to be the best way to build a truly developed continent by using the existing resources in Africa.

THE EXTRAORDINARY ART OF SPARKING A REVOLUTION HIDDEN UNDER SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Dr. Pathik Pathak, born and brought-up in the United Kingdom, is a person whom has been successful in taking his passion for innovation to the supreme level. He is amongst the few lucky ones who learns for fun and it is quite obvious that a person like Dr. Pathak (graduated from University of Warwick and presently working at the University of Southampton) will be the pioneer in making social entrepreneurship the most attractive prospect for students. Having been able to understand the science behind innovation, Dr. Pathak moved to the Social Impact Lab and since has been the peerless pioneer in the field.

Dr. Pathak is presently the leader of the international works on social entrepreneurship at the University of Southampton. He has recently been honored with the fellowship of Royal Society of Arts along with the prestigious award of Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman in the year 2015. His extraordinary contribution in the field of modern education has been the key for bestowing of the mentioned awards.

Dr. Pathak is not different from other visionaries in the opinion about students’ possession of skill sets that help them in academics as well as in lives. When asked about the beginning of his journey, Dr Pathak admitted that he was interested in social entrepreneurship for quite long time and thus, after finishing the post graduation studies, he went on a world tour. The first stop was obviously India where he got the opportunity to witness the innovation stage of social entrepreneurship. In answering the question of his life goal, Dr. Pathak admits that he was and is still addicted to the fun of learning.

Speaking about Spark India Social Enterprise Camp, Dr. Pathak reveals the collaboration of Social Impact Lab with organizations like Awaaz de and Aakar in 2014. He also informs that Social Impact Lab is the place (with its headquarters at University of Southampton) that is keen in promoting social leaders and not developing social ventures.

Social Entrepreneurship is All About Doing Good in a Smarter Way

Recently, the world has witnessed the start-ups aimed at changing the world in a different way by recruiting the help of technology. Social Entrepreneurship doesn’t solve the consumer’s problems locally with the intention of maximizing profits, but it aims at bringing an irreversible positive change in the life of people of the society.

These startups are founded with an intention to bring in change to the present conditions in which people are living. It can be the campaign to make pure drinking water available to all or can aim to make sanitation facilities available. It can also be turning solar energy into electricity to make the lives of people, living in remote areas of the country, simple, and it can be developing livelihood skills, life skills or the skills to read and write. It can be anything, but the mission is common: making the world a better place to live in but with a twist. Yes, the approach is much smarter now.

Whether it is the 1:Face Watch Campaign to bring the change worldwide or TaxShe Services to provide an all women taxi services; or whether it is the IncloV app with several aids integrated into it to make it accessible to the differently-abled or the Nudge Foundation to pull people out of poverty by making them employable. Every solution for a social cause is based on technology.

Being a social entrepreneur signifies someone who has stood up to advance and develop the quality life of people who deserve to have much more than what they seek. It is all about putting in the concept of technology in the market of the business of bringing in a positive and substantial change in the society.