The Women’s March after Trump’s Inauguration Is a Perfect Example of Social Entrepreneurship

A new breed of Social Entrepreneurship is what Trump is bringing into America. They could paint the streets of Boston, Washington and other 600 odd cities literally pink. Yes, scores and scores of women marched on the chilly Saturday morning expressing their solidarity against the Trump tyranny. This unprecedented movement took place when Trump was attending the customary ‘morning after swearing in ceremony’ services in the Washington Cathedral. They could muster support from the ‘who is who’ of America.

Donald Trump swore as President with the lowest approval rating of 40%. Well, this is not the usual techie meet or agitation but a real massive protest mustering support even from other countries. America is generally and comparatively tolerant on right fronts like usage of obscene words, divorce or extramarital affairs. But Donald Trump broke all the thin lines with his utterances.

The Women’s March without the support of taxpayers money or Government mechanisms fought against Trump’s comments, policy ideas and past behaviour towards women. The President did not even spare his daughter in his remarks.

His stated goal to reduce funding for reproductive health research and Planned Parenthood also did not go well with the fringe group. They used the social media successfully to make the 21 January protest a reality. Yes, a new breed of women social entrepreneurship is born in the US and abroad.

Right from logistics, marketing, fundraising, and attire, they could muster support –monetarily as well as moralistically. The swelling crowd crossed one million, and the movement went viral. Typically they have to brainstorm for their next strategic move. Fuzzy logic of a new amazing social entrepreneurship in America has taken shape.

But the target, Donald Trump, the 45th President of America seems to be least bothered when he was moving to the cathedral CIA headquarters to thank them for their support. But the ‘pink social revolution’ is going to be a black mark on the White House.

Reference URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nishacharya/2017/01/19/womens-march-is-social-entrepreneurship-at-its-best/#50b1962c16fe

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship in 2016

Suddenly a spurt of demand for the Master of Social Work courses in India. The reason is simple; the Corporate have to organize CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) schemes under qualified MSW post graduates. Primarily a company having a turnover of 10 Billion Rupees and above a minimum two percent need to be put into CSR kitty. This 2014 law is in force.

Tata Power a business agglomerated has spent Rs.47 crores Last year toward CSR. So did Reliance, L&T, and a host of others numbering few hundreds. Tata Steel, situated in a tribal belt of Jharkhand is reviving the tribal sports and arts.

The disparity in education, poverty, gender, sex, hunger and social issues was the talking point with start-ups and Corporates alike. Some corporates are doing this act sincerely whereas a few think this is unnecessary. Typically CSR metrics covers defensive, charitable, promotional and strategic. For a change, more youngsters are coming up into social entrepreneurship. Last month UrbanClap and Snapdeal asked their customers to donate “Happiness Boxes” to NGOs top make the year-end brighter for the underprivileged. For this, a platform Snapdeal Sunshine platform was created. Uber also followed suit. Cairn India came out with clean drinking water kiosks to communities.

The growth of social entrepreneurship scenario in India is going to be significant. Solar energy projects, smokeless stove, wind energy, etc. are few of the projects taking shape in different parts of India with Government –private sector collaboration. The technology incubator concept is fast catching up.

Funding social enterprises was introduced into the Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act through an amendment, where companies can fund start-ups incubated in ‘technology incubators’ connected to academic institutions. The social purpose vehicles which were so far unknown in the corporate or start-up is fast changing for better.

Reference URL: http://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/Impact-of-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-and-Social-Entrepreneurship-in-2016/05-01-2017-110897/

Lessons for Social Entrepreneurs

A 2016 is already in the past, and the new one is worth exploring.

Supply chain management

dōTERRA, the Utah-based consumer cum health product supply organization has a social commitment. They support the farmers in developing countries. The turnover of this supply chain management company is 1.2 Billion. They are the pioneers of essential oil supplier globally, and their suppliers come from developing countries like Nepal, India, etc. they have tied up with Helping Hands Foundation to distribute Grants to the needy.

Life Style Management.

Healthways, an organization dedicated to dealing with cardiac problems was established by the doctor turned entrepreneur Dean Ornish. He licensed his healthy lifestyle programme helped ‘people across the country gain access to professional help with implementing his program.’ That deal was the masterstroke.

The blue haired girl makes the difference.

Starbucks enforced the taboo on Maria De La Croix and denied her a job. The reason was simple- the blue color of her hair was not as per Starbuck’s policy. She took revenge by starting a venture by setting up her coffee shop on a bicycle. That was a tremendous success. Within two years she sold over 600 bicycles mounted cafes in 60 countries. She makes sure to sell only organic food and coffee using only renewable energy.

The impact of the shared understanding platform.

Colleen Copple found out there is no real go between the community and the law enforcers. And the gang war in her home town reached alarming proportions she started an organisation Strategic Applications International twenty-five years back. Now she runs a consultancy firm covering clients around the globe, including the U.S. Justice Department. Her firm is recognised by President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Her social venture was what underprivileged were looking for a shared understanding platform.

Three –wheeled car

Paul Elio launched the sale of a three-wheeled car that costs just $7,300 and gets 84 miles per gallon

STEM skills

MIT graduates their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills to create a device that converts text to braille helping the blind. This cost just $100.

Reference URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2016/12/29/6-lessons-for-social-entrepreneurs-from-2016/#5b9cf22c75e7

Crowd Funding for Social Entrepreneurship: 4 Lessons for Making Impact

Whether it is a social entrepreneurship meant for a positive social impact or profit making, the crowd funding is the essential ingredient to make it take shape. Of course, there are risks involved for the investors, but without that, the start-up would be in a standstill stage. The assess feasibility of the venture right from the conceptual stage, to nurture and put into action needs support- both moral and financial. This is true, especially in the social enterprise arena.

The causes and aims can be varied right from global warming, eradication of hunger, prevention of cruelty towards animals, elimination of illiteracy, abetment of pollution, bettering medical facility, social up lifting, etc. Social entrepreneurship is nee of the hour and the upcoming business models. This is because business is an integral part of social commitment and purpose. The enterprise can interact with real situations, consumers as well as the fund managers.

For social entrepreneurship to succeed, mainly the following are required. They are the feasibility, the purpose and the sustainability of the idea. The crowdfunding is the right solution to answer all these questions.

Bakeys who makes the world’s first edible cutlery (spoons, forks, chopsticks, etc.) made primarily from sorghum is a classic example of how crowd funding can help. Bakeys could raise US$38,344 from 1,571 supporters in their campaign in India and US$278,784 from 9,293 backers in their U.S. campaign. The delay in crowd funding did affect the takeoff. The delivery on worldwide destinations was affected in spite of a good product and logistics.

The updates Bakely put on the net about the delay was indirectly construed as a sort of fault finding. A better approach would have pacified them. The growth potential of Bakey was oriented on the percentage of crowd funding and the timely disbursement. A general trend in crowd funding is 30 percent by friends and family, another 30 percent from your wider network and associates, and the remaining 40 percent of the crowd.

Reference URL: http://techwireasia.com/2016/12/crowdfunding-social-entrepreneurship-lessons-impact/