Collaborative and Impact Driven Entrepreneurship Initiatives

Exploring deeper impact-driven entrepreneurship exposes many lacunae, as well as opportunities as changes in grass root level, is happening. The Collaborative Entrepreneurship initiative in 2016 is the curtain raiser. The social entrepreneurship is minimizing the unemployment among the youth significantly in developing countries. The societal, environmental, educational and economic challenges that children are facing in MENA region is predominant. And no wonder that social entrepreneurship is becoming popular in those areas.

The mind-set is shifting from non-profit to profit making and sustainable business models. More focussed investment and support portfolios are emerging. The apparent shift from non-profit to the new attire did see a stable growth pattern in social entrepreneurship of late.

Raneen Media, which started as a non-profit and moving to more commercialised set up is a classic example. They produce audio drama stories for blind children. Glowork creating job plat forms as a part of women empowerment in Saudi is another example. BizWorld UAE is focussing on teaching entrepreneurship in schools.

The investments are keener on technological industries rather than social entrepreneurs. Fundraising is relatively easy for a new social enterprise rather than an established one as the investor would be looking at the theoretical aspect. The involvement of Government in a constructive way is welcome. Some Governments are creating unnecessary hurdles for social entrepreneurs.

Collaborating with social enterprises and helping them to should be the motive of the Governments. The initiative of UAE government is a welcome change, especially in healthcare and environment. The CSR movement if applied with dedication and not as a formality would help as proved by Aramex and Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Zain Jordan, GE, PayFort in MENA.

The entrepreneurial movement in MENA with many big names entering is showing the desired effect in societal uplifting. The corporations can add the start-ups as vendors and integrate them into their supply chain. Pepsi tried this model effectively.

Reference URL: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/diving-deeper-into-practice-of-impact-driven-entrepreneurship-666329.html

How Social Entrepreneurships Can Tackle Drug Menace In Philippines

President of Philippines boasts of his cruelty but could not bust the drug mafia effectively. Anyway, the Philippines is not a lone case as such. In countries like Columbia, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela too, the drug mafia is controlling the Governments. Incidentally, the USA has allowed narcotics and Marijuana in the pretext of medicinal benefits.

For a change, the social entrepreneurs have taken up the issue seriously and the results are showing positive signs in the Philippines. But unfortunately, the number of such start-ups and social entrepreneurs are a bit too small in number there. Drug cartels are deeply rooted within the society.

Authors like Tom Wainwright (Narconomics: How to run a drug cartel) and Ken Follet (Cobra) have narrated how the drug cartels are running like Corporates with the logistical support, supply chain management, marketing strategy and legal protection canopy. They employ franchises who are criminal gangs for distribution of drugs. Technically, they are global conglomerate with their own law enforcing wings. They are so formidable that they could instil threat to the police and civilians in many countries.

Unanimously, all Governments agree that strangulating the supply chain is the best remedy to eradicate the menace, but they have no clue, finance or manpower to implement this move efficiently. The cartels have infiltrated into the law enforcing agencies all over.

The social entrepreneurs tried a novel solution – to redirect the user profile and reduce the demand. By providing different and healthy entertainment avenue, the dependence on drugs can be reduced. If the need for socializing and recreation is met, the demand can be curtailed.

Secondly, the dependency for drugs to overcome depression and melancholy, a common platform like social media for counseling and advice, would definitely help. The third alternative is to find different income sources for the so-called drug dealers. The social entrepreneurship can be innovative in the search for solutions adept for the particular society and situation in curbing the drug menace in the Philippines.

Reference URL: http://www.manilatimes.net/social-entrepreneurship-solution-drug-problem/315886/

Giving back to the society where it is due is the vision of this Social Entrepreneur in Nepal. Nepal never got its due in infrastructure due to the political instability. But few NGOs took the matter seriously. Panchakanya Group, a third generation business decided to serve the society. They are into structural material manufacturing but the social commitment they have is something caught the attention of many.

One initiative is education by free education to the children of the employees. That makes a better bond with the management and employees. The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) lead makes such an impact. The Entrepreneurial Masters Programme (EMP) is an executive development programme.

Child Reach Nepal is to make sanitary pads more accessible in the rural areas. Arunachalam Muruganantham did this in different parts of rural India. This has helped to improve the health of rural women and was nicknamed “Menstrual Man” .He was ridiculed initially. Followed by this sanitary pad making a machine to be operated by the community, had health and economic advantage to poor.

Idea Studio Nepal (ISN) is another venture for empowering youngsters through training and mentoring. Seed funding and organisational or individual tie-ups are the logical outcomes. Nyano Maya, a locally made incubator improved rural health posts. Jyoti Sanghera, of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, said women’s day asked how can a normal biological, function be associated with shame, stigma, distaste, untouchability, taboo.

Childreach Nepal, in collaboration with Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM), Meeting Point, the private sector, the media, and development partners seeks to support a growing community of social innovators in Nepal by opening the first Idea Studio. Mostly Idea Studio is concentrating on empowering downtrodden through social enterprises in Nepal.

Social innovators have sprung up forward with creative ideas that can address social issues faced by local communities. UNICEF Representative to Nepal has said, “This venture may well be considered a benchmark is helping to shape a truly new Nepal.“

Reference URL: http://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/Social-Entrepreneurship-Giving-Back-To-The-Society/28-02-2017-113592/

The Lies in Social Entrepreneurship

Is profit making a taboo for social entrepreneurship? However, the four social entrepreneurs at Melbourne meeting were unison answer that the restriction tag does not apply. One had health issue due to heavy work in the new ventures. That was the complaint Roslyn Campbell had. “I’m vitamin D deficient since I spend too much time inside working,” she says. She is trying to get fit but is not that easy due to the work pressure.

Eyal Halamish has no doubt that profit is a must in social entrepreneurship. He is the chief and co-founder of digital democracy platform OurSay which is touching $1 million in turnover. In case someone says that he is not after profit, it could be a lie. That is the opinion of Jillian Kenny the co-founder of Machinam, a social enterprise for teaching mathematics for high school. She is for profit in entrepreneurship. According to Kenny says that at the end of the day, profit makes all the difference in social entrepreneurship.

A social enterprise without profit will be a flop. A social enterprise says social enterprises need to be upfront about their aims. An investor should understand the implication of social entrepreneurship. There is no taboo whether it is crowdfunding or bootstrapping. Setting high goals or thinking big is possible only with financial backing.

Sandra Capponi, the co-founder of Good on You, is concerned about ethical shopping and sceptical of greenwashing. The app she developed got good patronage. The growths of social entrepreneurship are exponential in Australia, and most would agree that profit making is a must for sustainability. There is innovation, commitment, and euphoria in the field of social entrepreneurship in Australia. But they should be prepared for the ups and downs as well as the social alienation at some time.

‘The preparedness for the tough time ahead is crucial for a social entrepreneur’, was the unanimous opinion.

Reference URL: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/the-lifes-and-lies-of-social-entrepreneurs-20170210-guaghc.html