Nanotechnology students Derek Jouppi, 25, and his two cofounders Martinko and Sweeting, founded Suncayr to help people detect skin cancer. Without any social background, these budding engineers plunged into social entrepreneurship.
They found that skin cancer is prevalent and can be prevented. People try sunscreens but do not know when to reapply. They came out with a changing color indicator to tell the user when the effect of the sunscreen faded. Suncayr is a smart UV indicating sticker that changes color with UV light, letting youknow when your sunscreen need be reapplied.
Surprisingly, the project was overwhelming accepted with over $700,000 in capital and 47 grants and pitch competitions. Their first invention was a pen to draw the ink on your skin, but that was a flop. Safety was the major deterrent. After two years they came out with a viable product -the UV SPOT sticker. The market acceptability was slow but promising.
The market feedback was the driving force for them to develop something useful and viable. This validation is critical in product development, according to the founders. Not the answer they wanted to hear but something critical and factual.
Identification of the customer’s constraints acceptability and priority concerns should be given prime importance, for example, the safety of the child is very important in using the product which the parents would not compromise.
As Suncayr encountered child safety concerns, there are many external factors that could affect a customer’s willingness to buy into your proposed solution. By identifying the problem areas that customers are most concerned about. The acceptability has also bearing on the privacy and security of the users. The cost and health issues are the next serious concerns.
The color change is reversible, can last all day, leaves no tan line, and is removable at the end of the day. It can be applied anywhere you want and is very water-resistant.
What Makes a Social Entrepreneur Different from a Businessman
Entrepreneurs are revolutionists who take the initiative to solve a demand-supply gap by devising a business model around it. They bring a new dynamic to the market by coming up with innovative ideas or approaches. Entrepreneurs are different from conventional businessmen in the sense that they use technological or other means of innovation to come up with viable solutions to solve problems. A similar category that has recently risen in the entrepreneurship domain is a social entrepreneur who uses his or her innovative thinking to devise solutions and startups that solve social issues, ultimately finding a way to directly impact the society positively.
There are social entrepreneurs all around the world who are tackling global challenge in creative ways, making this world a better place to be. A social entrepreneur usually tends to bring a wide scale change by his or her innovation in a particular sector of the society that eases the process of living for the citizens of the region concerned. The model for a social entrepreneurship business can take on various shapes but usually has one thing in common, that is, optimizing social returns. A social entrepreneurship business model does not have its priority set to accumulate wealth or generate profits, but rather to improve the social structure and reinvest earnings in the same objective. Most social entrepreneurship ventures connect with investors and philanthropists who are more concerned about the social return on their investment rather than financial returns.
Social entrepreneurship is indeed a need in the society to ensure the less privileged members of the society have access to necessities like education, food, clothing, etc. They also tend to focus on issues where a government fails to address the issue and therefore, with the cross-sectional efforts of the public and private sector, devise plans and models that lead to effective dealing with the social problem at hand by devising an innovative, implementable solution to bring about social change.
Young minds are encouraged to be involved in social works and civic problems to learn more about the ongoing issues and use their minds to come up with revolutionary ideas to bring about economic and social changes.
Reference URL:https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324445904578283792526004684
How to Engage Customers in Social Good
Gone are the days of customers supporting sketchy brands with questionable political opinions and underage workers – or are they?
According to a survey conducted by PR firm Edelman, consumers will pay up to support socially conscious brands. In fact, in a survey, 70% of consumers said they would pay more to support good causes, and more than 50% said they would help promote such businesses. The problem? Only 39% of consumers knew of such brands. And if consumers are not aware of socially conscious brands, how are they supposed to support and promote them?
To make consumers more aware of social enterprises, it’s important to engage them in social good. Here are two ways a brand can do that:
Choose a specific issue
Broad stances on themes, such as environmental justice, are all good and well, but to involve people in social good, it’s crucial to define what environmental justice (or any other cause) means to you. Then, find a way to make that theme actionable – it could be rallies and marches, it could be calling certain companies and asking about their environmental policies… pick your action.
Provide various ways to participate
People differ – our personalities, preferences and work schedules all differ, and those working at social enterprises should respect that. Offer people a chance to participate in different ways – through social media, by calling senators and other leaders, by organizing marches – just make sure to unify your message.
Source:
Entrepreneur (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/298946)
AdAge (http://adage.com/article/news/edelman-consumers-pay-support-socially-conscious-marketers/122084/)
Is For-Profit Social Enterprise The Impact Model of The Future?
As anyone into social entrepreneurship knows, social enterprises can generally be structured as non-profit and for-profit organizations. But no matter their structure, what separates social enterprises from other business enterprises, is the fact that their social mission, whatever it may be, is as important to their success (if not more) as any potential profit.
But which one of these social enterprises can have more impact: the non-profit or for-profit enterprise? According to Prayag Narula, CEO, and co-founder of LeadGenius, it’s for-profit social enterprises that can not only have more impact but are the impact model for the future. Here are some of the reasons why Narula believes that.
• A for-profit enterprise is more sustainable than a non-profit enterprise, as it doesn’t have to rely on donations and grant money.
• A for-profit business can scale in ways a non-profit business cannot, and for social enterprises, the greater the profit, the greater the impact.
• Compared to conventional businesses, social enterprises have an advantage: today, investors, business partners, and customers prefer a company that is doing more than just providing a product/service. They would rather spend their money on companies that are not only offering a great product but are also doing good (and rightly so!).
• Social enterprises have another advantage and this one is concerning hiring and retaining staff. Just like customers, employees to prefer working for a company whose goals and values are aligned with their own.
Source:
How Technology Powers Social Entrepreneurship Ventures
In a world where billions of people are connected together via social media, the ways of communication and the dissemination of information have drastically changed. Before the era of social media, any organization which needed to get their message out there needed a large monetary power in order to advertise through traditional methods of communication. With the internet and social media, even the small players with a great vision can attract a large following as long as they perform well, stick to their values, maintain the integrity and carry out a strategic social media plan which does not need a great capital.
Due to the ever-evolving information and communication technology, a social enterprise can target virtually billions of people around the world now. Crowdfunding is another great benefit that technology brought in favor of good causes such as social enterprises which struggle in terms of funds and finances. Crowdfunding allows people who believe in a cause to donate money to them which can largely take away the burdens that come to social enterprises with investors to make profits which allow them to focus more on delivering solutions to a good cause instead.
Technology also allows social enterprises to increase the scope of impact. By being able to spread their story to billions all over the world, they are able to inspire others to take action in the causes that they believe in.
Sources – https://www.managementstudyguide.com/role-of-technology-in-social-entrepreneurship.htm
Current Global Challenges Social Entrepreneurs are Tackling
There are social entrepreneurs all around the world who are tackling global challenges in creative and innovative ways, making this world a better place to be. These social issues are varied and belong to a large spectrum that covers all kinds of communities from all over the world. Let us look at a few issues which are focused by social entrepreneurs and how they bring about solutions for them.
With the growth and the popularity of information and communication technology, many social entrepreneurs are using their tech skills to bring solutions to social issues. Kisan Network by Aditya Agarwal is an online marketplace for farmers in India. With the use of a smartphone app, he helps the farmers to facilitate sales between the farmers and buyers without the need of a middleman.
Sex education for young adults is another issue tacked by social entrepreneurs. With pilot programs in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the Young Love organization by Noam Angril conducts awareness programs about the spread of venereal diseases and how to practice safe intimate relationships with young people.
Early childhood care and education in families below the poverty line in developing countries are tacked by the successful social enterprise of Kidogo founded by Afzal and Sabrina Habib who focus on East Africa’s urban slum regions. They use a hub model to conduct early childhood education centers which provide both childcare and preschool services along with educational programs for young mothers.
Source – https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2017/social-entrepreneurs
Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Your New Social Enterprise
Starting a new social enterprise can be one of the most challenging tasks despite the amount of passion you have the project as someone who has an innovative solution for a social issue. Let us tell you a few questions that you need to ask yourself before you start your new social enterprise in order to make sure you will be successful.
What exactly is the social problem that you intend to solve?
It is extremely important that you are thoroughly certain of the social issue that will be solved through your venture. Create a succinct vision that explains what exactly you intend to achieve through your social enterprise, and builds short term and long term missions to achieve that goal.
What is your business model?
Despite the focus being mostly achieving a positive social change, your social enterprise should be treated similarly to a business that has a strategic business model. Find the balance between serving a purpose and making the profits to keep the enterprise aloft and work together with your team just as if not harder than a profit-oriented company would.
What is the impact that you are trying to achieve?
Measuring impact can be done in a several ways. It is important that you are clear about what the impact you are trying to achieve from your venture is, and also how you will be measuring it. This will help you to stay motivated and eventually expand the scope of your impact as you grow.
Source – https://www.fastcompany.com/3043153/6-questions-to-ask-before-you-start-a-social-enterprise
Ways to Make Sure your Social Entrepreneurship Venture Has Great Impact
The world has become more active and more connected than ever, hence making it difficult for any venture to stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impact. Most of the social enterprises are based on a passion to do good, rather than a monetary foundation that helps them get their word out to many people. With all things considered, however, there are a few ways to make sure that your social entrepreneurship venture has a significant impact on the communities that it focuses on.
First of all, it is important that you laser focus your target, and specify the problem that you are willing to solve as detailed as possible. The more direct and specific you are with what you offer, the greater your impact will be. For an example, if you are willing to tackle the universal issue of youth unemployment, be specific about the exact portion of the said community that you are capable of helping successfully.
The second important this is that you collaborate and network as much as possible with the influencers and the front runners of the field you are focusing on. Go beyond the walls of your organizations and work alongside the important stakeholders of the solution that you are willing to give in order to have the best impact on your target community.
Source –
https://hbr.org/2014/05/how-social-entrepreneurs-can-have-the-most-impact
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244418
Disability is not Inability
An Edinburgh charity in Scotland has recently been presenting their commitment to assist people living with disability into work. St Jude’s Laundry was fortunate enough to host guests this week for a tour of the only laundry industry in the city. The enterprise works in association with the charity organization to offer employment opportunities to people with disability. Currently, the laundry has employed several individuals with learning, mental and physical disabilities.
In 1963 Capability Scotland founded the city only laundry industry which is now under Forth Sector and also work in collaboration with major disability employment charity in the UK (Shaw Trust). The laundry serves clients such as Edinburgh University, Spire health Care limited, Lush Spa and Scottish Youth Hostel Association.
Currently, St Jude’s Laundry has employed 24 local disabled people who play a significant role in the running of the business. The chief operating officer Mr. Iain Grieve recently applauded the efforts of Shaw trust, Forth Sector, public, private and third sectors for working together with them to create more and equal opportunities for people living with disabilities. He also said that the objectives enterprise is to reducing Scotland’s disability employment gap. Furthermore, he encourages all stakeholders including government agency to assist them to reach out to more people living with disability and enroll them in their program. Other countries should emulate such program that will reduce biases in the society.
http://thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/laundry-aims-to-continue-helping-disabled-into-work
Reasons Women Social Entrepreneurs Generally Don’t Prefer to have Commercial Models
The growing numbers of women entrepreneurs is encouraging female social entrepreneurs to pursue hybrid ventures. Natalia Oberti Noguera discovered that when women social entrepreneurs express their ideas with the world and have some support of them, people who were initially interested in donating to the projects, generally lost the enthusiasm after knowing that the ventures were for profit. Oberti Noguera witnessed a double standard prevailing in the society. She mentioned, “If a woman is saying she’s going to change the world, the assumption is she’s launching a non-profit. People don’t assume the same for a man.”
Researchers have proved that such social norms lay a platform where women are left at a disadvantage. From a woman, the society has high expectations to be kind, caring and soft – the qualities that often lack successful business entrepreneurs. However, that is not all. This attitude is not from the males in the society but also from that of the females. These behaviors not only impact our evaluation of entrepreneurs but also how these gender norms influence a woman entrepreneur’s decision of the business model.
In a hybrid business mod, in order to support their social mission, ventures engage in commercial activities leading to major benefits. Such business can eventually turn into growing “impact investment” market. The data, however, reflected that women based social entrepreneurship mostly rely on donations. This gender-based stereotype impacted the decision of how the women social entrepreneurs decide to go with a hybrid model in comparison to their male counterparts. The presence of women leaders in other sectors had no such spillover effect. Girls brought up in cities where investments are encouraged, tend to turn out to be good investors themselves. An effective entrepreneurship also depends upon the access to resources, relationships and various other factors.
Reference URL: https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship/why-many-women-social-entrepreneurs-avoid-commercial-models-7876
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