Spreading Roots of Social Entrepreneurship in Tallahassee

The Element Church was founded 14 years ago by Mark McNees and his friends with a specific social goal. At that time there was not enough money to support the cause and this shortage of money inspired them to go for a joint venture business with a coffee roaster in Boston which was very much conscious about the social causes. The organization started to bag and sell coffee and then spending the profit money for humanitarian causes. Later in 2009 the opportunity came when they were able to open a coffeehouse in Midtown and this was the beginning of RedEyes. This organization runs on the motto of ‘Drink Coffee Locally and Change Lives Globally’. To be very precise, the RedEye is an organization that does not work to earn only profits and has a strong social conscience and is part of a strongly emerging business model that has already been embraced by millennial (especially those who are interested in working socially responsible establishments). RedEye is the organization that is very much different from non-profit organizations that depend mostly on donations and government grants. It is run like a proper business and makes use of their profit for humanitarian causes around the globe.

This model of social entrepreneurship is becoming popular these days as the government grants have declined substantially and at the same time, philanthropic donations have decreased. The non-profit business organizations are constantly trying to make money from less capital and resources and then turning the entire business into a socially conscious one. Tallahassee is the place where there is a boom in the social entrepreneurship format of business but in a different way. There have been continuous attempts towards innovative fundraising. With the motto of developing meaningful and high-profit social entrepreneurship, Tallahassee Museum zip line has been successful in raising enough money to build better habitats. The creation of wholesale pharmacy (that creates enough revenue to support the social cause) is now strong enough to start its new distribution center. There are several other examples from Tallahassee where the DivvyUp socks company has taken a great project of donating a pair of socks to the homeless people against every pair of socks bought by their customers. So, the precise message is that the deep roots of meaningful social entrepreneurship are spreading strongly in Tallahassee.

The Collaboration Program by SAP and ISB to Jumpstart the Social Enterprises

SAP SE and ISB (the Indian School of Business) have recently announced their joint program to nurture the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship with due relevance to the national priorities. This program of SAP – ISB will concentrate on finding out five social enterprises (those are at the start-up level) and then provide them with facilities as mentorship, training as well as access to the required networks which will eventually help them to bring an acceleration in their growth rate.

SAP & ISB’s collaboration program is based on the strategy to drive the social enterprises through the process of alliance with the leading academic institutions in India. This particular initiative will enable SAP to expand its primary thought of leadership over the widest segment of social entrepreneurship ecosystem. SAP targets at bringing in the experts of the market, trends in technology, acquisition of customers and at the same time chalking out the perfect design of thinking methods for all other social enterprises who are enlisted under the said program.

This is going to be a mentor-driven program (which will last for the period of 4 months) and will work to provide the newcomers with necessary access to the primary business along with help from academic mentors and subject experts. The new comers (or start-ups) will be selected by a specified selection process across the country and will be conducted by the professional experts from SAP, ISB, and experts from the start-up ecosystem.

The prime target of the program is the creation of the program that can create investment friendly as well as growth-oriented social enterprises which will in turn take care of the social needs that had remained uncared for long time and at the same time the creation of employment opportunities that can bring significant change for the entire scenario.

Social Entrepreneurship Is on the Rise and Here are Some Businesses to Prove It

With the growing social entrepreneurship and more social entrepreneurs heeding to the call of more socially responsible start-ups and business operations, 2016 has become a Year of Social Entrepreneurship. Profit making is no longer the only concern among business circles and those planning their own businesses. Companies are adopting corporate social responsibility and aim to make a positive impact to the environment and the society. Social Entrepreneurs are surely making waves in the business world and making an impact in the society

This shift in business model is currently being practiced by various businesses and here are 7 of them:

Medical Service Tools by Safepoint Trust

Marc Koska has provided redesigned medical tools to poorly funded clinics in different places in the world. One excellent product of Safepoint Trust is the Auto-Disable syringe which is the cheap and one time use only syringes.

Spreading Literacy through Better World Books

It started as an ingenious way to earn extra income and turned into a major act of social entrepreneurship when Kreece Fuchs, Xavier Helgesen and Jeff Kurtzman decided to use it for the benefit of the society. It was in Notre Dame during 2002 when the three friends founded the Better World Books which collects unwanted or used books and sells them online thereby helping spread literacy through books across nations.

Buy One Donate One with TOMS

Every time a customer buys an item TOMS will give a similar product to someone who is in need. This is Blake Mycoskie’s business model for the company he started back in 2006 to answer the need for South American children’s need for shoes. Mycoskie expanded the idea and added more items. By 2015, he started TOMS Social Entrepreneurship Fund to encourage others to build new innovative business models that will benefit the society.

There are more social entrepreneurs creating better ways to conduct businesses around the world and helping societies. More will come as the years come and that is a good news for everyone.

Understanding Social Entrepreneurship from the Perspective Of ‘What It Is Not’

Social entrepreneurship is the growing business trend but there are people who have difficulty in understanding it. When you try to make people understand something new, you are sure to face several awful questions. The best way to make people understand or to rectify their wrong notions about the noble idea of social entrepreneurship is to let them know what it is not. This particular method will work like magic in helping people understand the basic idea of social entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurship is not social networking. Social entrepreneurs actually launch ventures which are financially sustainable and at the same time capable of changing the world for real.

Social entrepreneurship is far from being the entrepreneurship-lite. People in this sector face more problems in maintaining the balance between mission and profit.

It is obviously not CHARITY. Grants or donations are welcome in this field, but the sole importance is given to the sale of a product or service.

Social entrepreneurship is not about making ‘no-profit’. Profit making is obviously the target but is looked upon from different perspective as compared to commercial units.

Social entrepreneurship is not against profit making. Such entrepreneurs are eager to make money, but they intend to spend the profit for the welfare of the society.

Social entrepreneurship does not occupy the higher ground when compared to commercial entrepreneurship.

It is not a fad or the invention of the people who are entitled as Millennials.

It is not the social responsibility of the corporate sector.

It is not solely for the young people, old guys actually lead the way. The present day social entrepreneurs took their lessons from the seniors and thus it will be wrong to say that it is the trend of younger generation only.

Social entrepreneurship is not confined to the non–profit sector of business. It is NOT charity but stresses in earning possible profits and then spending a good portion of it for the welfare of the mass.

Social Entrepreneurship Eradicating Poverty and Cultivating Social Health

As we move through the 21st Century, the divide between rich and poor becomes increasingly apparent and still, poverty is prevalent in all of the underdeveloped countries whom Governments, Non for profit and Non-Government Offices (NGO’s) as well as Social Entrepreneurs continue to serve. The UN has developed a sustainable development plan whereby claiming that by 2030 poverty will be eradicated and significate steps toward improvements to health, clean water, lean and affordable energy and sanitation will be taken.

Social Entrepreneurship, What is it?

Social Entrepreneurship is the application of sustainable approaches that are better for all the sections of the societies, although heavily emphasis is put on marginalized people and societies that need more help.

It cuts across limitations of belonging to a certain sector with a focus on education, health and well-being, human rights, welfare reform, economic, environmental, agricultural, and the list goes on. In its real essence, Social Entrepreneurship is propping up an infrastructure where little exists and entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to the improvement of social advancement.

Just to contextualize how ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ can help global social improvements, Kopernik assisted 233,000 people in Indonesia and 20 other countries. They provided villagers in rural outreached locations access to clean water systems that propel and generate clean water into their homes. Additionally, solar lighting and low burning clean stoves have been provided. In turn, this initiative has helped villagers avoid risks such as kerosene fumes, burns, diarrhea and toxic water leading to untold health problems. The secret to their success was to network across their distribution network making products affordable and available to all.

Other stories of dentists and opticians as well as other medical personnel offer their services and devise ways of bringing low cost products to needy social problems. Without such foundations, organizations and heroic individuals, the goal to eradicate poverty and increase health and wellbeing can never be achieved.

Why Social Entrepreneurship is Considered to be Harder?

Entrepreneurship and Social entrepreneurship are much more alike than being entirely two different entities. This fact is true to an extent that experts have even reached the conclusion that all entrepreneurship is actually social. It is with no doubt that any kind of start-up requires a lot many efforts and hard work to scale and sustain the business environment. But there are three ways in which planning for a social entrepreneurship is much more difficult.

As the name suggest, social entrepreneurship is an honest move to generate revenue either through the selling of products or through the selling of the services but with a broad perspective of extending welfare to the society and contributing to the social development of the people. Though it is true that ideally, every business has some mission and the business should be aligned to that mission itself but the reality is at time far from such ideologies. Sometimes the business’s specific industry or vertical may or may not have anything to do with the mission of the business. As similar to their commercial competitors, even the social entrepreneurs need to explore and follow the specific trends, demographics, geography and more to sustain in this competitive world.

However, on the social front, the need for the market analyses of the mission and the industry type, in which the social enterprise is going to operate, emerges. This is because the market already has a number of non-profit social service agencies serving a similar population or intervention. And if that is not enough too, the social entrepreneurs are also burdened by the society’s expectations to provide a mechanism through which the impact of the social enterprise on the society can clearly be measured.

It is clear that the Social entrepreneurs clearly face an unsaid battle with the business entrepreneurs but they surely have an advantage over them. They know what the exact need of consumers is today and have a plan for providing it.

SURVEY RESULTS WHICH ARE GOING TO SURPRISE YOU ABOUT THE GLOBAL SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCENARIO

People around the globe share the belief that business is not just about making a profit but is actually the method which will enable the businessman to do some good for others. Though this was not the globally accepted concept, but now is. It is the report published by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor that clearly states that there have been massive changes in the mindset of big business houses across the globe as well as the small business owners.

The survey report consists of the data collected from interviews of 167,793 adults (across the world) in the year 2015 and specifies that 3.2 percent of the mentioned numbers of people are now in the starting phase of social enterprise. Social entrepreneurship is all about earning the profit and sharing a portion of that profit with the section of the society who is in need.

An around the world survey states that some countries are more interested in social entrepreneurship projects as compared to others. 18.1 percent of Senegal’s entrepreneurs are based on the social cause platform while that of Taiwan is just 1.3 percent. This contrast in figures is possibly due to the basic mindset of the people living in the mentioned countries.

The report shows that Australia and the United States of America are among the most active nations in the field of social entrepreneurship (each showing activity level of about 11 percent). There was a myth that younger entrepreneurs are mostly attracted to social causes, but the report ahs also ensured that aged people are equally interested like the young folks. Another important numerical aspect that comes out from this report is the involvement of entrepreneurs according to gender. There are 55 percent males as compared to 45 percent females. This gap is significantly when compared to the scenario in the commercial business sector. Thus, it is the news to cherish that women are becoming the leading force in social entrepreneurship.

SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR: CHASING THE PRIZE FOR GLOBAL SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

It is unfortunate but the truth that nearly 50 South African citizens are killed every day due to road accidents. The prime cause of the deaths is the absence of life-saving medical help right after the accident. But the good news is that the present era of social entrepreneurship has been working seriously to eradicate these unfortunate situations with their technological development schemes.

Jaco Gerrits is the social entrepreneur who is tirelessly working to develop a life-saving app. He has been in the technological field for 14 long years and this experience along with the willingness to something meaningful for the society enabled him to develop an app which will ensure that everyone can access the required help after being injured in a road accident.

Jaco’s app has been named CrashDetech and has already earned him the winner’s title of Chivas Regal’s global The Venture II competition and he is now going to compete in the world competition in New York. If he succeeds, it will change the entire scenario in South Africa as a portion of the prize money ($1 million) can then be used to make the app available for the country’s citizens.

CrashDetech is the app that can be downloaded with ease (people who do not have any vehicle insurance too can use this app) and the device will start working as soon as it can sense a crash. An automated voice countdown will begin and within 10 seconds the CrashDetech emergency help center will be notified. They will then send necessary medical information along with pinpointing the exact location of the crashed vehicle. People will actually not need to carry their phones as the vehicle stickers with QR codes can be scanned for vital patient information.

The entire country is now running for this prize as it is not just Jaco’s extraordinary invention and way of presenting his product in front of the judging panel. A portion of the prize money depends on votes and thus, the South Africans need to vote for CrashDetech.

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.