Week 10: Entrepreneurship in Sustainability

Entrepreneurship in Sustainability

http://www.sustainable-sphere.com/2012/03/entrepreneurship-in-sustainability.html

Image- http://www.nurtureearth.in/

Social Entrepreneurship + Eco Preneurship = Sustainopreneurship

In today’s post, I am going to share about Social Entrepreneurship + Eco Preneurship = Sustainopreneurship. This is another term for Social Enterprise. The objective is to create an enterprise that caters to the need of the Social and Eco well-being of the community.

So why do we need such Entrepreneurship? This is so as man social problems have been surfacing out, e.g climate change, poverty etc. Especially when more and more conferences and meeting of the different leaders of the countries show the importance of reducing poverty in emerging economies; creating sustainable production and consumption patterns etc.

Therefore, there is a need to change public perceptions about social enterprises in Singapore. This is so as many regard such enterprises as forming the basis for a viable business instead of contributing their part to the community. Hence, there is an urgent need for the public to know the importance of social enterprises and the social impact that is needed in the world. Also, if the public recognised the effort of social enterprise, it would definitely encourage more youth and more businesses to do good and thus, form a caring culture.

Hence, despite the different perceptions formed on SEs, there has been a huge growth in interest in social enterprises over the world with more people wanting to do something more.

Week 9: 20 Successful Nonprofits Started by Students

20 Successful Nonprofits Started by Students

http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/10/21/20-successful-nonprofits-started-students/

In today’s post, I am going to share about 3 successful stories out of the 20 successful nonprofits started by students. Impressive isn’t it? I believe many people have hotbeds of idealism, where gifted minds, too young to be jaded, dream of better futures they want to bring into being.

Entrepreneurial spirit has been widely promoted, especially in recent years. In the private sector, many have tried to do their part by contributing back to the society by setting up another department – CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Also, many business schools have been encouraging their students in starting up their own business/social enterprise/nonprofit. Therefore, it is not surprise that innovative ventures are actively being created, fostered, and rewarded in the society now. Many youngsters have been actively involved in volunteering and other activities, e.g CIP, YEP. Below, I am going to share about 3 amazing philanthropic organizations that began as student projects and are now going on to change their communities and the world:

1.   KICKING 4 HUNGER:

Gabriel Whaley, who was on the mens’ soccer team at West Point and later transferred to the University of North Carolina, founded this charity soccer camp in 2006. Participants pay in food donations rather than money. At UNC Whaley worked with mentors from the business school to obtain 501(c)(3) status, and hopes to build his nonprofit into a national or even international concern.

2.   PROJECT PLUS ONE:

Founded by students at Brandeis and Northeastern in the Boston area, Project Plus One focuses its work on the Bairo Pite Clinic in Dili, the capital of East Timor, one of the globe’s youngest and most troubled nations. Patients here are badly afflicted by diseases that many Westerners rarely even recognize as a scourge, like tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis, leprosy, and HIV.

3.   SLAVERY IS REAL:

The no-nonsense name of Slavery is Real fits its mission: “raising awareness and taking action against human trafficking.” It was founded by Austin Knight, a student at the University of Kentucky, when he was just 19 years old. Being a young man, the Galahad-like Knight figured he was in a unique position to lend a voice saying “no” to the sex industry and dispelling the idea that prostitution as practiced is a victimless crime.

This is really encouraging to see so many youth out there are trying their best and putting in a lot of effort to do their part for the community and the world.

Hopefully, such spirit will be spread on to all parts of the world. I believe that all of us would want to see a world that is filled with love and peace, also the Earth will not be drained by the unlimited needs of human.  

Week 8: Measuring Social Impact

In today’s post, I will be sharing with you my view on how social enterprises measures social impact. Indeed, there are more and more SEs in the world are trying their very best to make the world a better place to live in, to increase the awareness of social value for their investors and consumers and creates a better understanding of the way social issues are perceived and addressed.

But how do we know if these social enterprises are really doing good. I believe that more and more consumers and investors would want to know how these social enterprises measure their social and community impact. But we cannot measure it using the way corporates measures profits, yet, we need to find out the ways to measure such social efforts made. Therefore, many social enterprises measure the number of people they have ‘helped’. 

Even though the reality is focus on the sustainability of the social enterprises and little is known to measure the worth of social enterprises. We hope that every social entrepreneur will still continue to be firm and walk towards their social mission to attain real change in the society.

Traditionally, many organizations increase their impact by focusing on expanding and setting up new sites. However, it may not be the right thing for social enterprise to do. Even though it has been typical to judge the success of social enterprise by how rapidly it has grown but this comes with challenges that might be very difficult for social enterprises that have just started. This is so as by expanding, it requires a lot of money and it may also require social enterprise to give up part of its ownership and control.

For normal businesses it is the profits that count but for social enterprises, it is the number of people they helped that count. But society has a common perception that social enterprises solve society’s “big problems” created a predisposition toward “bigger is better”. But it is more important to find good approaches or ideas to maximize the number of people that benefit. Many do not realize the importance of measuring social impact of social enterprises; this is so as they do not realize that by ‘teaching them the skill to survive in the world today would benefit more than providing them with food. Therefore, what social entrepreneurs actually need is a more useful measure of social impact that merges both the quantity (number of people) and quality (how deeply lives are transformed) of impact.

There has not been a really accurate way to define the success in the social enterprise sector thus far. Hence, I think that we should consider how social enterprises could maximize their impact through building networks, sharing knowledge and supporting others to replicate and adapt approaches. One of the ways is the network of social entrepreneurs; it is definitely one major factor that would generate more opportunities for substantial impact than a social enterprise alone can with its limited resources.

This is so as they can connect people from business groups or non-profit groups together. With the help from both sides, there will be more opportunity for social enterprises to create a social enterprise-friendly business environment which brings greater magnitude of social impact. And also, by measuring it at the network level is more accessible and easier for social entrepreneurs.

References:

The Information Daily. (2012, April 25). ‘UK Social Enterprise: Growth is not the only way to increase impact, says social enterprise research’. The Information Daily. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/49417

Week 7: Individual Social Responsibility

Individual Social Responsibility

Many of us know about CSR but how many of us actually look into individual social responsibility?

Do you feel good when you need help and there are always people there to help? I believed everyone loves to be cared and received help. But have you think of helping others when need? This is when individual social responsibility comes into the picture. It is all about doing good as how you want people to treat you will determine on how you treat others, Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we help each other instead of being self-centered?

Have you ever wonder how does CSR come about? This is because many people thinks that corporates care too much about profit. Therefore some individuals decided to promote social responsibility culture in the company.

In the world today, we are conscious of the quality and the price of our product that we have brought. But have we thought about how are such products produced? Why is it so cheap with good quality? More and more news reported that many products are manufactured through child labor or other inhumane conditions.

Therefore, more and more corporates are becoming more socially responsible to recover its image as most consumers would more likely to buy products that is produce advocate a good cause but in the same time they have to meet the demand of the consumers as well.

Therefore, if each and every one of is practices good individual social responsibility, the world would have been a better place filled with love and care instead of war and poverty. Also, a person who practices individual social responsibility primarily, has a mindset to contribute to the society and therefore always endeavors to have a positive impact on the society and environment.

It is alright if you are not rich and you can contribute back to the society by volunteering and by using your skills and talents to help others. While the rich like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation can give back to society by donating to charities, etc. Therefore, there are many ways people can each practice individual social responsibility.

One must always remember that no matter how small the difference is, with each and every one of us doing a little, we can create miracles.

George Bernard Shaw mentioned, “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.”

So start to make a difference today! Be it how little we can do, we MAKE A DIFFERENCE. And if one starts the ball rolling others will follow. So do not look down on individual impact! It is as powerful.

In order to be the change you want to make, start with individual social responsibility and step by step you will see the difference!

Reference

Anonymous. (n.d.). What is social responsibility? Retrieved December 7, 2012, from http://www.imasocialentrepreneur.com/social-responsibility/