Week 13: Is 'profit' a dirty word in the world of Social Enterprise?

In today's post, i will be sharing about my view on the topic: Is 'profit' a dirty word in the world of Social Enterprise?

Social Enterprise is a business with a social objective, therefore, it operates just like other business that generates profits for sustainability, the difference of social enterprise from normal business is that it has a social objective which serve to serve/help the community. Business uses double bottom line: Profits and People while Social Enterprise uses triple bottom line: Planet, People and Profit. but there should be no doubt that any business needs to generate profits before they think of contributing back to the society. This is to ensure the sustainability of its business model. 

Even though social enterprise is still not widely known by the public and many are still skeptical about the organisation work ethics and do not know the objective and the business model that is used by them. Also, there is very little publicity of social enterprise and what makes the situation worse is the negative perceptions the media portrayed making people became doubtful of the 'motive' of social enterprise. And more people actually think that social enterprises are another form of 'charity'. 

Therefore, many do not understand why social enterprise needs to earn profit since they are 'charity'. Hence, it is very important to change the misconception of the public about social enterprise. Moreover, I feel that 'profit' is definitely not a dirty word to use as social enterprise must be profitable in order to be sustainable and successful. This is so as the profits will be better used to help more people and also, if a business is not making money how can it benefit and help the community? 

Thus I think that since social enterprise is a fast-growing sector there should be more support from the public when they understand more about social enterprises through the work they have done and through the media.
Also, another way to show that social enterprise is different from business, accountability and transparency is very important. If the organisation has good corporate governance practice and good organization culture, I believe that they will definitely have a good stand in the world today. 

While social enterprise starts to expand, I believe more and more people will understand the need for social enterprise to be profitable!

References:
Higham, S. (2012). Is 'profit' a dirty word in the world of social enterprise? Retrieved January 17 2013, from https://socialenterprise.guardian.co.uk/social-enterprise-network/2012/may/17/profit-dirty-word-social-enterprise