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

Week 12: Social Enterprise - Low Public Awareness

Social Enterprise - Low Public Awareness

Singapore Social Enterprise Association (SEA) conducted a study on 2000 respondents, out of 2000 respondents, only 13% knew the meaning of "social enterprise" and only 2% of those who know, could name an existing SE correctly. This shows that even though there have been more social enterprises but the level of awareness of social enterprise is very very low.

And out of the 2% of the 13% of the respondents, only the "successful" and somewhat famous Social Enterprises in Singapore, like Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprise (SCORE) and the cafe Eighteen Chefs, the ones that they could think of.

However, more than half of the 2000 respondents would support social enterprises if they know what a social enterprise is. Hence, we could safely say that the public are not stereotyping social enterprise with charities/business. The reason why many people are not supporting social enterprises is due to the confusing bottom line that is not communicate to the public properly. This is so as many social enterprise are trying to get ‘sympathy; from the public, resulting in the misconception of the public about social enterprises. Therefore, people would not support what they are unfamiliar with or do not know about.

Hence, it is very important to develop a high level of awareness for social enterprise because of the potential social impact and the economic benefits that SEs can generate. Also with a high level of awareness of social enterprises will also increase the interest and media coverage of social enterprises in Singapore. With many underlying social problems in Singapore, social enterprise is definitely one of the best ways to help the less fortunate and to also give them a opportunity to survive in the world today.  

Also, the Social Enterprise Association has stated that it would work more closely with the Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry to publicize more about social enterprises. Even with the help of SEA and MCYS publicizing, I think that social enterprises themselves should also come up with their own marketing strategy and campaigns instead of waiting for others to help them. Also, social enterprises should spend more efforts to let the public know about what they do in order to correct the misconception that social enterprises are charities by sharing about how their business models work.

Reference:
Grosse,S. (2011). Study shows low public awareness of Social Enterprises in S'pore. Retrieved January 11, 2013 from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1150901/1/.html

Week 11: Hawker Centre a Social Enterprise

In today’s post, I will be sharing about a new hawker centre at Bukit Panjang would be run by a social enterprise or cooperative. This is another hawker that is run by a social enterprise, the other one that I have known of is Dignity Kitchen. This is a very creative and innovative way. Many though how can setting up a hawker help. 

In the modern society, the marginalized, especially the disabled are deprived of basic employment rights. Akin to Dignity Kitchen, a training school cum food centre operator, the new hawker centres will serve to provide employment for people who struggle to enter labour market habitually – the less privileged or those with disabilities. To me, I think that this is considering one of the best ways that would help the needy in Singapore. This is so as most of the people who needs help in Singapore are those without a decent qualification and a little old with no experience. 

Therefore, this is definitely one opportunity for them to earn a living without been deprived of dignity. And with this, people can see that even with a simple concept like this would help people. Most of the time, we think too complicated while the solutions are actually very simple. By setting up a hawker centre, more can get jobs or even have their own stall, this could have the owner to earn a decent income and in the meanwhile, providing more employment opportunity to earn themselves a decent living. 

Furthermore, hawker centres are places that majority of Singaporeans would visit. Through interacting with people from social enterprises at the hawker centre at Bukit Panjang, they are able to be more aware of what social enterprises are. In this fashion, we can build an inclusive society where people change their attitude towards the marginalized, giving back their self-respect and dignity and also the opportunities they well-deserved to be successful in life.

References:

Hawker centre to be run by social enterprise. (2012, May 13). TODAYOnline. Retrieved January 4, 2013 from http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120513-0000035/Hawker-centre-to-be-run-by-social-enterprise

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/