The Trendy Entrepreneur — here to change the world!

“Social Entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry” — Bill Drayton

Entrepreneurs are those who have an idea, start a company, and make money. They write a business plan and work tirelessly to scale their company and drive profits for themselves and their investors. Recently though, the trend has been changing. Entrepreneurs are having different motivations for starting a business, just as consumers are having different motivations to buy.

There has been a significant uptick in interest in companies that have a basic alignment in social responsibility; meaning the mission is not just to grow and make money, but to do good in the universe. And here we enter into the world of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’.

Social entrepreneurship is an approach to business that’s gaining popularity as globalization brings conversations about sustainability and international development to a world stage. It’s also leading more people to ask themselves, “What can I do for the world today?”

What is social entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship is when you start a business for a philanthropic cause, it can include both non-profit organizations like ‘Doctors Without Borders’, which rely almost exclusively on donations and grants, and for-profit companies like ‘Tesla’, which turns a profit by putting its clean energy products front and centre. Social entrepreneurship can also include brick-and-mortar establishments and online business ideas. TOMS(Tom Shoes), for example, opts for both.

Social entrepreneurs are innovators who start companies and organizations that are committed to giving back.

How is a social enterprise’s success measured?

A social enterprise is a type of business where the bottom line and success metrics are measured in more than just profits. Instead, it typically measures success based on a triple bottom line:

· People: The human impact of the business, and the ability to affect social change, improve lives, and develop a community in a sustainable way.

· Planet: The environmental impact — how it can contribute to a sustainable planet or reduce the carbon footprint (CO2 emissions) of the business and customers.

· Profit: Like traditional businesses, social enterprises need to make money in order to sustain themselves, pay workers, and grow as an enterprise.

In practice, social entrepreneurship is a flexible methodology that’s applied differently depending on the type of organisation, but the goal is the same — to help an organisation excel at its core mission.

Non-profit organisations want to know how to move away from a charity-based model and toward more sustainable sources of funding that leverage their activities to generate revenue.

The benefits of building a social enterprise

For today’s consumers and businesses, social responsibility is a growing priority as concerns about climate change, international development and supply chain ethics become a more prominent topic of international discussion.

In a CSR survey by Cone Communications, 87% said they will purchase a product because a company supports an issue they care about. This reflects a shift in consumer awareness about the impact of their purchase decisions. Not only are businesses held to a higher standard, but many consumers are holding themselves to a higher standard as well.

But, what’s the difference between social and traditional entrepreneurship?

The critical difference between the two can be seen in the founding mission of the venture and market impressions. Social entrepreneurs tend to emphasize upon ways to relieve or eradicate societal pressure.

Let me give you some examples-

1) Ashoka

Bill Drayton is considered the godfather of social entrepreneurs, widely credited with bringing the term ‘social entrepreneur’ into the mainstream. Since 1981, his organization, Ashoka, has been supporting leading social enterprises around the world with their ultimate goal to help build a world where everyone can make a change and every person has the power and ability to contribute towards making positive changes in the world. One of the things that Ashoka does best is their youth focus— their commitment to working with and influencing the younger generations.

2) The Financier: Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus launched Grameen Bank— “the bank for the poor” in 1976, and essentially started the microcredit revolution. He was also given the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. For over 40 years, he’s demonstrated the power of business solutions to tackle underlying causes of poverty, by providing small loans and banking opportunities to small business operators around the globe without requiring collateral. Loans dispersed amount to $24 billion, among 9 million borrowers.

3)The Farmer: Babban Gona

Babban Gona means “Great Farmer” in Hausa, a language native to its home of Nigeria. To feed its growing population, Babban Gona’s main goal is to support small-hold Nigerian farmers to help them secure their future — with methods that increase crop yields 2.3 times the national average.

Babban Gona also wants to make a real impact on the future by focusing on the younger generation; to achieve this in a country that has a 50% youth unemployment rate, they offer agricultural training for young people to help empower them and show them how they can make more money from their crops. After all, the best way to change the world is to help the younger generations through a great education.

The social enterprises in this list have not only made an impact on the world and the causes they each believe in. They also show businesses that the words “charity” and “profits” are not mutually exclusive, and many of these enterprises have operated successfully for years or even decades. That’s not to say that you should stop now and turn your business into a social enterprise; rather, if there’s one thing to learn is that every business has the power to change the world, however little.

Enactus is one such platform, that is dedicated to create a better world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators.

Social Entrepreneurs aren’t just interested in making profits. Success for them is also defined by how their business improves the world.

Today, young minds are intrigued by the idea of creating their own startups. They hope to start a business in hopes of creating a better quality of life for themselves. Others see an opportunity in the market that they can’t resist.

The desire to use business as a means of creating positive change may ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in you!

“With a head for business and a heart for the world, we live our values of integrity, passion, innovation and collaboration.” — Enactus

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