Defining the social entrepreneur

In a sector that shies away from definitions, Anna Patton, On Purpose Oct’14, finds one convincing view of what really makes a social entrepreneur — all the way from Mumbai.

The great thing about journalism is it gives you licence to ask a lot of questions — often of people you wouldn’t normally meet, in places you wouldn’t normally come across.

I recently put my questions to Tej Dhami, senior director at UnLtd India, an incubator for early-stage social entrepreneurs (read the full interview here).

I had my own vague definitions in mind. UnLtd India, though, sees social entrepreneurs differently. Some of its investees start up grant-funded charities; ‘entrepreneur’, for them, doesn’t necessarily mean heading up a revenue-generating business.

“We define a social entrepreneur as anyone taking an entrepreneurial solution to a social problem,” Dhami told me.

Above all, it’s about resourcefulness — about how you attract and use those resources, rather than about where the money comes from.

“You need to be able and you need to be effective, but more than anything you need to be inspiring because you’re selling a vision of how things could be”, she said. “And if you can inspire, you can attract the right resources.”

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In India, social enterprise is helping teachers become less dependent on textbooks[/caption]

One great example of that inspiration + resourcefulness formula is Lewitt. His DIY, low-cost educational kits– made from everyday objects — help make science classes more practical (and more fun). Students now learn by doing instead of by rote, boosting their problem-solving and critical thinking. Best of all, not only is his idea changing behaviour — teachers are apparently applying these more practical methods in their other classes too — it is now running across four states in India.

Is scale, then, the benchmark for success?

Not necessarily. In fact, Dhami believes, deeper impact locally can be as valuable as broad impact nationally.

There’s also a risk that an entrepreneur’s mentors or supporters try to project their own vision — including, she said, by pushing for something promising to be scaled up really fast. And that might not be the way to get the best out of that organisation or individual.

Rather, said Dhami, “it’s about what the entrepreneur wants, because if they are doing what they want and if their own passion and vision is aligned with the organisation, that’s when it will have the most success.”

Nor, in this often overly impatient world, is it all about speed.

“It’s not about scaling up in year one”, she said. “For us, success is if they’re still creating impact 10 years down the line.

Watch a video about Lewitt’s project, Life-Lab here