How Social Entrepreneurship Can Transform the World?
My name is Damian Vavanos and I am a Social Entrepreneur. More specifically in the past year, I have had the honor to be the proud Co-Founder and CEO of the Social Hackers Academy. Social Hackers Academy is a Non-Governmental Organisation aiming at training refugees and long-term unemployed Greeks in Computer programming. This is to help them land a job and to help with their smoother integration in Greek society.
So what is Social Entrepreneurship?
You have probably come across the term Social Entrepreneurship. But then again maybe you have not. For this reason, I will briefly mention a few things about the specific business model to ease you into the world of Social Entrepreneurship. The Social Entrepreneurship model is highly fascinating and I strongly believe that it can effectively contribute to helping create a world with fewer inequalities and more opportunities for all. We can say that the Social Enterprise model is safely positioned between the model of profit-making Enterprises and those which are non-profit. In other words, this is a type of Organisation characterized by a third model of entrepreneurship.
In order to legally achieve this, there are two ways:
- Create A Social Cooperative Enterprise
- To establish a Non-Profit (CIO, 501c3) and a Limited Liability Company (LTD, LLC)
As you can understand both of these ways have their pros and cons.
How did Social Entrepreneurship develop?
The financial model that has been applied globally for many decades now does not allow all groups and individuals to have access to the same amount of opportunities to learn, to work, to develop. As we all know and we can all agree there is a fair share of inequalities out there. Using the free market as an excuse, tragic inequalities have been created and a huge number of people still fail not only to make ends meet but to even cover their basic needs. It could be that those people were so unlucky to be born in a third-world country or that they happened to come across some very difficult situations ( political upheaval, war, natural disasters) causing them to live in poverty.
And this is where Social Entrepreneurship comes into the picture. Its core goal is to have a social impact while at the same time it is profitable enough so as to be independent of any kind of funding be it Governmental, European or any type of funding at all. This is by far the biggest of challenges that we face at Social Hackers Academy.
The “Philanthropic” Funding distribution is based on what is trending as an issue at a given time. This means that it is distributed based on what is “hot” and what is not. A couple of years ago it was the Refugee Crisis in Greece and millions of Euros were given to Greece to cope with the crisis. But this is not the case nowadays; as the Media have turned their attention away, the financial support distributed has been lessened. But simply because the Media do not shed light on the issue it does not mean that the problem does not exist. The issue is still there, more persistent than ever. So what will happen to all those people left stranded? There are 3.5 million refugees in Turkey alone. How are those people going to survive? How if ever will they be integrated into the society? How will they be able to dream a better world, a better future for them and their children?
Room for Social Entrepreneurship to thrive
And this is where Social Entrepreneurship comes into the picture! We, the Social Entrepreneurs full of passion and determination we strive to change this situation. But keep this in mind: we do not have to change the world, today! in one day! What I suggest is for us to unite and begin the struggle. Each and every individual can contribute a little to the grand project of slowly building and creating a fairer society, with more opportunities available to all those who need them.
Excellent examples of Social Entrepreneurship
There are numerous successful Social projects all over the world. One of the most famous is the one by Toms, the shoe company. For every pair of shoes bought in its stores, it gives a pair of shoes to someone who needs it. The most fascinating thing though is the story of how the company’s Founder conceived that project. To start with he wasn’t looking for a way to make money nor for a way to change the world when he came up with that wonderful idea. The idea just happened to come to him while he was traveling across Argentina and he came to notice how many of the children there did not have shoes on. He acknowledged a problem, a need and came up with the solution to cater to it. Just as my favorite Peter Diamandis states: “If you want to become a billionaire, you should help a billion people.” There are many noteworthy Social Entrepreneurs out there changing the world, achieving breakthroughs and finding solutions to many serious types of problems affecting human lives.
But let us turn our attention to what is happening in Greece and to all those interesting and fascinating attempts and projects happening in the country. One such impressive project is Wise Greece aiming at tackling food shortage or the lack of food in the country. With the help of a small yet dedicated team of people and a powerful and dynamic “Captain,” they have managed to accomplish a noteworthy Social Impact.
Changing the world is far easier than you think! all we have to do is envision it, unite our forces and work together and decide to become less selfish! Then everything will fall into place!
P.S. Let’s connect on Instagram!
