Globosocial Adventures with Social Enterprise. INSEAD 2010

Globosocial AdventuresJourneys Into The Social Unknown

INSEAD 2010Rizwan Tayabali

© 2007 Charteris plc© 2010 Social Effect 17 November 20102

Outline

Bit about me

Background

How I got involved in Social Enterprise

What I’m doing now with SE

Global Journeys

Some useful things I’ve learnt

Social Enterprise in the Real World

• SE in Theory

• SE in Reality

3 Points for Budding Social Entrepreneurs

About Me

Grew up in Mumbai

Displaced during the ‘93 Riots

Riots Image

Arrived freezing and unprepared into the UK winter

Cool Runnings Image

Planned to become a doctor

A stint as an Auxiliary Nursesuggested it wasn’t for me

Studied finance & technology instead

Manchester University Image

Social Triggers

The Tiered British Education System

“Race Class & Struggle” by Louis Kushnick

Various unpredictable & disruptive events got me thinking...

“If not now, then when?”

So I got stuck in...

GrassrootsLiteracy

CommunitySport for All

Research Anti-Discrimination

Anti War

AdvisoryCrime & Disorder

Civil Rights

StartupDisabilities and Accessibility

2 Main Strengths

Systemic Change & Consulting

But...

Needed better skills &

A broader range of industry experience

So I switched to management consulting

In parallel started a social enterprise...

Blog: www.socialeffect.org

Didn’t prove feasible but evolved into advisory work with Non Profits & SEs

Developed and applied a range of skills

Reached 5+ years of formal consulting and then faced a decision cross-road

regarding the social sector

Why??

1.

In an environment that incentivises only positive representation, how much second

hand information can you really trust??

2.

$500bn donated to social causes annually

Why aren’t we eradicating problems??

Realised there was so much I still needed to know

What I’m doing now

A global journey looking for answers and challenging assumptions

Places I didn’t know enough about...

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Basic Route

Covered South America, India & SE Asia already (2009-10)

Heading to Africa next (2011)

How did I do it?

Methodology=

Trusted Recommendation + Word of mouth

Funding = Self-funded

To enable independence and reduce barriers to engagement

Has it Worked?

Nearly 100 projects in 2 years across 15 countries

Many amazing places

Major fun with beautiful people

And plenty of participative real-life learning

Some Random Things I’ve Learnt

• Social Issues are similar everywhere

• Challenges faced by Social Orgs are similar too

• Meaningful rather than process models make for successful replication

• Long-term programs transform lives

• Co-Creation and User Centric Design is critical

• Cooperatives can be powerful development tools

• Safeguarding through policy is often a necessary step

Finally and most importantly...

Effective + tried and tested solutionsto social problems most definitely exist

Social Enterprise in The Real World

• Self financing developmental agencyi.e. Businesses that will upgrade and replace NGOs

• Entities that can effectively manage profit agendas vs. social improvement

• Alleviate poverty at the ‘base of the pyramid’

• Can change lives through one simple point of focus

• Can transform the world fast and profitably

In theory

In the Real World

• Usually Non Profits with revenue streams

• Often take 10+ years to become sustainable

• Best suited for product or packaged-service ‘innovations’

• Deal with low income rather than extreme poor

• Generally improve quality of life rather than alleviate poverty or result in any long term transformation

• Struggle to address the full scale of any problem due to their need and pressure to stay proprietary

• Real transformation involves addressing complex factors over long timeframes, which is typically difficult to finance simply by revenue generation.

Traditional

NGOs

Hybrids

Commercial

Businesses

Social Businesses (S.E.)

Co-operatives

Non profit with endowment

Non profit with revenue streams

Non profit with trading arms

Hybrid value Chains

Ethical Business (Fair Trade)

Businesses w/ Foundations

Businesses w/ CSR

Community Interest CompaniesSocial

Landscape

Most common forms of S.E.

This is not to suggest that SE is invalid

The principle is hugely useful

And when focused correctly, SE’s can have great impact on quality of life

3 Points to End On

1.

True social enterprisescreate and prove financially viable

models of change...

...they are NOT simply about making money in socially beneficial ways.

The SE’s model of viable change must therefore be seen as separately scalable

from the organisation itself.

...an example from the Philippines

2.

SE’s need to be realistic about what they are trying to achieve, and the

demographics they can impact

For e.g.

Imagine the “Base of the Pyramid”

Ref: World Resources Institute

This is semantics. It is NOT accurate

Ref: End of Poverty. J Sachs.

S.E. Business models are rarely able to provide for the needs of the extreme poor.

Their viability lies in low to middle income environments

3.

Be very wary of presentation...

...both your own and that of others

“Our low cost products and services in India provide access to educational apps and games for children,

reduce exploitation through access to real time pricing, improve production through access to

weather information, improve medical care through access to health management updates…”

Don’t believe the hype

Thanks!

Rizwan Tayabalirizwan.tayabali@gmail.com

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