Six habits of effective social entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurship is the activity of establishing new business ventures to achieve social change. The business utilises creativity and innovation to bring social, financial, service, educational or other community benefits.

Social enterprises are not charities or welfare agencies. They are private businesses established by entrepreneurs with an emphasis on human values rather than just profit. These businesses focus on working with and enhancing the social capital within the community by encouraging participation, inclusion and utilising a bottom-up approach to achieve social change.

Social Entrepreneurship

Three core elements: I. Created to provide benefits for a

community.II. Creates opportunities so people can help

themselves as well as others.III. Utilises sound commercial business

practices to ensure its sustainability i.e. the business will naturally uphold and encourage environmental sustainability as well as ethical considerations.

Elements of Social Enterprise

Ambitious: Social entrepreneurs tackle major social issues, from increasing the college enrollment rate of low-income students to fighting poverty. They operate in all kinds of organizations: innovative nonprofits, social-purpose ventures, and hybrid organizations that mix elements of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Mission driven: Generating social value —not wealth—is the central criterion of a successful social entrepreneur. While wealth creation may be part of the process, it is not an end in itself. Promoting systemic social change is the real objective.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS ARE:

Strategic: Like business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs see and act upon what others miss: opportunities to improve systems, create solutions and invent new approaches that create social value. And like the best business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs are intensely focused and hard-driving in their pursuit of a social vision.

Resourceful: Because social entrepreneurs operate within a social context rather than the business world, they have limited access to capital and traditional market support systems. As a result, social entrepreneurs must be skilled at mobilizing human, financial and political resources.

Results oriented: Social entrepreneurs are driven to produce measurable returns. These results transform existing realities, open up new pathways for the marginalized and disadvantaged, and unlock society’s potential to effect social change

Six habits are…………….

Social and environmental problems may be what motivate social entrepreneurs but they don’t focus people on the “problem.” Instead, they engage others and create excitement around new solutions, usually in the form of a product or service. They talk “value propositions” not mission statements.

Elnor Rozenrot of Innosight Ventures said in the very first interview that 90% of successful ventures start out with the wrong business plan. The ones that succeed, therefore, must alter course. “It takes a combination of hard-headedness, humility, and courage to stop and say, ‘This isn’t working’ or ‘Our assumptions were wrong,’ particularly when your funding is contingent on carrying out a preauthorized plan. However, the entrepreneur’s inclination to self-correct stems from the attachment to a goal rather than to a particular approach or plan”

Develop SOLUTIONS

Social entrepreneurs know exactly how their solution benefits people or the environment and they measure their success by their impact, not by their good intention.

They know the difference between outputs (which measure your effort) and outcomes (which measure the impact of your effort). They measure outcomes so they can know and show the real difference they’re making.

“There is no limit to what you can achieve if you don’t care who gets the credit. One of the best examples is as following

Measure OUTCOMES

David Kuria of Kenya, Founder of IkoToilet. Kuria built hygienic and affordable toilets for the 1 million slumdwellers of Kibera (a district of Nairobi, Kenya) but found that government regulations would make it difficult to expand his efforts. So he put the City Council of Nairobi’s logo on all Ikotoilets he constructed, which made people feel like the government was responding to their needs. The government was happy to take the credit and became very supportive of Kuria’s Ikotoilet, lifting barriers for expansion.

Whereas businesses find systematic ways to generate profit, social entrepreneurs find systematic ways to create change. They find formulas for change (also known as change models) that can be repeatable and scalable. This allows them to focus on the essentials and bring change to as many people as possible.

They know solutions does not lead automatically to outcome, so you need to establish and validate the change models.

The word “entrepreneur” comes from French, originally meaning “to take into one’s own hands.” Excellent social entrepreneurs, therefore, do not depend on traditional avenues for creating social impact (e.g. government, religious institutions) and blaze their own paths for creating impact.

Establish CHANGE MODELS

Social entrepreneurs know social change is complex and much more difficult than getting people to buy your can of soda. It often requires behavior and/or system change. To achieve that type of impact, you need understanding, empathy and collaboration. Social entrepreneurs succeed when they include others in the design, production, distribution and evaluation of their solutions.

Practice INCLUSION

The vast majority of social entrepreneurs have to bootstrap their way to success. So you don’t start with “business plans.” You start by creatively leveraging your assets, which include people, skills, resources, organizations and networks. When you can demonstrate some success or achieve impact with what you already have, you can then convince others to help you scale.

“one of the primary functions of the social entrepreneur is to serve as a kind of social alchemist: to create new social compounds; to gather people’s ideas, experiences, skills, and resources in configurations that society is not naturally aligned to produce”

Leverage ASSETS

Small change is easy. Big change is hard. To have meaningful impact on a problem, you need long-term thinking. That means thinking about how solutions can last, how ventures can sustain, and how outcomes can scale. This is what differentiates short-term projects from long-lasting ventures.

Think LONG-TERM

Highly-successful Social entrepreneurs aren’t fueled by a drive to become famous or build a fortune, but a desire to restore justice in society, to address social problems. And this motivation comes down to a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. This “ethical impetus” is not only evident in the work of successful social entrepreneurs, but also in how they live their lives.

Strong Ethical Impetus

Amul – Founded in 1946, Amul was established initially as a reaction to unfair milk trade practices in India, inspiring local and marginalized farmers to form cooperatives independent from trade cartels. With the notable help of Tribhuvandas Patel and Verghese Kurien, the Amul cooperative model became so successful that it was eventually replicated all over India in 1965.

Amul has since:

Produced excellent value for money food products for customers

Created a lucrative source of income for local dairy farmers in India

Example of Successful Entrepreneurship

U.K. Community Action Network (CAN)The Stanford Business School Social

Entrepreneurship initiativeCanadian Centre for Social EntrepreneurshipSocial and Enterprise Development Innovations

(SEDI)The Israeli Greenhouse for Social EntrepreneurshipInternational Institute of Social Entrepreneurship

Management (India)Inter-American Development BankThe Initiative on Social Enterprise – Harvard

Business School

Some institute giving assistance to social Enterprises

Characteristics of a Social Entrepreneur areNot bound by sector norms or traditionsNot confined by barriers that stand in the

way of their goalsDevelop new models and pioneer new

approaches to enable them to overcome obstacles

Take innovative approaches to solve social issues

Transform communities through strategic partnerships

From above Habits ,

Persons who value compassion, justice, equality, and liberty

Innovators Achievement oriented Independent Inner-directed Tolerant of risk Tolerant of ambiguity

Who are most likely to become Social Entrepreneurs

“… a path breaker with a powerful idea, who combines visionary and real world problem-solving creativity, has a strong ethical fibre..”

“ ..combines street pragmatism with professional skills..”“ they see opportunities where others only see empty

buildings, unemployable people and unvalued resources”

“..Radical thinking is what makes social entrepreneurs different from simply ‘good’ people.”

“they make markets work for people, not the other way around, and gain strength from a wide network of alliances”

“they can ‘boundary ride’ between the various political rhetoric and social paradigms to enthuse all sectors of society”

Social entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurship is about1. Develop solutions2. Measures outcome3. Establish change Models4. Practice inclusion5. Leverage the assets6. Think long term

In summary

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