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“Driving Social Change Through Entrepreneurship” was an intense session that made the following key points: 1. Social entrepreneurs must evolve to the point where they understand themselves better in terms of their true motivations – that is when they can be responsible to the people whose lives they impact 2. Just good intentions are not enough, and “conscious risks” rather than “calculated risks” lead to more powerful solutions 3. Understanding deep context of the problem area is important in order to avoid solutions that create other or bigger problems 4. A mindset is required that tools, skills and expertise be acquired through collaboration and learning, rather than by relying on expertise gained earlier 5. Entrepreneurship could solve social problems faster than governments or organizations, and the time is right in India today. In summary, find your “inner genius” and act, rather than just be another expert in the landscape..
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Driving SUBSTANTIAL SOCIAL CHANGE
through Entrepreneurship
1. Entrepreneurship?
2. Social and Business Entrepreneurship
3. A reality check!
4. What is substantive social change?
5. Beyond the “Game Changing Widget”
Entrepreneurship?
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity
beyond resources controlled.”
Dynamics of Entrepreneurship
Prof. Howard Stevenson, HBS
How do you understand entrepreneurship?
What are the risks of entrepreneurship?
Social and Business Entrepreneurship
How are social and business entrepreneurship similar?
How are they different?
Social and Business Entrepreneurship
A successful market solution: • Meets a current need. • Is cost effective to produce
and sell.• Has satisfied users/
customers.
However:• All market interventions
affect/ influence the society in which it exists.
• The impact of the solution on the larger system is not factored in.
Social change and Market change.
A Social Solution• Creates shifts in the system.• When systems changes, the
problems change. • Most change is unintended.• These have can create new/
larger problems.• A social problem is not like
an engineering or marketing problem.
Social change and Market change.
Traditional response:“Do no harm”
More useful response: “ Do Help, but with both eyes open”
Social change and Market change.
How do you understand safety nets?
What are the pros and cons of a safety net?
Has anyone ever created change without a safety net?
Safety Nets
So why don’t we do it?
• A growing softness• We take ‘calculated’
Risks only• We are dependent upon
external sources of inspiration
A reality check!
Most of us have never had it so good!
We have been beneficiaries of:• Rising wages and costs in the
West – and our skilled/ semi-skilled workforce
• Opening up of our economy since 1991
• Our ‘demographic dividend’• Large domestic market • A recently liberated
entrepreneurial class
India’s ‘prosperity’ and ‘stability’ in
context:
- Possible economic collapse- Retreating GDP and job losses- Inter-Religious conflict- Global warming- Floods, famines, earthquakes- Mass migration- Collapse of nation states- National and International conflicts- Chauvinism, Parochialism, Xenophobia- Breakdown of family & other institutions- Retreat of moderates and peace makers
Things are worse than we’d like to believe:
What is Substantive Social Change?
What do you consider a substantive social change?
What is YOUR motivation?
Create a kick-ass solution that can: ü Make a splashü Make other solutions obsoleteü Attract tons of VC fundingü Take your company publicü Impress classmates at IIT/IIMü Rock the worldü Solve your boredom problemü Get you laidü Make a difference to the worldü Address a substantial and
timely problem
Creating substantive Change
(in you)
What is YOUR motivation for creating social change?
This is no ordinary question!It requires: 1. Knowing yourself2. Challenging assumptions about
your self3. Questioning your assumptions
about the world4. Reordering your priorities5. Taking conscious, but
‘uncalculated’ risks6. Giving up your security
And this is merely the self-reflection part of the exercise
Creating Substantive Change
(in you)
What is the substantial change you wish to create?
1. Why? 2. How do you define the
problem? 3. How invested are you in
your potential solution?4. How willing are you to learn
more about the context?
Creating Substantive Change
(in society)
What is the substantial change you wish to create?
• Is it going to make a difference to 1 person, a village, a city neighbourhood, state, country or the world?
• Is the life time of the solution a week, a month, a year, five years or more?
Creating Substantive Change
(in society)
More questions for the curious!
• What is the environment that gives rise to this problem?
• Who does this problem affect most?
• Who will benefit most by it being solved?
• How will the solution affect the social/ political relations.
• What is the worst that can happen if you solve it?
• What is the worst that can happen if you don’t?
Creating Substantive Change
(in society)
What do you bring to the table?
• Why you? • Why not you?
You are not alone• What is your genius? • How can you discover and
develop your genius? • Where can you and your
genius make the greatest impact?
• How can you connect with others who are sympatico?
Creating Substantive Change
(in society)
Beyond the “game changing widget”
• Collapse of Family• Anarchy and Autocracy• Youth unrest• Uncontrollable internal and
external migration• Increased racial, religious and
ethnic conflict• Militias control cities• Retreat of moderates and peace
makers• Maoists and other insurgencies• Deteriorating law and order• Human rights violations• Judicial backlog• Corruption in key institutions• Collapse of Pakistan, Bangladesh• Exodus of NRIs from Gulf states
TAKE YOUR PICK!• Possible economic collapse• Retreating GDP and job losses• Inter-Religious conflict• Global warning• Floods, famines, earthquakes• Mass migration• Collapse of societies and
nation states• National and International
conflicts• Chauvinism, Parochialism,
Xeophobia• Retreat of moderates and
peace makers
