Module 1

Social Enterprises
 Meaning & Concept of social entrepreneurship
 Types of social enterprises
 Qualities of social entrepreneurs
 Problems as opportunities
 Importance of problem solving approach and attitude
 Turning an idea into a reality
 Innovative solutions
 What Solutions do we have Today to solve Social Problems?

 Government – alone is not the answer

 Inefficiencies, slow, bureaucratic, prone to corruption….
 Nonprofit Orgs. – inadequate
 dependent on donations (uncertain, demand far exceeds supply)
 “compassion fatigue”
 Raising money takes time and energy, which can be spent planning
growth/expansion
 Multilateral Institutions (World Bank…) - ineffective
 Conservative, slow, under-funded, unreliable
 Success is measured by
a) GDP (might not be helping poor)
b) Volume of loans negotiated (not measuring impact)
 Exclusively work with the government
 Corporate Social Responsibility - fundamentally flawed
 “as long as it can be done without sacrificing PROFITS”
 New kind of Business Social Enterprise
Creating business models revolving around low-cost
products and services to resolve social problems

Social business is for ‘more-than-profit’ combine revenue-

generating business with a social-value-generating structure
 Social Enterprises
No common definitions
Social Enterprises are businesses with social objectives
“A business with primarily social objectives whose
surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the
business or in the community, rather than being driven by
the need to maximize profit for shareholders and owners”
“A social entrepreneur is an individual, group, network,
organization, or alliance of organizations that seeks
sustainable, large-scale change through pattern-breaking
ideas in what or how governments, nonprofits, and
businesses do to address significant social problems.”
 Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurs play the
role of change agents in the
social sector, by:
Adopting a mission to create and
sustain social value
Recognizing and relentlessly
pursuing new opportunities to
serve that mission
Engaging in a process of
continuous innovation, Social entrepreneurs are not content
adaptation, and learning just to give a fish, or teach how to
Acting boldly without being fish. They will not rest until they
limited by resources currently in have revolutionized the fishing
industry.
hand
- Bill Drayton (Ashoka)
Exhibiting a heightened sense of
accountability to the
constituencies served and for the
outcomes created
 How can one do business and serve social goals?
Why is profit-making not conflicting with social objectives?
Profits -
 Promotes R&D, innovation, new technologies
 Increases efficiency
 Enables penetration to new geographical areas and serve deeper layers of
low-income people
 Helps recover costs and pay back investors, thus encourages investments

PMBs (profit max. businesses) vs. SBs (social businesses)

Both are same yet different
 Employ workers, create goods & services for consumers
 Must recover full costs
 Profits are important
 YET objective is to create social benefit and not limited to personal
gains
Social Enterprises –
Some Examples
 Banking and finance is the biggest
beneficiary of technology-enabled social
startups
 Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
(Nobel Peace Prize 2006) ** not founded in India
 Vikram Akula, SKS Microfinance (Social Entrepreneur of the Year
Award 2006)
 Kiva (peer-to-peer micro-lending website) ** not founded in India

 Energy
 Solar Electrification - Harish Hande, SELCO (Social Entrepreneur of
the Year Award 2007)
Grameen Bank

 Combat Poverty Through

Economic Self-Reliance
Model
Business

ESR Practitioners  Grameen Bank

ESR Interventions  Microenterprise,

Infrastructure, Businesses,
Economically Vulnerable Nonprofits
Families
 2.4 Million Families in
Bangladesh
Different Types of Social Enterprises
 Six Qualities of Social Entrepreneurs
Social Entrepreneurs demonstrate all the characteristics of the
business entrepreneur: Possessed by an innovative idea, they are
driven, focused and unrelenting in their determination to
produce results.
 Willingness to self connect
 Willingness to share credit
 Willingness to break free of established structures
 Willingness to cross disciplinary boundaries
 Willingness to work quietly
 Strong ethical impetus
 Role of a Social Entrepreneur
“There is one thing stronger than all the
armies in the world, and that is an idea whose
time has come.”

Leading social change.

A person with vision, drive, integrity of

purpose, great persuasive powers, and
remarkable stamina.
Potential Benefits of Social Enterprises
Create job opportunities, especially for the
underprivileged groups
Increase employability of participants
→ Enhance integration into labor market
→ Become self-reliant
Innovation
→ Meet new needs
Increasing density of community network and cross-
sector partnerships
→ Promote community inclusion
 Turning Problems into Opportunities
&
Importance of problem solving approach and attitude

"Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so

powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The
greatest success stories were created by people who
recognized a problem and turned it into an
opportunity." -- Joseph Sugarman
"In the middle of difficulty," observed Albert Einstein,
"lies opportunity." Some of the best opportunities often
originate from problems
Example: TATA Swatch Purifier
 Turning an idea into a reality
Irfan Alam – Samman Foundation already discussed
 Innovative solutions
Narayan Hrudyalaya