This blog is committed to tackling issues which affect CREATIVITY and INNOVATION and vice versa as well as the quality of life. These two following concepts form some of the most pertinent.
This blog will now commence expositions on SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP and SOCIAL ENTERPRISE.
NaijaGRAPHITTI would publish posts which make Entrepreneurship Education accessible and easily digestible. These series of posts would elaborate various elements of ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP and SOCIAL ENTERPRISE.
Scholars and practitioners have established that ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION is a powerful platform for individual empowerment at multiple levels and for achieving the broad goal of socioeconomic development. Entrepreneurship education focuses on developing understanding and capacity for pursuit, of entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and attributes in widely different contexts. It seeks to prepare people, particularly youth, to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers by immersing them in real life learning experiences where they can take risks, manage the results, and learn from the outcomes. It can be portrayed as open to all and not exclusively the domain of the high-flying growth-seeking business person(s). The propensity to behave in ways and means that are entrepreneurial is not the exclusive preserve (and should not be) of certain individuals. These behaviours can be learned, developed and practiced.
Entrepreneurial skills and attributes provide benefits to society, even beyond their application to business activity. Obviously, personal qualities that are relevant to entrepreneurship, such as creativity and the spirit of initiative (which drives the desire to pursue innovation), can be useful to everyone, in their working responsibilities and in their daily existence. Also the relevant technical and business skills need to be provided to those who opt to be self-employed and/or to start their own ventures or intend to do so at a future date.
NaijaGRAPHITTI would publish posts which make Entrepreneurship Education accessible and easily digestible. These series of posts would elaborate various elements of ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP and SOCIAL ENTERPRISE.
Scholars and practitioners have established that ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION is a powerful platform for individual empowerment at multiple levels and for achieving the broad goal of socioeconomic development. Entrepreneurship education focuses on developing understanding and capacity for pursuit, of entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and attributes in widely different contexts. It seeks to prepare people, particularly youth, to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers by immersing them in real life learning experiences where they can take risks, manage the results, and learn from the outcomes. It can be portrayed as open to all and not exclusively the domain of the high-flying growth-seeking business person(s). The propensity to behave in ways and means that are entrepreneurial is not the exclusive preserve (and should not be) of certain individuals. These behaviours can be learned, developed and practiced.
Entrepreneurial skills and attributes provide benefits to society, even beyond their application to business activity. Obviously, personal qualities that are relevant to entrepreneurship, such as creativity and the spirit of initiative (which drives the desire to pursue innovation), can be useful to everyone, in their working responsibilities and in their daily existence. Also the relevant technical and business skills need to be provided to those who opt to be self-employed and/or to start their own ventures or intend to do so at a future date.
LET US GET DEFINITIONS OUT OF THE WAY FIRST!
What this blog would use as definition would be for broad guidelines to the line of thinking which applies from field practice. We prefer you form your own definition as you pursue the principles. That is always infinitely more rewarding!
- Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing innovative solutions to social problems. Social entrepreneurs adopt a mission to create and sustain social value. They draw upon appropriate thinking in both the business and not-for-profit worlds and operate in a variety of organizations (Dees, 1998).
- A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximizing profits for external stakeholders. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or not-for-profit, and may take the form of a co-operative, mutual organization, a disregarded entity, a social business, or a charity organization (Ridley-Duff and Bull, 2011 ).
NOW FOR THE DIFFERENCE: "Social entrepreneurship" and "Social enterprise" can be entities which deal with social needs in a variety of ways, but unless they directly address social needs through their products or services or services or the number of disadvantaged people they employ, they do not qualify as social enterprises.
This difference is noteworthy, as this blog will treat both Social entrepreneurship and Social enterprise under the same blog heading. This post is meant to establish the two concepts are not interchangeable.
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| Source: http://www.asksonnie.me |
Who then is a Social entrepreneur?
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship defines of social entrepreneur as:
- Social entrepreneurs drive social innovation and transformation in various fields including education, health, environment and enterprise development. They pursue poverty alleviation goals with entrepreneurial zeal, business methods and the courage to innovate and overcome traditional practices. A social entrepreneur, similar to a business entrepreneur, builds strong and sustainable organizations, which are either set up as not-for-profit or for-profit companies.
Next, how does a Social enterprise differ from commercial enterprise (and other businesses)?
Two distinct characteristics differentiate social enterprises from other types of businesses, not-for-profits and government agencies:
- Social enterprises directly address social needs through their products and services or through the numbers of disadvantaged people they employ. This distinguishes them from "socially responsible businesses," which create positive social change indirectly through the practice of corporate social responsibility.
- Social enterprises use earned revenue strategies to pursue a double or triple bottom line, either alone (as a social sector business, in either the private or the not-for-profit sector) or as a significant part of a not-for-profit's mixed revenue stream that also includes charitable contributions and public sector subsidies. This distinguishes them from traditional not-for-profits, which rely primarily on philanthropic and government support.
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| Source: http://impactseplaa-sf.org |
All the lessons and insights this blog would publish would roughly follow the model above.
Social entrepreneurship and Social enterprise have brought new and exciting times to the global economy just recovering from deep crises.
As Fatima Waheed asks in her blog post, Social Entrepreneurship: The Simple Solution, "The challenges faced by the international community are multiplying and exacerbating - poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition have reached record highs. And with the global economy plunged into a recession, the future seems increasingly dire. Investment in social entrepreneurship has been touted as a panacea to all these problems. Could the solution to the world's problems really be that simple?"
CAN IT? HOW?
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