Social Entrepreneurship for Everyday People Who Want to Change the World

Entrepreneurship can address social and environmental problems.

The contemporary paradigm of entrepreneurship usually involves a tech?start-up?with a gargantuan?valuation that sets out to?disrupt a known market and eventually scale up to become a major corporation.?Any concern?with social issues is probably an?afterthought – the “giving-back” component?of the new?business model.

“The desire to undertake a social impact-driven initiative reflects a deep impulse to address a higher calling, or purpose, than is normally framed by the term ‘career choice’.”

An alternative?ecosystem of social entrepreneurs is emerging. For them, making?a profit is secondary to benefiting?society and the planet.?These are grassroots outfits?of varying size;?they are not chasing a high growth model. But no matter how small an organization is, it can have a significant social impact.

Social entrepreneurship challenges?the core principles of capitalism.

Establishing social service as a top priority is not the sole differentiator between social entrepreneurs and their conventional counterparts. Social entrepreneurs also?find new ways to conduct their everyday operations. One of the most significant of these innovations is prioritizing collaboration over competition. Business rivalries assume?an environment of scarcity when it comes to?resources, customers or ideas – an environment with winners and losers, haves and have-nots.

Social entrepreneurs take a different path. For example, the Canadian initiative Shee practices?“radical generosity” in fulfilling its mission of supporting women-led businesses.?Using a collaborative funding model, Shee annually crowdsources some $500,000?from hundreds of women “Activators,” who then select five businesses to receive portions of the fund as?interest-free loans. However, the Activators don’t decide how to divide the money among the selected companies. Instead, Shee requires the chosen firms to negotiate among themselves to determine the best way to divide the funds – which they can’t divide equally or?award in total to one business. Instead of competing to win the biggest share, the businesses collaborate to determine the most effective way to split the money. By assuming abundance, these businesses work together to nurture everyone’s success.?

Social entrepreneurs share distinctive traits.

A survey of 100 highly diverse social entrepreneurs?found that they share?certain attitudes, motivations?and characteristics.

“If you were looking to make the world a better place, folks who have been oppressed or excluded by traditional power systems would have fresh ideas for something different, better and more humane.”

The defining traits these?social entrepreneurs share?include:

• Creative – They produce?innovative ideas,?designs and organizational models.
• Tenacious – They contend?with business challenges?and persevere?in the face of obstacles such as racism and?sexism.
• Optimistic – They?transform?personal adversity into ideas to help others confront?similar problems.
• Outsiders – Coming from communities at the margins of the mainstream,?they use?their unique perspective?to generate unusual solutions to problems.
• Cooperative?– They reject?the stereotype of the entrepreneur as either competitive or a?solitary genius. Instead, they?prefer?to collaborate and cultivate community.
• Focused on social impact?– With doing good as their rationale for starting a business, they drew strength and inspiration from their sense of mission.?Financial results were of secondary importance.
• Open to personal transformation – These entrepreneurs not only broke out of their comfort zones,?but they also opened themselves to a new understanding of their identities and potential.

Starting an entrepreneurial venture is like setting out on a heroic quest.

As a fictional quest starts?with a call to adventure, your business begins with?you finding your calling, and defining your dream of?righting a wrong or improving the world. Many entrepreneurs find that?their calling emerges from their life?experiences.?For instance, Nadia Hamilton drew on her years of helping her autistic brother navigate the world. The result was?Magnus Cards, an app with several decks of virtual?cards offering step-by-step suggestions to help people with autism or other challenges negotiate?daily tasks.

“Letting go of judgment around where your skills and talents are not can be just as freeing as recognizing where they are, because it’s all being done in the context of what you’re amazing at.”

Quest?stories also feature archetypes, character motifs?that recur in tales throughout history. They include such figures as the Hero, the Rebel, the Fool and the Sage. Discover which archetype you identify with and use that figure as a touchstone for your leadership style.?A related exercise, the “Genius Activity,” provides insights into your skills and talents. Draw four columns on a sheet of paper and label them:

• Incompetent –List what you aren’t good at or don’t like to do.
• Competent –?List tasks and challenges you can handle, but not with any mastery,
• Excellent – List what you find easy and pleasant to do, though others may do them as well or better.
• Genius – This is your real gift. It’s something you do especially and uniquely?well.

Craft your vision?of?a better world.

A vision casts your goals in a form that motivates others to get involved. Madeleine Shaw developed the vision for one of her ventures after speaking with a?working mother?about the benefits of a shared office space. Their conversation inspired Networks, a family-friendly co-working space?that provides care for the children of participating parents.?To craft your vision, set aside some time for small “Vision Quests” – brief sabbaticals in which you open your?mind to new ideas. Such quests could include spending time in?nature, viewing or creating art, reviewing your old journals or visiting an unfamiliar part of your community.

“Radical generosity…presumes abundance, celebrates good ideas over being right and fosters creative approaches to partnership over ‘killing the competition’.”

Approach your vision search?like a detective seeking clues. Investigate why certain images or ideas resonate with you or examine projects similar to what you want to make. When you?find your vision, create a credo that encapsulates its goals and values. This could be a proclamation, a list, a poem or a mission statement.

Share your vision through a story.

Craft an evocative story to relate the nuts and bolts of your idea to potential supporters and inspire them to form an emotional connection with?it.?Draft a rough outline of your idea that answers?these questions.

• Why? – Define the problem you are addressing or the benefit to society you are trying to achieve.?In the case of?Networks, for example, it was to help parents balance their work and their family?life.
• What? – Describe the product or service you plan to offer. For example, Networks provides a “family-friendly” place to work.
• Who? – List the people involved: team members, mentors, advisers and?consultants.
• How? – Provide your business plan, including details on?funding, prototyping and necessary?resources.

Create a brief presentation using PowerPoint or a similar program?to set up images that support your narrative. Use this?for in-person presentations, as a published piece or as an email attachment. Your deck should include the answers to the questions above, with discussions of your?industry, unique selling proposition, revenue structure and marketing strategy.

“People involved in a project simply need to be able to see, feel and find themselves in its vision.”

Prepare your pitch – the verbal message you will present in meetings with?investors and other potential supporters. The pitch should do more than persuade. Its real aim is to enable relationships. Don’t throw market statistics at your listeners. Instead, connect with them on an emotional level. A?story brings the human problems or suffering you want to address to life?and conveys the?power?of your proposed solution.??

Emphasize collaboration and community.

Social entrepreneurs?embrace community, relationships and cooperation in their quests. Resources for cultivating community include:

• Social-impact business associations?– Organizations such as the Social Venture Institute and Shee offer opportunities for mentoring, education, network building?and funding.
• Incubators and educational programs – Training?programs can help you get up to speed. Incubators offer opportunities for mentoring and networking.?
• Volunteering – This is a low-pressure way to understand the issue you hope to tackle?and to find like-minded people.
• Partnerships –?One of the most productive relationships you can have is with the right business partner. Seek one who complements your temperament or skills.?
• An advisory board – A less-formal version of a board of directors, this is a nonvoting entity that offers opinions and guidance.

Make?your vision a reality with?prototypes and planning.

Make a workable model of your product or service?and observe how users experience?it.?With data and feedback from?these observations,?improve your prototype.

“Sharing your vision, telling your story and asking for help are…absolutely essential to bringing your vision to life.”

Repeat the process with subsequent iterations of the prototype until you determine the product is ready for market.?A prototype can reveal your:

• Impact – how your venture will affect?users and society.
• Actions – how?users gain access to?or participate in your venture; the actions might include buying a product or service,?making?a donation, signing a petition or volunteering.
• Experience – how the user experience affects all stakeholders:?the testers, your team and you.

Write a “business model canvas.” A canvas is less-detailed than a business plan. It offers an overview of your proposed operational and financial structure.?It?should address these areas.

• The project’s vision or mission?– Explain how your venture will affect the world. This is an appropriate place to include your credo.
• The value proposition?– Describe the unique benefit?that makes your offering worth a user’s time or money.
• The target beneficiary?– Sometimes known as an “avatar,” this describes?your ideal user, the person who stands to benefit the most from your product or service. Your avatar can portray an?actual or hypothetical person or can stand for a group of users.??
• The delivery channel?– Specify how your users will access your offering. Will it be through a website, a catalog, or a store or physical facility?
• The marketing plan – Sketch your promotional strategy, including plans for media and events, such as?trade shows.?
• Revenue and resources – Describe how much capital you will need and where it will come from. List all practical items you require, such as machinery or office space.
• Crucial actions?– Outline the activities you must?undertake to make your product or service available. List the necessary production steps, such as product design, manufacturing?and website layout.
• Supporters?– Summarize the relationships that will play a role in your venture, including partners, allies, suppliers, industry groups, government agencies and?manufacturers.?
• Staff – Present an organizational chart?listing?titles and roles?and the team members who will fill them.
• Cost structure?– Show how you will?maintain a profit margin sufficient for reaching your goals.

As part of your plan, calculate the resources you need to initiate operations.?This includes assessing not only the costs of items like space and materials, but also the time and?energy you will devote to the project.?

Decide on the venture’s legal structure – proprietorship, partnership, cooperative, for-profit or nonprofit.?The form you choose?depends on the scale of your venture. A small side project probably doesn’t need a legal structure. Consider a legal framework if you plan for your venture to grow larger.?A?sole proprietorship is the easiest, cheapest structure to establish. A social impact venture has?the option of?registering as a “benefit corporation” incorporating social and?environmental impacts. You also can set out to earn “B Corp”?certification of your social impact,?an award issued by an international, third-party organization.

When your business is up and running, monitor its impact.

Social entrepreneurs face the?risk of a fiscal or philosophical gap between intentions and results. This often arises when someone from an advantaged background seeks to help those with few advantages.

“It is my deepest hope that we can collectively open ourselves up to imagining, exploring and co-creating a new, inclusive and radiant approach to entrepreneurship – and to life, for that matter – in the name of the greater good.”

For example, when entrepreneurs from the Global North?aim to serve people in the Global South, they might make assumptions about available resources – such as clean water – based on their?experience?rather than the reality on the ground.?Listen closely to the people and communities you hope to serve.