As I encounter new folks who inevitably ask the question “what do you do for a living,” they usually turn their expression from curiosity to confusion after they hear me say I am a social enterprise development consultant. So, I thought I would explain to the ether what social enterprise or social entrepreneurialism is and why I think it is so important for our future.
Social Entrepreneurialism
Social entrepreneurialism is, I believe, more of a buzz word in development and nonprofit circles then it is in entrepreneurial and start-up circles because of its obvious implications for impact-driven business models. So, for those of you who already know what social entrepreneurialism is I would guess to fall in the former camp, but excuse me for assuming.
Social entrepreneurialism is a term used to describe the marriage of two other general terms historically thought to be at odds with each other – nonprofit and for-profit. Born from innovations within the nonprofit world, social entrepreneurialism merges the ingenuity of the private sector to the issues often tackled by the nonprofit sector by innovating profitable solutions to challenges faced by a particular population that were created by various market failures.
One might say “wait, wait, wait!!! People and the planet before profit!” And I would say "Yes! Of course!" It is nice to have the cake and eat it too. Social entrepreneurialism seeks to deliver on all three accounts by creating something referred to as blended value – a business model strategy to create both social and financial value.
Another important aspect to note is that social enterprises can consist of primarily three different models: the leveraged nonprofit, the hybrid nonprofit, and the social business. You can learn more about that here.
So, why is this social entrepreneurialism thing so important?
Great question! I personally believe that we as humanity need to radically rethink how we conduct ourselves on this planet if we are to survive the challenges of the 21st century. For example, we will see the peak of human population and the inevitable resource implications that entails especially now that we as humanity are consuming 1.6 planets of resources at current rates and that is only expected to grow. Climate change is another huge example, as well as, economic inequality, peak oil, water scarcity and well, if you want more examples just google it.
The issue is we have some serious challenges ahead of us that are quickly approaching critical and by some estimates have already long passed severe, and still further, have passed the point of no return. So, we need people to unlock their creativity and gathering the support of the private sector is one of our best options.
So, hence the advent of social entrepreneurialism. It is in my estimate that social entrepreneurialism is the most important thing we can be working towards at the moment.
