Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

Back in June 2010, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, together with Warren Buffett started The Giving Pledge, an initiative aimed at getting the world’s billionaires to give half of their net worth to different charitable projects and institutions. If you ask me, this is an amazing way to engage the world’s richest to help change the world for the better. the Gates and Buffett convinced forty other world’s billionaires to sign up, including Ted Turner, George Lucas, and David Rockefeller among others. Go to The Giving Pledge website to learn how much the billionaires pledge.

Combined together, the Giving Pledge can generate a potential $600 billion! That is an astounding amount of money, which can benefit so many people around the world!

Mint.com produced an infographic to help us better understand the impact of $600 billion to the world!

Giving money to the poor and the needy, however, is not the answer to changing the world. An ancient adage says: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

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After writing in this blog for more than six months, I discovered that there are a lot of Filipino social entrepreneurs! They are increasingly becoming aware of their power to help change the world. I tend to look down on “noisy advocacy” where all that people do is to point out the wrongs in the society. But if such advocacy is coupled with actual projects and people empowerment programs, then I’d offer a nod of approval and cheer of encouragement, maybe even help out a bit in their advocacy.

You Don’t have to be Alone in Your Social Entrepreneurship Project.

Anyway, I have come across another Filipino Social Entrepreneurship project. This time, the project is not sponsored by a single individual. Rather, this is a team project called Ideals Creative! This organization was spearheaded by Daniel Gabriel Matutina, Dang Sering, Bernise De Leon, and Marielle Nadal.

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For the past two months, www.MightyRasing.com featured several articles on social entrepreneurship. While a lot of people feel that businesses are only out to get rich and get money from their customers, that is not necessarily the case. While most businesses are for-profit, some businesses have operated on a non-profit model.

Still, there are those who believe that delivering social services can also be a source of profit. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone–the social entrepreneur manages to thrive and the customers of the social enterprise also benefit immensely!

If you missed our articles for the past two months, here’s a recap of the articles we’ve covered.

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Every Wednesday, MightyRasing.com features a series of articles on social entrepreneurship and/or personal development. This is the sixth in the series on Social Entrepreneurship. Do check the rest of the articles in this series below:

1. What is Social Entrepreneurship
2. The Social Entrepreneur: A Profile
3. How to Start a Social Entrepreneurship Organization
4. Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas
5. Social Entrepreneurship and Non Profit Fundraising Ideas

As humans, we have the capacity to feel love and pity. If we encounter people who are less fortunate than us, we tend to feel bad. Such pity can move us to give them something—food, clothes or something else so, at least, in very simple ways, we can help these unfortunate folks.

And yet, the act of helping other people has an uglier side. We may help other people so that we can appease the guilt that we feel inside of us. Or we may get addicted to the process of giving goods to other people that we may effectively make them dependent on us, unable to move without our assistance, unable to look for and fend for themselves.

The Dole out framework of development assistance is harmful because of three reasons:

1. Removing initiative and accountability on the part of the beneficiaries.

“Give fish to a man and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” So goes an old saying.

True enough. Most of the developing world has become dependent on their colonial masters and those who are able to give them loans and development aid. Even non-government organizations and non-profit companies have become addicted to the dole-out mindset. When they go to a poverty-infested area, they bring with them clothes, slippers, shoes, toilet bowls and other goods that are meant to improve the lives of the people they want to help.

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Every Wednesday, MightyRasing.com features a series of articles on social entrepreneurship and/or personal development. This is the fifth in the series on Social Entrepreneurship.

1. What is Social Entrepreneurship
2. The Social Entrepreneur: A Profile
3. How to Start a Social Entrepreneurship Organization
4. Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas

Establishing a social entrepreneurship business project can be a daunting prospect. You may have a good social entrepreneurship idea to help change the world but if you do not have the will and the capital to pursue it, then your idea is good as dead.

A social entrepreneurship project is not much different from any business endeavor—you have to know where to get capital and raise the funds you need to start. Here are several ideas on where you can start.

Your Savings. If you have been working for quite some time, you probably have a comfortable level of savings by now. Capital does not have to be very big. Some entrepreneurs actually start their social entrepreneurship business with just a small amount and build on what they already have. If you’re a retiree and will get a considerable sum of money from the government or from the Social Security System of your country, why don’t you use that as a starting capital?

Now, if you are young and have barely started working, you may have to look for other sources of funds because you are still on the process of establishing your financial capabilities.

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