Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

Charitable work used to be the exclusive domain of church-related agencies and individuals of religious backgrounds who wanted to make an impact in the world they live in. Not anymore. Countless corporations, multinationals and even wealthy individuals have started using their wealth and their position to make positive change in the world.

Andrew Carnegie built thousands of libraries across the United States through his own money. John Wood quit Microsoft just to establish Room to Read, a non-profit organization providing books, classrooms and computer rooms to developing countries in Asia and Africa. The contributions of these individuals have greatly enhanced the lives of people who truly value education.

This phenomenon gave rise to what we is now popularly called Social Entrepreneurship. But what exactly is social entrepreneurship?

John Wood, in his book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, provides a succinct and accurate definition.

“Social entrepreneurship, to me, is a relatively simple concept: the melding best practies of the business world with the social focus of the charitable sector. Social entrepreneurs embrace ideas like reporting on their results, measuring the return on their investments, keeping their overhead expenses low and constantly improving their programs. A new generation of leaders has emerged, eager to break with the historic legacy of large, bureaucratic, top-down solutions.”

I couldn’t have said it any better! But let’s break down this definition into its various components.

Social entrepreneurship is a new model for the charitable sector. It is still based on the desire to change the world and make it a better place. But its approach to the delivery of social services is way different from that of traditional charity organizations.

How different is different?

Social entrepreneurship relies on sound business principles. Those who use this model are not afraid to use sales and marketing principles to raise funds and increase public awareness of what they are doing.

Traditional charitable organizations tend to shy away from promoting their own work. This is probably because they do not want to “boast” about what they are doing. Yet, social entrepreneurs are finding out that the more people know about their programs and projects, more financial and volunteer support will come.

Social entrepreneurship measures results and return on investment. It is not just a matter of giving funds and doing the work. Social entrepreneurship is also interested to understand whether the work being done has results. If so, do the results warrant the amount of efforts being given to the undertaking?

If the results are dismal, yet the investments are great, then this project is probably not worth pursuing in the long term.

An emphasis on transparency. The social sector has been hit with allegations on corruption in the past. Up to a certain extent, some of the allegations are true. Yet, social entrepreneurship highlights the need for greater transparency–in terms of results and financial dealings. When the stakeholders of a non-profit organization know the financial situation of the organization, they know where the money goes, they are more inclined to continue their support.

Continuous search for innovation and better practices. Whether it is in service delivery or in addressing social problems, social entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for innovations that would make the system more effective and efficient. If it can be done, then it’s worth doing creatively and sustainably.

Social entrepreneurship is attracting a new generation of leaders, a lot of them young. A lot of them passionate and full of energy. A lot of them want to make a difference in the world. Social entrepreneurship might just be the path for that.

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Related posts:

1. Social Entrepreneurship: A Call to Action
2. How to Start a Social Entrepreneurship Organization
3. Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas
4. Social Entrepreneurship and Non Profit Fundraising Ideas
5. Fighting the Culture of Dole-out through Social Entrepreneurship