ADVICES FOR ASPIRING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS
By Saif Rashid
In the last 10 years, social entrepreneurs around the world have been the major catalysts in bringing social change by working alongside governments, NGOs and the private sector. But what really brings the concept ‘social entrepreneurship’ to the frontline? Perhaps it’s the practical use of market-driven strategies that has placed social entrepreneurs as the pioneers in tackling critical social solutions. Be it non-profit, for-profit or hybrid enterprise platforms, social entrepreneurs have promoted a broad range of solutions focused on ‘systemic change’.
The real supremacy of social entrepreneurs is defined by the skill in identifying market failures and in tailoring and implementing solutions. Yet when you talk to any social entrepreneur in our community, they often describe their entrepreneurship impact as a “small drop in the ocean”. In Bangladesh the field is increasingly receiving more attention as more and more social entrepreneurs are moving back to Bangladesh from abroad, and our sector is excelling at launching initiatives for the betterment of the community.
Nevertheless, most enterprises are not growing at the required pace to meet the escalating problems. Hence, we are losing experienced and talented social entrepreneurs- who are exiting this sector due to frustration when the social sector needs them the most. Unfortunately, we have reached an era where we are confronted by a rising tide of crises – environmental catastrophe, migration, population growth, food security, nationalism and technological advances that require new skills and system level solutions. As the complexity and depth of the social issues rise, we need these talented and matured social entrepreneurs more than ever before. For any aspiring social entrepreneurs, the following points will help determine their success in the sector:
1. FOCUSING ON THE PROBLEM: Whatever sector you are in and whatever problem you are solving; all the activities we are doing is about improving the lives of people. It’s not about me and it’s not about my problems. It’s very easy to get distracted on the way. And we have so many reasons to get distracted. In our journey we have more pain than pleasure and thus we always need to remember that we are here to make other lives better and we need to get energy and aspirations from that.
2. YOU ARE PART OF THE SYSTEM: Remember the system we are operating in is global now. The problems we are tackling are not local any more. Whatever problem you are tackling- large or small – are part of a large system and the reason is that the system is not efficient to serve. Our journey is thus very long, and to an extent you need to work closely with the system. It can be politics, ideology, mindset, norms that you need to fight with to ensure that the flows are taken care of. To do that you need to be fluid and strong at the same time.
3. IGNORE NEGATIVITY: There is no end to naysayers and you will often be labeled as naïve or a dreamer. And even when your enterprise is doing well, there will be those who will criticize you. But then there will also be lots of people who will just praise you. You should remember that it’s your race and you shouldn’t listen to people who drain your energy. Don’t listen to people who are cynical.
Ignore the cowards and do what you love. Find a mentor, develop a fellow’s ecosystem and seek advice. The storytelling ability one has, must be expanded to reflect the full spectrum of challenges and inspirations to support the entrepreneur’s ecosystem if we are to drive unprecedented large-scale change.
4. YOUR DETERMINATION IS THE KEY: The problem you are addressing might seem very small or very large initially. You will not get the real picture unless you roll up your sleeves and start addressing them. You will see the complexity and depth of it as you start to further explore the problem. Don’t underestimate how much courage you need to solve a problem nor should you underestimate how much courage you have. Trust your capability and start working. The moment you are committed to doing something is when the fruits of your efforts start to materialize. It is almost as if the universe conspires to make sure achieve it if you are determined.
5. DON’T GIVE UP: While it is easier said than done, it is imperative that you get back up if you are knocked down. Remember that anything worth achieving does not comes easy.
Last month I was attending several important gatherings of social entrepreneurs around the world starting with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Exo Live Global Innovators summit which is an innovation program of Expo 2020 Dubai and lastly Metlife foundation’s Inclusion Plus Innovators Summit in New York. By networking and traveling I quickly realized that all social entrepreneurs operate with the mindset of trying to better the community. This piece is a compilation of my reflections from these events on what my fellow social entrepreneurs shall focus on to shape a great future for the world.
*The Writer is the founder and Managing Director of Apon Wellbeing Ltd., a social enterprise dedicated to improving the economic status of 4.2 million working people.
