You will get a formal introduction about this person we call the entrepreneur in your basic management class and your introduction to economics. Both subjects consider the role of the entrepreneur as essential in driving business and the economy.
Entrepreneurs are individuals who are always seeking out and taking on the challenge of responding to change. They are risk takers but not the wanton kind but the kind that take "calculated risks".
The concept of social entrepreneurship three decades back would have been place in the same category as communism, socialism, and a long list of "ism" in your political and sociological books. It was a good topic for discussion but not really the kind you would discuss with executives coming from the mining and petrochemical industries in a golf course especially with someone holding the "iron".
Today, social entrepreneurship is seeping (some would use the word "creeping") in to business courses, seminars and even management systems compliant with ISO. For the more socially conscious organizations, social entrepreneurship practically defines what or who they are.
What is a Social Entrepreneur?
In one statement: "Social entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs with a social mission."
Don't think for a second that social entrepreneurs don't have the creation of wealth in mind when they manage their "enterprises" or programs. They do create wealth. The difference is how they see the concept of creating wealth.
Social Entrepreneurs take mission-related impact as their priority not the creation of wealth. If generating wealth accomplishes the mission, social entrepreneurs naturally create wealth to achieve the mission.
Business can teach us a lot about entrepreneurship. In business, you have to be market-oriented. You have to be disciplined, innovative and determined to serve your customer. You have to be customer-driven. You design products, improve internal processes, train people, and use technology to be able to serve your customers cost-effectively. Business is results-oriented. Your eyes should be focus on outcomes and not inputs or even process. You should be enterprising by being able to generate revenues and not merely spending them. You must also be leveraging change rather than controlling it meaning you should be market-oriented.
So how is a Social Entrepreneur different from Business Entrepreneurs?
If you are going to be a Social Entrepreneur, you must be able to play the role of change agent, by being able to:
- Adopt a mission to create and sustain social value.· Recognize and pursue new opportunities to serve that mission.
- Engage in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning.
- Act boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand.
- Exhibit a heightened sense of accountability to the constituency you serve and for the outcomes you have created.
If you appreciate the reality that not all business people are entrepreneurs, then you can easily accept the fact that not all people with a mission can be social entrepreneurs.
What will you need to be an effective Social Entrepreneur?
Let me give you a slightly long list of traits I have witnessed so far: self-confidence, integrity, perseverance, commitment, diligence, energy, hard work, foresight, perceptiveness, dynamism, charisma, optimism, initiative, positive response to change, and leadership.
The above traits can be acquired and nurtured.
If you are student of business, you have already read by now lessons explicitly telling you that good businessmen are not born, well, at least we don't clone them yet like cows, sheep and mice.
There are also traits that seem innate to an individual. Possessing these traits or qualities could be a plus but unfortunately this list is quite short. Here's the list:
- The ability to see a better future or a better picture of the world and a capacity to inspire others to see this future or picture.
- Creativity and a natural innovativeness.
- High energy, emotional stability and robust health.
- High intelligence and ability to grasp concepts.
This blog site is dedicated to those who are born to be a social entrepreneur and to those who have deliberately and consciously made a decision to be one.
No comments:
Post a Comment