From Social Mission To Social ENTERPRISE

Trevor writes:

In this forum we're going to explore what happens when you combine a serial SOCIAL Entrepreneur with a SERIAL Entrepreneur .

In the blog extract below from - The Guerrilla, the Entrepreneur and the Motivation to Change the World - we find some neat insights as to what makes the social entrepreneur (I particularly like the mind-map style graphic):

The Social Entrepreneur

A detailed look at the motivations and trials of Ashoka Fellows is chronicled in How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein.




These passionate social entrepreneurs have been tapped by the organization to transfer a social mission into a social enterprise. The Fellowship provides the time and resources for Fellows to quit their jobs and concentrate energy on hammering out the business processes, fundraising, generating community participation and driving political will to ensure measurable change.

Bill Drayton, former head of the EPA and McKinsey consultant, defines the four qualities of the social entrepreneur as:

Creativity: Both the ability to set goals in the future and the chutzbah and agility to overcome obstacles.

Entrepreneurial Quality: Beyond altruism, energy and managerial skills, Ashoka asks, "Will this person change the pattern in the whole field?" Drayton sums up how they differ from artists, social workers and academics, saying that entrepreneurs can't rest until their ideas take hold across all of society; they stay up at night asking "how-to" questions in a quest to bring theory into action.

Idea Resilience: Will the idea outlast the entrepreneur? How many lives will be affected or improved?

Ethical Fiber: Drayton tells others to go with their gut and ask themselves, "In a dangerous situation, would you be totally at ease if this person were with you?"

Bornstein's blog has a detailed story tracing the evolution of one man's motivation to become a social entrepreneur.