Social entrepreneurship is the application of business concepts and entrepreneurial innovation to create positive social change.  It requires identifying a problem in society and implementing some kind of business solution to resolve it.  Social entrepreneurship is critical to the growth of our society because we inherently pay more attention to ourselves and often lose focus of the bigger picture: the advancement of mankind.  It is critical to step back and be aware of problems that may not affect us but are still a hindrance to society, and then come up with innovative ways to solve them.  To improve is to change and to be perfect is to change often.  Social entrepreneurship is a necessary vehicle to facilitate this positive social change.

As part of our work for TechTown’s DTX Launch Detroit program, we accompanied the other participants on a tour of the Shinola factory, a Detroit based retail manufacturing company whose premise is bringing handmade manufacturing back to the United States.  Tom Kartsotis founded the company in 2011 after leaving Fossil where he was a founding member.  They began in Detroit to tap into the great manufacturing history of the city and to create jobs and build new skills for local Detroiters.  They currently handcraft all their leather goods, watches being the most popular item, and build bikes by hand, all at their locations in Detroit.  The name of the company comes from an old shoe shine brand that was popularized by the military during WWI and WWII, where the saying “He can’t tell shit from Shinola” originated from a young cadet’s remarks when his captain forced him to shine his shoes.

It was awesome to see the inner-workings of a young business, one that is building a great brand behind a compelling story and trying to create a new market for luxury goods in Detroit.  I even felt a bit self-conscious wearing a cheap, 30$ watch that I purchased online.  Albeit being very young and still expanding, I was very surprised to hear that Shinola’s profits are still not in the black.  What’s more amazing, is that of their stores across the country in LA, New York, Austin, Chicago, DC, and even in London, UK, the Detroit store outsells them all by a factor of 10.  Although they may not have tasted true success yet, they are clearly fighting the good fight.  Shinola is pioneering a new (old) market for luxury, handmade goods, and businesses like these that promote growth in the city are necessary to create positive social change.  Starting in the former manufacturing capital of the country in Detroit is a no-brainer, and the success of the Detroit store is a testament to that.  Detroiters do indeed have money to spend on luxury goods and are interested in a brand that is part of the revival of the city.  The social change behind what they are doing is the most important part of their branding; they are creating new jobs, teaching new skills to Detroiters from all walks of life (they had to bring in watchmakers from Switzerland to train their employees through a rigorous 8 month process, and the original team now trains new hires, none of which have previous watchmaking experience, obviously, and come from backgrounds like automobile manufacturing or sales), and trying to bring prestige and respect to the manufacturing industry, sentiments that were lost after the Industrial Revolution simplified production. One day, when I have the fashion sense to “tell shit from Shinola” and the financial capacity to afford one of their watches I definitely plan to buy one myself.

At TechTown, I have been learning a lot about the key concepts of entrepreneurship and how to be a more innovative thinker. One key idea is customer discovery- learning more about what problem potential consumers have that can be alleviated through your service or product. This same method of thinking, when applied to a community or society's problems, is social entrepreneurship. 

All entrepreneurs hope to create a profitable business. Social entrepreneurs pursue a second motive, a positive social impact on their surrounding community. As I have observed during these first few weeks, Detroit residents are fiercely proud of their city and willing to work hard in order to change it for the better. To me, this strong sense of community is what makes a great social entrepreneur. Thus, Detroit is a prime place for social entrepreneurship- and a place that really needs it. Ever since Henry Ford's invention of the automobile, Detroit residents have continued to develop innovative solutions to the city's problems. Although recently portrayed in a more negative light, Detroit has always been a symbol of innovation.

 A few days ago, I witnessed this firsthand at the Green Garage, an environmentally friendly co-working space for new business ventures. Community builders from across Detroit gathered for a community lunch with a special guest, Mayor Duggan. They discussed the "spirit of Detroit" and suggested ways to make the city stronger. As I listened, I couldn't help but notice their love of city and how much they wished to contribute to its revival. 

As I continue to spend more time familiarizing myself with Detroit, I've begun to learn more about the problems this community faces. I am beginning to see the importance of interacting with many different people in order to gain a holistic perspective of Detroit's struggling population. I am also learning that eight weeks is not enough time to do this. Luckily for Detroit, there are numerous residents who have chosen to take an entrepreneurial approach to resolving a certain social issue in Detroit.

I met one of them this past Friday at TechTown. Julie Andreae is one of the founders of Secure Beginnings, a company that produces breathable mattresses for infants. This product ensures babies can breathe safely if they roll face-down during the night. This is one of the causes of SIDS, a syndrome that took the life of her niece prior to Secure Beginnings' launch. In addition to saving lives, Andreae's product helps bring manufacturing jobs back to Detroit. I was inspired by her savvy business skills and commitment to her product and community. I can't wait to meet more social entrepreneurs as I continue my adventure in Detroit.

From the day I started my application to DukeEngage Detroit to this very moment as I sit and write this blog, I haven’t gone a day without hearing the words Social innovation and entrepreneurship. At the very beginning of the process these seemed to be buzz words someone would use during a speech to get people excited. A speaker would say that there was so much going on in a certain city or field with respect to social entrepreneurship and everyone in the room would nod with approval. I would nod as well without having a working knowledge of the phrase and I’m not sure whether many other people in the room had an actual grasp on what they were approving either. However, the more I work with people in Detroit the more I feel like I have a real grasp on what social innovation and entrepreneurship actually means.

I think that part of the reason for the confusion around the phrase Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship is that it is relatively new, in terms of its origins. Although there have always been people who have worked toward the benefits of society, the term Social Entrepreneur has just recently begun to accompany these people. In order to have a better understanding of what these words actually mean, I think that it is important to get the definition by the roots and determine what innovation and entrepreneurship really are.

Every entrepreneur needs to have the skill of problem recognition, they need to be able to look at a certain aspect of life and either recognize it as a negative or frame it as such, we’ll call these issues gaps. Now these gaps can exist in any facet of life; social, professional, spiritual or otherwise. What truly makes an entrepreneur standout is their ability to not only see these gaps, but to come up with a solution to bridge them. This is where innovation comes in. To me, to be innovative is to be able to come up with a solution that would not have come from the current method of trying to solve the problem. Innovation does not come from standing on the shoulders of giants and making steady progress toward a goal, but from paradigm shifts. Somebody will look at a subject and see it in an entirely new light and they will come up with a design plan that reflects that new light. That is innovation. And when a skilled entrepreneur also has great innovation, great things can happen. But just like the good of the scorpion is not the good of the frog, innovation and entrepreneurship won’t always benefit everyone.


From the little bit of economics I’ve taken during my two years at Duke, I’ve learned that there are two types of benefit in this world; private and social. Private benefit is where the person who is making the choices behind an operation is gaining a subsidy. This benefit is most often defined in monetary terms, but can also be put in the broader category of utility, which could be defined as a general increase in happiness. Social benefit is where people who don’t have any stake in an operation or action are benefitting. If I decided to build a park in Detroit, the social benefit could be the shade that the trees provide, or the aesthetic pleasure people gain from looking at the park, they did not have to pay for this park, but they are still gaining an increase in utility from it.

It is important to note that these two types of benefits are not mutually exclusive. Someone who is pursuing private benefits could also be doing a social good without intending to do so. Detroit is no stranger to these benefits and costs overlapping. One example of private and social benefits mixing is with the auto industry. The auto companies had a need for more workers in order to maximize the profits that there companies would make. To attract workers, a great deal of money was put into Detroit by the auto companies to make the city beautiful. When more workers came to the city, they would bring their families with them allowing for a great deal of growth for the city and a greater sense of community for the neighborhoods. These were pleasant side effects of businesses pursuing private gains. Unfortunately, pursuing one’s own benefit can also have a negative social side-effects.

In the early 20th century Detroit possessed a readily available trolley system. This method provided an affordable way for people to get around the city. However, as the auto industry became more and more powerful they decided it would be financially better for them if more Detroiters were driving automobiles. The trolley system began to get an incredible amount of pushback from the auto companies until it was eventually shut down. In pursuit of the best bottom line, many people lost their access to solid transportation, a problem that is still facing Detroit today. Despite the overlap that social and private benefits and costs have, I believe that there is a very distinct difference between an entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur.

For me, a social entrepreneur is somebody who will confront a problem and look at the social cost and benefit of a solution before anything else. They will continue to value social gains over private gains throughout the duration of their project. Social innovation is the same way, it may not be the most efficient action cost wise, but it is the best way to help the citizens of the community who wouldn’t be cared for otherwise.

I think that social innovation is important because it is crucial to helping people who are struggling and don’t offer a lot of opportunity for financial gain. Too often, the needs of a group of people will be concealed beneath a bottom line. In the pursuit of the highest earnings, many businesses will create a societal gap where people aren’t receiving the aid that they need or deserve. Social entrepreneurs work to bridge this gap in a way that is effective and sustainable.

One example of a social entrepreneurship in Detroit today is D-Town Farm. The farm was placed on two acres of land on Rouge Park in 2008. Since then it has not only been providing affordable, healthy food to those who need it, but also offering workshops on growing and sustaining your own garden and growing your own healthy foods. The program runs almost entirely through volunteer labor and a large portion of the proceeds go back into sustaining the farm. It is clear to see that D-Town farms clearly values the good of the people over the good of the profit, which is why it serves as a perfect example of a social entrepreneurship venture.

Detroit is a city of innovation and entrepreneurship. It rose with the interests of people like Henry Ford, people looking to create wealth, both for themselves and for their companies. This is certainly not a negative, I believe Detroit has many reasons to thank the manufacturers that came to the city to aid its growth. They were the ones who put Detroit on the map and helped it become a great city; a city everyone wanted to live in. Detroit continues to rise, however, it is now powered by a different engine. I think that Detroit is moving forward thanks to the members of the community who look out their window and see opportunity. Not necessarily for money, but for the good of the people and the good of the planet. Every great city needs social entrepreneurs and when I look around I know this is something the Detroit has in spades.

Social innovation and social entrepreneurship can be found anywhere, most certainly all over Detroit. Even tonight returning from downtown, my Uber driver recounted his entrepreneurial exploits to create technology that's safer to use behind the wheel. Everywhere I look it seems there's a conversation about innovation going on. Our first Friday, the entire group of us decided to cash in on Katherine's and Matt's invitation to a very unique event. A local barber shop called the Social Club that donates their collected hair trimmings as fertilizer for trees hosts a once a month Shop Talk. Anyone interested in entrepreneurship and Detroit was welcomed in for free food and drinks as local entrepreneurs Melissa Butler from The Lip Bar and Niles Heron from Michigan Funders got their hair cut. Melissa talked about the reasons why she moved her vegan lip stick business from New York to her home town of Detroit and Niles shared about how he created a group of angel investors for local businesses. The audience seemed to encompass a variety of hipsters all bubbling with questions for the panelists about Detroit's business environment. Melissa and Niles both model the values of social entrepreneurship, starting something new that impacts their community for their better.

After spending my first full week at NextEnergy, my partner Chris and I have finally gotten a crack at our main summer project. NextEnergy is an energy accelerator  for energy technologies, businesses, and industries. Everything NextEnergy does can be connected to social entrepreneurship. They help out new energy technology companies by renting lab space, consulting, and assisting them with grants. Those companies then have the potential to go on a reduce the world's energy footprint, one of the most defining issues of our generation.  I'm proud to be working at a company that has such a multifunctional role in helping Detroit. One aspect of what they do is a variety of demonstrations of the latest techonolgies such as changing parking lot, hallway, and lab space lights to more efficient LEDs using Michigan based companies. They have been collecting data on the efficiencies of these lights; however, they haven't really done anything with that data. That's where us interns come in. Chris and I are analyzing the data and calculating energy and cost savings of a variety of different lighting updates and creating graphs that will ultimately turn into graphics for a one-pager and case studies about each of the projects NextEnergy has worked on. With these materials, NextEnergy will better be able to show tangible products of how its campus models the energy ideals it sets forth as well as how it helps Michigan companies.

Last Friday, us Duke Engagers got to sit down for lunch with Detroit's Mayor Dugan. The lunch took place in a place called Green Garage, an old Ford car showcase that got repurposed as an extremely environmentally building that rents office space to companies that help the environment and community. In all the reconstruction, only 1 truck load of materials was sent away from the site. The rest of the materials were creatively reused for the new building such as old pipes for a stair case and extra wood blocks for an artistic wall. Mayor Dugan, a little shorter than expected, came in as we were already eating lunch and took comments from the eclectic group of the 40 or so people who took advantage of this open lunch opportunity. The theme of the discussion was the "spirit of Detroit." Many brought up issues in the public school system and the hard time for locals to be entrepreneurs themselves. The Mayor responded with a program called Motor City Watch in which students learn in high school how to develop their own business plan and can be funded to execute it. Even if these funds can only be awarded to a lucky few, others will still be able to see those in their own community taking the initiative to start their own business, and then they will be able to believe they can do it. The Mayor stressed as well his commitment to make Detroit and environment for entrepreneurship.

I think social entrepreneurship is the future of positive social change. To me, social entrepreneurship means business. Business with a positive social impact. It’s for those who want to make a mark, put a dent in the world, create a unique legacy for themselves, follow their passions, break the mold, and make money, all while making the world a better place and helping alleviate, or maybe even solve, a certain problem. It’s not do-gooding. It’s not cold-hearted business—not that I’m making any judgment calls about being on either extreme end of that scale. It’s the happy medium, and it fluctuates towards right or left, based on the company itself. That social entrepreneurship has become the new, hip, novel thing makes me happy. It’s important because business is important, money is important, and working, profiting companies are important, but doing good is important too. Social entrepreneurs are further emphasizing to the world that you don’t have to sacrifice making a difference for making money.

Detroit Dirt is an example of this. It is one of the most celebrated social entrepreneurship ventures in this city. Its founder, Pashon Murray, has become a symbol of Detroit’s social entrepreneurship scene, as her company is at the forefront of Detroit’s revitalization and renaissance. This company, which she co-founded, combines manure from zoos with food scraps from Detroit’s restaurants and eateries to create a compost, which in turn fertilizes soil, thus making for healthier locally-grown fruits and vegetables. The more products she sells, the closer she gets to expanding her business and hiring local employees rather than having to rely on volunteers. Her goal is to create a closed-loop food system, in which Detroit’s waste fuels its food products and no resources are leaked. I’m currently researching her company in order to understand the nature of environmental innovations in Detroit and better understand my own job at Detroit Future City. Detroit Dirt is innovative, resourceful, impactful, and incredibly beneficial for the local economy and agricultural environment. I think it is the paramount example of what it means to be a social entrepreneur.

Social Entrepreneurship attempts to transcend the oftentimes shallow goal of turning a profit by holding at an equally high standard the values of beneficial social impact and environmental responsibility.  The general terminology for this sort of value system is the Triple Bottom-Line, with the bottom-lines being profit, people, and environment. To some, this seems like a more civically minded form of capitalism, and to others it might be considered a new way to sustain the good work that nonprofits engage in without having to rely on the perpetual financial patronage of donors. Patronage instead comes from consumers who desire to buy the commodity or service offered by the “social business” and, as an added bonus, may even support the business because of its commitment to good work in the community.

What I think has become of a hallmark of good social business is the commitment to being local — local in impact, local in patronage, and local in its employees and founders. The problem of “parachuting in” plagues nonprofits whose reach extends beyond that of a community, like a city or town. Without local knowledge or understanding the deep-rooted histories that have created problems of systemic poverty or injustice, large non-profits run the risk of throwing money aimlessly toward unsuccessful solutions or, even worse, furthering the harm already being done to the community in need. Social businesses place themselves, physically, in the midst of a neighborhood or a community. Their physical address, their employees, and oftentimes their homes exist within the area they hope to serve.

Detroit, increasingly, is becoming the home to an eclectic bunch of social businesses whose innovative solutions to social and environmental injustices are giving a new hue of hope to a city in need. Just the fact that a business can survive starts a new chapter in Detroit’s narrative. 

I wrote a little bit about it in my last blog, but I have fallen in love with the Green Garage (GG). The GG is a for-profit business that, as co-founder Peggy stated during our tour, “is making a profit”. After a couple of years spent in deep reflection on how they could create an environmentally conscious and social beneficial office space, Peggy and her husband began drafting the blueprints for the Green Garage. When renovating the warehouse-soon-to-be-coworking-space, 75% of their building materials were either reused from the original warehouse or repurposed from other venues (like a fallen ash forest, or an abandoned apartment complex, or a junkyard). The building is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, with skylights reducing energy costs and usage of installed lights, 5000 gallons worth of rain water stored in various bins around the complex, and gentle reminders throughout the working space for business residents to practice sustainable habits too. By fitting 53 businesses within its walls, a diverse community is fostered in which members network to find better solutions. For example, if an urban agriculture company needed help procuring land, they could talk to the environmental law firm or the sustainable development company just a few feet away. 

But the GG doesn’t just benefit its business community and the environment. It also benefits the greater community of pedestrians and passersby with its innovative “Green Alley”. Back alleyways are often the scenes of horror films and real crimes. Just the word, alley, evokes an image of a space badly lit and trashed with refuse. The GG reimagined the back alley by creating a space that is well-lit (thus, safer), permeable to rainwater (assisting both the environment and the ever-stressed Detroit storm water system), and lined with native plants for uplifting aesthetics and a positive environmental impact. 

In another effort to impact its community, the Green Garage hosts a weekly “Brown Bag Lunch” open to all. During this time, the “businesses-in-residence” will introduce themselves as will visitors at a friendly “get to know you” session. Then, depending on the week, either a topic is put on the table to spur on discussion or one of the businesses makes a presentation on some of their innovative new work. Most recently, the Mayor Duggan of Detroit spoke on the “Spirit of Detroit”, which was quite the surprise to get to see him!

The story of the Green Garage is an inspiring one. Businesses cohabitate in a community composed of members diverse in passions and expertise, yet committed to the values of social impact and environmental stewardship. Even the fact that the Green Garage exists affords the city of Detroit a whole slew of positive outcomes because it acts as the home to these 53 social businesses, many of which might not have even gotten off the ground without a space to work. 

 I work at NextEnergy, a non-profit convener, collaborator, and service provider that accelerates the development and growth of advanced energy technologies and industries. What they do is hard to explain. Whether it’s developing the smarthomes of tomorrow or popularizing the electric vehicles of today, NextEnergy works on a variety of innovative ideas. In my time here at NextEnergy, I am working on several small projects, including one that embodies social entrepreneurship. 

Over the past ten years, NextEnergy’s campus has undergone several lighting upgrades. A few years ago, it made the switch from metal halide lightbulbs to fluorescent ones, and even more recently, it’s upgraded to LEDs. NextEnergy has been collecting data on its energy usage but never done anything with this information. They’ve asked Shelby and I to change that. After meeting with several employees and combing through data, we’ve begun to see NextEnergy’s incredible potential for innovation. Based on our preliminary calculations, we estimate NextEnergy has reduced its lighting costs by more than 96% since switching to LEDs. That’s a huge reduction considering lighting consumes half of most utility costs.

NextEnergy exemplifies social entrepreneurship; the non-profit has successfully cut its operating costs while also practicing environmental sustainability. Their switch to LED lights has saved over 60,000 kilowatt-hours each year; that’s enough to power a television continuously for seven years. NextEnergy will use our research to educate Michigan-based businesses, helping these companies use environmental responsibility to improve profits. #BasicallyGettingPaidToCelebrateEarthDayEveryday

To me, an entrepreneur is one who identifies a problem and an opportunity, and by employing a set of personal characteristics (creativity, dedication, fortitude etc.), builds on the opportunity to establish a business that brings about a positive change and outcome. “Social” entrepreneurs are identical to entrepreneurs in these key components; however, they are distinguished by their different value proposition. While entrepreneurs target the market that is privileged to afford the new service/product they provide, social entrepreneurs usually serve the segment of society that is highly disadvantaged compared to the rest of the population. Even though both value profitmaking, social entrepreneurship measures its success by its scale of social impact rather the profit generated, which is the measuring stick for regular entrepreneurial businesses.

The above, however, is a rather broad and vague definition. It seems to me that every social entrepreneur carries his/her own definition to this term, an interpretation that is only to be derived from experience. A major incentive for me to participate in the DukeEngage Detroit program is to immerse myself this summer among a group of dedicated social entrepreneurs who are striving to revitalize Detroit.

At the end of second week in Detroit, I am confident to say that Detroit is the place to be when it comes to exploring social entrepreneurship. From the Shop Talk in the Social Grooming Club to various start-ups in the Green Garage, people across all fields are congregating in this city to invest in social entrepreneurship. The most telling example is the community talk every Friday lunch in the Green Garage. Workers from all the organizations in Green Garage sit together for a lunch that begins with a brief self-introduction from all the attendants and followed by a presentation from a community member. Although not all organizations are examples of social entrepreneurship, when everybody goes around explaining their professions, a good majority of them are invested in some kind of social cause ranging from environmentalism to education to crowdfunding. There is an optimism and creative energy to be felt and the positivity invigorates everybody.

I learned the term triple bottom line (TBL) just the other day. In lieu of undertaking an endeavor purely in search of the most profitable “bottom line”, traditionally the sole benchmark of comparison, TBL operations take the environmental and social impact into account as well. As businesses begin to look more holistically at their impact on the world around them, these types of evaluations are beginning to gain popularity.

This way of thinking is similar to how I define social entrepreneurship, or social innovation, in my head. With easily malleable definitions, they have numerous meanings to different people depending on the contexts. In general, I describe these terms as encompassing any mission in which there is the purposeful attempt to achieve some outcome other than monetary profit that benefits society. By applying this mindset to facets of society that are important to them, people are able to directly improve the conditions around them.


Detroit has long since been a city of innovation. From the Renaissance Center (left) to the automobile industry (right), The Motor City has historically thrived on originality and improvement. In light of recent events, people here are beginning to realize the importance of incorporating social outcomes into their decisions.

My work with Build Institute has given me a unique view into the innovations of many people here, as the purpose of the business is to help turn socially innovative ideas into reality. Build itself is a form of social entrepreneurship. It works to provide resources to those who will improve their communities’ conditions through their personal areas of expertise; however, the best representations of social innovation that I have found come from the people that I’ve met surrounding this nonprofit, both involved participants and indirectly related individuals. 

Here are a few examples:

Last Wednesday, my partner Liz and I had the chance to attend the Southwest Detroit Business Association (SWDBA) Community Investment Breakfast (below). Although the start time of 7:30am was a little disheartening, the people involved more than made up for it. The theme “Getting Detroit Back to Work” featured addresses and discussions from guest panelists (including former Chief of Police Isaiah McKinnon), as well as the recognition of standout small businesses in the area. With the most notable being a project that worked to fix up streetlights to make certain areas more accessible after daylight, this event provided much-deserved recognition to small business that are making positive impacts inside their community.

Green Garage is a local coworking space that advocates environmentally conscious practices, both in everyday living and through business ventures. Liz and I got the chance to sit down with Peggy Brennan who, along with her husband Tom, started this business a couple years ago. She talked about how the two formerly retired professionals were inspired to open Green Garage after attempting to make more conscious choices in their own lives. While the building itself stands as a prime example of sustainability, the Brennan’s are working to move the fifty plus businesses that work out of it towards a TBL model. While still pursuing a profit, every one of these startups is intentionally providing an outcome that benefits others around them.

Green Garage also hosts weekly community discussions highlighting topics relevant to the city. This past Friday, our DukeEngage group went to listen to community members (including the Mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan) discuss their views on “the spirit of Detroit.” Ranging from educational opportunities to local music, it was inspiring to hear how everyone viewed their city and what they believed needs to be preserved and/or changed in order to revitalize it. But what I found to be most significant was the manner in which they discussed; Mayor Duggan was not talked at, or vice versa, but was simply another member of the discussion. Many people had differing views on what needs to be done, but they all respected the fact that there are numerous needs, numerous possibilities, and that collaboration is necessary to incite any progress. 

Last, I’d like to bring up Frank. Frank is someone that Liz and I met the other day when we decided it was too nice of a day to work inside. We went to work at a picnic table just across the street and were met with his presence within the minute. He lives right across the street, and works to make sure that, in his words, “the only park on Bagley” is kept up and open for public use. It’s just a small lot that features green grass and a gazebo, but he took more pride in its upkeep and was more passionate about its availability than many people are about their real jobs. In my opinion, it’s people with this mindset that are the true change makers of Detroit. People who take pride in what they do and who do it for a greater good than themselves. 

Social innovators are everywhere-some more obvious than others. But together, they’re applying this new way of thinking to change both their communities and the city of Detroit.