To me, social entrepreneurship is a way of creating sustainable change within a community or the world. I believe that it should reflect in itself a way of attacking the roots of the problems that we see around us. The importance of this is that instead of simply acting reactionary towards problems, the underlying problems are exposed and addressed. Beyond that, I think that social entrepreneurship is a way to create sustainable change that cannot always be created by other forms of help because it creates new channels and cycles of money both going into the problem and coming out of it. I think that the world we live in desperately needs this because it makes fixing problems more effective. I think that a lot of money is wasted that could be put to better use if everything was thought of as a business. For example, I see the way we look at problems a lot like the way our health care system is run. It is far too reactionary instead of preventative. While the world has problems that cannot simply be prevented, the idea is that the money should be directed at treating the problem, not at patching it up.
An example of this we have heard about is a woman who created jackets for the homeless that could turn into sleeping bags. While this is great for the homeless, it doesn’t change their situation at all; it only improves the situation marginally. The result is that the women used the idea and then created a way for the homeless to make the bags themselves, thus giving them jobs and helping them more than simply handing stuff out. In this new system, the problem of homelessness is being better addressed by finding a way out of it, and at the same time creating a sustainable practice. As the business grows, more homeless will be able to be employed, and as the business becomes profitable it will no longer need to dependent on grants and donations, creating a more effective use of money.
I believe that these ideas are exemplified by the Detroit Food Academy who I am working with this summer. They are addressing problems within high schools such as dropout rates, literacy, and nutrition. Through their programs they are helping the kids, but also finding ways to teach the kids to help themselves. Meanwhile, they are building revenue streams through the selling of products to employ the kids from their program and continue to fund the program. In a situation such as this it allows the program and company to survive without donations and grants and can instead be self sustaining. This becomes the bright light we need more of in the world.
An example of this we have heard about is a woman who created jackets for the homeless that could turn into sleeping bags. While this is great for the homeless, it doesn’t change their situation at all; it only improves the situation marginally. The result is that the women used the idea and then created a way for the homeless to make the bags themselves, thus giving them jobs and helping them more than simply handing stuff out. In this new system, the problem of homelessness is being better addressed by finding a way out of it, and at the same time creating a sustainable practice. As the business grows, more homeless will be able to be employed, and as the business becomes profitable it will no longer need to dependent on grants and donations, creating a more effective use of money.
I believe that these ideas are exemplified by the Detroit Food Academy who I am working with this summer. They are addressing problems within high schools such as dropout rates, literacy, and nutrition. Through their programs they are helping the kids, but also finding ways to teach the kids to help themselves. Meanwhile, they are building revenue streams through the selling of products to employ the kids from their program and continue to fund the program. In a situation such as this it allows the program and company to survive without donations and grants and can instead be self sustaining. This becomes the bright light we need more of in the world.
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