Social Entrepreneurship Essay

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Social Business

Some people are mystified and confused by what it means to be a social entrepreneur or otherwise in a social business. However, it is just a matter of innovation and creating social change. However, rather than just simple innovation in a business context, there is actual social change through a business context. Rather than just look at the utility of something, one can also look at the social and international implications. The light bulb created change in a lot of lives but social media and the internet (and its associated innovations) have probably created a lot more change out there for everyone to wield and use for themselves. There are also those that bend the proverbial bracket when it comes to the supposed limits in life. Some may think this is overblown, but visionaries like Elon Musk and Muhammad Yunus are just two examples of this in action.

Social Change Defined

Muhammad Yunus has a website known as the Yunus Centre. They have a link that defines what a social business is, what it is not and they also provide other details. The Yunus cite defines social business as being a cause-driven business. They say that in a social business, investors and/or owners can gradually recoup the funds that they invest but they cannot take any dividend or profit beyond that point. In other words, the purpose of the investment is solely to achieve one or more social objectives and it is not supposed to be for the personal gain of the investor. The company or companies involved must cover all of its costs and make a profit. At the same time, it must achieve some sort of social objective. For example, healthcare for the poor would be one thing that could be achieved. Another thing is housing for the poor. However, perhaps what Yunus is most known for is financial services for the poor. There are also other things like nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water for those that lack it, renewable energy as an ongoing enterprise and so forth (Sarker, 2015).

To take things a bit further, the impact of the business on people or the environment, rather than the amount of profit made in a given time, is what defines the success of a social business. Another huge thing for a social business is to define the sustainability of the business because that indicates that it is running properly, ethically and with great success. Yunus says a number of things that perhaps might need to be said for certain people. For example, Yunus says unequivocally that he is not opposed to making a profit. He says that even social businesses are allowed to make a profit. However, the one condition of a profitable social business is that the profits must stay with the business in the form of retained earnings, research and development and so forth. He states that social businesses are a new category of business. He says that it does "not stipulate the end of the existing type of profit-making business. Instead, he states that it widens the market by giving a "new option" to consumers. There is no concerted or incidental attempt to monopolize the market for personal gain. It adds to the competition rather than trying to corner the market for only one company or at least a small collective of companies (Sarker, 2015).

The Yunus site goes on to state that business is thus approached from the social change and philanthropy side. This makes the social business side of things very logical and convincing, at least in the eyes of Yunus. He openly asks the question about why everything in philanthropy should be given away. He states that forming an ongoing business where profit is a motive but it is rather a matter of where the profits go rather than whether they happen, even more success and good results can be had for everyone. To use a modern example, Facebook could tally up what they took in from their latest quarter, give it all away and call it a day. Rather, they are technically a for-profit business since they are on Wall Street but they are very much closer to a social business than most businesses could ever hope to be. However, there is the question that might be asked by many and Yunus says it by saying "when you approach it from the orthodox business side, it tends to look at bit out of tune. Why on earth give up profit? Why should anyone run a business without profit.

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I understand the surpise perfectly" (Sarker, 2015).

He then states that he is not asking any businessperson to give up their business or businesses. He is also not asking for just anyone to convert their business into a social business. He says the idea of "giving up" something creates issues. He says, however, that if people are worrying about social problems, one can make some serious contributions and elicit some strong efforts while not worrying about lining one's pockets. He says that "if you put your mind seriously into it, you may even open the door to eliminate the problem globally" (Sarker, 2015). He says that a conventional business and a social business can operate side by side in some instances (Sarker, 2015).

He does note that the melding or overall shift to a social business is a huge learning process. He notes that doing things that have not been done before can take a lot of effort, foresight and faith. As part of the process, a person starts digging into their personal experience and details and finds things that are relevant and helpful to the task to be completed. He says that when one turns eyes to profit-making businesses after looking at things that way, there are things that come to light that were not prevalent and obvious before. There is transference from the new business to the old businesses. A business person then moves from being a one-dimensional business person to a multi-dimensional business person and social pioneer. However, many people seem to confuse and conflate the issues unnecessarily. The question is asked why one cannot run a business with some profit and some social benefit, as is commonly said. Yunus concedes that it can be done and Mr. Yunus is not technically against it. However, he suggests that mixing profit and social benefit makes things complicated for the Chief Executive Officer of a firm. Quite often, a Chief Executive Officer will make a choice for profit but will exaggerate any social benefit that exists. Yunus says that social business "is about making complete sacrifice of financial reward from business" (Sarker, 2015). He further says it is "about total delinking from the old framework of business" (Sarker, 2015). He says that sometimes, one can set up a technically correct social business with the purpose of making a profit for everyone involved through which other companies selling products or services can being a social business aspect to the company. However, he notes that this is not a pure social business and it should not be considered as such (Sarker, 2015).

A different source reveals that the concept of a social entrepreneur is not new. They come from different countries and have spanned a lot of human history over the last few centuries. Some examples cited by Ashoka are as follows:

Susan B. Anthony: Fought for the womens' rights in the United States. These rights she sought include the right to control property and she was also involved with the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. She was a social businessperson because she used her position to expand the rights of others (Ashoka, 2015).

Vinoba Bhave -- She is the founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement. He caused the reallocation and redistrubtion of more than seven million acres of land to the "untouchables" and "landless" of India. She gave land, which his power, to a lot of people that would never get it on their own due to oppression and poverty (Ashoka, 2015).

Dr. Maria Montessori -- This woman was from Italy and she is actually the namesake of the Montessori school system that exists in many countries around the world including the United States. She created a new and improve school system through which children can be raised and fostered better than thorugh conventional school systems (Ashoka, 2015).

Dr. Florence Nightingale: Considered by many to be the founder of modern nursing. She developed the first school where nurses learn and develop themselves. She is a social entrepreneur because she created a new and better framework for teaching medical professionals (Ashoka, 2015).

Conclusion

There are obviously some pros and cons to activism. Pros include the ability to change people's lives, to make social businesspeople out of others and to inspire change in general. Cons include the need to make a living independent of a true social business, the slings and arrows that sometimes come….....

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