The weekly wrap: The top social entrepreneurship stories from the week that went by
Our weekly wrap brings you the most interesting and engrossing stories from the world of social entrepreneurship. This week contains stories on TOMS Shoes discontinuing its business model, ow to design a social enterprise curriculum for universities, role of social intrapreneurs and few other interesting stories. Happy reading.
1) The five P’s of social entrepreneurship:
Social entrepreneurship is not everybody’s cup of tea. It requires a special set of qualities. Do you have what it takes? Monika Mitchell, founder, Good Business believes the 5 P’s of that every social entrepreneur should possess is passion, purpose, plan, partner and profit. If you these qualities you are ready to be a social entrepreneur.
2) Social intrapreneurs have the power to change Indian companies from the inside out:
We all know of social entrepreneurs. What about social intrapreneurs? They play a special role within big companies by coming up with social business ideas that their companies can pursue. As far as social change goes, social intrapreneurs can play a bigger role than even social entrepreneurs. Read more about how Indian companies can nurture social intrapreneurs to change their companies from within.
3) Toms Shoes rethinks its strategy to give out free shoes:
TOMS Shoes is famous for its “buy one and gift one” purchasing model, where the company gifts a pair of shoes to child in need, for every pair sold. Their unique model spawned copy-cats: companies started to give one product free to those in need for every solar panel or soccer ball sold. TOMS Shoes has always had its critics, saying that the company does not really tackle poverty and instead ignores the real problems. Going forward the company might stop gifting shoes and instead invest in poverty schemes that matter.
4) Aura Herbal is turning organic clothing into a conscious fashion choice:
Public awareness of health and consciousness grows, cotton and natural fibers are replacing polyester and other synthetic fibers as the fabric of choice: now, the new expanding trend is organic clothing.
Concern over high use of insecticides and pesticides in cotton farming and other natural fibers has given rise to demand for organic cottons and garments free of these and other poisons and carcinogens. It was commitment to promoting a sustainable, eco-friendly life, that Aura Herbal Textiles (AHTL) arose in 2001, developing their own process of manufacturing natural textiles and dyes, sourcing herbs and other raw materials through made-to-order contracts with farmers in Madhya Pradesh and South India. Read their story here.
5) The European Commission launches a social innovation competition for job creation:
The European Commission (EC) has announced the launch of a social innovation competition for job creation. Dubbed the European Social Innovation Competition, the EC is asking Europeans to come up with ideas to tackle the region’s unemployment woes.
An estimated 27 million people are unemployed across member states of the European Union.
The competition was launched for the first time in October 2012 and was the idea of Diogo Vasconcelos. He was the chairman of Social Innovation Exchange before he passed away in 2011. He wanted to incentivize people to come up with radical solutions to problems and this competition was created in his memory.
6) Meet the woman behind Change.org:
If you haven’t heard of Change.org than you have may been hiding behind a rock. Change.org is fast becoming a household name and the go-to destination for online petitions. More than 40 million people have put their name to campaigns on the site to date. Christina Farr meets Jennifer Dulski, the woman behind the revolution machine.
7) Taking a Hit for Impact Investing: How Big Funds Can Encourage Smaller Peers
Can taking a hit for the team be good for impact investing overall? The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) certainly thinks so. GIIN has said that large investors who believe in financing projects “for good” should try to energise others to allocate capital by taking on a quasi-guarantor role. GIIN has set out a range of options that these large investors could choose to protect smaller partners who might have less experience in the field. These catalytic first-loss capital (CFLC) strategies should encourage higher levels of investment to projects, lay groundwork for more money to flow to sectors that have been neglected by investors, and help improve terms at which those receiving funds can access them.
8) Indian youth wins UN award for social entrepreneurship:
Varun Arora from India is among 10 people from around the world selected for a prestigious United Nations award in recognition of their work as entrepreneurs and use of technology to change the world. The recipients of the 10 Young Innovators Competition organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom come from a wide range of countries including India, Uganda and Vietnam and have worked on diverse issues such as marine protection, reduction of food waste and immigration. Arora created ‘Open Curriculum’, an online platform for local educational material for standard, primary and secondary schooling.
9) How to set up a social enterprise curriculum in a university:
Everybody agrees that universities play a key role in fostering future social entrepreneurs. But despite the widespread interest in finding, funding and supporting social entrepreneurs in higher education, embedding social entrepreneurship in the curriculum remains a key challenge.
Southampton University in UK has launched an interdisciplinary module in Social Enterprise, which is open to students of all year groups and across all disciplines. The module has been a year in the making and there has been a steep learning curve. Pathik Pathak, a lecturer in sociology and director of undergraduate programs at the University of Southampton offers tips for success.a