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frank0
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What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 7, 2007 - 10:42 PM
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A social entrepreneur identifies then solves social problems and changes. Just as business and economic entrepreneurs create and transform Enterprises a social entrepreneur acts as the agent of change for society, capitalizing on opportunities others did not exploit in order to create social value. What are the qualities that make a good social entrepreneur?
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Oliebol
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 7, 2007 - 11:49 PM
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Hey frank, good to see you on facebook. I can see that this is going to be extension to that conversation that we had on the chicken bus in Mexico. It was a good thing that I can’t sleep on buses  …. So….
Ok a Social entrepreneur is someone that identifies resources where people only see problems. So that means that they need to be a lateral thinker who can see the permutations of possibilities. Also a Social entrepreneur finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies move forward. So trust is an attribute that they must have, they need people to trust them so they need to have an abundance of integrity. There needs to be a fair amount of self belief, this is not to be confused with arrogance or self obsession a Social entrepreneur needs to have just the right amount of self belief this is used in identifying and solving large-scale social problems which requires a committed person with a vision linked with determination to persist in the face of daunting odds
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Joel
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 8, 2007 - 01:15 AM
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A good Social Entrepreneur is someone who is an experienced and successful business person.
Who brings the skills, techniques, and most importantly, efficient usage of available assets to address a social problem.
This post was edited on: 2007-07-08 at 01:16 AM by: Joel
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vas
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 8, 2007 - 01:16 AM
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In India ,there is a comapny called Hamdard pharma that gives 80% of its earnings to charity.
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Iris Lea
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 8, 2007 - 04:46 AM
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to me a social entrepreneur must be very careful not to tell people what he thinks is good but to ask the population what they need. That way he ll not influence them with his ideas or his culture (if he s not part of the population he helps, which is often the case)
Iris
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frank0
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 01:25 AM
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Nice work guys its good to see that there are so many people with an opinion on the subject. Its clear that everyone has a good idea of what a Social entrepreneur should be but how do you become one? Well Olie, you are some one that always struck me as a model social entrepreneur, the way that you are able to mobilize people and resources. What do you think it takes?
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Oliebol
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 03:31 AM
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To tell you honestly I never really considered my self to be a social entrepreneur, its always been a tag that other people have given me. I like to just do things! You know identify what the root cause is of a problem then look for a solution within the means of the project. I have no idea how you become a social entrepreneur… its kind of like pooooffff…shaazaaammm… your a social entrepreneur.
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Dennis Nyakundi Onguti
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 04:00 AM
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To start with i differ with the statement that they solve social problems. People in a community are the only ones that can solve their problems. The social entrepreneur can only facilitate this through capacity building programmes. In fact that is why many of the African countries are dying of poverty coz many organizations come up to solve people's problems but they end up creating and solving their problems and not the ones of the community.
Well, then the qualities of a good entrepreneur is one that seeks to empoer people within their contexts, using the community resources and putting the people first and not their projects. Building the dignity, identity and the confidence of people to handle their own issues.
More next time.
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Erick Ochieng Otieno
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 04:09 AM
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denyak2 wrote:
To start with i differ with the statement that they solve social problems. People in a community are the only ones that can solve their problems. The social entrepreneur can only facilitate this through capacity building programmes. In fact that is why many of the African countries are dying of poverty coz many organizations come up to solve people's problems but they end up creating and solving their problems and not the ones of the community.
Well, then the qualities of a good entrepreneur is one that seeks to empoer people within their contexts, using the community resources and putting the people first and not their projects. Building the dignity, identity and the confidence of people to handle their own issues.
More next time.
Very well said. It is possible to be a social; enterprenure but we should always remember that using the resources sustainably is the key to be a good social enterprenure.
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Anita
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 03:26 PM
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Hi all, Very interesting question. I personally think that social entrepreneurs have three distinct qualities, passion to bring about or influence change, they are restless beings constantly on the drive to develop strategies which innovatively solve complex social issues. Their relentless perseverence towards the same is the second trait and complete belief in their approach towards the identified problem. They are the need of the present times with more social conflict and disparities all over the world.
thanx
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Iris Lea
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 04:49 PM
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well as i said earlier i wish to be a social entrepereneur for africa even though i m not from there. I study its countries and populations since years. I have to be very careful not to influence too much but being french doesnt make me a bad social entrepreneur for africa, since i love the continent and it s people.
Love, tolerance and knowledge are the keys to me
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frank0
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 9, 2007 - 11:20 PM
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denyak2 - I was not inferring that a social entrepreneur is someone who comes externally from the community and imposes a solution upon a community. I also disagree that "People in a community are the only ones that can solve their problems". As sometimes the solution is bigger than what resources the community has available to it where as someone who comes from outside that community could be able to move the community past the impasses that has stoped them from solving the issue?
Olie - you are so unassuming sometime... what you do makes you a social entrepreneur! And it's not the fact that you are just involved in social entrepreneurship it's that you do it so well. Most social entrepreneurs are business leaders of large companies that have lots of power, money and connections behind them. Usually they have some sort of midlife crises and decide that it is time to stop exploiting people and start helping them, like Bill Gates or Richard Branson. You on the other hand are not powerful, wealthy or have great connections you have been a social entrepreneur from the get go, and that makes what you do real social entrepreneurship. For example your web projects back in the 1990s.
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Anita
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 10, 2007 - 12:18 AM
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I agree with Frank that communities essentially have the potential and internal capacity to solve their problems, social entrepreneurs need not necessarily be from outside the community though many a times endowed individuals create the systems needed to address the problems and bridge gaps. I also do not agree that such individuals are always facing mid-life crisis and have suddenly decided to participate in the social process of development. Their diverse and rich life experiences propel people to seek higher goals and contribute in more significant and lasting manner.
Several social entrepreneurs like Mohammad Yunis of Bangladesh have also worked steadily and over long -periods of time to redress pressing issues of poverty in their country. They also were not a part of the community/problem. Thus I would not generalise there are many examples of such inspiring individuals all over the world.
thanks
This post was edited on: 2007-07-10 at 12:21 AM by: Anita Rao
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Oliebol
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 10, 2007 - 03:26 AM
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Anita - I agree with you, Mohammad Yunis is a fine example of what social entrepreneurship is all about and that generalising is a bad thing. Often it is the uniqueness of the person's past experiences that allows them to see a solution that others before them didn't. Really all we often are is just the sum of our experiences, not the wealth and materials that we have acquired along the way.
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Oliebol
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Re: What makes a good Social Entrepreneur?
July 10, 2007 - 03:59 AM
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Frank - yes well there is that, all I can say is that there was not a lot of method in my madness. If you look at VibeWire, both Tom and Carl where both really switched on guys with a real plan and a whole heap of passion to go along with it. All I did was get the website side of things sorted, technical director of the founding team sounds really flashing but they just needed some one with a bit of tech knowledge. Back in the 1990s there where a lot less people that knew what they where doing with the web now it has become a lot more mainstream and therefore there are a lot more people doing great things with Social Justice and the internet. I spend my time now trying to assist with giving access to more people especially in developing countries. As far as the organisation side of thing behind Vibewire then introduce them to Cath at the foundation for young Australians the rest is just history. I guess that entrepreneurship comes into it as I was able to see the benefits of both groups working together and then I was able to sell it to them both. The same again with the National Youth Initiative, my youth roundtable work and the NYI congress' where about the same thing. Kosta was the guy who really got the whole thing organised I just got them the funding. Talking about projects how did the project in Mexico go?
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