June 19, 2009
Can Social-Entrepreneur Groups Be More Inclusive?
BusinessWeek declared this week a “bull market” for social entrepreneurs — nonprofit leaders and others who use business tactics to further social causes.
But several people recently have questioned how inclusive social-entrepreneurship groups and the donors that support them are and whether they are seeking the brightest and most enthusiastic employees.
Last month Rod Schwartz triggered a debate on the Social Edge Web site, which is operated by the Skoll Foundation, when he asked why conferences and experts on social entrepreneurship are dominated by people from “Anglo-Saxon countries.”
If “so many voices are Anglo-Saxon (like mine, I should confess), does this not hamper growth? Are we not limiting our access to innovative ideas to only those which might spring forth from an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ mindset?” wonders Mr. Schwartz, who is the chief executive of ClearlySo, a Web site that connects social enterprises with investors and donors.
This week Ashni Mohnot, director of education for Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, agreed with Mr. Schwartz and asked why the Skoll World Forum, the pre-eminent event about social entrepreneurship, is held in Oxford, Britain, making it difficult for people from Africa or Asia to attend.
On the Pop Tech Blog, a forum for discussing technology and ideas, she also writes that social-entrepreneur organizations create obstacles that prevent young people from joining their efforts. The groups are “in love with MBA’s,” offer no or little compensation to entry-level positions, and require at least five years of experience for jobs with significant responsibilities, she says.
“The field of social entrepreneurship, as currently structured, is tending to exclude from participation and representation the following: people without finance experience and/or MBA’s, young college students and recent graduates, the poor and disenfranchised, who form the very clientele of social ventures, and people of color and/or practitioners from countries other than the U.S. or the U.K.” Ms. Mohnot concludes. “That’s a pretty long laundry list of folks who could positively impact the field with their unique perspectives and expertise.”
What do you think? How can the social-entrepreneur groups — or other charities — be more inclusive?
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Social Enterprises are still businesses. I don’t know too many competative businesses that are also wholly inclusive.
As well to the point about the types of people who are attracted to social enterprise being only MBA’s or exclusionary to people who are “young college students and recent graduates, the poor and disenfranchised, who form the very clientele of social ventures, and people of color and/or practitioners from countries other than the U.S. or the U.K.” I couldn’t disagree more. People who start businesses (that is what a social enterprise is) have some sort of inclination towards business. I don’t have an MBA, and I have a rapidly growing business that is considered a social enterprise. Quite the opposite, I think that the fastest growing markets for social enterprises are in the “poorer” countries, because that type of economy is part of daily existence. Whole social systems are built in micro-social enterprises. All we have done in the “west” is take a model that is grassroots of putting our community first and adding modern bells and whistles.
Just a quick note,next month a group of young entrepeneurs are meeting in Italy for the first YE G8 conference with a focus on social enterprise, green technology. The G8 part is a misnomer – countries represented:
South Africa
Brazil
China
Japan
India
Canada
US
UK
Germany
Italy
France
— Gena Rotstein Jun 19, 11:09 AM #
The growth of social enterprise is exciting. For those of us that have been on this path for many years, this is our time.
That said, there are many left out, and that is sad.
Of course, the sector favors MBA’s, young professionals, and English speakers.
I am especially disappointed that there is no place for
1. Not-so-young Professionals
Lots of relevant experience and plenty of years left to participate.
2. Those with degrees that are not MBA’s, or not from the coveted schools, or no degrees.
Much of the skill-set asked for currently cannot be learned (creativity, entrepreneurship, empathy) – one’s nature and life experiences are of great value.
3. Multicultural and non-westerners.
This sector NEEDS the global perspective in order to succeed.
All of the enthusiasm and growth in the social enterprise sector will mean little if we look up in a few years and see that we recreated the closed-minded bureaucracies we are attempting to replace.
— L. Chris Jun 19, 01:03 PM #
Like so many things today, too much management.
I have build a number of social projects that function as a business, benefit all involved fairly and in a small way help end strife and hardship.
Nobody gets rich and all involved are much better off in many ways.
The trick is to run with less managers and more control by having everyone responsible.
— Doug McKay Jun 20, 09:19 AM #
I think part of the problem is the amount of attention and funding given to Western driven social ventures. Like many things there is an imbalance in this equation. We would do better to highlight (and find) ventures that are driven from the ground up by local groups. I think sites like NextBillion.net are doing some of this.
I agree with the comment above by L. Chris that the not so young are another group that is left out.
Whatever your stance on this, it wouldn’t hurt to push inclusiveness a bit more.
— Globalhealthideas.org Jun 20, 10:01 AM #
I agree with Ashni Mohnot, director of education for Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. Minds do not need degrees, money, age or a better address to create some of the best ideas to further social causes, they need access to opportunities to share their knowledge and wisdom.
— lynda parmely Jun 22, 10:44 AM #
Great post, and an important issue being raised over on PopTech. At the School for Social Entrepreneurs, we deliberately require no paper qualifications, and recruit on the basis of entrepreneurial characteristics. Alongside personal support + action-learning based development, this has led to a naturally diverse intake. For L.Chris, I would say that our eldest social entrepreneur has been 73, and we have no upper age limit.
See http://www.sse.org.uk for more.
— Nick Temple Jun 23, 05:00 AM #