Had a busy week in school and was trying to recover from the cold and all, but last week I decided to make time to attend a few lectures sponsored by the International Week. I-Week this year was a tremendous success, from the keynote speech by Lewis, a Canadian working with the UN on Human Rights Issues to the 50 over lectures they sponsored ending with a concert titled Igniting the Human Spirit. No, I didn't volunteer for the event, but I made time attending six of the lectures, all of which have put me in a deep reflection mode in the last few days, thinking about the severe condition humanity is in today especially in underdeveloped and developing countries.
One of the lectures which stood out to me and I think, have made a difference in how I want to live my life in the future was entitled
'Social Entrepreneurship.' To be honest, this is a new concept to me, and it is fairly new in the business world as well. But think along the lines of 'social justice,' and 'corporate social responsibility' and then think 'social entrepreneurship.' Because this is such a new concept even in North America, there is no exact definition yet. But the CCSE (Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship) coined it as such:
Social Entrepreneurs aim to work for the collective, social good while still attempting to make a profit.And, experts such as Gregory Dees' have outlined the Five Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs:
1. Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value
2. Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission
3. Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning
4. Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand
5. Exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and to the outcomes createdAfter attending the lecture and reading up on it, my own understanding of a social entrepreneur is as such:
A social entrepreneur is guided by a mission in life, and that is to enhance the livelihood of humanity in the world. And by holding this mission, she would use her skills and resources in ways that would attain the larger goal. There is no clear cut definition of what she would do, however, this passion in wanting social justice for people would permeate into helping the community through creating employment, goods or services that would benefit in the development of the community.I'm a 4-day old believer in social entrepreneurship, so forgive me for the loose coining of the term. However, I have always felt called to serve people especially in the underdeveloped and developing countries who are living lives without the necessary means to survival; food, water, shelter and clothing. The world is moving so fast in development that we have left others behind, especially so with the borderless world that we are in today. Globalization comes with a heavy price tag of moving in the direction of free trade and efficiency, and in such, turning a blind eye to countries who have not made it, who does not have the means to catch up. Countries like Africa is in such a large complex economic and political dilemma that even UN can't solve those problems. However, there is a need for developed countries to realize that humans are all the same - we are of the same race - all equal - all equally human. So, we need to bend down to the level of others and offer a hand to guide them up to their feet. And well, being in a Commerce program had pointed me in the direction of profit profit profit for the company, shareholders that it has made me think so much that, "Is this really the field for me?" And I think this idea of Social Entrepreneurship has really helped me consolidate my interest in the business world with helping the world. I am so moved by the whole concept and this whole weeks' lectures that I feel that I want to do something to help humanity, and I think I will. The only question that remains is to figure out how to.
ps. click on the title to the link to CCSE
