Building a mindset of social entrepreneurship could be a starting point. A simple change along with steadfast self belief to bring about a sustainable change can cause a tsunami of positive impact in the lives of millions. Empathy and passion can make a sustainable impact in the world, driven not just by a few of us.
Many of us envision a world that is poverty free – a world free from gender biases, diseases and hunger. We are often driven to make a lasting change. But how many of us actually transform this vision into a tangible action? How exactly are we choosing to leave our footprints in this world?
We have world organizations, philanthropists, social workers and other change makers leading these missions. But how do we bring in the positive impact on the maximum lives at a very fundamental level?
Let us look closely into the mindset of a social entrepreneur. A social entrepreneur attempts to solve the most critical problems of the society by using their entrepreneurial skills and talents and also improvise his or her models in the long run by applying the best of their or learned business practices.
Solving these urgent issues and problems afflicting the society in a practical way is the need of the hour. By sustainable way, we mean that the goal here is clearly not only to earn monetary benefits, but also to have a meaningful and lasting impact on the society.
There are plenty of ways to encourage this mindset that uses the best of creative thinking and problem solving abilities. It will lead to tangible actions and returns. The best way is to encourage, promote and nurture young talent . Along with that, empathy, social good, sharing and encouraging good deeds such values should be inculcated in the mentoring program.
Not only young talent, even small and medium enterprises too can play a critical role, that of change agent by way of leveraging their innovative and persistent effort and dynamic leadership which is inclusive towards all the stakeholders. Creating cultures and ecosystems where such mindsets thrive is very important. Creativity, innovation, problem solving and sustainability -these skills must converge to promote the greatest social sustainable cause.
Understanding the needs which can be addressed in a manner that can uplift lifestyles, cultures, mindsets and people are very critical in social entrepreneurship. In all these , collaboration plays a major role to maximize the impact. The addressable solutions can be in any form and apply in different domain of interest; Health, wellness, education for all, supporting the business of the lesser privileged class, affordable utilities, public transport, empowerment of women and skill development of the youth.
Beginning with issues close to your heart in any small way paves the path for a bigger way. Being flexible and adaptive to the current issues at hand along the way ensures that needs are addressed effectively and efficiently.
Following are the areas of impact that bring in the much needed change:
Impact investing wherein you pool in your investments and invest in meaningful ventures such as information transparency among the farmers or creating an employment ecosystem for the youngsters is an important way of having positive change.
Another way could be creation of information resources for investors interested to invest in profitable social ventures and also creation of database of social ventures and give insights on their model and profit horizon. Matching this information Gap could be critical in meeting the challenges.
Most entrepreneurs would agree that there are great opportunities that lie at the base of the pyramid. The challenges we face today can be turned into opportunities by bridging the information gap and aspiration gap.
Yet another way could be Encouraging Education by building sustainable models that encourage skills development and self dependence among the children and adults alike.
Sensitizing people and encouraging them to this way of thinking-the social entrepreneurship mindset- will yield positive results over a period of time.
We could begin with one agenda at a time. It could be anything from Clean energy solutions, Infrastructure, girls empowerment and addressing needs of orphans and aged people. There is no end to the possibilities of doing social good by the way of social entrepreneurship.
The idea of bringing a small, impactful change begins with an entrepreneurial vision. One such globally recognized example is to bring the micro credit facility to the rural poor in developing countries to solve the need and the scarcity of funding options.
These visions of social entrepreneurs affirm our belief that there exist goodness in all of us. We are all capable of bringing in the social change. In most cases it begins with bringing change in ourselves. The mindset of sustainable social good, that of a social entrepreneur is critical in achieving these visions.
Neha Singh is a postgraduate (Exec Prog) in Financial Markets from National Institute of Financial Markets. She is an entrepreneur and also holds a law degree. Previously, Neha has worked as an associate at a law firm. ...
