How to become A Social Entrepreneur

A quintessential Social Entrepreneur makes everybody feel like somebody. They are mission-driven individuals who deliver social value through an entrepreneurially-oriented entity that is financially independent, self-sufficient, and sustainable.

• Altruistic Entrepreneur

What do Social Entrepreneurs do?

A Social Entrepreneur would typically need to:

• Be a visionary who adopts a mission to create and sustain social value
• Recognize and relentlessly pursue opportunities to further the mission by reiterating the importance of institutionalizing social value
• Drive forward the social objective by effectively utilizing the social capital of the organization
• Create a sense of shared commitment and co-ownership in relevant social actors
• Nurture and adopt steward leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, and responsible leadership
• Integrate the value orientation of both leaders and society by identifying a common goal of governance
• Focus on creating and fostering positive community and stakeholder relations by adopting a balanced and rational approach, where the needs of all parties are equally important
• Ensure the commercial viability of the business while forming business strategies that will uphold the organization’s social vision
• Constantly realign strategic choices made at the commercial level with the organization’s social vision
• Engage in the process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning while acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand
• Exhibit a heightened sense of accountability to the investors, employees, volunteers, direct beneficiaries, community, and society for the outcomes created
• Demonstrate social impact and complete transparency of the enterprise

Social Entrepreneurs may spend their time between the office, the field, meeting investors, and clients. Collared shirts, well-fitting pants and suits are the usual norms, unless otherwise specified.

While many follow a standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 40-hour workweek, Entrepreneurs find themselves working at odd times of the day, many times more than 40 hours per week.

You don’t have to launch a whole new venture to build a social entrepreneurship career. You can join an existing social enterprise aligned with your interests and passions, or work in an organization dedicated to advancing the field.

Social Entrepreneurs are generally employed by:

• For-Profit Companies
• Social Enterprises
• Non-Profit Organizations

Professional associations and organizations are a key resource for Social Entrepreneurs interested in pursuing professional development or connecting with like-minded professionals in their industry or occupation. Membership in one or more looks great on your resume to bolster your credentials and qualifications as a Social Entrepreneur.

• Cash flow
• HR
• Scaling
• Raising equity

Working in the private sector early on in your career might be a great way to build career capital to have more impact later. Most prospective Social Entrepreneurs should have the opportunity to complete an approved local, domestic, or international Social Entrepreneurship-related internship in a business or social organization during the course of their bachelor’s program.

A major or minor in Social Entrepreneurship should include several hands-on learning experiences, including immersion experience: exposure to critical cultural, social, political, and structural issues in the community through the weekend and week-long projects of civic and community engagement; global experience through participating in a semester abroad or international field study program; and design thinking by applying cutting-edge problem-solving techniques to help local organizations improve operations and magnify social impact.

Graduates should enter the workforce with an entrepreneurial mindset and social leadership skills desired by all varieties of organizations, including business firms, nonprofit organizations, and public-private joint ventures. Graduate certificate programs are available online and in regular classrooms. The requirements include a completed undergraduate degree with a minimum "B" average and experience in the nonprofit sector.

Certification demonstrates competency in a skill or set of skills, typically through work experience, training, the passage of an examination, or some combination of the three. Successful certification programs serve and protect the public welfare by investigating Social Entrepreneurs that practice outside of the program’s Code of Ethics. They help a profession secure its future by earning trust and respect.

Regardless of whether Social Entrepreneurs align themselves with a non-profit, a for-profit, or a hybrid organization, they have to be risk-takers who surround themselves with a quality team to provide the balance needed to start, build, and scale up the enterprise. When they pursue a passion relentlessly, the rest of the pieces will fall into place eventually, notwithstanding the career path they come from. While making their voices and perspectives heard loud and clear, Social Entrepreneurs should be mindful of their business models and this will enable them to gain the sustainability necessary to bring about the necessary change. Social Entrepreneurs need to find a career that makes them happy, gives them a sense of fulfillment, and is in line with their passions. The money will follow. The rewards far outweigh the costs of taking the entrepreneurial jumps that few are daring enough to take.

The job prospects for Social Entrepreneurs or leaders looking to build, run, and scale social enterprises already started are very good. There are very few organizations that are growing to a national or international scale. There is a need for leaders who will make them successful beyond the start-up phase, someone who might not start an organization from scratch, but instead pilot a new facet of an existing agency.

Social Entrepreneurs need independent financial sustainability to get their ventures off the ground and keep them operating in a viable manner. Intermediaries like Social Venture Network provide resources, tools and training, and a broader community to support Social Entrepreneurs and their ventures.

Social Entrepreneurs often turn to funders to help get their ventures off the ground and scale them up. Venture capital (VC) funds provide equity capital to ventures. Many traditional VC firms have a social or environmental branch with funds dedicated solely to social and environmental causes, such as the KPCB Green Growth Fund. Venture philanthropy firms like the Acumen Fund apply business and venture capital strategies to sustainable social causes.

Incubators like Global Social Benefit Incubator (GBSI) help Social Entrepreneurs develop their business ideas and provide training, mentors, and seed funding. Crowdfunding platforms like Causes.com crowdsource funding for organizations directly from individuals. Government agencies support social entrepreneurship by providing information on social problems, enabling innovation with resources, and rewarding success.

For-Profit/Non-Profit/Hybrid Social Enterprises

Social entrepreneurship is not so much a career as a calling. The organization strives to survive through independent financial sustainability. For-profit social enterprises put mission before profits. Nonprofits pursue earned income strategies that leverage the organization’s excess capacity and capability. Hybrid social enterprises use this legal structure to expand potential revenue streams.

The Trail-Blazers

The organizations started by Social Entrepreneurs come in all permutations: nonprofit models like Hot Bread Kitchen, generate income from their activities to sustain the organization. They are less dependent on supplemental funding from grants and donations.

For-profit companies with a social mission like Honest Tea have a social or environmental mission embedded in their business model. These companies measure themselves by a double (financial and social) or triple (financial, social, and environmental) bottom line. Some go as far as to write these missions into their legal structure via emerging models like the B Corporation.

Hybrid structures emerge when a for-profit business and a related non-profit organization are directly linked. One entity is essential to the other’s operation, as with Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation.

Impact of Social Entrepreneurship

Opportunity recognition is one of the attributes of Social Entrepreneurs. Social Entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector. They create social, cultural, and environmental change through the use of entrepreneurial principles. Social Entrepreneurs make a difference while making money.

Social Entrepreneurs comprise only five percent of all the entrepreneurs in the world.

Being any kind of entrepreneur is inherently risky, but Social Entrepreneurs often go even further, tackling intractable problems in ways never before tried. You should be comfortable failing quickly and frequently (and bouncing back), being resourceful, and having an unpredictable career path. Measuring the performance of a social enterprise is much more complex than it is for a commercial business, which can simply measure financial success. Measuring and monetizing lives saved, quality of life increased, and environmental damage mitigated (among other impacts), while possible, are exceedingly difficult to achieve and can only be measured in terms of the sense of fulfillment a job well done brings.

Don’t be afraid to share an idea that gets your heart pumping, no matter how half-baked it may be, no matter how much resistance it meets. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If your heart is in the right place, you’ll find that people are not only happy to help, but that inviting someone into your effort to matter allows them to matter, too. Don’t be afraid of being afraid. Fear is the gateway to better. Don’t be afraid to look stupid. Stupidity is bravery in disguise.