In Melissa's post about "Sustainable Methods to Poverty Alleviation" she spoke about SAP's investment in organizations that aim to develop responsible and sustainable social enterprises. I appreciate how she pointed out this poverty alleviation trend of not only creating entrepreneurs in impoverished areas but also ensuring that these enterprises are able to grow and able to address a social problem. This trend seems to bank on a chain reaction effect where the poverty intervention complicates the donor-beneficiary relationship. Those who receive assistance are also encouraged to extend their help to society in another way. I like how this intervention creates a culture where everyone is involved in solving social solutions, but I wonder if it also creates pressure on entrepreneurs to work harder at creating a social angle to their business in order to get funding. Is this added social mission more of a benefit or a burden?
My practice experience also works in line with this entrepreneurship solution to poverty. I am working with Gawad Kalinga a organization that deals with poverty alleviation in the Philippines through community development. It has recently engaged in a social entrepreneurship program where impoverished community members in a site called the GK Enchanted Farm are partnered with young entrepreneurs to design and develop socially responsible business models. For example, Bambike is a business that sells fair trade bicycles made out of natural bamboo. This makes the business creates sustainable livelihood for the people in the community, but it is also environmentally sustainable by using naturally grown parts.
This trend may be growing because it seems to be easier to create more responsible and sustainable business models for budding enterprises because they tend to be more flexible than larger companies with fixed business models and stable infrastructures. But with the many enterprises like this popping up all over the world, how many of them are really able scale up and create a lasting change in their community? Another question to think about is who determines what "social problems" are worth pursuing by any enterprise. Would it be the call of the community members, the entrepreneurs who work with them, or the corporations who invest in their initial funding?
-- Dominique Martinez
My practice experience also works in line with this entrepreneurship solution to poverty. I am working with Gawad Kalinga a organization that deals with poverty alleviation in the Philippines through community development. It has recently engaged in a social entrepreneurship program where impoverished community members in a site called the GK Enchanted Farm are partnered with young entrepreneurs to design and develop socially responsible business models. For example, Bambike is a business that sells fair trade bicycles made out of natural bamboo. This makes the business creates sustainable livelihood for the people in the community, but it is also environmentally sustainable by using naturally grown parts.
This trend may be growing because it seems to be easier to create more responsible and sustainable business models for budding enterprises because they tend to be more flexible than larger companies with fixed business models and stable infrastructures. But with the many enterprises like this popping up all over the world, how many of them are really able scale up and create a lasting change in their community? Another question to think about is who determines what "social problems" are worth pursuing by any enterprise. Would it be the call of the community members, the entrepreneurs who work with them, or the corporations who invest in their initial funding?
-- Dominique Martinez
Hi Dominique! I'm actually moving to Guatemala after graduation to work with a neat social entrepreneurship non-profit called Community Enterprise Solutions - you should look them up and read up their unique model, which they call MicroConsignment! Instead of providing funding for local entrepreneurs to create their own "budding enterprises," CE Solutions provides their entrepreneurs with a sort of "business in a bag model," providing them with that fixed business model and stable infrastructure but giving them the flexibility to adapt that model as necessary within their own communities. You can learn more on the org's website: http://www.cesolutions.org.
ReplyDeleteNikki Brand
GPP Peer Advisor