Entrepreneurs, as a norm, start new businesses solely to make money. With changing times, there has emerged something known as social entrepreneurship. This is because several people have shifted focus from merely accumulating profits to social responsibility leading them to create social startups.
Here, we’ll go over what social entrepreneurship is all about, what roadblocks social entrepreneurs face, and what are some of their aims.
Long-term Aims of Social Startups:
1. Making the World a Better Place:
When you are a social organisation investing time and resources for creating a social impact, undoubtedly making the world a better place would be the primary aim. The newer generation among the workforce are not afraid to flaunt their sustainable credentials – thus leading to the increase of social startups with these aims.
2. Lending All a Voice:
Social startups are a great way to air genuine grievances, particularly on sensitive topics such as racism and other forms of social injustice.
A multicultural set of employees enriches companies with different experiences, backgrounds and viewpoints. Not only that, practising diversity in the hiring process is a great way to attract new talent they would have otherwise been filtered out.
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3. Gives the Organisation Purpose:
Having a plan for creating social impact with regards to your business model serves to paint your organisation in a positive light. It helps to bridge the gap between the why and the how in making the world a better and more equitable place.
At the end of the day, social startups are all about going the extra mile and creating a lasting impact on people’s lives.
Potential Obstacles in the Path of Social Entrepreneurship:
1. Lack of Innovation:
As is the case with any other sector, there needs to be a degree of innovation in social entrepreneurship too. However, as investors almost exclusively evaluate success with impact metrics from traditional businesses, there is a distinct lack of incentives for innovation in social startups.
2. Inconsistent Access to Capital:
Investors with focus on monetary returns can hamper the viability of social startups, as these organizations tend to focus on the greater good, and appeal to the altruistic nature of their investors. This leads to the scenario where social startups face pressure to deliver returns over prioritizing social change.
3. Conflicting Agendas:
With regards to social startups, investors may appreciate the efforts of a social entrepreneur, but still may attempt to push their priorities as well. These entrepreneurs then have to face the possibility of diluting their model to favour the investors over their social aims.
Finding the right balance between social purpose and commercial viability is a tricky situation most social startups find themselves in.
Conclusion:
The world we live in slowly awakening to many social issues such as climate change, gender disparity, racial discrimination among others. Social entrepreneurship can be a handy tool that can aid in ending these injustices and make the world a better place. Being a social entrepreneur is the core ideal of the business and not something which is kept on the sidelines.
