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How to be a (Successful) Socially Conscious Entrepreneur

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Are you a Social Entrepreneur?

Here's a definition from Wikipedia..."A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society. While social entrepreneurs often work through nonprofits and citizen groups, many work in the private and governmental sectors.

The main aim of a social entrepreneurship as well as social enterprise is to further social and environmental goals. Although social entrepreneurs are often non-profits, this need not be incompatible with making a profit. Social enterprises are for 'more-than-profit,' using blended value business models that combine a revenue-generating business with a social-value-generating structure or component."

But you may also just be a regular business person who wants to infuse more purpose and social impact into your current for-profit organization.

If you're resonating with any of these definitions, you're in the right place.

The Triple (or Quadruple) Bottom Line

More than just PROFIT

It used to be that if you conducted business, the only thing you needed to care about was your profit margin. We used to call this "The Bottom Line."

Now, people are recognizing that a triple bottom line of People-Planet-Profit is much more sustainable. And watching out for all stakeholders (rather than just SHAREholders) is a more socially conscious, and ultimately, profitable, place to be.

Some folks are even starting to tout a quadruple bottom line; adding 'Purpose' to the mix.

So how do you track your success across all these different aspects of business? Like anything else, you first have to have MEASURABLE goals. And before you create those, you need to be clear about your Purpose.

Getting Started

Clarity is Power!

If you are thinking of starting a social enterprise or are a current business owner and are looking to create a more socially conscious business, you're in the right place.

The first thing you need to have before you start is Clarity. Clarity about your purpose, vision and mission. This is the foundation on which you will build your success over time, so you want to make sure it's a solid one.

Take your time and do some inner reflection. What do you feel called to do? What specific change are you trying to create? What would the world look like if you were successful?

Write down what comes up for you and continue to refine this until you feel confident that you could explain it to a total stranger.

For more on Purpose, see "It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For" (listed below).

Be Inspired

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Great Examples of Social Enterprises

Learn more from people who are actually DOING it.
Peace Works, LLC
Since its beginnings in 1994, PeaceWorks Holdings LLC has been a business that pursues both profit and peace. We pursue profit through our sales of healthful food products that are produced by neighbors on opposing sides of political or armed conflicts, whose cooperative business ventures we facilitate. We pursue peace through the support of our PeaceWorks Foundation and the One Voice Movement. We donate 5 percent of all profits to empower the moderates in the Middle East who want a peaceful end to the war through a two-state solution.
Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of "Grameen Bank" and its Managing Director, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder."
Greyston Bakery
Greyston Bakery is a force for personal transformation and community economic renewal. They operate a profitable business, baking high quality gourmet products with a commitment to customer satisfaction.

Greyston Bakery provides a supportive workplace offering employment and opportunity for advancement. Their profits contribute to the community development work of the Greyston Foundation.
Better World Books
Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than two million new and used titles in stock, they're a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all stakeholders.
B Corporation
B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Corporations are unlike traditional responsible businesses because they:

+ Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards.
+ Institutionalize stakeholder interests.
+ Build collective voice through the power of a unifying brand.

Planning for Success

Get your Social Business Plan in Place

Besides the fact that you'll need a written document if you want to get funding for your business, a business plan will also help ensure the sustainability of your enterprise.

If you've never written a business plan before, you can get a great template from the SCORE website (http://www.score.org).

The thing you're going to want add to this business plan is how your enterprise will impact other bottom lines (as discussed above).

Typically, mainstream business plans mainly discuss the financials and marketing efforts of the company or nonprofit. But you will want to also outline your goals for impacting people (your employees, vendors, the community, etc.) and the planet (how you will lessen your environmental impact).

Planning Tools

These are free tools to help you plan for your success as a social entrepreneur
SeedCo's Business Planning Toolkit
This section will guide you through the assessment of your organization's capacity and mission, as well as your business plan's viability. There are several electronic tools you can download.
Root Cause's Guide to Business Planning for Social Impact
Applies the strategic rigor and financial savvy of traditional private-sector business planning to social problem solving.

Social Goodies: Where Business and Evolution Intersect

Tools and advice for the socially conscious business owner

Blog by Tea Silvestre, principal of Social Good Consulting
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Best Blog Posts for the Social Entrepreneur

Read more about what's happening in the world of social enterprise.
Top 10 Ways to Get Involved with Social Entrepreneurship
Tips about getting started.
By the Numbers
Statistics about social entrepreneurship.
Important Funders for Social Enterprise
These are the top folks investing in social enterprise.

Important Organizations for the Socially Conscious Entrepreneur

Websites for more info and networking with social enterprise leaders.
Social Enterprise Alliance
The only member organization in North America to bring together the diverse field of social enterprise. It serves as advocate for the field, hub of information and education, and builder of a vibrant and growing community of social enterprises.
Ashoka - For Public Innovators
Ashoka is the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs-men and women with system changing solutions for the world's most urgent social problems.
The Skoll Foundation
The Skoll Foundation drives large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world's most pressing problems.
Social Edge - By Social Entrepreneurs, For Social Entrepreneurs®
Social Edge is the global online community where social entrepreneurs and other practitioners of the social benefit sector connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources.
Social Enterprise Institute
The Social Enterprise Institute is a not-for-profit organization which offers social sector leaders unique opportunities to develop the skills and networks needed for implementing successful social enterprises. The Institute not only helps organizations develop "triple bottom line" income streams but supports the "shift in paradigm" which is often necessary to get and deploy new resources.

Consultants Who Can Help You

Short list of social enterprise experts.
Social Good Consulting
Provides strategic business and marketing planning (P-3 Business Plans) and implementation; market research and feasibility studies; public relations and communications services to not-just-for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies who are operating or want to start up a social enterprise.
Social Enterprise Associates
Offers business acumen, managerial experience, financing opportunities, and practical research to business and community efforts seeking social good. Fosters 'triple bottom line' solutions supporting entrepreneurs, their organizations, and the industries in which they operate.
Social Enterprise Group
Provides business planning, feasibility studies, market analysis, strategic planning and associated services to nonprofits, businesses, philanthropic organizations and government agencies who are conducting, or considering, a social enterprise.

Books for the Social Entrepreneur

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Higher Education for the Social Enterpreneur

List of top educational programs in the U.S. for the social enterpreneur.
Center for the Advancement of Social Enterprise (at Duke University)
A research and education center based at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) promotes the entrepreneurial pursuit of social impact through the thoughtful adaptation of business expertise.
Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University
Building on the core competencies of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Center is uniquely suited to inspire and foster social change. The Center builds capacity on multiple levels-discovering and disseminating knowledge, building skills and competencies, and supporting individuals to see themselves as agents of change.
The Skoll Center for Entrepreneurship at Oxford's SAID School of Business
Committed to nurturing the social entrepreneurs of tomorrow and as part of their provision of innovative business education, they train MBA students concerned about social change to apply entrepreneurial approaches to social problems.
The Lewis Institute at Babson College
The Lewis Institute builds on Babson's early and continuing initiatives in globally responsible leadership and social entrepreneurship, and the bold vision of Alan E. Lewis, chairman and CEO of Grand Circle Corporation-connecting teaching, action, and research that encourages and enables entrepreneurs with a social mission.
Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center (PSGERC)
The Idealist.org Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center (PSGERC) is designed to help anyone considering the many ways to connect their educational options with their future social change careers. By providing easily accessible advice and guidance about the graduate education landscape, the PSGERC works as an online extension of the face-to-face connections made at our Idealist Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good.

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teasilvestre

Self-described Cultural Change Strategist and Principal of Social Good Consulting, Tea is widely recognized as a defining voice in the emerging field... more »

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