UPCOMING EVENT: Academy on Social & Solidarity Economy
Social innovation in the world of work
27 – 31 July 2015
Johannesburg
Click here to download information: Social Solidarity Economy
SABC News, Channel 404, interviews the team behind isabelo™
We believe that isabelo™ can transform public spaces into vibrant places where people can connect to each other and to the internet and in so doing affect positive change in our cities
See full interview on SABC News Network here:
So you’re a Social Entrepreneur…
…that’s great. But, before you book that ticket to the Skoll World Forum with a stack of business cards, investment briefs, and that gleam of hope in your eyes, let’s talk about what it means to really be a social entrepreneur.
It’s not fashionable, it’s bloody hard work
I’ve met a number of people that call themselves Social Entrepreneurs. It’s a great title. It’s an inspirational title. Yet, it’s also a title that you need to earn. Before the days of Social Entrepreneurship as a definitive field, you got two kinds of entrepreneurs: those that identified gaps in markets and created goods or services to service these gaps, the actual entrepreneur, and those who sat in their garage toiling away hours at night trying to get their super-soaker mop in local stores, the ones that called themselves entrepreneurs.
Social entrepreneurship suffers the same duality; those that call themselves social entrepreneurs, and those that really are entrepreneurial in their social interventions. Successful social entrepreneurs earn their titles. They’re the ones that are doing everything in their power to get their business operationally sound, and their impact measurable and provable. Most of them don’t have the luxury of attending every investment clinic, joining the next incubation programme, or attending the next global innovation summit, because they’re too busy making things work with very, very few resources. They only call themselves social entrepreneurs when they see things working. And so do I.
It’s nobody’s fault (although I think there are many stakeholders that have attributed to this problem); social entrepreneurship is very attractive for newcomers for various reasons, not least of it being the emotional reward for operating in this space. We’re always celebrating social entrepreneurship at any opportunity we get, we need to keep doing this. However, sometimes our celebrations could be a little premature. Perhaps it is because we are excited for all the activity; but still it’s difficult to find successful, high-impact, and financially sustainable social enterprises. In fact, those that are successful often go entirely uncelebrated and unnoticed because they don’t even call themselves social enterprises. They are the ones for whom achievement is more important than awards and recognition.
Want to meet a real social entrepreneur? Go to the ground
In South Africa our social entrepreneurship sector is guilty of being too top-heavy. The space developed quickly since it started taking hold in the early-2000’s. Incubation hubs, mentorship and acceleration programmes, investment funds, academic studies, and training programmes sprang up, seemingly overnight, to service a market segment that was still infantile. At most there were two or three handfuls of ‘social entrepreneurs’ for these services to help, and few of them could pay for the services. Even today, most funding to social enterprise support services are either through philanthropic giving, or subsidised by commercial activities on the part of the support organisation; and a lot of the assistance ends up building a good story for donors, not building solid enterprises that change things.
The entrepreneurs that really need the help of these support services are hard to find. This is for a number of reasons, including their lack of access to technology, a lack of free-time for self improvement, and more. Basically, they don’t have the time or resources to find support, networks, or finance. They’re just too busy making their enterprise work. They’re continually innovating their products and models because they have to; necessity is, after all, the mother of invention. Take almost any of the fresh, new grassroots entrepreneurs and you will see a certain degree of social entrepreneurial principle being applied. These are the entrepreneurs for whom failure often isn’t an option, they don’t have the luxurious safety nets that wealthier, ‘call themselves entrepreneurs’, entrepreneurs have.
One innovation a business does not make
Let’s get something straight here. If your social enterprise won’t work as a business, it’s probably not going to work, period. The business of your social enterprise is its heart-beat. For your social enterprise to be successful, you have to have a sound, strategic means of generating reliable income to finance your social interventions. If you don’t have that, you will suffer the same pitfalls of unpredictable, traditional, philanthropic giving. You’ll be on the receiving end of the same capital difficulties that charities suffer, and not having a feasible solution defeats the purpose of being enterprising. So be enterprising, make that business plan solid.
This is not to say your social interventions aren’t as important as your income strategy is; on the contrary, it’s a given that your interventions should be sound. As much as it is necessary to earn income through some market activity (the enterprise component), it’s just as important to have solid evidence of your impact (the social component). Whether you are sincere in your efforts or not, if your your enterprise isn’t proving its value proposition it’s is just applying a form of greenwashing.
This is what makes social entrepreneurship such hard work. It’s not as simple as purchase inputs, process, sell, count money. You have to make sure that the enterprise is solid, that it can adapt to changing markets and isn’t simply a ‘niche’ product or service that will die off in the next few months. Equally the social interventions also have to be measurable, driven by outcomes rather than processes, and ideally replicable.
So what the hell now? Is there really no steak to follow the sizzle?
Don’t get too disparaged yet! The point of this is not to make you feel inferior or scare off anyone wanting to be a social entrepreneur, but it is necessary to be aware of what it takes. Make sure you have a balance, and if you don’t know how to do it then get in touch with people that do. Entrepreneurs are expected to know and do everything themselves, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get help in. Just make sure the help you’re getting is the help you need; don’t expect an impact measurement specialist to help you with your income strategy. Think of yourself as a glorified project manager seeking the right resources to tackle the right problems. Most importantly though, keep at it. If it didn’t work the first time, go back and find out what didn’t work. Don’t hide your failures, engage with them, share them, and learn from them.
SA Innovation Summit Competitions 2015
From the South African Innovation Summit:
The 8th Annual Innovation Summit takes place from the 26th to the 29th of August this year, at the Cape Town Stadium. We would like to invite you or your team to enter the SA Innovation Summit Competitions 2015.
The Summit is proud to have two competitions for inventors, entrepreneurs and companies. Finalists will be awarded their prizes at the exciting Market on the Edge, happening alongside the Innovation Summit. A share of R100,000 in cash prizes is up for grabs. Both competitions opened on the 1st of March, and close on the 30th of June 2015.
For all information on the competitions and to enter visit the Invent and Pitch Page on the SA Innovation Summit website at http://www.innovationsummit.co.za/invent-pitch/
PITCHING DEN COMPETITION
Are you ready for the Pitching Den? Pitch to an experienced panel of judges, tap into different markets, and access expertise, advice and capital. There are two categories – Start-ups and the PwC Vision to Reality. Pitch for funding, incubation, IP consultation, distribution channels or support for your business! The Start-ups category calls for great concepts and early stage businesses. Emerging companies with tech-enabled solutions can enter the PwC Vision to Reality Category, which is for high growth businesses. These entrants should have a current turnover of R5 – 50 million. You can enter for both categories as many times as you like.
For any Pitching Den Competition enquiries contact Tshego on +27 12 844 0668 or pitch@innovationsummit.co.za
INVENTORS GARAGE COMPETITION
Are you an inventor crafting up a storm or is your business launching a new product? Do you have a proven concept, demo or prototype to showcase and it’s not commercialised or just been commercialised? Enter the Inventors’ Garage Competition online by uploading a photo of yourself and your invention and get immediate exposure for your product! Apart from the prizes, the finalists will enjoy free exhibition space allowing for networking opportunities with fellow inventors, investors, mentors and experts which can lead to possible deal-making! Vote for your favourite inventions on the SA Innovation Summit Facebook Page by liking the photos of the entries. R5000 cash to be won for t he entry with most likes!
For any Inventors Garage Competition enquiries contact Elzabe on +27 12 844 0670 or invent@innovationsummit.co.za.
SAB Foundation has 2 exciting positions available
SAB Foundation is an independent Trust founded in 2010 as one of three beneficiaries of the South African Breweries broad-based black economic empowerment transaction. The mandate of the Foundation as per the Trust Deed is “to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of historically disadvantaged communities through Community Development by means of Entrepreneurship Development with a priority focus on benefitting women and youth in rural areas as well as persons with disabilities”.
Job Description Social Innovation Programme Specialist Public
Job Description Tholoana Enterprise Programme Co-ordinator Public
Durban – Upcoming workshop: Things Textbooks Don’t Teach You: Leading Non-profits and Social Enterprises in South Africa
It’s on 14 May 2015, from 09:00 – 13:00. Cost R250/p
Register now for this Durban workshop here
The GIBS Network for Social Entrepreneurs (NSE) has joined forces with one of South Africa’s most experienced social leaders, Garth Japhet, to share lessons of leading a Non-profit in South Africa. Garth has 22 years’ experience starting and developing leading non-profits from Soul City and Heartlines to ForGood. He has declined funding for ethical reasons, built relationships where others have failed, scaled, failed and tried again.
During this half day workshop, Garth will unpack lessons learned and tackle issues that aren’t often recognised, including:
• How to deal with burnout and succession
• How to get your board, on-board
• How to build relationships where you manage your donors, not your donors manage you
• How to build a winning team that balances passion and performance
• How to deal with failure
Outcomes:
Participants will come out of the sessions with real world…
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PhD Social Enterprise Immersion Day
I’ve always been critical of the academic “heaviness” of the Social Entrepreneurship space, especially in South Africa. My criticism is often justified; anecdotal evidence suggests that there are more people researching social entrepreneurship than social entrepreneurs in the industry. My greatest concern is that academic research often happens in a vacuum, with little experience in, or understanding of, the real-world realities of social entrepreneurs. However, I was fortunate enough to be asked to organise a Social Entrepreneurship Immersion day for ~35 PhD-level researchers from the UK and South Africa. This day would form part of a week-long “Development Through Enterprise” programme, organised by Dr. Diane Holt (University of Essex Business School) and Dr. Eliada Griffin-EL (University of Cape Town GSB), and funded by the British Council.
