Ivey Social Enterprise Bootcamp
A short while ago, the HBA Student Association Environmental Committee hosted a Social Enterprise Bootcamp with special guest speaker Farouk Jiwa. Farouk is the Director of CARE Enterprise Partners, a recently established unit of CARE Canada seeking lasting solutions to poverty through market-based approaches designed to unleash entrepreneurship in developing countries. He is the Co-Founder and Director of Honey Care Africa, an innovative and award-winning Fair Trade private sector Social Enterprise working with over 9,000 households promoting sustainable rural community-based apiculture across Eastern Africa.
Farouk’s most recent achievements include being recognized as one of the “Most Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs” by the Schwab Foundation at the World Economic Forum (2005). Farouk has served as an international jury member of the Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (SEED) Awards funded by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN (2005), and received the Equator Prize in 2006 and the inaugural Canadian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007. He is also a guest lecturer at a number of universities and business schools across North America, instructor for the AKF Internship in Microfinance and Micro enterprise (IMM) Fellowship Program funded by CIDA of the Government of Canada from 2006-8, and a member of the Coady International Institute’s Markets and Livelihoods Advisory Group at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada since 2008.
During the one hour event, Farouk explained what is possible in the area of social enterprise, and spoke to the impact of social enterprise on business thinking and practice. A social enterprise is a non-profit venture combining the passion of a social mission with the discipline, innovation and determination commonly associated with for profit businesses. Overall, a social enterprise has five characteristics:
Social Purpose: Generates social impact or change by solving a social problem.
Enterprise Approach: Uses the same approaches and strategies as a for-profit business.
Innovation: Can be new combination, or a variation on an existing business model.
X-Factor: Zeal, commitment, vision, determination.
Ownership/Accountability: Focus on public good/stewardship.
Farouk went on to explain the three types of social enterprise. They can be set up as for-profits, like the case of Gone Rural which supports women artisans and their communities through health and education programs in rural Swazi (http://www.goneruralswazi.com/). They can be true non-profits, like Barefoot College which addresses problems of drinking water, education, income generation and social awareness in rural communities (http://www.barefootcollege.org/). Or, they can be ‘networks’ which combine elements of for-profit and not-for-profits, like the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) which is a group of development agencies with mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, the promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities (http://www.akdn.org/).
Farouk spoke to the challenges faced by social enterprises, “They are too ‘soft’ for venture capitalists, but too ‘hard’ for grants – and so they fall between the cracks; we need to shift the mindset of donors. Canadian taxpayers will donate to charities that aren’t necessarily making huge changes, but will not donate to for-profit enterprises that deliver real value and social change.”
In the one hour “bootcamp” Farouk was able to only briefly describe social enterprise, but stated that Ivey students could be first movers in this innovative new area. Social entrepreneurs are becoming more and more popular, and are experiencing great success. For more information on social enterprise at the Richard Ivey School of Business, contact the Ivey Entrepreneurship Team at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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