The young generation transitioning from the classroom ranks is continuing to show the world that they are seeking more than just money from their working years. Many of us are looking for fulfillment from our careers, and a raison d’etre that we can be proud off. These shifts are influencing the culture of new businesses, perhaps shaping them for the better.
Social entrepreneurship, as I learned recently, is a term for business with a conscience. Distinguishing itself from traditional companies, a social enterprise’s primary goal is to bring about a social benefit and an improvement to society, that results in a positive externality. Unlike NGOs, charities, and non-profits however, a social enterprise still strives to earn yields and returns from its operations, but this acts as a secondary objective rather than being at the helm of things. Such an approach is refreshing, and a welcomed change from the heartless ways of past businesses, relentlessly focused on maximizing profits at the cost of cannibalizing the environment and squeezing employees to their limits in the name of efficiency. Examples of existing social ventures include the famous Grameen Bank in Bangladesh that extended micro-credit loans to the poor, and Corsera, a website little more than a year old trying to make world-class university lectures available for free on the internet using MOOCs (massive open online courses). It is difficult to imagine such businesses being conceived forty years ago considering the mindset that was predominant back then. Remarkably, social enterprise has shown potential to deliver new services that will benefit our quality of life collectively without excluding the poor by using novel and ingenious ways to finance themselves.
While some socially responsible companies have managed to be viable without compromising their mission statements, others have had a more difficult time ignoring money constraints. One big reason is that current government policies and tax-laws are designed for traditional businesses. Applying the same rules to social endeavors is an oversight that does not acknowledge the positive impact and good these companies are trying to create. If we want to encourage social ventures, we need changes to policy and appropriate tax-breaks that cater to this different way of doing business. By providing the right incentives, maybe a time will come where a majority of companies will become socially responsible entities.
Reckless Pineapple 