| Imagine you waking up one day with an idea of | | | | debate. |
| directing your business skills towards uplifting the | | | | Across the world, there are more and more startups |
| profile of a social issue by deploying capital, skills and | | | | with the capacity to invent new products and |
| management. While mitigating the social issues, you | | | | services that are revolutionary to the needs of the |
| reap profit as a bottom line; obviously, you are a | | | | poor and at the same time commercially viable to a |
| social entrepreneur. Social entrepreneurs may | | | | business. The missing link is, how do we direct this |
| establish their startups to achieve their emancipating | | | | idea or invention to those who need them most? For |
| objective or restructure their existing business to fit | | | | the established big firms or multinationals, this wont |
| this profile. | | | | be a big problem. With their established names and |
| In the west and other advanced economies, more | | | | marketing/distribution infrastructure, they can |
| and more companies are being driven to direct their | | | | penetrate the market. Who comes to the aid of the |
| capital towards social issues by their shareholders. | | | | small social entrepreneur? |
| The remarkable result of this new 21st century | | | | States in developing coherent policies on poverty |
| phenomenon has contributed more to changes in the | | | | alleviation should recognize the role that can be |
| economic empowerment of the poor. Take for | | | | played by social entrepreneurs and as such have a |
| example the manual windup mobile phone charger; a | | | | mechanism in place to identify innovations that work |
| simple cheap device making use of basic long existing | | | | inline with projects on ground. Take for example, the |
| technology, but has become indispensable in the | | | | one computer per child idea. There was a product (a |
| expansion of mobile phone coverage to the most | | | | hand windup rechargeable laptop costing $100 each), |
| remote places in the world were access to electricity | | | | but needed a market to make it viable, for that |
| is non existent or intermittent at best. | | | | market to be activated, countries like Nigeria did then |
| For most people, the success of micro-finance banks | | | | ordered about a million of such computers at a time. |
| and the makeover effect on the face of commerce | | | | This volume would have helped reduced cost of |
| in the communities were they operate should draw in | | | | production per system and guaranteed a continuous |
| a great deal of debate on whether the scaling down | | | | flow-out to more beneficiaries. The pilot project |
| of non-emergency aid for social investments may be | | | | showed that children who had these computers had |
| the best way to draw out a society from it's circle | | | | a remarkable change of attitude to learning, an |
| of poverty. | | | | interest in the sciences and technology was aroused |
| Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) were the | | | | and the computers became an indispensable aid to |
| face of development aid in the last century. They | | | | teaching in various subjects. |
| channeled private and public donations towards | | | | Profit is a motivating propellant that can bring on |
| emergency relief, stabilization of communities | | | | board the long term commitment of the best hands |
| recovering from crisis situations and also providing | | | | to actualize an objective, it speeds up growth and |
| technical support and finance towards developmental | | | | orientates the mind towards attaining results, if social |
| projects. Now how much developmental projects | | | | issues are addressed as a consequence, then this |
| must NGOs engage in without depleting the influence | | | | may not be a bad strategy to throw more support |
| of the state or undermining the capacity of the locals | | | | behind. So state development planners can create |
| from being independent resource wise anytime soon? | | | | the patronage and enabling environment to motivate |
| This has been a recurring question and subject of | | | | the growth of this new industry. |