I strongly believe that compassion, generosity, caring, social giving, sustainability can have a place in market based society and can even boost productivity Which is why this concept of Generation G spoke to me.
Recently a cool website, Trendwatching.com, that tracts trends (free) and issues a trends report (cost money) had an article on the G generation. Like generation X but with a G. G does not stand for gregarious as we all know most of this generation would rather IM, text, or Twitter than talk. G stands for Generous. This article talks about the idea that generosity is a societal and business driver today. The article also states that ‘..consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy..” Will this become known as the age of social entrepreneurship? According to 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.
So that peaked my curiosity and I decided to use my facebook status to find out if any of my friends worked for companies that used form of social entrepreneurship. I found that one of my friends works for a company that encourages their employees to volunteer 32 hours per year and they pays them for it! So if all the employees at their office were to volunteer that amount of time that would create almost 2000 hours of volunteer time in the community. Impressive!
Another says that her company allows her to pick projects in her region as long as she makes her numbers. I think this attitude can be seen at places like Google, who allow their employees to work on projects of their choice 20% of their time. I think this creates networks, community, and encourages creativity. It also increases productivity and creates happy workers. Happy workers = Productive workers.
Social Entrepreneurship focuses on social change, but I also think it can be a model that drives profits in business. Many companies today have something that gives back, here are some companies I found that use social entrepreneurship to drive profits and sell products. Target is a great example of Social Entrepreneurship, 5% of their sales go back into the community. They claim that is 3 million dollars a week. Some other creative companies I have found are TOMs shoes, for every shoe you buy they give a pair to people in need. Patagonia is a great early adopter of this social entrepreneurship giving a portion of their proceeds to the environment, and using their catalogs to educate and inform. Locally you can check out the Bicycle Benefits program, a program to promote the use of bicycles.
The article clearly points out it isn’t just about doing something nice, its about identifying a problem and providing a solution. It funny this is the same thing that Venture Capitalist seeks from entrepreneurs. So if you are thinking about adding a social aspect to your business, identify a problem and develop a program that solves that problem. Don’t just do something nice because you think it shows well for your business.
Most recently at a Missoula City Club meeting I heard the CEO of Northwestern Energy say he had been meeting with social responsible investors! People are speaking with their money and the trend is growing. If you want to follow some of the G Generations up and coming social entrepreneurs visit the Ashoka website, its fellowships are the ones to watch.
Do you remember the huge growth of comfort food after 9/11, well social entrepreneurship is the comfort food of the recession.
