Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

Paul Lamb
Principal, Man on a Mission Consulting

training

Social entrepreneurship is hot and getting hotter as training programs, business plan competitions, and idea challenges targeting ages 30 and under take off on college campuses and online.

In 2009, 149 business schools in 24 countries offered courses incorporating social, environmental, or ethical issues – up from 111 schools in 18 countries in 2007. Over 50 social innovation challenges are listed in this one compilation alone. Entrepreneurship programs are working with youth as young as 11 years old, and funders like the Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship are emerging in support of young social innovators internationally.

But as Deron Triff of Changents pointed out in this Huffington Post piece the bulk of next generation entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily coming out of formal training programs found in top business schools and through support networks like Ashoka. Moving forward many may bypass formal training and funding networks altogether, forming their own collaborative ecosystems outside of the mainstream and generating startup capital directly through crowdfunding and other means.

Which training & support models do you think will prove most effective and what are the pros and cons of each?

Formal academic training tracks and business plan competitions offered at many business schools?
Competitive seed funding programs providing training and/or mentoring like Echoing Green, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs program?
Professional training programs like the Global Social Business Incubator (GSBI)?
Self organizing groups like those found at the Hub or on Entrepreneur Commons?
Online peer-to-peer support programs like Changemakers?
Self made and self sufficient entrepreneurs?
Cause engagement platforms like Koodooz which encourage social sector involvement at an early age?
A combination of the above or others?

Please join Paul Lamb in the conversation by sharing your own thoughts on training the next generation of social entrepreneurs.

Paul Rigterink

The next generation of social entrepreneurs

The next generation of social entrepreneurs has already been developed by industry. They are called business process re-engineers. Most academic programs, government agencies, and the other groups you mentioned above have little idea what business process re-engineers do although they are starting to learn. For example, business process re-engineers and businessmen use terminology that many in the academic community may find amusing. In particular, engineers seek out disruptive technologies that force industries to rethink how they conduct business and people to rethink how they work and play. The discovery of disruptive technologies is often easy. Whenever a historically profit making business begins to lose money, engineers seek out the fundamental drivers that may be causing this disruptive change. These fundamental drivers often are new technologies or new business processes being used by a competitor that cause a disruption to the current business model. In other cases, “global issues” may be the cause of the disruption. “Global issues” include disruptions that affect customers in the following areas:

 Governance

 Crime

 Security

 Environment Protection

 Population Shift

 Health

 Food

 Water

 Energy

 Education

To respond to competition, businesses turn to business process re-engineers for solutions. These engineers may suggest that there needs to be a revolution in the affected industry or that an evolution of the current business practices will be sufficient response to a disruptive technology. If a large change is needed, engineers will suggest a revolution to the current thinking. If a small change is needed, then an evolution plan will be devised. Many large companies use companies such as Computer Sciences Corporation to re-engineer their business in response to competition.
- JimFruchterman
  
  The next generation of social entrepreneurs
  
  I enjoy talking to students and start-up social entrepreneurs so much that I started yesterday on my personal contribution: a YouTube talk series nicknamed "Not Business as Usual". So, plan to connect the Social Edge community with these as they come out. I think the answer is YouTube videos!
- PaulLamb
  
  The next generation of social entrepreneurs
  
  Hi Paul! I think that’s a really valid point that many entrepreneurs or rather intrapreneurs are already are being trained in traditional companies…although their focus is on business and not necessarily social challenges. Maybe those same companies can assist in training social engineers by leveraging their existing business process expertise, or business process engineers can leverage their skills to provide more formal or informal training to the social sector?
- MarkPomerantz
  
  The next generation of social entrepreneurs
  
  I like your take on this, Paul R. Perhaps what the social sector needs are "social process re-engineers." This isn’t a very catchy name though. The existing sobriquet "social innovators" might be a little more acceptable. Phills, Deiglemeier, & Miller define social innovation as "A novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals." Greg Dees adds that social entrepreneurship, or social innovation creates as an outcome "a stable new equilibrium" much as Paul’s process re-engineers do. I see social innovation as a combination of entrepreneurial business practices, engineering and technology innovation, and transformational leadership. For what is needed is a new stable social equilibrium that’s more just and sustainable (on many levels)and that’s what training social innovators or social entrepreneurs (or some other similar term)might accomplish if they’re armed with enough transformational tools, knowledge, collaborators, and partner opportunities.
  
  My particular interest is interdisciplinary studies in social innovation at the university or college level that help create a recognized new career track as (kudos to Paul) what amounts to a societal or social process re-engineer.
  - PaulLamb
    
    The next generation of social entrepreneurs
    
    Thanks for chiming in Mark. You state that "…what is needed is a new stable social equilibrium that’s more just and sustainable (on many levels)and that’s what training social innovators or social entrepreneurs (or some other similar term)might accomplish if they’re armed with enough transformational tools, knowledge, collaborators, and partner opportunities." What is your opinion on how best to provide transformational, tools, knowledge, collaborators, and partner opportunities? Sounds like you support a more formal, university-based approach?
  - Paul Rigterink
    
    The next generation of social entrepreneurs
    
    There are 6 areas that business process re-engineers typically change
    
    - business processes
    
    - organization
    
    - location
    
    - data collected and used
    
    - systems
    
    - applications
    
    In re-engineering the agriculture industry in Cordoba Colombia (see http://home.comcast.net/~prigter/site/ ) in order to significantly increase the income of 500,000 people who were typically out of work, I had to decide if the in place organizations were suitable (they were outstanding), what new crops and animals were needed (application), if I should focus on cash crops or subsistence farming (application and location), what new resources were needed (system), what training material was needed (business processes), how to collect data to determine if I was successful (data), etc. I used the same processes and procedures to improve the American air traffic control system, space applications for NASA, and advising Russia, Afghanistan, Morocco, etc on their agriculture economic policies. It is easy to do at the enterprise and conceptual levels. I takes time to do it at the logical and physical levels.
Adam Horowitz

hybrid program for aspiring social entrepreneurs

At Sansori, our approach to social entrepreneurship education is a hybrid one. We offer a yearlong post-baccalaureate program (Jam Session) for aspiring social entrepreneurs, and it draws from several of the models that Paul has listed above. Although our Jam Session begins with a three-week in-person crash course, it then moves online over the course of the year, so participants can continue to work or study elsewhere as they get their venture off the ground. Participants are guided by professionals, but also working amongst peers, in teams. The learning is practical, implemented by participants as they take the necessary steps to launch their own social ventures. Details about the program are at http://www.sansori.org/jam_sessions/jam_sessions.html.

Another thing that we think is important in social entrepreneurship education is bringing an emphasis on inner sustainability. With all the talk of organizational, outer sustainability, we can forget about the tools we need for inner stability and sustainability. At Sansori we also teach through creative and contemplative processes, allowing the social entrepreneur to focus on processes within, not just beyond. This emphasis on inner deep listening allows the social entrepreneur to more effectively and compassionately bring change to the world. Feel free to check out our site at http://www.sansori.org to find out more and share your thoughts.
- PaulLamb
  
  hybrid program for aspiring social entrepreneurs
  
  Sansori sounds like a fantastic program Adam! Your point about inner cultivation is a really important one IMHO. In my opinion training and nurturing should not just be about getting technical skills and knowledge, but about delving into values, personal motivations, and deep listening as you called it.
  
  Furthermore as a social entrepreneur I think it’s important to first go within to figure out why you want to do this work and if you are actually suited for it. That’s something most training & support programs, formal or informal, rarely touch upon.
  
  Do you and others agree?
  - Rob Strulowitz
    
    hybrid program for aspiring social entrepreneurs
    
    Paul (and Adam),
    
    I love this idea of inner sustainability. If you think about the paradigm shifting times we live in, I believe social entrepreneurs / social innovators need to develop a new set of right brain skills (i.e. Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind) to strengthen muscles that the traditional educational system doesn’t provide.
    
    Throughout my career, I’ve worked to rebrand the soft skills like empathy, intuition and listening as practical tools for creating holistic and systemic change. I believe that we’re entering a phase in human history where these skills will be thought of much differently, through the lens of practicality.
  - Rob Strulowitz
    
    hybrid program for aspiring social entrepreneurs
    
    Paul (and Adam),
    
    I love this idea of inner sustainability. If you think about the paradigm shifting times we live in, I believe social entrepreneurs / social innovators need to develop a new set of right brain skills (i.e. Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind) to strengthen muscles that the traditional educational system doesn’t provide.
    
    Throughout my career, I’ve worked to rebrand the soft skills like empathy, intuition and listening as practical tools for creating holistic and systemic change. I believe that we’re entering a phase in human history where these skills will be thought of much differently, through the lens of practicality.
Lee Fox

Self-Incubated Social Entrepreneurs

     Interesting discussion, Paul. I’m sure most of us would agree that a combination of all of these training and support models are important to the development of a social entrepreneur.

     However, this “new generation” (both Millennials and GenZ’s) will force us to re-examine how we use and implement the “training” piece. Frankly, peer-to-peer / participatory learning opportunities and “un-conferences” are more appealing to Millennials than are traditional brick & mortar classroom or formalized training resources.

     I absolutely believe we are just at the beginning of an evolution towards the self-incubated social entrepreneur. Due to their global and digital connections, these agents of change will draw from their hands-on personal experiences and their trusted social network at earlier and earlier ages.

     In America alone, 79% of teens have donated food, clothing or other household items, 76% have volunteered their time 66% have asked family or friends to give or volunteer; and 53% have given their own money, and according to research commissioned by the United Nations Foundation.

     Pre-teens, ages 6-14 in particular, have precious few resources to nurture their growth and capability as humanitarians, this despite the fact that 91% of Americans surveyed in this age group are interested in and care deeply about helping others. (http://www.justkidinc.com/Kidformation_W_08.pdf)

     Yesterday I read a great article entitled: "Philanthro-Teens Delving Into NonProfit World" (http://www.crainsnewyork.com/…/1072) which provides example after example of tweens and teens who have started their own social enterprise to address global issues. How frustrating it must be for today’s kids to be treated as slactivists when they have the passion, energy and time to do so much!

     If we want to cultivate creative thinking and transformational leadership within the social innovation sector, then I can’t imagine not wanting to start early with hands-on opportunities, and championing both traditional and untraditional learning models to round-out the business process re-engineers and the disruptive change-makers among us.

     ~Lee Fox
MarkPomerantz

21st Century Education

21st Century Education needs to radically change to foster sustainability.

The problem is not a dearth of innovation and great ideas but the difficulty of getting the proponents of the old ideas to stand aside and let the new ideas and the new innovators draw breath. Higher education with its constant turf wars is especially problematic in spite of some progress with entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship curricula. I agree that there needs to be less emphasis on brick and mortar programs and more emphasis on flexible experiential education. No reason why students could not spend more time in the field working and form off campus learning communities focused around internet and peer to peer learning. This would also be a substantially cheaper form of higher education in a time when college costs are ridiculous (I already owe $80,000 for the doctorate in leadership I’m pursuing while all my peers from Europe are tuition free and paid as researchers).

There is a long tradition actually of "social entrepreneurship like" learning on university campuses (long before the term developed) Hark back to the new colleges (Hampton Institute, Tuskegee etc.)developed for the Freedmen after the Civil War with their own factories and farms. Or cooperative education for engineers at the U. of Cincinnati in 1907 which involved outplacement in engineering workshops for students. Also the Antioch College program from 1920 on which combined vocational with liberal arts studies and sent all the students out to work half the year, some in college industries, like the Antioch Shoe Company.

In the 1920′s and 30′s a new philosophy of education arose out of Progressive education. "Social Reconstructionism" was based on the idea that the main purpose of schools (both higher and lower) was to foster social change. It thrived for awhile but began to disappear during the McCarthy era of the 1950′s because it became identified with labor unions and "left wing ideas" such as central planning and social planning.

What we need today in higher education is not just isolated courses in social entrepreneurship or sustainability but a multi-disciplinary curriculum dedicated to a full blown approach to turning out entrepreneurial leaders who have the tools for effective social change. And there also needs to be a recognition that there should be a career path for students so trained whether its in private, public, or nonprofit sectors. Obviously there are a few existing jobs in corporate CSR offices, non-profits developing social enterprises, and a literal handful in government.

I also agree that the social entrepreneurial training should start well before the university levels. The pre-teens developing their own social benefit projects should be encourage and assisted by training either in school or after school using such partners as NFTE and Junior Achievement.
- Lee Fox
  
  21st Century Education
  
  @Mark I am quoting you: "The problem is not a death of innovation & great ideas but the difficulty of getting the proponents of the old ideas to stand aside and let the new ideas and the new innovators draw breath." Brilliantly stated.
  - PaulLamb
    
    21st Century Education
    
    Well said indeed Mark! What I am hearing from you and Lee is that we need more interdisciplinary training and a letting go of old ways to allow new ones (things older entrepreneurs don’t understand or haven’t yet imagined) to flourish. Is that right?
    
    That said, I think there is still much to be learned from the veterans and the earlier institutions and practices of social change innovators (which you describe Mark). My own work in social enterprise is based in great part on the values and lessons gleaned from my parents and other trailblazers and I think that this "training" is as important to pass down as it for older generations to respect and support the innovations and teachings of up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
    - Ben Parkinson
      
      21st Century Education
      
      Don’t expect the old guard to step aside – once a Conservative/Republican always… – and as we find in Africa, it benefits the most corrupted to train their children to be the same. Sometimes even school subjects are tainted with unethical practices.
      
      Wishing there was a simple solution to societal change, I guess I favour two approaches:
      
      1. Mimic those corruptors (selfish entrepreneurs, thieves, liars, cheats etc.) or at least accept their existence, while building a power base for oneself, when suddenly you can show your hidden light. Example the change of South Africa from white to black.
      
      2. Train very young people to know the value of trust, friendship, kindness and selflessness and help them achieve great things and become role models, carrying with them their peers. In less corrupted areas, such as rural parts of a country, then much can be achieved. Even whole areas could be funded directly to a social changemaker, who has perhaps no political power. This is what I hope my project will evolve to.
      
      There is no way to break through existing corruption here in Africa without a clean sweep, with a radical new leader. The clinging to power of most leaders makes this even more difficult. The lack of available brooms and replacement uncorrupted political figures is another.
      
      What has this to do with social enterprise? I feel that social enterprise and of course social entrepreneurs can be the mechanisms of change. They can work in areas of their choosing, with those they choose to work with. They will have grown up with those they know they can trust and will be able to avoid those that are of a different mindset. Sure, they will have barriers of corruption placed in front of them, but it is our job, as those concerned with the development of impoverished countries, to ensure that they do not fail and then become a product of a corrupted society.
      
      I am interested in refining a process to enable the above "bottom up" approach and we are piloting our project, with a vision to develop young social entrepreneurs in every sub-county in Uganda. If we can achieve this – which represents perhaps 360 young social entrepreneurs, then I believe great change can be achieved.
      
      Lastly, there is a great quote which says "people’s propensity to do good is like water running downstream", or something similar. I believe this is true, yet many feel that their power to do good is blocked by corruptors and thus these channels of creating positive change are all the more important. Problem is, sometimes these changemakers are doing things in a very small way and they are not on the radar of the big funders, who seem almost exclusively to wish to evolve governments microscopically, as opposed to risk working with individuals of integrity. I really don’t think that the evaluation of social impact has been done correctly and also the process of funding small projects really must be re-evaluated to reduce on the paperwork required. Free gifts to registered social entrepreneurs sounds like a good idea to me! While I believe strongly in accountability, £5,000 will go a long long way in rural Uganda and one has to balance accountability with social impact in exactly the same way as every other element of the package. Spend effort on recruiting and funding the right people, as opposed to actually what they spend thereafter. Monitor the effects of their existence in an area.
Ben Parkinson

Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them

Strategically, I don’t believe any of the above provide best value.

Remembering "Think global, act local", you don’t need to find Harvard graduates to make the best social entrepreneurs. Most of those already-trained intellectuals are already steeped in the culture of capitalism and, frankly are too far gone. Even those that tread the waters of social enterprise are diluting its selfless concepts, insisting on high profits at the expense of social impact.

My work involves me meeting children and young people living in those areas requiring social change, whether it be poverty alleviation, human rights awareness, even training in business. We recruit our numbers from slum districts and remote rural areas. Many are bright and excited to be alive. They love their friends, are willing to help anyone, and, frankly, are a breath of fresh air in a country where most adults whinge about corruption disempowering them and keeping them poor and governments are content to be elected, rather than deliver any change for their most impoverished citizens.

These children and young people WANT to be social entrepreneurs now. Ok, they need training and some orientation, but they will be the next generation of social entrepreneurs, if we help them. With children’s sponsorship programmes we often help the next generation of corrupt politicians, the next generation of bankers or businessmen who leave the shores of developing countries as soon as they are able.

So, I advocate going to find those children and youth who can and will make a difference, given half a chance. Choose them carefully, as we do, as many adults will put forward children falsely, for their own benefit, but we have discovered that this inside-out approach inspires the most destitute of children to become changemakers in the areas in which they live. We call our approach the Butterfly Project – you can read more about the training we do (vision development, thinking skills, project management etc.), the members and their projects and much more at:

http://www.socialenterprise…g/The_Butterfly_Project.php
- Paul Rigterink
  
  Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
  
  Ben
  
  You may want to provide your students with a small amount of agriculture engineering training. You can obtain 10 free packets of seeds for your organization as well as agriculture information in three languages from http://www.echonet.org/content/SeedBank . In particular, you may want to investigate different types of moringa, papaya, etc. See moringa blog, moringa book, and moringa presentation at http://www.treesforlife.org/ . It is best if you know the Koppen climate classification and altitude of the sites where you work (what are the Koppen climates and altitudes??). Currently I am investigating the use of desert melons as well as the development of tropical fruit tree jungles in Africa.
  - Ben Parkinson
    
    Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
    
    Thank you, I will make this into a special project for our new recruits for 2011. I’ll let them choose which seeds are most appropriate for them.
  - Ben Parkinson
    
    Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
    
    Just as an aside, I have spoken to Francis, one of our members, about Morimga. He said he was very familiar with it and ate it when he was younger. He knew that it cured and protected from illness. A local farmer has been growing it, but recently stopped, as there was no local market. So….the question is more about logistics and buyers than knowledge of local people, at least in Francis’ village, which is a long way off the beaten track. Having said that, he said that the farmer may no longer have the seeds. More about Francis at http://www.socialenterpriseafrica.org/Francis_Ssuna.php
    - Paul Rigterink
      
      Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
      
      Ben
      
      You may want to help Francis and your other social entrepreneurs investigate the use of moringa as pig feed.
      
      See http://moringamama.wordpress.com/…/
      
      http://news-malunggay-morin…pigs-on-moringa-leaves.html
      
      http://savegaia.blogspot.co…-facts-moringa-fact-04.html
      
      http://moringa.groupsite.com/…/raising-pigs-with-moringa-leaves
      - Ben Parkinson
        
        Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
        
        Well you are quite right in that Francis, even with his experience as a pig farmer, had not considered Moringa as pigfeed. If it fattens the pigs well and protects them from picking up any disease, then it sounds like a winner. I have mailed him the links you gave and we must consider how to expand on this thinking somehow, at least for those living rurally with land at their disposal.
      - Ben Parkinson
        
        Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
        
        Appreciate that this is an old thread, but I have linked up with Paul and we have instigated some agricultural work, with a view to sustaining the Butterfly Project.
        
        Am posting here, as two of our young social entrepreneurs, Francis and Nancy, have recently posted a blog, talking about their experience with the project. I have learnt much from talking to young people in villages, so I thought that people on this site might be interested in hearing what they have to say:
        
        The link is here: http://www.chrysalisuganda.wordpress.com
        
        If any would like to correspond with any of our young social entrepreneurs, then feel free to contact me and I will arrange it.
- PaulLamb
  
  Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
  
  Ben: The Butterfly project (and the overall work of the SEA sounds great). So refreshing to hear about someone taking a bottom up approach, identifying and nurturing changemakers on the ground in places where they live and face extraordinary challenges directly. IMHO that’s "training" at it’s finest – both for the trainees and the trainers.
  - Ben Parkinson
    
    Social entrepreneurs are ready – go find them
    
    Thank you. It is a complex project to manage, which makes it both interesting and challenging. Bringing some order to the chaos of some talented young teenagers would be reward enough, if they had not also surprised us with some creative and positive development projects of their own.
DanielBassill

Supporting the next generation of SEs

I’ve enjoyed the comments and find the links valuable. I’d like to suggest that instead of using the word "training" we might use the word "supporting". This opens up a much wider range of thinking on the topic.

In that context I think that one of the best ways to support the growth of social innovators and entrepreneurs is to create knowledge libraries that aggregate information related to social problems and invite people to use the information to innovate solutions. One of the best examples I know of is the Boston Indicators Project which you can see at http://www.bostonindicators.org/Indicators2008/

This site has had an "innovation hub" available for at least six years. The hub is a pie chart, with the slices representing issues important to the Boston area. If someone clicks onto any slice of the pie chart, you go to another page with information related to that issue. In the past couple of years the hub has partnered with a Metro Boston Data Hub at http://www.metrobostondatacommon.org/ where you can create maps that show the distribution of different problems of the area.

While I think this site is great, I think it can be improved. For instance, I don’t see evidence of on-going marketing and public leadership encouraging youth and adults in the greater Boston area to visit this site often to learn what the problems are, and ways they could be involved in solutions. I’d hope the Mayor of Boston and surrounding suburbs would each have the link on their own home page. (Maybe they do.)

Second, I don’t see a discussion forum in any of the slices, where people could gather and share ideas like this group does on social edge. Thus, the effort to bring people together and foster collective learning and collaborative action does not seem to be there yet.

Finally, I don’t see evidence that investors and philanthropist and individual donors and volunteers are visiting the site looking for entrepreneurs to support. If I were to see this I hope I’d see encouragement to pick a project and stick with it for many years, not just a short term donation. Most innovators need on-going support, which is one of the hardest forms of capital to find.

If hubs like the Boston example were available for every country in the world, they could be linked in "world atlas" type innovation hubs, connecting people from many places with each other and pushing resources toward the innovators who are on the front lines of social problem solving.

I feel such a system would attract more people to be social innovators and would provide more of the support they need to succeed. This would be much more valuable to my way of thinking than any range of "training" programs and consultancies that could ever be created.
- PaulLamb
  
  Supporting the next generation of SEs
  
  Hi Dan! To your second point about collaboration forums my impression is that there are a number of "watering holes" both online and off that are providing discussion forums, groups, and networks for social entrepreneurs. these include:
  
  Changemaker Groups: http://www.changemakers.com/groups
  
  Social Enterprise Alliance Regional Chapters: https://netforum.avectra.co…te=SEA&WebCode=chapters
  
  The Hub: https://netforum.avectra.co…te=SEA&WebCode=chapters
  - DanielBassill
    
    Supporting the next generation of SEs
    
    I agree that there are watering holes, but how focused are any of them on a specific country or city, or a specific problem? To take the Butterfly project as an example,
    
    * is there a site that aggregates links/information about groups in Africa doing similar work to Ben’s project? Are there similar sites collecting information Ben’s group could use, such as the links showing information about selling seeds and nursery stock
    
    * if such sites exist are they encouraging collaboration among the groups so they might work together to attract resources or share ideas?
    
    * is the site attracting international donors and investors who might look at Ben’s web site and use that to decide to send him the money he needs, or offer other help?
    
    * is the site attracting researchers and college people who might learn what Ben is doing, and what is challenges are, and that is working to help him and people like him over come those challenges?
    
    * is there a map of Africa showing the locations of existing projects like Ben’s and showing all of the other places where there is a need, but no Ben?
    
    I there are portals/discussion forums doing all of these things then that would seem to be a pretty strong support system for innovators like Ben.
    - PaulLamb
      
      Supporting the next generation of SEs
      
      Point well taken, Dan, on the need for a more coordinated approach both geographically on specific issues. At the same time I wonder if some of this isn’t already happening organically? Take the example of the Hub(http://bayarea.the-hub.net/public/)which is a wonderful aggregation of social innovators who collaborate informally and formally in cities where Hubs exist. Because the innovators in these networks work in different areas and have different approaches it creates for a really dynamic environment with lots of cross-pollination, shared learning, and support.I think the Hub and similar innovation centers are actually doing much of what you describe above.
      
      This leads to a larger question we might ask ourselves on the efficacy of various support models. What is needed more…formal aggregation tools and matchmaking services or places (both online and off) where innovators and entrepreneurs come together naturally and where they themselves define what is important and useful in support of their work?
    - Roland Catellier
      
      Supporting the next generation of SEs
      
      Daniel B. & Paul L. i read the comment above and below here, I know of a software that can search 500,000,000 conversations on the internet, in multi languages, I ask the founder of the soft ware to do a search for key word "Social Enterprise" for me, result should be available in next few weeks,I’m not sure how that info will be organized,but i would be willing to collaborate to make it public,if i find that it can be organized in somewhat searchable fashion.
      
      I’m unknown here, so I’ll try to intro myself briefly,College drop out 1970,join a volunteer group 1971 till 1988 traveled island of caribean, so. america, greece east to sri lanka including UAE. Wife died 1989 leaving me to raise 7 children 2-14 years old. 1991 started a career in real estate in florida 2003 closed my real estate office.All children grown up educated and successful. 2008 formed Disaster Relief Shelter Foundation 501c3 to help china earthquake victims, late 2010 formed a corp.in China to do a social enterprise,
      
      to create self employment opportunities, for the 1000′s of collage and university students who can find job, thru website / a distribution catalog/route sale of product made in china for export to develop a market in china for those product in China.The concept for the site was designed for distribution of green affordable hone for rural population . But saw it could do more with multiple products.
- Paul Rigterink
  
  Supporting the next generation of SEs
  
  Daniel
  
  I think the support you are suggesting may be too general. I offer the following example. Suppose the young adults on the Butterfly Project decided that they wanted to sell seeds and nursery stock to the 9000 agrodealers that are part of the Gates Foundation PASS program ( see http://www.gatesfoundation.…es-foundation-pass-agra.pdf ). In particular, suppose they wanted to supply seeds identified in the National Academy of Sciences books the Lost Crops of Africa (see http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11879 ). They would need the following type of support: how to obtain seeds and nursery stock appropriate for their Koppen climate and altitude, fertilizer use, use of irrigation equipment, pesticides and disease control supplies, seed processing equipment, seed storage equipment, transport equipment, farming equipment, micro loans, and packaging. They would also need to know how to evaluate costs, returns, and business operations, how to market their product, how to set up the necessary supply chains for future operations, etc. Since they don’t have all this knowledge and equipment, I would they just grow one acre of moringa and sell the seeds. Research in Senegal says that farmers can increase cattle weight gain up to 35% and milk production up to 65% with Moringa so many farmers may buy their seed packs (see ttp://www.moringanews.org/ (especially articles on the use of Moringa for increasing the growth of cattle and pigs). In addition, moringa can be used to dramatically increase the nutrition of food so they should get additional customers from subsistence farmers (see
  
  http://www.echotech.org/mam…ew&id=89&Itemid=122 and
  
  http://www.echotech.org/mam…ew&id=63&Itemid=140) . They could also grow melons or fruits appropriate for their climate and altitude on their acre of land if they prefer.
  
  My point is you need to present a business vision along with your support program so that the students take full advantage of the support you provide.
Tayo Olosunde

Greenning The ECONOMY: Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

Amongst the growing network of Social Entrepreneurs in my country (Nigeria), Social Entrepreneurship is an evolutionary phase of Human Developmental endeavor; the innovation, passion, collaboration, solution orientation of Capitalism is still at its core. The core training that the new generation of Social Entrepreneurs will need is more of unlearning the excessive competition and profit maximization of capitalism.

The core human capacity(skills, attitude and aptitudes) like compassion, community awareness, pursuit of self actualization, inner will, etc are heavily rooted in moral and spiritual learning hence a reawakening of moral training and selfless religious doctrines will be a required balance for the emerging Social Entrepreneurs.

The impact achieved by Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, etc were not rooted in any Ivory Tower training. In practical terms, I believe the new generations of SE will learn (1) on the job (2) through an incubation system and (3) Safety nest that are created through a coordinated SE effort in communities.

Africa (Nigeria) are at an advantage in the growth of SE because it seems our only option. The natural ability to identify needs in our community at the lowest level and to create simple and sometimes very obvious solution backed with a willingness to build it gradually (with minimal or no dependence on grants, or donor fund) gives us the advantage to emerge as perhaps the most SE developed society in the years to come.
- Ben Parkinson
  
  Greenning The ECONOMY: Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
  
  I agree very much with this comment. Nigeria would be the place to start the development of social enterprise in Africa, with a little less reluctance from its own government to encourage international support. I met many rural-based people and also educated young graduates in Abuja ready to create change. The lack of "aid" into Nigeria has also helped the level of self-dependence.
- Paul Rigterink
  
  Greenning The ECONOMY: Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
  
  If I were a social entrepreneur in Nigeria, I would contact the Butterfly Project in Kampala, Uganda and see if they could obtain orange fleshed sweet potato rootstock from the International Potato Center in Kampala, Uganda appropriate for growing conditions in Nigeria. I would then test the rootstock and sell it to rich people in Nigeria interested in growing high value food commodities. I would pay the Butterfly Project for their help and expect to earn a reasonable profit for my work. I would pay the Butterfly Project a bonus if the technology is successful. See http://www.scribd.com/doc/3…ties-for-Sub-Saharan-Africa , http://www.worldvision.org/…/mozambique-agriculture-200912-enews , http://www.socialenterprise…g/The_Butterfly_Project.php
Jan Cohen

What do social entrepreneurs need from Training?

As one who has done this work both "in house" and as a trainer/coach for nearly 20 years, I’d like to echo comments from others about "this “new generation” will force us to re-examine how we use and implement the “training” piece. Frankly, peer-to-peer / participatory learning opportunities and “un-conferences” are more appealing to Millennials than are traditional brick & mortar classroom or formalized training resources."

What is wanted and needed by teams from organizations who want to create social enterprises is support. Anyone can find online the "how to do it" or can attend online classes or actual classes to assist in learning the process. But it’s more an art than a science and these teams or individuals need support, coaching, advice, and guidance as they explore and research their ideas, so that they end up with viable concepts and ventures that fit their core competencies and capacities and have sufficient demand to satisfy financial and program goals. They appreciate the support and encouragement to keep going and make a "turn in the road", when it gets hard to do the market research or when what they thought was a great idea turns out not to be good at all. They need Business Advisory Committees who are neutral and not drinking the "koolaid" to assist both with screening in and screening out of ideas and potential markets.

With this support, coaching, guidance, and good processes and templates, new social entrepreneurs can persevere and go on to create viable ventures that pass their criteria, meet their mission and money goals, and and supply goods and services that their target market(s) want and need and will pay for.
- PaulLamb
  
  What do social entrepreneurs need from Training?
  
  Jan: Great practical advice! In your opinion (and those of others) how will the new peer-to-peer/participatory training approach favored by younger innovators change the way that coaching and mentoring is done?
- Rose Karimi
  
  What do social entrepreneurs need from Training?
  
  Mindset Change
  
  All continents have problems but it is how they respond to their problems that matters. Africa is a place where there have been decades and billions of dollars spent on trying to bring people out of poverty. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations and people that are devoted to such noble pursuits don’t take their approach much beyond the basic concept of handouts! This has contributed to generations of people in Africa who have been entrenched in a culture of receiving handouts, and fully accustomed to seeing foreigners, locals and even their governments as being there to give them some handouts. This turns impoverished populations into subjects of sympathy rather than creative and intelligent people who can identify challenges in their community and seek innovative solutions.
  
  A hand outs mindset stifles ingenuity and personal resolve in creating and executing solutions through their own means using existing local resources. Realizing this, I began an engagement with small-scale farmers in a remote area of Ikalaasa in Kenya with SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team at the Africa Nazarene University back in 2005. The idea was to take learning outside the four walls of the classroom out into the community and through brainstorming sessions with the community come up with solutions to their challenges.
  
  The region had a lot of challenges like water scarcity, perennial droughts, lack of entrepreneurial skills, financial illiteracy among others. We did this with no monetary capital whatsoever but through changing the mindset of the group of farmers from dependence on relief food from the government as a solution to the perennial drought situation. Instead we motivated them to see opportunities in their challenges where they previously saw none.
  
  The only thing we did was volunteer our time to teach them simple skills like water harvesting, simple drip irrigation of fruit trees using water bottles collected from the university trash cans, bookkeeping and record keeping, bag gardening and small-business start-ups during the weekends.
  
  Capital being a major problem we introduced the idea Table Banking where every week each group member would contribute 25 Kenya shillings ( about quarter of a dollar) to a common pool and they would lend it to another member on a rotational basis to either start a business or meet some other immediate need. Three farmers began some small-scale businesses. This project inspired SIFE Global so much that it was among the three projects selected worldwide to feature in their promotional video as one of the success stories: See http://www.sife.org/…/ProjectStories.aspx
  
  I left Kenya in 2008 on a Fulbright Fellowship to work on my PhD in Supply Chain Management and Marketing Sciences at the Rutgers, State University of New Jersey. I’m nearing the completion of my studies and my immediate game plan is to scale up the Ikalaasa project idea with an offshoot called Social Entrepreneurs without Borders that will train the next social entrepreneurs drawn from such marginalized and vulnerable groups in Africa. The objective is to think through on how to act on the permanent systems within such communities to create the biggest positive change. We will work on pushing peoples’ thinking within these systems, and on placing ourselves in such a way to provide the perspectives that aren’t being seen or well represented.
  
  If you want to support this type of thinking and approach to development, please support Social Entrepreneurs Without Borders by partnering with us to seek funds (very much interested in knowing how to raise funds through crowd funding), technology, ideas, guest speakers/trainers and other ways of collaboration in this endeavor to stop the culture of dependence on handouts in developing countries.
Tayo Olosunde

Social Network/Media Pitfall:Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

The diverse ideas shared on this topic through this discussion if expanded is already up to a full university course work.

SE as an emerging, evolutionary and transitional socioeconomic development model is closer to humanity (within the context of self actualization) that we cannot lock it in the traditional knowledge management methodology yet.

Nonetheless, there is a pitfall that potential Social Entrepreneurs must watch and that is the tendency to become an "Avarter" cyber advocates on Facebook, Twitter, etc alone for causes that require more of "FaceTime" than Facebook.

The very critical actions like community mobilization, town hall meetings, territorial partitioning, stakeholders engagement, etc should not be completely replaced by new media strategies.

There are so many groups on Facebook and other Social Media with great followership but NO measurable impact in the society. Our organisation deliberately because of our IMPACT PLAN and through the advise of our senior mentor Dr. Christopher Kolade (Chancellor PAN African University and Nigeria"s former Ambassador to the United Kingdom) maintained a no mention on any social media.

The social media can give a false sense of progress especially when the cause get so much followership.

The threading on social media can also misinforms, hence we the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs needs to be careful of the authenticity of the information we make decisions on.

Thank God for platform like this
- Ben Parkinson
  
  Social Network/Media Pitfall:Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
  
  Again, I agree with this. Social media’s impersonal nature does tend to attract those ready to watch rather than support directly. One of my members, who is an extremely talented young artist sits at home unable to go to school, for lack of £50 fees each term. Yet he has many international friends on Facebook, who have yet to support this future changemaker.
  
  I have found Facebook a great teacher for the members, though, as they enjoy developing written communication skills, which beforehand were non-existent.
  
  Btw feel free to join our Facebook group "Butterfly Project, Uganda".
  
  I think Facebook does not generate enough credibility and trust. We have almost 500 photographs of activities undertaken on Facebook, in our efforts to generate credibility and also inform.
  - PaulLamb
    
    Social Network/Media Pitfall:Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
    
    Tayo & Ben: I think you are absolutely right that a social media effort in isolation and/or as a tool for "slactivism" may not generate significant impact. However, when done right (in promoting a cause or in conjunction with real world activities) social media campaigns can make a tremendous difference. One well known example is "Twestival."http://www.twestival.com/. The amount of attention and $ this online/offline Twitter campaign has brought to Charity: Water has helped them to significantly increase the scale of their global clean drinking water campaign.
    
    But back to training and support for social entrepreneurs. Can social media be used effectively, either in isolation or in conjunction with real world activities, to provide useful training pathways? Ben, you seem to think Facebook has some merit???
    - Ben Parkinson
      
      Social Network/Media Pitfall:Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs
      
      We use a workbook system for encouraging our members to do things outside training sessions. These are meant to be fun, but also self-teach activities, which attempt to grow initiative amongst our group. One of the activities is Facebook and members are challenged to develop 100 "meaningful" friends on their account. They have learnt chat, not through the vastly better Skype, but through the horrible Facebook chat. They have been inspired to some extent through games like Millionaire City and Farmville. Bear in mind that, as mostly slum-dwelling Ugandans, they have had next to no exposure to most of the creative stimulus that children in the West are overdosed on. Nor have they had much in the way of fun, as most of their spare time is spent lounging or doing chores.
      
      I strongly believe that Facebook chat has encouraged them to type quickly (none had been at a computer before the project) and think about communication as something important. My Butterfly members are far better at communicating than their peers.
      
      Another technique we use is "are you lion or rabbit?" Ugandan schools teach children to be rabbits – to be fed cabbage, not to go out and find their food, to cringe when challenged, not to bite back with their own challenge, not to speak out, except when spoken to. While a little simplistic, a social entrepreneur is going to be challenging the status quo again and again. No rabbit can do this!
  - DanielBassill
    
    Social Network/Opportunity for some?
    
    Ben,
    
    I agree with you that we’ve yet to find a way to turn friends and followers into people who’s consistent actions help us do our work. I spent 17 years building retail advertising for a large US company. Every week we sent ads to about 20 million people telling them we have merchandise and services that they might want at stores close to them. We motivated action with "discounted pricing, special promotions, rebates, etc." I had a $250 million annual budget to do this.
    
    We’re now competing with this on the Internet and in social media.
    
    10 years ago I was highly optimistic about the ability of small non profits to find supporters via the Internet. However, today with so many well-funded businesses competing for attention and customers, it’s much more doubtful that we can build an audience and the consistent financial and volunteer support we need.
    
    Or is it? At Cabrini Connections we’re into our 2nd year of a Cabrini Madness campaign where our students and volunteers are competing with each other to raise visibility and donations for our cause. Last year we created a variety of videos and used social media to try to attract donors. Some of these were created by our teens. http://www.cabriniconnections.net/cabrini-madness
    
    I think that groups working with youth could focus on "internet advertising/promotion" as a skill and a potential business. Being able to market yourself and your business effectively is an acquired, and essential, skill.
    
    I suspect some orgs are already doing this better than others. Once youth begin to use the internet to learn what others are doing to draw shoppers and donors to their web sites some may begin to innovate new and better ways to compete for needed resources.
    
    Those who learn to do this will have greater chance of survival and impact than those who don’t. Those who provide training, coaching and mentoring in this area would be valuable to all SEs.
Rob Strulowitz

Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training

Fascinating article and discussion, Paul!

I think one of the biggest challenges in training social entrepreneurs point to the distribution of knowledge and insights.

From my brief exposure to them,I think the social entrepreneurship programs that have been mentioned in this discussion are tremendous, but limited in providing a wider array of aspiring social entrepreneurs access to the skills needed for success (both technical and new ways of thinking).

I believe the learning ecosystem point is spot on and proven in the marketplace. Sites like Quora.com are pointing in the right direction for the distribution of shared knowledge through trusted people and networks. I’ve found the site addictive, not just in the knowledge that is providing, but the experience that the knowledge is credible.

As a longtime online learning professional, I believe strongly that eLearning is the next frontier of social entrepreneurship and one of the best ways to increase the scale in which knowledge can be delivered. With the advancement in social learning, students can now learn informally and share knowledge / insights with each other.

My company (Worldview Learning) is focusing exclusively on providing online learning solutions to social innovators. We’re interested in how social entrepreneurs acquire and digest knowledge, especially in paradigm shifting times we live in. Would be curious of the kinds of topics that social entrepreneurs are thirsting for.
- DanielBassill
  
  Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
  
  Rob and all,
  
  For many years I’ve been building a section of my links library focused on process improvement, collaboration, visualization, knowledge management, etc. If a social innovator browses these links they will find many ideas they can apply to building their own enterprise. http://tinyurl.com/TMC-innovation-links
  
  One thing that’s missing from this is a facilitation/teaching component. My own organization is too small to do more than share this information like I am now in forums like this or through email newsletters, etc. With the growth of on-line learning companies it would seem that someone would take on an organized effort to help people find and use information like this.
  
  My own library is just an example. Many of the experts I point to have libraries on their own web sites that are much more extensive than mine. Thus, an eLearning organization would need to help learners navigate this virtual library of information. The value-added might be in the way the eLearning organization helps people find and use what they are looking for in less time and at less expense than if they did the searching for this information on their own.
  
  In my case, my goal is that the information help people build and sustain volunteer-based, career-focused programs serving inner-city kids. However, others could use this same library of links to support innovations in any other social benefit sector.
  - PaulLamb
    
    Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
    
    Rob: Thanks for bringing eLearning as a "next wave" training and support tool into the discussion. What do you (and others) think of Dan’s suggestion of offering "resource identification coaching" in conjunction with online learning courses? Sounds like a great idea to me…
    - DanielBassill
      
      Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
      
      Paul, my vision is to go one gigantic step beyond "resource identification coaching" to teaching people who benefit from the work SEs do to take active roles in bringing resources into the SE and NPO sectors that they care most about in the same way that the advertising department of a large corporation brings customers every week to each of the company locations.
      
      Imagine if there were hundreds of investors/donors lurking on Social Edge and listing to the ideas being shared, then visiting the web sites people point to and making investment/donor decisions based on what they see. That is not happening yet, but the potential benefit of it occurring to even a small degree would be huge.
      - PaulLamb
        
        Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
        
        Dan: When you say "teaching people who benefit from the work SEs (social entrepreneurs) do", who do you mean exactly? If you mean current and potential stakeholders at all levels – including advisors, funders, and the beneficiaries of the work on the ground – it sounds like a really compelling idea IMHO. Not sure how it would be implemented on a practical level though?
        
        What do others think of Dan’s broader and more holistic vision of training and support?
      - DanielBassill
        
        Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
        
        Paul, here’s a map showing who benefits from better educated kids moving to jobs and careers rather than to being drop outs, incarcerated, or under employeed. http://tinyurl.com/T-MC-VillageCMap . By putting our list of Chicago tutor/mentor programs on a web site anyone can take on a "support role" to help one or more of these programs help kids through school and to jobs.
    - Rob Strulowitz
      
      Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
      
      Paul,
      
      I believe that social learning (using elements of social media within a learning management system) provides opportunities to bring communities of learners together in one environment and learn from each other in an informal manner.
      
      Our company Worldview Learning (www.worldviewlearning.tv) offers a social learning platform which gives students the ability to receive an eLearning course and connect with other learners to share ideas, insights etc.
      
      Dan’s suggestion is pointing in the right direction and is something that we’re actively working to solve. I believe that on the job learning is the best form of education, but unfortunately it isn’t always available to everyone. Online learning dramatically increases the distribution of knowledge and can be used in a variety of ways that can connect advisors, investors, potential partners in a learning environment.
      
      Great forum! Lots of great ideas here…
  - Paul Rigterink
    
    Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
    
    Daniel
    
    I Still don’t understand the support you are trying to provide (sorry). Let me use this example. How can your support help inner city kids in Chicago get jobs at the Chicago base internet company Grupon, either by working for Grupon directly or by establishing businesses near Grupon headquarters? Same question for my out of work relatives in Michigan who would like to work for Grupon.
    - Paul Rigterink
      
      Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
      
      Please forgive the spelling mistakes above. I meant Groupon
    - DanielBassill
      
      Social Entrepreneurship – Scaling the Training
      
      Paul, I’ll give you a couple of examples.
      
      I met a boy named Leo in 1973 when he was in 4th grade. I’ve stayed connected to him for the last 37 years. A few years ago he contacted me and said he was doing casting for a movie he was producing and needed a place to hold auditions. He asked if I could help. I offered our space and he used it for three days of casting. Had we not been connected via a tutor/mentor program, and remained connected because the tutor/mentor program has lasted this long, I would not have been part of his network and able to offer him this help.
      
      We actually have a few Groupon employees who joined us as volunteers this year. If those volunteers are working with kids in 7th grade they can’t offer them jobs right now, but they can help them expand their aspirations and help them build study habits that would make them employable in future years. Furthermore, if we can keep these Groupon employees (and others) connected with us and the kids for a decade or more, when the kids are asking for help with college or jobs, these volunteers may be there to offer opportunities at Groupon.
      
      If your out of work relatives in Michigan connect with our volunteers Facebook and begin to take an active role in our community they may build relationships that give them the same opportunity. However, if volunteers from Groupon and other companies who join programs like ours in Chicago share what they do and why its important with others in their company, the company or its volunteers might start a similar program near your relatives in Michigan who could become directly involved and connected.
      
      As part of the type of support network I am envisioning your relatives, the Groupon folks, and our own kids and volunteers can all draw from the information we host on our web sites, or from similar portals doing similar work.
William Huster

Inspiring and Self-Education of NextGen SEs

This is an incredible discussion. I’m fascinated! This will be my first time contributing, but certainly not my last. I work with the non-profit organization Compass Partners. We’re a fledgling program, and, frankly, we were flattered to find our name in the Hitachi Foundation’s "Youth Entrepreneurship Landscape" document. This thread has been circulating extensively on our listservs, so it’s about time we chimed in.

As you can see from Hitachi’s charts, our program serves undergraduate entrepreneurs ages 18~22. We do so through a two-year Fellowship program that begins in our students’ freshmen year (we select them within a month of arriving on campus). We’re currently at five campuses and we have fifteen Fellows at each (for a total of 75). Our Fellows receive direct mentor-ship from upperclassmen, themselves alumni of the program, and professional partners in the community.

Dan B. indicated the important difference between thinking about "training" future Social Entrepreneurs and "supporting" them. This is also a critical difference for us. Although we are an education company, our stated mission is not to train students, but to build communities around social entrepreneurship.

It was also rightly stated that Millennials are adept at using the internet to educate themselves. Millennials have a growing need, therefore, for both the inspiration to act (seeking out their own answers) and accountability, both of which, we believe, are best provided by a supportive community of peers. We aim thereby to impart a value-based mindset, rather than a skill set. Millennial SEs require not only a thoroughly differentiated and practical educational experience, many crave it.
- PaulLamb
  
  Inspiring and Self-Education of NextGen SEs
  
  William: thanks for chiming in and for sharing a bit more about the Compass Partners program. Based on your own experience and what you say about the importance of peer assistance communities, what should the ideal support ecosystem look like and do, specifically?
  - William Huster
    
    Inspiration and Self-Education of NextGen SEs
    
    An excellent question, Paul. I’ll expand on what I started to mention before. I think the ideal support ecosystem is rooted in a strong, shared value system and provides: inspiration (an environment that fosters the spontaneous creation of new ideas), motivation (goal-setting, moving forward with a particular idea), and accountability (peer checks on the progress towards stated goals).
    
    You might call these "soft resources," as opposed to "hard resources"–the access to money / skilled labor. Hard resources are perks that a community could provide, but they are not, in my experience, a necessary attribute of an effective, educational support ecosystem. Their presence might even be detrimental to the educational opportunities inherent to starting a venture. The community should certainly not strive to make things "easy" for its members, as this swipes the reins from the hands of the individuals. So long as the community cultivates the right mindset, the students/SEs will be challenged to locate the resources they need either on their own or with the guidance of other community members.
    
    What this looks like, in our program at least, is a close-knit community of like-minded individuals excitedly exchanging ideas, articles, and connections all centered around social venture development. We call our Fellows "Passionate Young Achievers," students possessed of intellectual curiosity and the drive to make the world a better place. Again, in our selection and "training" processes, we privilege the entrepreneurial mindset over any hard-and-fast skill sets.
    
    In terms of inspiration, we’ve found that it’s best delivered by personal stories from (preferably young) entrepreneurs. At each school, we strive to bring in a compelling speaker almost weekly throughout the school year. These sessions (we call them "modules") have general topics, but we typically just ask the speaker to tell their own story, and we’ve found that that can be inspirational enough. If they can connect their story to the particular module topic, so much the better.
    
    I think the motivation and accountability components are best provided by dedicated mentors and peers. In our program, we recruit upperclassmen and former Fellows to provide an "unreasonable commitment" to mentoring their fellow students. They meet frequently for brainstorming sessions, discussions, and social activities. This opens wide channels of discussion, strengthens bonds, and sustains the students’ momentum.
    
    That’s my take on the "ideal" ecosystem, and how our program strives towards that ideal. What we’ve built is by no means perfect. It’s as much a research experiment at this point as it is a living community. And again I’ll stress that this entire community structure would not be possible without a foundation in a value system that promotes above all creativity, idea exchange, and real, positive social impact.
    - PaulLamb
      
      Inspiration and Self-Education of NextGen SEs
      
      what a great support framework, William! To me the emphasis on "soft resources" and community building makes a lot of sense. Do others agree that "hard resources" like access to startup capital and operations support are "not a necessary attribute of an effective, educational support ecosystem" and "might even be detrimental to the educational opportunities inherent to starting a venture"?
      
      And what are the characteristics of YOUR ideal training and support ecosystem?
Alexandra Telluselle

Intrapreneurs

Aloha,

I believe that there will be three emerging needs: one for the young as beginners at the workplace where business oriented education is good, one for us middle-agers that have seen/grown a need through our previous workexperience and education where it is more about connecting with the right people in networks like these with available mentors, and most importantly I think the third emerging need is founding a mindset which can be called "intrapreneur". This refers to already being within an organization but thinking in terms of innovation and developing concepts as an employee. It is about finding ways to increase learning and allow creativity to flourish, and then support the outlets of our lessons.

/Alexandra
- PaulLamb
  
  Intrapreneurs
  
  Aloha Alexandra! Good point about segmenting training along the lines of the type and stage of the entre/intrapreneur.
Risa Littman

An Insider’s Viewpoint

I am presently enrolled in a new Master’s degree program in Social Entrepreneurship and Change at a university in Southern California. I also happen to have a very soft spot for the issue of nonprofit capacity building, which is right up the alley of this discussion thread. As a member of the first cohort of students making our way through this new academic degree program, I cannot tell you how important it is for such formal programs to be led by faculty who have real-life experience in the field of social change. While theory is helpful, nothing can replace the insight and perspective of someone who has lived the experience we strive to find in our future.

I also believe (just as many others have noted in comments above) that highly formalized university-based academic programs are not necessarily the answer. Such programs may help individuals determine whether or not they have the “right stuff” to become effective social entrepreneurs, or they may help existing social entrepreneurs hone their skills, but I believe the best approach to fostering the education and preparedness of the next generation of social entrepreneurs will include a bit of each type of learning model discussed in the original discussion prompt. Specifically, I see these learning opportunities as invaluable components of a continuum that social entrepreneurs will utilize throughout their careers:

1) On-the-job, hands-on learning through personal failures and successes

2) Mentoring/coaching

3) Start-up incubation services

4) Peer learning and real-time discussion forums (both in person and online), which inherently also include identifying and sharing promising practices, as well as fostering collaboration

5) Formal training programs that range from short-term topical crash courses to long-term certificate or degree programs (this variety is necessary to meet the needs of social entrepreneurs at various stages in their personal evolution; successful social entrepreneurs will never be done with learning)

I see all of these learning forums being most successful when coordinated by a trusted and highly respected central clearinghouse to which emerging and existing social entrepreneurs know they can turn. As much as the newest generations may enjoy less formalized discussion forums, these are not necessarily the most effective ways for adults to learn, absorb and be prepared to move forward in meaningful ways. I believe that if they are properly coordinated and quality-verified, the learning opportunities noted above – or capacity building opportunities, if you will allow me – will collectively ensure that the next generation of social entrepreneurs can demonstrate competency in the critical components of leadership and adaptive capacity, in addition to managerial and technical capacity necessary to ensure a sustainable and effective social venture.
- PaulLamb
  
  An Insider’s Viewpoint
  
  Hi Risa! Interesting point about needing centrally coordinated clearinghouses to provide a range of trusted support resources. I know a number of folks who are working on larger ecosystem approaches to support (e.g., combining peer-to-peer support with access to funding, etc), but haven’t heard of the kind of soup to nuts approach (e.g., funding, peer groups, mentoring/coaching, classes, research, fellowships, internships etc) you seem to be suggesting.
  
  Wondering if others know of or are working on such next generation platforms?
  - Alexandra Telluselle
    
    An Insider’s Viewpoint
    
    A part of my idea behind starting up my own Organic Wellness Center, that may later expand into a franchise, is to provide such a meeting place for people wanting to create green innovations (and /or social enterprises compatible with my business). Daytime I aim to have programs for unemployed/healthchallenged people with coaching, seminars, supportgroups and think-thank meetings, because I believe when people come together in an inspiring place, synergy will take us all to the next level. I have submitted my application in the three steps here at the GBBI competition (you can read more there or email me at alexandra@telluselle.com) which I hope will lead to connecting with investors.
- DanielBassill
  
  An Insider’s Viewpoint
  
  Risa, thanks for your post.
  
  I encourage you to view some of the articles in the library at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/library. To me what you are describing are "hubs" that focus on specific issues or specific geography. When these link to other hubs which have more information related to specific topics, they become a connected universe of resources for entrepreneurs. What’s missing from this is the donor/investor/volunteer who has as much interest in the cause as the social innovators who are directly involved in solving problems.
  
  This map shows how knowledge hub might be mapped to make it easier for users to find information they are looking for when they are looking for it. http://tinyurl.com/TMC-library-CMap
  
  As you go through your masters program I encourage you to look at these hubs and think of the marketing and motivation that might be innovated which would bring the resource providers and the practitioners together in on-line learning communities where many experts are sharing their wisdome and all are learning from each other.
  - Risa Littman
    
    An Insider’s Viewpoint
    
    Daniel, thank you very much for these resource referrals.
    
    You said, "What’s missing from this is the donor/investor/volunteer who has as much interest in the cause as the social innovators who are directly involved in solving problems." On the contrary, I strongly believe that such a hub, as you refer to it, would necessarily have strong partnerships and engagement with donors/investors, volunteers and other stakeholders who understand what’s at stake if we do not help social entrepreneurs and their venture organizations improve their capacity to achieve their missions more effectively.
    
    I appreciate your comments and certainly will be reflecting on them as I determine my potential role in activating this critical opportunity in the future.
    - DanielBassill
      
      An Insider’s Viewpoint
      
      Risa,
      
      I agree with you that such hubs should include strong partnership. I just have not found many examples of hubs which actually do include the donor/investor in a meaningful and on-going way.
      
      For instance, while many ideas are shared on the Social Edge forum, no one has posted an article that I know of saying "a donor/investor reached out to me after reading about what I was doing on Social Edge".
      
      The library of links I’ve been building since 1998 represents ideas and work already being done by other people. http://tinyurl.com/T-MC-Library
      
      Anyone can submit new links to this library. Thus, if you or others know of hubs where you feel the donor/investor is engaged with the innovator and entrepreneur in open idea sharing and purposeful actions, please submit the link. Or build a library of such hubs via your own research and host it on a blog or college web site, then tell us about it in forums like SE so we can flock there and get connected.
Diana Morrow

Social change and the Design business

I think that social entrepreneurship is going to continue to evolve in a number of ways, largely dependent on the nature of the cause most significant to the individual entrepreneur/organizer.

While I’ve had a lifelong investment in various social issues, I never really thought I could create a career out of the causes I’m passionate about. That is, until the recent development of social change as a concept for business.

Now unemployed for over a year, I’m making a shift in focus and re-dedicating myself to social change. Feel free to take a look at my campaign video and fundraising details. I could really use help spreading the word in order to reach donors… THANKS!!

http://www.indiegogo.com/diana2sva
Kanika Gupta

Better access to meaningful resources is what the next generation needs…

The beauty of entrepreneurship is the journey and if an individual is committed to teaching themselves what they need to know along the way, the rest will follow. I believe that enough resources and supports exist, the challenge is knowing what to look for and developing the aptitude to be able to go after them.

“Self-training” in the form of access to meaningful [information-based] tools and resources, can help young social entrepreneurs identify what to look for and provide assistance in going after them. Resources can help guide the individual in the right direction, allowing them to more effectively execute on their vision. In addition to presenting the “hard skills” such as writing a business plan [which is actually not very useful in some cases], self-teaching resources should also focus on the individual who is pushing those ideas forward. I would like to echo the earlier posts that suggest the importance of self-reflection and developing emotional intelligence of oneself. Not enough training and resources focus on the individual.

I am critical of non-interactive, static, one-way forms of training. Entrepreneurship is not linear, so programs focused on training social entrepreneurs should not be linear either. Individual and organizational needs change at every stage, and training needs to cater to those needs, while understanding that every user absorbs and processes information differently.

In-person support networks and self-organized groups (similar to the Hub) are incredibly valuable, and do exist everywhere: the challenge is finding them.

Online communities are great, but at times the user can get lost in all of the information presented, because these communities are often unstructured and not properly organized.

Many online resources expect the user knows what they are looking for: the challenge is navigating users through the plethora of information to discover what is relevant to them, based on their needs.

Although there is value in participating in formal programs, most of them are not inclusive for people who have brilliant ideas, but have not yet developed them. It is important to foster innovation at its most vulnerable point [pre-development stage] and inspire future social innovators to dream what can be achieved with their ideas.

Idea incubators are great; the problem is that they are incredibly expensive and accessible to only a miniscule fraction of the young social entrepreneurs that are out there. I think we can borrow certain elements from incubators and present alternative virtual incubator models.

With a team of designers and talented young social entrepreneurs, we are creating Social Journal (SoJo). SoJo will be an online community that will inspire and empower youth to dream big and engage in social entrepreneurship, as well as provide them with the tools and resources to help turn their ideas for social change into reality. This multi-faceted hub will attract information from various sources, including “hand-me-down advice”, and package the information in bite-size pieces, providing the user with the control of receiving the information they wish to access. SoJo strives to address some of the challenges I presented above, by providing young social entrepreneurs with the “training” they need: comprehensive and meaningful information [on how to create a social venture] that is delivered in an accessible, simple and engaging way.

I didn’t intend to twist this post into a plug for SoJo- but I do sincerely believe that this is exactly what the next generation of social entrepreneurs need and am ecstatic that there is so much interest on the topic! SoJo is not live yet, but I encourage you to read our blog that is documenting the journey of “the making of SoJo” and sign-up to view the Beta site when it is ready. For more information, check out: About.me/Sojo
- PaulLamb
  
  Better access to meaningful resources is what the next generation needs…
  
  Hi Kanika! Great deconstruction of the various options. In particular your comment about nurturing dreams or "early stage ideas" resonated with me. Helping and supporting people to get to a good idea is really an important part of the equation that gets missed.
  
  As you say there are already a lot of great resources out there but finding the right ones at the right time is a real challenge. Many resources tend to be static and not dynamic and fluid to match the real learning needs of entrepreneurs at different levels.
  
  Thanks for the introduction to SoJo. Looking forward to checking it out. Makes me think we need a better resource listing of resource listings
Mark Emanuelson

Knowledge is power in the marketplace

Success in social enterprise is linked to how well the company understands their market, customer demand, and other partners or stakeholders who can help. Formal education of social entrepreneurs is an important step in helping to provide models of assessing market opportunities and strategies for market success. Business schools, like the excellent program at Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefit Incubator, provide this framework.
- Mark Hillen
  
  Knowledge is power in the marketplace
  
  I agree with Mark, many skills are required to be a succesfull SE and formal training is probably important. I see SE’s with very different backgrounds. SE’s with a business background have been trained in planning, project mgt, marketing, etc. SE’s with a social background often lack this expertise. But all is needed and we can build on these. I was wondering what a core of curriculum can be. One part being consciousness about mission, role and identity ? A second part about Marketing and community building ? In Netherlands there is hardly any formal education as yet. I am looking for alliances to see to get some programs into the universities here as post graduate or electives at bachelor or master level.
Ryan Cole

Today’s young people

Today’s young people are more tech-savvy and are at advantage when it comes to finding those startup tools and resources like http://www.timedoctor.com/…/

And young entrepreneurs are more creative and imaginative, and are willing to put 100% of their lives into their startups. Young entrepreneurs are hope for the future.
gennesaret ajuka

The next Generation of social entrepreneurs

I have witnessed first hand as a SIFE Student,that organisations like SIFE(students in free enterprise) create one of the best breeding grounds for social Entrepreneurs.SIFE students realise early in life that they must create the positve changes they want to see around them and use the positive power of business to solve real life problems.The SIFE program ensures that as young people we go out into communities creating sustainable solutions through Free enterprise education.

In the community where my school is located in Nigeria, Thousands of children do not have the opportunity to rise above the shackles of living in a rural community in a third world country.Being a SIFE student Empowered me to effectively structure a plan for positive change that would change the course of history for children living in rural coomunities.This plan is called "Awakening Destinies foundation where i utilise the tools of quality information and association to Empower children in rural communities in a way that they can discover and maximise their potentials.
- OMOLEBI
  
  THIS IS WOW!
  
  For quite number of days now I have been reading all these treads one after the other,I have learned so much here far ahead of what it used to be in the four walls of the academia! I am graduate of Business Administration & Management with HND from NIGERIA.I attended a Polytechnic,a year compulsory Industrial Attachment exposed me to the harsh reality of the labour market,so after my return to campus for my 2 year Higher Diploma,I had seen the need to be self-reliant! After my graduation,all my attempts to secure jobs were met with strong walls,not because I could not pass the aptitude tests and other recruitment processes,partly because of the corruption indepth of my nation wherein you need to know someone to be in! I am glad to say,that this 10 years,I have not earned a day salary from any firm yet surviving and went to even employ couple of hands,I started as an itinerant or street hawkers,selling wears and textiles items. Today ,I thank God that from this I have been able to move to so many emerging markets like telecoms.
  
  The essence of the above narration is,entrepreneurship finds little or no encouragement from this part of the world—NIGERIA.
  
  1.Capital or line of credit is too hard to access.collateral burdensome
  
  2.Government Policies are deterrent
  
  3.Tax Regime is unfriendly
  
  4.Near lack of Business acumen and initiative
  
  5.Infrastructural deficiencies.i.e power,road etc/
  
  5.Uncertainty and policy change abruptly
  
  6.Poor data base administration on the part of government
  
  7.Political interference
  
  And so many menaces that can dampen the spirit of a budding entrepreneur!
  
  I am saying these with near a decade experience I have gotten in NIGERIA clime.Given our population ,one would have thought doing business here portends great advantage looking at the market,but all these were beclouded by the factors listed above!
  
  My point,I have had my ups and downs,challenges and disappointments. I want to learn from repository of great minds here. Passionately,I want mentorship from whoever cares to help me through.
  
  Currently,I am undergoing an undergraduate course in Entrepreneurship Development,my vision is to help other young ones to be self-reliant,to be job creators rather than job-seekers! I can only succeed at doing this by equipping myself with the skills required of this.
  
  Thanks for this tutelage offered here freely!
karan kumar

Training the Next Generation of Social Entrepreneurs

Disrupting old patterns of action, catalyzing global change and transforming systems – these outstanding global social entrepreneurs have emerged as beacons of inspiration in the citizen sector. Ashoka’s Social Entrepreneurship Series is an exciting 16-program film series featuring Ashoka and six founding members of Ashoka’s Global Academy of Social Entrepreneurship.

http://www.amirafoods.co.uk/karan.html
joseph Louis

need help with building a social company

HI all, I have a small 2 years old energy company base in Haiti. I need mentor help to built it to the next level in the social enterprise world. how can you help me do that.