social enterpreneurship: business for good

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BUSINESS FOR GOOD

Michael ThorntonOxford UniversityOdyssey LabsSeptember 26, 2013

ABOUT ME

C A R B E Xilluminating carbon risk

Oδyssey Labs

Urban Design / City PlanningBaetian Urban Area Plan – Guangzhou, China

SOM

Stormwater / Wastewater ToolsLangfang - China

Pearl Island – Panama

Work Products: Master Planning

Hart Howerton

Water ToolsPearl Island - Panama

Sustainable Infrastructure

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

September 2010

WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

DEFINITION 1

Social Entrepreneurship: A simple equation, really…

+ = Social

Entrepreneur

Social Entrepreneur Social Entrepreneur

What makes them “social”?

Model Impact

Income model Distributed funding

Sustainable purchasing model

Income and protection of input markets

Employment model Disenfranchised group supported through employment or ownership

Integrated impact through a product or service

The service or product sold IS the impact

Social Entrepreneurship refers to the

PRACTICE of combining INNOVATION,

OPPORTUNITY and RESOURCEFULNESS

to address a market or government

failure that generates social and/or

environmental challenges for one or

more population groups.

DEFINITION 2

The Pamela Hartigan Definition

Charity

Advocacy

Corporate Social Responsibility

DEFINITION 3

What is NOT Social Entrepreneurship

Divine Chocolate

Women on Top

Sherwood Design Engineers /

Sherwood Institute

DEFINITION 4

What IS Social Entrepreneurship

Divine Chocolate

Creating fair markets and trade for farmers, and showing consumers that business can do more than make a profit

BE ENTREPRENEURIAL

WOMEN ON TOP

Provide mentorship for women looking to learn from those who have come before. Leverage experience to lift all boats.

AIM FOR BIG IMPACT

(creativity-ecology-engineering)

SHERWOOD DESIGN ENGINEERS

Revolutionizing civil engineering by making ecology and aesthetics as important as functional engineering.

DISRUPT STAGNANT INDUSTRIES

ENGINEERING | PLANNING | ECOLOGY

CIVIL ENGINEERING

GREEN BUILDINGS

INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN

ECOLOGICAL DESIGN

WATER RESOURCES

URBAN DESIGN

MASTER PLANNING

Sherwood Design Engineers Sherwood Institute

ENGINEERING | PLANNING | ECOLOGYRESEARCH | POLICY | STRATEGY

SDE EXPERTISE +

PLATFORM FOR ACADEMIC, REGULATORY, CORPORATE COLLABORATION

TECHNICAL TRANSFER

FOUNDATIONS AND GRANTS

OUTREACH AND EDUCATION

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

YOUTH MOBILIZATION

WHAT KINDS OF PROBLEMS DO BUSINESSES SOLVE?

Opportunistic

Needs & Lifestyle

Societal

The business opportunity continuum

HOW DO YOU SOLVE SOCIETAL PROBLEMS?

Public /Cultural

Awareness

BusinessGovernment

Social entrepreneurship is business with a theory of change, business based on systems thinking that has as a primary purpose sustained and permanent improvement in environmental or social conditions.

MY INTERPRETATION

Climate Change / Limited Resources

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n6/fig_tab/nclimate1458_F2.html

Rising Population….

AND Rising Per Capita Resource Consumption

• Investment in social enterprise is rising around the world

• Biggest economic opportunities are around solving societal needs

• Big benefits for countries that pursue it

NOT JUST THE RIGHT THING, A BIG OPPORTUNITY

TESLA MOTORS – Built to catalyze the electric car industrySPACE X – Built to expand the human race to Mars

Both built because he saw no one else would

BIGGEST ENTREPRENEUR IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW

1. Start with a problem, bigger the better.

2. No idea is bad. The crazy one may be the road to genius. No no’s, “yes and…”

3. Understand context, trends and “inevitabilities”.

4. Fail and fail rapidly.5. Support each-other

relentlessly.6. Talk to everyone.7. Sometimes, ignore

everything.

WHAT’S WORKED @ ODYSSEY LABS & THE OXFORD ENTRE-PRENEURSHIP CENTRE

1. Support them like family

2. Learn about the challenges

3. Support them like family

4. Create a risk-tolerant environment

5. Support them like family

6. Find ways to get lots of people from different backgrounds together

7. Support them like family

ATHENS: SUPPORT YOUR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

1. Find your problem2. Find your passion3. Start Today and

don’t stop

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: GET EXCITED AND GET BUSY!

THANK YOU

MICHAEL THORNTON@ODYSSEYCHIEF

QUESTIONS?