The Luminary Social Entrepreneur

Ashoka held a TweetConf on the omnipresent topic of the Future of SocEnt. Here's what some of the birds had to say. Some desired to better define SocEnt: Think we also need to demystify what  # socent  is - move away from warm&fuzzy & towards viable impact-driven biz   Q3: Knowing what to measure and how to measure it is still one of the biggest  # socent  challenges. Is it a number, or a smile? Kiwanja felt that SocEnt would lead to an end of globalization; a bit rash in my eyes. Q6: In 25 years time we'll be living in a far more locally-focused world. Globalisation will be seen as a bad experiment.  # socentchat   @ kiwanja  Agree with you, but we'll also be connected & able to build interpersonal relationships globally (microglobalisation?) One said well that whatever it may be, we better get moving! A6.The best way to predict the future is to create it, so let’s stop rearranging the chairs and get busy makin...

Who's Who in SocEnt? Worms.  " Guatemalan native Maria Rodriguez is fixing her country’s economy from the ground up, by  investing heavily in worms with her company ByoEarth . The worms eat trash (solving a persistent problem of how to dispose of waste) and the resulting worm waste can be sold to farmers as a powerful fertilizer." Brilliant! Clear social impact in mind – boost Guatemalan economy by improving farming and reducing waste – and a great source of revenue – selling rejuvenated waste as powerful fertilizer. I have a soft spot for anything that turns useless garbage into beautiful energy. I don't have any idea why . . .  Below I've selected my favorite five (but its really six) from Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs . You don't have time to read about 30 people, so read about my favorite five (six). Check out their site for more info.  These top three I chose because they are most inline with the Luminary philosophy: Strike at ...

Or is it a good idea? I think the purpose of this post may well be to disprove its title. Either way, its not SocEnt. As you've likely heard, Mormon women everywhere plan to wear pants to church tomorrow ( read more ), in protest of " the fear and intimidation progressive Mormon women have been silently living with decades," and will not protest anything but that. That being said women from LDS Wave may think the protest will have to do a little bit more with there big long list of greivances: I feel unequal when there are more (a lot more) men’s voices in religious texts, meetings, leadership positions, and decision-making bodies.” “I feel unequal when callings that don’t necessitate the priesthood are given only to men: Sunday School Presidency, Brigham Young University Presidents, Church Education Commissioners, Ward Mission Leaders, recommend takers at the Temple, etc. (Similarly, men are not currently called in Primary Presidencies and could be.)” “I ...

In celebration of my sixth post I share two music videos with you, my beloved readers. They have no relevance to the blog topic. Please click on the link to watch them on Youtube ("legalities"). But upon watching them you soon realize that they have uber-relevance to the topic at hand. You realize nobody ever made a teal mock turtleneck and torn 80's jeans look better than a balding french man, and you note that no American ever looked so good in American formal attire as a semi-pudgy, semi-retro Korean man singing about the sexiness of modest women and the importance of his bulging muscles. And you think you are satisfied, but then you realize, wait, this is a pudgy Korean man, and, wait, this is a balding French man, and you say to yourself, they are not Americans, and you think– Yes, globalization is complete, or rather it is Real. And then I tell you about the time this summer I listened to Yelle on a boat for the first time, wake surfing in Ririe Rese...

My professor, Peter Staples , explained Social Enterprises usually have two defining characteristics: they seek after some social benefit or outcome, and they employ sustainable methods (generate revenue). They differ from traditional run-of-the-mill non-profits in the latter – they produce their own revenue rather than surviving off of donations only. Joe Demim's experience illustrates this brightly. He decided to start Yellow Leaf Hammocks enterprise which helps people of the Mlabri tribe earn crucial life sustaining revenue through an online sales site and US stores, rather than solicit rich westerners for donations. The definitions given here are incomplete. That is the nature of this beast, a growing and forming field. But the hope is that they may provide a clear vision for the reader. Consider what Martin Montero , a StartingBloc Fellow, and Mathea Bradenburg have to say.  Partnering with locals to create solutions, rather than working with organizations tha...

Today, I discuss one principle of the Luminary discussion: We are Creators of a New World. In this truth I find it assumed that we must also be the creators of this world, otherwise who else created it? if we say it was solely those who went before, that would be shirking blame and responsibility, and if we say it was those who will come after us . . . well I won't even address that notion. So if it's not those before us that created this world, and its not those after us, then only one remains: us. We created this world. We create it everyday, while we sleep and while wake. When we make good decisions and when we make bad decisions. When we shout at our roommates to wash their dishes and when we make them breakfast burritos instead to nourish their bones and even wash their dishes too. We make this world. And so we can make the future world also, but we can only do so at one point in time: NOW. For neither the future nor the past truly exist, your only time for action ...

So I'd like to think I'm the center of the universe. I mean I might as well, considering nobody else knows the center of the universe precisely, so it might as well be me. I am a social entrepreneur. I am a student. Here's what one student, like myself thinks of SocEnt Also Student Reporter is calling for a team of student reporters to cover SocEnt for six months in 2013. Each student reporter is expected to deliver four to five articles within the six months of collaboration.  One article should adopt a critical op-ed perspective based on the disciplinary focus of the reporter.   Two articles should be empirically featuring social entrepreneurs and/or employees and beneficiaries of these enterprises.  At least one article should draw on multimedia features such as video and audio footage from the field. It looks like a great opportunity for all. SocEnt continues to grow and may be reaching a tipping point as Bill Drayton says. Many people throughout the world ...

The remarks given by Bill Drayton seem to be well received however largely unpublicized. Via @Ashoka The greatest satisfaction is to help others be givers." --  # BillDrayton , @ Ashoka   # FutureSocEnt  via  @ csisl This really struck me. Recently Deiter Utchdorf remarked that this Christmas we all ought to become more gracious receivers, and not just givers. If giving is great, how much better it must be to give the gift of giving, of helping others to give their best. And how necessary are those who receive, for with out them, none could give. I found a few posts regarding the growing need for courses teaching the need-to-knows of Social Entrepreneurship. From Social Innovation Review  A dramatic increase in demand for university courses in social innovation and social entrepreneurship over the past few years has presented university educators with two big challenges: 1) to develop a solid understanding of precisely what social entrepreneurs an...