Passion for Life

Social entrepreneurs typically possess a positive, optimistic and pro-active outlook. They recognize the world is not perfect, and are concerned about such issues as human sufferings, inequality, injustice, poverty, climate change, etc. But they do not turn a blind eye to them and have the courage and dedication to do something about them.

Passion for a Specific Cause

Social entrepreneurs are idealistic realists. They know they could not change the world overnight. They typically focus their attention and energy on one social issue to develop innovative solution to it in an entrepreneurial manner.

A vision of Impact

Once the social issue focus is confirmed, the challenge is to envision the impact one wishes to create. This is what Stephen Covey calls "Begin with the end in mind." The vision depicts a vivid picture of the ideal outcome to be realized within a certain time frame, say, 5 or 10 years.

Designing the product/business model

This is by far the most challenging task of a social entrepreneur as this would make or break a social enterprise. It is particularly challenging because of its dual imperative: to tackle the social issue on the one hand, and to generate income and profit on the other. A lot of thinking, soul-searching, market and customer research, hands-on experimentation, etc. are required. 

Leveraging social marketing and guerrilla marketing

Mastering marketing is a must for the social entrepreneur. While  basic marketing concepts and approaches are important, the most valuable and affordable ones are those related to social marketing and guerrilla marketing.

Be resourceful: ‘No Money, No Problem’

This deals with the resources needed to start a social enterprise. Conventionally, most people focus on the need for capital, i.e. monetary capital. But what a start up needs is resources - and money is just part of it. When we say someone is beautiful, it means this person has beauty. When we say someone is resourceful, it does not mean this person has resources; in fact, it means he has little resources but has the capability to obtaining resources from diverse sources with no or low costs.

Building the winning team

Most people think entrepreneurs usually work alone. Not true. To succeed, an entrepreneur must assemble an entrepreneurial team. A successful entrepreneur needs to be a Dreamer, a Thinker, a Storyteller, and a Leader, at the same time. It is rare to find all these qualities in one person. 'Nobody's perfect, but a team can be.' The ideal size of an entrepreneurial team is 2 to 3 people.

Creating an entrepreneurial board

In normal business start-ups, it is difficult to find suitable persons to serve as board members. But for a social enterprise, because of the social mission it would be possible to attract experienced and knowledgeable persons to serve as directors. It is up to the social entrepreneur to seek out and inspire these people to serve on the board. It is best to have all directors having a shareholding stake, however small, in the company. It means greater ownership and will make the board more entrepreneurial.