Do you have what it takes to be a social entrepreneur?

In my bucket list, there's this seemingly unreachable item: Develop a kick-ass social technology that is highly replicable and that can improve people's lives. Thanks to Project Pagsulong, I have been "refueled" and may be closer to achieving this...

Byaheros Hanna and Anj thank the creators of this book :o)

I was first introduced to social entrepreneurship through Ideals Creatives - a graphic design company who offers quality yet affordable services to development organizations.  I loved the concept! The company strives to make enough profit so they can afford to help the non-profit community with their branding and other creative needs (which is usually so expensive… hey NGOs could use the extra marketing help!) Ideals is composed of 5 talented young people who got their initial funding from the Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI -- www.ysei.org).  I am lucky enough to know two of the proponents of Ideals Creatives, Rhea and Marielle - who so generously lent me the book, "Startup and Change the World: A Guide for Young Social Entrepreneurs" (haven't returned it yet! sorry!!! you may preview the book by clicking on the title). This book has been my source of inspiration throughout the years, telling me not to let go of my dream to become a social entrepreneur!

One of the dilemmas faced by development work junkies like myself is choosing between monetary reward and self-fulfillment.  But what if you purposefully create a profitable business with the embedded goal to help a certain segment of society or a community? It's a win-win situation! I have always been a fan of corporate social responsibility and the triple bottom-line approach (People, Planet, Profits), so I was quickly enamored by the idea of SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP (will abbreviate to SocEnt from hereon)  - simply put, is innovative business , which strives to create a blend of social, environmental, and economic returns for the enterprise itself and the community.

People, Planet, Profits, Puso

When asked to define SocEnt during the Project Pagsulong Bootcamp, my group added a fourth P to People, Planet, Profits  -- which is PUSO ("heart") . Indeed the first building block of SocEnt is the Entrepreneur himself.

Here are some of the essential traits that we felt a SocEntrepreneur should have:

passionate - one has to have the drive and to really have a heart for what he or she is working for. when things fail, passion will keep one going.
risk taker - business is risky ! SocEnt is unconventional
ability to multi-task - startups usually can't hire much manpower, be ready to do a lot of stuff yourselves
good networker -  one needs to learn a lot, leverage other people's resources, and be known to attract clients or investors! It is another way of looking at "social" in social entrepreneurship!
self-learner - never stop learning, never stop improving, never stop innovating!

 Hence, time for me to put these into practice. I've never been a good business person due to my lack of financial management skills. But it is never too late to learn, learn, learn!